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I blinked at him before pressing my lips together and resting a hand on my hip. “Now, Lincoln, you know perfectly well you’re scheduled every day. Everybody is because the schedule here is insane. I know that’s important.”

“I love it when you’re bossy,” he said, before knocking his knuckles on the doorframe and walking away.

I had to sit down to catch my breath. Also, my knees were still weak. I was in so far over my head.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Lincoln

Ink on her cheek

One week later

One evening, my mother was rushing around the family kitchen looking harried. She was also talking to herself.

“Can I help, Mom?” I finally asked.

She glanced over before shaking her head. “No.”

“I know how to cook, Mom.”

She narrowed her eyes. “I know you do, Lincoln, but you’re pretty basic in the kitchen.”

I pressed a palm against my chest in mock outrage. “Basic?”

“Yep. You have many skills, but you’re not Tommy.”

As if on cue, Tommy appeared in the doorway opposite the back hallway entrance. He caught my gaze. “I don’t know what this conversation is about, but I agree,” my nephew said.

I chuckled. He was thirteen now, and I couldn’t believe how tall he was getting. Those clichés about growing overnight were easy to dismiss until you watched somebody do it right before your eyes. It felt like a blink away when he was baby after the fire, and now he was an insanely good cook and baker and only a year away from high school. And, getting close to being as tall as me.

“Apparently my cooking skills are basic,” I offered.

He grinned. “Ah, I see. Grandma, what are you so stressed about?”

“We have a lot to plan for the Thanksgiving meal,” she replied.

“Oh,” he said slowly. “I haven’t actually cooked a turkey before.”

“You planned a somewhat elaborate menu,” my mom said.

Just then Chloe appeared from the back hallway as well. It was safe to say I was falling hard and fast for her. Since the night last week, I’d been sneaking over to her room every night. Every single time, it started with a text. She would ask if I was sure this was what I wanted afterwards. Meanwhile, I was beyond sure, and it nearly broke my heart that she kept checking, because I knew exactly why she did. Her fucking ex and her fucking ex best friend.

But I didn’t want to dwell on that, and I knew she didn’t. either. She kept telling me she wasn’t ready for everybody to know about us, which was completely fine with me. I respected that. Except for the small problem of wanting to kiss her every time I saw her, for example right this very second. I wanted to walk across the room, cup her cheeks and kiss her as if the world was ending.

Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun as usual, this time with what looked like a broken chopstick stuffed through it, and she had a smear of ink on her cheek. This was a frequent occurrence for her. She had these pens she loved and used all the time. As such, she periodically had ink on her cheek, which was sexy as fuck. Who knew that could be such a turn on? Not me.

But then everything about Chloe was sexy as fuck. I managed nothing more than a smile as she walked in, her gaze snagging mine briefly before bouncing away, her cheeks turning pink.

My mom immediately wrangled her and Tommy into organizing for Thanksgiving. I realized I was going to be spending Thanksgiving with Chloe and her dad, and I loved that. I took a slow breath. Change was definitely not easy, but coming home was the best decision I’d ever made. I made a mental note to call the local therapist my Fairbanks therapist had referred me to. I was stumbling a little with the family stuff here and there, and I didn’t want to spiral back to the dark place I’d gotten caught in after the fire.

During dinner, I had to manage my state of arousal because Chloe was sitting directly across from me at the table. Thank God for my family’s near constant chatter to keep me sort of distracted. Chloe went to her office to work on some things, and I managed to casually find my way down there.

My draw to Chloe was not abating. But then, nothing with Chloe was as I would have predicted. A distant corner of my mind was a little shocked at how quickly my heart was all in on her, how deeply my protectiveness ran, how I would do anything for her. Threaded within all of that was my intense physical need. As I walked down the hallway approaching her office, that need hummed, its force growing louder with every step, almost like a chorus in my veins.

I paused in front of her office doorway, open, because it was almost always open. Her nature was welcoming, kind, and inviting, which made what happened with her friend and her ex all the more brutal.

“Hey,” I said, leaning my shoulder inside her doorframe.