“This is a nice space,” Jack observed as they placed it under the window. “You planning to turn it into a bedroom?”

“Nah.” Cade paused to wipe the sweat from his brow. “It was half done when I bought the place, so I finished it off, but there’s no closet and no bathroom, so it’s just a bonus room.”

“Might make a nice playroom,” Jack mused. “Plenty of space for a bed, some equipment… The high ceilings would be good for suspension.”

“I thought about it,” Cade admitted, and headed back downstairs, “but do you know how often my mother stops by unexpectedly?”

Jack let out a short laugh. “She doesn’t respect your privacy?”

“Hell, no.” Cade grinned. “She won’t go digging into closets or drawers, but an entire room she’s not allowed to see?”

“Not gonna fly, huh?”

“Not in a million years.”

By the time they muscled the dresser off the truck and up the two flights of stairs, followed by the chair, Cade wanted to swim in a vat of ice water. He settled for a Coke, and passed one to Jack as well. “Thanks for the hand.”

“Anytime,” Jack said, clinking his bottle against Cade’s. “But the next time you have to move that chair, we’re getting more help.”

Cade drained half the bottle in one swallow, and sighed. “Damn, I’m tired.”

Jack eyed him with amusement. “Nick and Rebecca wear you out last night?”

“Is there no such thing as a secret in this crowd?”

Jack let out a bark of laughter. “Did you expect there would be?”

Cade thought about it. “Actually, no.”

“So? How’d it go?”

Cade, shrugged. If Nick and Rebecca didn’t mind people knowing, he didn’t. “It was good. Fun.”

“Uh-huh. And Olivia?”

Cade frowned. “Olivia wasn’t there.”

“No, Olivia is here. In your house. And unless I miss my guess, you’re planning for her to stay a while.”

Cade shifted to put his empty bottle in the recycling bin under the sink. “She needs a place to stay. I’ve got an extra room.”

“And you’re in love with her.”

He looked up into Jack’s knowing gaze, the words hanging in the air between them like a cloud. “I’ve been in love with her for two years,” he said calmly. “It doesn’t mean I can’t be her friend.”

“She wasn’t single before,” Jack pointed out.

“What’s your point, Jack?”

Jack lifted one eyebrow, as though the answer to that should be obvious. “How long do you think you’ll be able keep things platonic if she’s living here?”

“What makes you think I want to keep things platonic?”

Jack blinked in surprise, then narrowed his eyes. “You’re making your move.”

“For better or for worse.”

Jack was silent for a moment, his dark eyes searching. Then he shrugged and polished off his Coke. “I hope it works out.”