Cody and Houston were nice enough to give my apologies to Beau and the guys. They understood that it was more urgent for me to get Owen settled in at my house tonight. I'd go by the hospital tomorrow with gifts for my new niece, but tonight was all about Owen.

I felt a lot better after we'd retrieved his car from the center and he followed me home. Although I wasn’t completely at ease. I'd made a mental note to have his car checked out once I’d seen it. It seemed to be in one piece, but the tires looked sketchy at best. I'd feel more comfortable when I knew he was driving around in a safe vehicle, especially now that we were heading into fall and the rainy season.

By the time we got back to my place, I decided to skip the tour when I took one look at the exhaustion in his eyes. "Is this all you’ll need for tonight?" I asked as I grabbed the big duffel bag and a smaller suitcase out of his trunk. "It's up to you, Owen. I can unload your car right now, or put it off until morning."

Owen was dwarfed by the large plant he held with only the upper part of his face visible through the fronds. "No, this is more than enough. As long as I have a place for Miss Ferngully here and some clean clothes, I'm good. The rest of what's in the trunk is just art supplies and random crap."

"Alrighty then, let's get you settled." I led him into my house, setting the duffel bag down long enough to flip on the lights and lock the front door before leading him upstairs to the guest room at the farthest end of the hall from mine. I figured he'd feel better if there were distance between us, since he was already going out on a limb by trusting a virtual stranger to put him up.

"You weren't lying about having a big place." Owen's voice was muffled by the plant as he spoke.

"I invested while the market was soft. I figured at the time that I'd probably have settled down by now, but then I turned into a crusty old bachelor instead." I flashed him a self-deprecating smile over my shoulder as I turned on the bedroom light and set his duffel down before walking farther into the room.

"You're far from crusty, and I'm pretty sure you're not much older than I am." Owen snickered. "So unless you want to make me feel old, you might wanna lay off those kinds of jokes. We pregnant dudes take shit like that personally. Can’t help it, really, it's all the damn hormones we have coursing through our bodies," he explained with a teasing grin.

"Okay, well, that's just my stock party answer anyway. If I’m being perfectly honest, I’ve never pictured myself settling down, but I liked the idea of having a big house for when my brothers did. I've always seen myself as being the cool uncle with the nice house where my nieces and nephews would want to gravitate to when they're older. I'd appreciate it if you didn't repeat that to Houston, though; he's always on my ass about settling down. And just wait until you meet my other brothers, they're just as bad." I shrugged and set his small suitcase on the foot of the bed.

"How many brothers do you have?" Owen walked across the room to place the big, leafy plant on a small, decorative table that stood in front of the bedroom window. I watched as he tentatively touched his finger to the soil, pinching it critically as if to check its moisture.

"There are four of us Logan brothers." I leaned against the wall by the door, propping my foot up behind me as I crossed my arms over my chest and watched him fuss with the plant. "Beaumont and Dallas are the oldest of us—they're twins. And then there's Houston, who you met tonight."

"And if they're all obsessed with you being single, am I correct in assuming that they're all married now or otherwise attached?" He sat gingerly at the edge of the large chair that was positioned near the table where the plant now held court.

"Every last one of them." I grinned. "Beaumont has two husbands, three kids, and is about to have another with the one currently being born. Dallas and Kyle have two kids, as do Cody and Houston. I'm literally the last single one standing."

Owen smiled. "It sounds like you have a nice-sized family though. And you definitely have enough nieces and nephews to fill this house when they're old enough to come hang out with their cool uncle. And as for you still being single? Screw them, they can't live your life." He smiled wistfully as he rubbed his belly. "Now me, on the other hand, I’d always expected to be settled down long before now. I've just never met the one for me, I guess. That's okay, at least I’m finally starting my own family. It'll be me and this little guy against the world."

"Do you not have any other family?" I asked curiously, suddenly wanting to know more about this mysterious omega I’d taken into my home.

He shook his head. "No, I'm what they call a fire station baby. I was surrendered at birth by someone who didn't want to be saddled with a child, I suppose. From there, I grew up in the foster system after I was never chosen for adoption." He held up a hand. "Now don't get that pitying look on your face that everybody gets when I tell them I was a foster kid. As you can see, I’m obviously okay because I lived to tell the story."

I wasn't at all sure how to respond to that. Instead, I nodded toward the plant. "What's the story on that beautiful piece of greenery there? You were cradling it like a baby all the way up here. I would've carried it for you, if you'd been willing to wait. You probably shouldn't be carrying something that heavy at this stage of your pregnancy."

Owen's face lit up with an affectionate smile as he looked back at the plant. "This is Miss Ferngully. She was Josh's pet plant and I promised to take good care of her."

"Miss Ferngully? Now that's an interesting name." I chuckled. "I'm guessing there's a story there?"

"When we were in college, Josh used to come to my place to water my plants because he said it was a crime the way I treated them." He laughed at an unspoken memory. "He called me a serial plant killer. He made me watch FernGully: The Last Rainforest one night after he came over and found that all my plants had died while he'd been at an ROTC camp. It's an old kids’ movie about saving the rainforest from polluters or some shit. So for Christmas that year, I bought him a small potted fern and promised to never buy another plant. He named her Miss Ferngully and she spent the past eight years as his precious baby. As you can see from her size, she was well taken care of by him. Now it’s on me to keep her thriving, or he’ll probably find a way to come back to haunt my ass. Hell, he left me an owner’s manual on her care when he was deployed, that’s how serious he was about me not killing her."

"Wait. You keep using feminine pronouns for it. The plant has been assigned a gender?" I couldn't help but laugh.

Owen nodded with a serious expression. "Oh, no. Apparently, there really are genders, although—and this part is kind of funny—ferns are actually hermaphroditic and can self-adjust their gender as needed to propagate the species. Look it up, I'm totally not joking. I had no idea when I bought the plant, but Josh took great pleasure in researching and explaining it to me in full detail. Basically, you can tell that this plant is what they call a lady fern because of her lacy textured fronds. Male ferns usually have thicker and coarser foliage. The males also have more hairs or scales covering their stems while the ladies generally have less. Pretty much like people, as Josh used to say."

"I have no idea why, but I'm making a mental note to Google hermaphroditic plants the next time I'm bored." I chuckled. When I noticed Owen cover a yawn, I picked up the heavy duffel. "Tell me where you want this, and I'm going to duck out of here to let you get some sleep. Closet or dresser, your choice."

"Oh, you didn't have to do that, but thank you." Owen used the arms of the chair to lever himself to his feet. "If you wouldn't mind setting it on the dresser, that will probably work best for now."

"Good plan, you probably shouldn't be bending so much anyway. I don't know how light you are on your feet, but at this point in the pregnancy, I've noticed that the omegas in my family seem to be a little more unsteady. Probably because you're front heavy, I'd assume." I shut up quickly and stared back at him in dismay, as I suddenly realized how rude that probably sounded.

"You're not wrong." Owen grinned, his pretty gray eyes sparkling despite his obvious exhaustion. "Don't feel bad for being honest, you didn't say anything that isn't true. Although, most alphas are probably a little more cautious about saying it out loud."

I laughed in agreement. Not wanting to dawdle any longer, I showed him the en suite and where to find everything, then headed for the door. "Okay, I'm going to let you get some sleep. If you wake up before me, help yourself to whatever is in the kitchen. I'll probably already be up, though; I'm generally an early riser. If you go looking for me, my office is the first door on the right from the main entrance."

"Sounds good." Owen smiled tiredly, then yawned again. "I'm sorry, I haven't been getting a lot of sleep this week. But then again, I've found that pregnancy makes me super tired anyway. If you're an early riser, you'll probably be up long before me. I'm usually up with the sun, but lately, I'm lucky to roll out of bed before nine at the earliest."

After I bade him good night, I headed to my own room and closed the door before stripping down for bed and dropping my clothes in the hamper. I didn't even bother turning on the lights; I was pretty tired myself at this point. After easily navigating my way in the dark through the familiar room, I slid between my smooth, clean sheets and stretched out on my back.

My mind was racing from the events of the evening and the disturbing way I found myself being drawn toward Owen. It was as if now that I knew he hadn't recently had his heart broken from the death of a lover, but rather was dealing with the loss of a friend, my traitorous mind thought it was okay to find him attractive.

Normally I needed to know somebody for a long time before I felt any sexual interest in them, but just thinking about his pretty gray eyes made my cock twitch. My hand slid over my chest and down my abdomen, my fingers gliding through the thatch of hair that led downward from my navel. As I closed my hand around my already hardening cock, I bit my lip and wondered if I was a perv for being turned on by a virtual stranger—a quite pregnant one who was depending on my hospitality, at that.

If Houston hadn't pushed, I never would've invited him into my home, if I were being honest. Not because I wouldn't have wanted to, but because I probably wanted him here a little too much. The last thing someone as vulnerable as Owen needed was for someone like me to make him feel like there were strings attached to my generosity. For that reason alone, I silently vowed to myself that I wouldn't act on my attraction.

Dammit. My cock was fully hard now, and as I swiped my thumb across the tip, I felt a drip of precum. I threw back the sheets and sat up. It was one thing to muss your sheets with bodily fluids when you were with a partner, but there was no way I was going to dirty my bed with my own spunk. That would just be gross. Instead, I got up and headed for the bathroom to jerk off in the shower.

I flinched at the bright light when I flipped on the switch, but I was too aroused to turn back now. As soon as I got the shower going, I stood under the spray and gave in to my lust.

Throwing my head back, I closed my eyes and stroked myself rapidly as I pictured that beautiful, rounded belly that had been bared to me during the ultrasound. I bit my lip with a low groan as I remembered the way his boxer briefs had snugly cupped his package.

And those legs! Despite his petite size, his legs had been muscular. Even though I’d tried not to stare, I hadn't missed the way the muscles flexed every time he'd shifted on the table. I tightened my grip and tugged harder while biting my lip at the thought of those legs wrapped around my waist while I held his tiny body against a wall and pounded into him until I knotted.

It didn't take more than a few strokes before I was spurting cum on the shower floor. I opened my eyes and looked down, feeling almost dirty as I watched my seed get washed down the drain. I squirted a few pumps of body wash into my palm and began sudsing up. Maybe if I washed myself well enough, it would clean away the layers of filth that surely covered me for not only lusting after my pregnant houseguest, but giving in and enjoying the fantasy.

After I’d scrubbed myself as clean as I was going to get, I shut off the water and grabbed the squeegee from its hook on the shower wall. After years of practice, I was able to efficiently wipe down the shower walls in a matter of seconds before stepping out and grabbing a towel from the nearby warming rod.

Once my body was completely dry, I went over to the sink and brushed my teeth. I took care to brush each quadrant of my mouth for a full thirty seconds while I mentally sang the ABC song twice—I'd actually timed that at one point to verify that singing it twice took exactly thirty seconds, the length of time needed to properly cleanse one's teeth.

After I was done, I rinsed the sink and patted it dry with my used towel before tossing it in the hamper. I took one last look around the bathroom to make sure that everything was just so before turning off the light and leaving the room. Sitting on the edge of my bed, I finished my normal nighttime routine by turning on my white noise machine, humidifier, and Himalayan salt crystal lamp. After that, I felt myself passing out almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.

*****

I drummed my fingers on my desk in frustration. I'd been working for the past two hours trying to get the paperwork together for my new so-called employee, but I was running into problems with every insurance company I’d tried.

In what world was pregnancy considered a pre-existing condition? I mean seriously, what the fuck was that about? I’d spent at least forty-five minutes scrolling websites to find him coverage, but I kept running into the same problem.

"Is everything okay?" I looked up to see Owen standing beside my desk with a steaming cup of coffee in his hand. I smiled as I watched him look for the coaster before setting the mug down in front of me. "I wasn't sure how you take it, so I just added a little cream."

“That’s perfect.” I smiled again as he confidently walked around the front of my desk and sat down in the chair opposite me with his legs curled up beside him as he sipped on his own cup of what I assumed was tea.

Leaning back in my chair, I motioned toward the monitor with disgust. "I promised you insurance, but every company I've tried to get you covered through seems to consider pregnancy to be a pre-existing condition."

Owen chuckled. "They're not wrong. I mean, it is a pre-existing condition right now, in that it existed before I tried to get insured."

Cradling the cup in his hands, he closed his eyes and hovered his nose over the cup, inhaling deeply as if savoring the scent. I couldn't help but be charmed as I watched. When his brilliant gray eyes popped open, an odd thought popped into my head and decided to blurt itself right out into the open. "You know, it would be more efficient to just marry you. Then my insurance would have to accept you."

Owen gazed at me steadily, his cheeks flushing pink as he firmly shook his head. "No, as romantic as marrying you for the sake of efficiency sounds, I can’t let you do that, Austin. It's bad enough that I took advantage of the kindness of a stranger when I accepted the hospitality and the possibility of a job from you last night; asking you to commit insurance fraud is a step too far."

Looking at him sitting there, looking so perfect here among my things, I couldn't help but shake my head. "It's not insurance fraud if we are really married. People have marriages of convenience every day, if you think about it. Nobody has to know that we sleep in separate bedrooms or that it'll only be a marriage on paper. We wouldn't even have to exchange wedding bands. It’s just a quick trip to the courthouse and voila, you're insured."

"I'll tell you the same thing I told Josh, I'm not going to let you get stuck with me and kill your chances when you meet your special person someday. If I wouldn’t let my best friend who actually fathered this child make that kind of commitment, I'm definitely not going to take advantage of your generosity and let you do it."

"But that's just it, Owen." I stretched back in my chair, crossing my arms behind my head to lean on them. "I've never planned to get married anyway, so what the hell? It's of no consequence to me, and it helps you. Who's being hurt here? The only entity it affects is the insurance company, but they'll get theirs by raising my rates to the family plan instead of getting the single-person fee from me. And honestly, if it makes you feel any better? The charts I was looking at on the insurance company’s websites all showed a lower premium for a family than it did for employee insurance, so you'd actually be saving me money." I smiled to myself, liking the idea more by the second. "I'm not going to push you, but at least think about it."