Later that evening, he would have time to Skype with Riley. Just the thought of his brother made Owen smile. They hadn't had a whole lot of time together in person in the past couple of months-mainly because his brother was on tour promoting his new solo album-but they always tried to make time to talk via Skype. And lately Owen had felt the need for the connection.

Maybe he was feeling homesick, or maybe he was just at a crossroads with his life because his brothers were all settling down and starting families and Owen just didn't see that as a possibility for himself. He didn't have much of a social life, and even though he dated occasionally, Owen had never felt a connection with a woman in a way that mattered. He dated other scientists, and even when they were on dates, they talked about...science.

And the more he learned about his brothers and their wives, the more Owen realized that solid relationships-the kind where you fell in love and formed a bond and wanted a future together-weren't always based on common interests.

Like work.

His eldest brother Aidan had met and fallen in love with his wife Zoe when she had started working for him. But even though they did have their work in common, they were opposite in a lot of ways. Zoe had been all about starting her life over and forging a new path, while Aidan had been so deeply entrenched in living his life in the past. But it hadn't taken long for his control freak of a brother to let his guard down and learn to accept-and enjoy-their differences.

All the women around Owen were exactly like him.

It was no different with his brother Hugh. Hugh had been emotionally cut off and seemed unlikely to ever settle down in a relationship that was based on love. There had been a time when Owen had actually been able to relate to Hugh the easiest because of that outlook. But after working with the carefree Aubrey, Hugh too had taken the plunge. Hell, last he'd heard, they'd been on a trip to Belize and were teaching their young son Connor to snorkel and swim with the dolphins. And Owen could only listen with a bit of envy because Hugh had come out of his self-imposed emotional exile and was finally living his life.

At the last big convention Owen had gone to, no one had even wanted to get within ten feet of the hotel pool, let alone swim with a dolphin.

And then there was Quinn-the ultimate middle child. He'd been the love-'em-and-leave-'em type for so long that for the longest time, Owen never thought Quinn would settle down either. And for the most part, everyone accepted how that was just the way Quinn was. But through it all, Anna had been there-playing the part of the best friend even though she was secretly in love with Quinn. Then-and this part still made Owen chuckle-Quinn had seen Anna in a bikini and suddenly realized his best friend was a beautiful woman. The entire Shaughnessy family had been happy to see him wake up and notice what had been right in front of him for years.

Having been too shy to even talk to girls when he was younger, Owen had no female friends, let alone any harboring a crush on him-or vice versa.

Riley. His twin. His other half. They were fraternal twins, and it wasn't only their looks that were completely different. Everything about them was. Things came easily to Riley-especially women. And when he met Savannah and she blatantly told him she didn't like him-and hadn't for some time-it had come as quite a shock. Yeah, that was another story that made Owen laugh-imagining his rock star brother being told there was a female alive who wasn't in love with him. Of course, Riley had changed Savannah's mind, and now they were happily married, but other than their love of rock and roll, they'd had to work hard to overcome some of their differences.

There wasn't even anyone Owen knew of who he'd be able to try to overcome differences with. And there was no way he was going to seek out any kind of relationship advice from Darcy. She might be his sister, but she was so much younger than him. He chuckled to himself. Although she probably had a hell of a lot more experience than he did. Then he shook his head. No. Darcy still scared the hell out of him just because she was so...different from him.

A sigh came out before he could stop it. He definitely needed this time with Riley tonight. Not so long ago, Owen had helped his twin when he was at a crossroad. Now he was hoping Riley would return the favor. The only problem was that Riley had known-sort of-what his problem was. He'd had writer's block and couldn't complete the album he'd been working on. Not that he wasn't oversimplifying Riley's issue, but at least there had been a definitive problem for them to work on. Owen couldn't define his problem. He just had an overall feeling of discontent in his life, and no amount of looking up at the sky and watching the stars was helping.

And it used to always help.

No matter what was going on.

Hell, when his mother had died, Owen had...

The alarm on his phone beeped, reminding him of his upcoming time to Skype with Riley. Not that he was going to forget it. He was looking forward to the call. Needed it. He might even call his brother early.

He opened up his satchel and went about the task of emptying it out and organizing everything neatly on the desk-his laptop, his phone, his chargers, his notes, and his magazine. Looking at the clock, he confirmed the amount of time he had until Riley's call-two hours and thirty-seven minutes-and sighed.

With nothing left to do, he quickly called and ordered room service-a turkey club sandwich and french fries-and then started up his laptop. He was intent on finding out all he could about Brooke Matthews.

The model-slash-actress and the beautiful artist he'd met today.

Chapter 2.

"Are you sitting down?"

"Of course, I am. What else would I be doing?"

Riley laughed. "You could be pacing. I had a feeling you were pacing."

"Don't be ridiculous. You can't feel like someone's pacing."

"It's a twin thing," Riley said seriously and then started laughing again. "Sometimes you make it too easy, Owen!"

"Ha-ha," Owen replied dryly. "If you remember correctly, we're supposed to be Skyping. Why aren't we Skyping? And for that matter, why does it matter if I'm pacing or sitting?"

"First of all, something's up with the computer. Savannah's looking at it now, so maybe we'll be able to switch over in a few minutes."

"Oh."

"Maybe I should wait until we are-"

"Are what?" Owen asked, not following his brother's train of thought.

"Skyping."

"Ah...no. We'll be fine talking until then. What's going on?"

"I have some news."

"Okay-"

"Savannah's pregnant. We're having a baby! Can you believe it?" Riley asked excitedly.

Could he believe it? Yes. Biology was relatively clear, and Owen had no doubt his brother and his wife were...well, that wasn't important, and he didn't think Riley wanted to hear what he remembered from biology class about how babies were made.

"Um...Owen? You still there?"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry. Congratulations!" he said happily and realized he really was excited about this news. His brothers were all getting married and having babies, but...this was Riley. His twin. This baby just meant a little...more. "So...have you started picking baby names yet?"

Riley chuckled. "It's a little soon for that, but-"

"I know you. You already have names in mind. You're probably going to make Savannah crazy over the next nine months with them."

"I wouldn't say crazy...but yeah. I've already got a list of names going."

"How is Savannah feeling? Is she okay? Has she had any morning sickness?"

"Not yet, but it's still real early in the pregnancy. She's only six weeks along. Her doctor said it could hit at any time or not at all. There's no way of knowing if she'll get sick or not. Of course, we're hoping she doesn't, but that doesn't mean anything."

"Seventy-five percent of pregnant women experience morning sickness," Owen replied. "It's most common in the first twelve weeks-or the first trimester-but some women have it throughout their entire pregnancy. And it's not just limited to the morning, you know."

"Well, that settles it."

"Settles what?"

"You're not allowed to talk to Savannah just yet. You'll freak her out if you start talking statistics like that to her. She's feeling good, and she's optimistic about the whole pregnancy thing, and I want her to stay that way."

Owen felt terrible. It wasn't something he even thought about-sharing statistics and scientific facts about the things he knew. But this was the first time he realized how sometimes those statements could upset the people around him. And he certainly didn't want to upset Savannah.

"I... I'm sorry. I won't say anything like that again," he stammered. "I promise. Please don't let me freak her out. I wasn't thinking."

"Dude, all you do is think," Riley said, but he said it with humor. "It's one of the things we all love about you. But right now Savannah's emotions are...well...they're a little all over the place, and I never know what's going to set her off. She's cries a lot lately-like at the drop of a hat. I came home today and found her on our closet floor crying."

"What happened? Was she hurt?"

"Nope. She was putting laundry away and realized our hangers didn't all match." He gave a small chuckle. "I mean...who cares about matching hangers?"

"Obviously, your wife does," Owen reasoned.

"This is what I'm saying-she's emotional. I'm not used to seeing her like this-she's normally very calm and levelheaded, and to see her crying all the time? It's killing me. And we've still got like...months to go!"

"Thirty-four weeks."

"You're not helping, Owen!"

"Sorry." He sighed. "Okay, so...you're having a baby. You're going to be a dad. Are you freaking out?"

"I love how you don't beat around the bush."

"Oh, come on. You can't tell me Quinn, Hugh, and Aidan haven't said the same thing to you already."

"They haven't," Riley said evenly.

"Really? They haven't? Why not?"

"Because I haven't told them yet."

"What?" Owen cried.

"You're the first to know. I haven't even told Dad yet."

"But...but...why?"

"Are you seriously asking me that? Owen...you and me? We're like...one. This is the biggest thing to ever happen to me. Of course you're the first one I'm going to tell."

A lump the size of a golf ball lodged itself in Owen's throat. More than anything he wished he was in the same room with his brother so he could hug him. "I... I'm honored."

They were silent for a moment. "I am scared," Riley said softly.

And now even more, Owen wished they were together. "Why?"

"Savannah grew up as an only child, and we grew up in relative chaos. I know we were a little bit older when Darcy was born, so being around babies doesn't freak me out, but...it's just so much, you know?"

Owen didn't, but he figured he'd just let his brother speak.

"Dad worked so much when we were growing up, and he missed a lot. I don't want to do that. I want to be there for everything. I don't want it to be on Savannah's shoulders to do all the parenting like it was for Mom for so long."

"So you'll be there," Owen said reasonably. "You can control your schedule, Ry. That's the beauty in what you do. Your family can come on tour with you. And think of all the amazing things you'll be able to show him...or her."

Riley sighed loudly. "Yeah, I know, but...but what if something happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like with Mom," he said, and Owen could feel the sadness his brother was feeling. "What if something were to happen to Savannah, and then it was just me and the baby?"

"You can't think like that, Riley," Owen said carefully. "You just can't."

"It's kind of hard not to. I mean, I get it. I know we have no control over things like that. Accidents happen all the time, but...I don't know. Maybe Savannah's not the only one who's emotional right now. Maybe this is sympathy emotions. Is that even a thing?" he asked with a nervous chuckle.

"Probably not," Owen replied, laughing a little.

"Okay, so...distract me. Tell me what's going on with you. How are your lectures going?"

"They're okay."

Riley sighed loudly again. "Owen-"

"What?"

"What is going on with you? You sound even more...I don't know...disenchanted than you usually do."

"I usually sound disenchanted? Since when? When did that start? Why haven't you mentioned it before?"

"Okay, maybe that's not the right word, but...you sound different. What's up?"

The last thing Owen wanted to do was burden his brother-especially now-but maybe talking about his situation would help him.

"A beautiful woman wants to go to the desert with me," Owen blurted out before he could stop himself.

"Holy shit! What?" Riley cried. "Wait, wait, wait...start at the beginning and go slow. I have a feeling you've left out some key information here." He paused, and Owen could hear his brother murmuring something to Savannah. "Hold on."

It was Owen's turn to sigh, and the next thing he knew, his laptop was beeping with an incoming Skype call. Great. Now Riley would not only get to hear how freaked out he was, but he'd be able to see it too. Clicking on the icon, Owen accepted the call and couldn't help but smile when his brother's face filled the screen. "I take it Savannah figured out the problem?"

Riley chuckled. "Um...yeah. Apparently, I forgot to plug the damn thing in earlier, so it was dead. And then we couldn't find the charger because I left it down in the studio. So basically it was all my fault." He laughed again. "As usual. I hate all this electronic crap. It's hard to keep track of it all."

"Not really. If you keep a universal charger in key areas of your home, then you won't have to-"

"Stop trying to change the subject and go back to the beautiful woman in the desert!"

"Oh...right," Owen mumbled and then went on to tell Riley about his meeting with Howard and Brooke. Owen hadn't spoken long when Riley interrupted him.

"I have to stop you right there-are you telling me her name is Brooke Matthews? Seriously?"