“Are you nuts?” Casey looked wide-eyed at me. “You could have let me get out of the way.”

“Not if it’s you I need to talk to.” I pressed my hand against the door, refusing to let him run away again. “We need to have a word, and I’m done letting you avoid me.”

His adorable face screwed right up. “So you’re taking that option away from me? You’re now making decisions for me?” he asked rather tersely.

“Why on earth is everyone making my motives seem so sinister today?” I felt like I was losing a battle that hadn't even begun, playing offense in a game where I didn’t know all the rules. “All I want is five minutes of your time.” I let my hand drop. “But I won’t force you to stay in here with me.”

Casey looked toward the floor as he crossed his arms. He seemed to be struggling with a decision as he chewed on his bottom lip. Finally, he looked up at me. “My office. Five minutes.”

He walked out, and I was left to wonder if he was giving me just five minutes or telling me to meet him in his office in five minutes. With a shrug, I walked out of the men’s room and went straight for his office. I went in and found Casey seated behind his desk, his back ramrod straight, looking at the wall in front of him with laser focus.

If he’d been any stiffer, he could have blown away in a breeze.

“Five minutes.” He didn’t bother to look my way.

His office wasn’t that big. It had rows of filing cabinets behind his desk. There were frames on the walls, his first dollar, some other things that had something to do with the café, and photos of him and Dillon at various ages. Every time I stepped into his office and looked at those photos, I found myself smiling.

His desk was made of green metal, one of those old-fashioned ones that teachers used in schools, and the two chairs in front of his desk were mismatched. For a cramped office, it was surprisingly organized and clean. He even had some small potted plants on top of his cabinets and on his desk.

To the right of me, as I stood in front of him, was a large window, the blinds pulled down, but the slats were opened enough to see the bayou that was fifty feet from where the cars were parked.

I sighed as I sat in one of the chairs, resting my elbows on my knees. “Look, I wasn’t flirting with Brandon.” I told him about Brandon’s girlfriend.

“Then why was he blushing so hard?” One of Casey’s brows was arched.

“Because he was asking me some things that were a bit intimate, about women, which I couldn’t answer since I’d never been with a woman, but I tried, and I think I might have been a bit too blunt with my answers.” I sat back and shrugged. “Even though it wasn’t what it seemed, why do you care? It’s not like you’re interested in me or Jack.”

Casey’s eyes finally met mine. He picked up a pencil off his desk, set it back down, then aligned it to the notebook by his keyboard. “The last two weeks have been…eye-opening, to say the least.”

“You seem comfortable around our bears.” We’d slept at his house every night since we’d rescued him. We weren’t letting Casey out of our sight just in case that demon was still lurking around. I had no doubt he still was, and the thought of him trying to “breed” with Casey sent my anger to an all-time high.

“Yeah, I pretty much am.” Casey visibly deflated and sat back but looked out the window. “I’ve seen you and Jack in your bear form for two weeks.”

“Then what is it?” I asked. “The pregnancy thing?”

Casey looked wide-eyed at me. “That wouldn’t freak you out, too? Before Lucas and Mikhia showed up in town, I had no idea that was even possible.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I had no clue your world even existed. Now I have some demon after me, and if I gave in to my feelings for you two, I could be knocked up.”

“Your feelings?” I smiled, even though he would probably want to throttle me for doing so. “What feelings do you have, Casey?”

He waved his hand in front of himself, like he was wiping off an invisible window. “We’re not going there, Ken. It’s not important. I’m not carrying anyone’s baby. I’m not…I’m just…” He closed his eyes. “Your five minutes are up.”

Taking a chance, I moved around his desk and sat on the edge of it. “What’s so scary about starting a family? You’ve known us six months, Casey. You see we’re upstanding guys. You wouldn’t be in this alone.”

Casey used the heel of his hand to rub circular motions into his forehead. “I’m not having this conversation with you.”

“Just answer me that one question,” I pushed.

“It’s not natural.” Casey dropped his hand.

“It’s perfectly natural in our world.”

“And…and, what if one of you decides that you’re not cut out for fatherhood?” He went on, bowling right over what I’d just said. “What then, Ken? I know what that’s like, and I wouldn’t do that to a child.”

Things were clicking into place. Casey’s dad had walked out on his mom. He’d returned after Casey had opened a successful café, showing his true colors. I’d met the guy. Hell, Jack and I had run Fred out of town. “And you think we’d leave you high and dry?”

Casey shrugged, refusing to look my way. “It happens.”

His response only made me hate Fred even more than I already had. He’d put that mistrust in Casey, making his son fear becoming a father himself. If we ever hoped to become a family, Jack and I had our work cut out for us. It was going to take a lot to gain Casey’s trust, but I was willing to put in the work.