Chapter 10

“I think it went well.” Yes, I was confident about that part. “No, it went well. It’s just…”

Nicholas raised one eyebrow as he leaned against the door to the small closet, inadvertently trapping me in the tiny room. “Just what?”

Now he was worried.

That meant his mate would start to worry.

And that would start a chain reaction I didn’t want to live through again.

“I keep remembering things I should’ve asked him and I’m kind of feeling like a first-date failure.” Trying not to sound stressed enough to trigger the domino effect of worries, I took a breath and forced my shoulders down.

“I don’t know what he does for a living or why I dropped him off at an office complex instead of a house this morning. I don’t know where he learned to cook and when I’m going to see him again. And I’m kind of worried that tired me was a brat and I kidnapped him into staying over because he was too nice to tell me no.” That was definitely something Jerker would do.

I’d even forgotten to ask him about his name because I knew there would be a reason why he picked it.

Yep, I’d figured out a few different ways to make him happy and had submitted but that was the extent of what I’d done right.

Nicholas didn’t seem to understand the seriousness of the situation because he started to chuckle. “First of all, they’re impossible to kidnap because their bodies fit down the drain for fuck’s sake. You couldn’t keep him restrained no matter how hard you tried. Have you ever seen those videos of octopuses getting in and out of crazy places?”

Oh.

When I nodded, he raised his hands in a “see what I mean” kind of gesture. “Yes, they are so nice there’ve been some weird social situations, but we made sure that everyone at the party last night was told to be honest with the humans they were talking to and that they weren’t supposed to do anything they didn’t want to.”

Good.

Yes, that was good.

So maybe he hadn’t been kidnapped.

“You were so tired you were a brat, huh?” Nicholas’s eyes sparkled as his own brat came to the surface. “He wore you out good?”

Ugh.

My blush had him snickering and doing a wiggly happy dance. “I knew it.”

“We’ve discovered how many orgasms it takes before I dry fire and before I become pain-in-the-ass tired.” There was no point in trying to escape Nicholas’s curiosity. “I basically told him he couldn’t leave and he stayed once I fell asleep.”

Giggling, my naughty friend grinned even wider. “He would’ve loved that. Trust me. His biggest worry last night would’ve been having to leave and he was probably working on a thousand different reasons to justify staying.”

Hmm.

I couldn’t remember Jerker trying to talk me out of it.

But that might’ve been because he’d been told not to argue with crazy humans.

“Um, well, he made me breakfast and he didn’t seem to be in a rush to leave.” Even if he’d been human, none of his actions said he’d wanted to leave. “He…he even talked to me about how much caffeine I drank. That means he wants to stay, right?”

Making rules for a sub meant the Dom wanted to see them again at the very least.

Nicholas started to say something but once my brain got going it was like a train and I kind of railroaded over him. “But I forgot to ask about his life and his plans. I don’t know anything about that part of his life. What if he thought I was rude and he decides he doesn’t want to see me again? What if he doesn’t care how much coffee I have at work today?”

I’d been so worried about that, I hadn’t even gotten a cup on my break.

“I was so distracted with wanting more cuddles before we left my apartment that I forgot to ask for his phone number. Does he even have a phone? I didn’t see one.” Had I even looked for one? “But now I’m starting to think that means I just wasn’t paying enough attention. He had pants on. That has to mean he had a phone in his pocket.”

How was I supposed to see him again?

Why hadn’t I thought about that before?

“I talked to him about texting him in the morning if we hadn’t spent the night together, but it took me way too long to realize that he never said anything about texting me back.” How had I missed that? “What does that mean?”

“Well.” Flicking one hand and gesturing toward me, he sighed. “This level of crazy says you’re already starting to bond and you’re missing your mate.”

What?

Luckily for me, he kept going with something I could understand. “He probably didn’t say anything about the texting in the mornings when he doesn’t sleep over because he’s planning on always sleeping over. I’m betting he just decided not to mention that point until he had to.”

Really?

I must’ve looked confused because Nicholas laughed. “They’ve really taken to that ask for forgiveness instead of permission thing. They think it’s basically like Domming with words and they find it fascinating.”

Okay, that kind of made sense…and even if it was a little confusing, Nicholas definitely knew them better as a species than I did.

“They also don’t sleep as much as we do, so he probably had half the night to plot and plan. I’m betting he researched what to feed you and studied that kind of stuff. He also probably figured out a half-dozen different ways to convince you that he needs to come over tonight.”

Oh. I knew about the sleeping thing.

“And have you even checked your phone?” When I just looked stupidly at Nicholas, he sighed and held out his hand. “Gimmie.”

It wasn’t until I just handed over my phone without a thought that part of my brain came back online and asked me what the fuck I was doing.

“See?” Aiming the screen in my direction, Nicholas gestured toward the contacts page. “Unless you’ve always had someone labeled as Mate Jerker in your phone, he did it while you were in brat mode or sleeping.”

I had his number.

He had a phone.

I could find him again.

“Logic first and panic second, cutie.” Nicholas grinned when I flipped my middle finger at him. “Naughty naughty. Be a good boy or I’ll tell your Master you were rude. He’s your Master already, isn’t he?”

Before I had a chance to figure out how to tell him to fuck off, a bigger distraction appeared. Nicholas’s mate.

“Your emotions have been fascinatingly variable, my mate. Have you found someone new to interrogate?” Larry knew his mate well enough to say that sentence completely seriously.

Rolling his eyes, Nicholas leaned back into his mate’s embrace. “That was an interview. A conversation. There were no interrogations.”

Bullshit

I’d heard from several people that it’d definitely not been an interview. The stupid kid who’d been trying to wiggle his way into the department hadn’t been smart and had told Nicholas how hot his mate was.

It’d just gone downhill from there.

“We were just talking about Theo’s date. They’re mates and his cute human brain is overloading.” Neither looked worried about that and they smiled like I was adorable. “He just figured out he doesn’t know what Jerker does for a living and realized a bunch of other odd stuff. He’ll be fine once he gets time to submit later.”

Oh.

I could just ask for that, couldn’t I?

“On your lunch break, make a list of questions you want to talk to him about later. That way, you won’t forget later when all your brain is thinking about is crawling all over him.” Nicholas’s help was so logical that more of the unreasonable panic faded. “And don’t forget to text your mate this morning and show him how many interruptions are reasonable.”

Huh?

I must’ve looked ridiculous because Larry picked up Nicholas’s hand and reached it over to pat my head with it. “He understands the value humans place on their work. He will not want to be an unreasonable distraction while you are serving and participating in the human labor market. It is a struggle he will master, though. Do not worry.”

Don’t worry, he won’t bug me at work too much because it’s important.

Got it.

“So…so I have to show him what’s reasonable and what I would like when it comes to texting me during the day.” I could do that. It would make him happy. “I…but…but what if I interrupt him?”

Looking down at the phone as Nicholas handed it back over, I knew I didn’t want to be the one fucking up his day. “He’s…he probably has more important things to be doing rather than just answering my texts.”

“No, he does not.” Larry’s simple answer had me looking up at him again. He didn’t seem to think it was a stupid question but he had his “I know I’m right” expression on. “There will be nothing more important than his mate.”

Nicholas chuckled, wiggling against Larry to get his mate to hug him tighter. “One of the first couples was between a member of the first-contact team and a guy he met on a fucking dating app.”

A dirty one judging by Nicholas’s grin.

“The first-contact team member…I don’t remember his name…he put the President on hold because his new mate wanted attention.” Snickering as my jaw dropped open, Nicholas nodded. “Yep, so no matter what he’s doing, he’ll want to talk to you.”

Jerker definitely hadn’t mentioned anything about hanging out at the White House anytime soon, so I probably didn’t have to worry about being too big of a pain in the ass. “I…I’ve got lunch coming up soon. I’ll…I’ll start making my list and then I’ll text Jerker.”

Yes, that was a good plan.

“And you’re going to tell him what time you get off work and ask if he wants to come over and have dinner with you.” Nicholas’s no-nonsense tone said he wouldn’t take any arguments about it. “As far as I know, he doesn’t have a human job yet. So you guys can talk about what he’s doing to fill up his day and what he thinks he might want to do.”

Oh.

“I…I’m a good listener.” I could ask questions and that’d probably make him happy. “He’s…he’s probably stressed about that.”

Maybe?

Being unemployed was stressful to me.

Nicholas and Larry both gave identical shrugs that were so perfectly timed they made me laugh.

Sticking his tongue out, Nicholas quickly decided to behave when his mate did something I couldn’t see. “Sorry… I’ll… Yeah, it’s close to lunch.”

Making a pleased sound, Larry’s grin looked every inch the predator they were. “You must teach your class, my mate. You are late.”

Oh, that was why he’d come to find Nicholas.

“Fuck.” Nicholas sprang out of Larry’s hold and wiggled under a large limb. “I hate this schedule.”

Everyone did.

Including his students because he was constantly late.

Larry gave me a wave as he followed his frustrated mate, looking like he was nearly giggling. He seemed to have decided Nicholas’s frustration was cute or funny, but after my time with Jerker, I had a feeling Larry was just enjoying finding reasons to punish his naughty mate.

But I wasn’t the one getting punished or fucked with, and they’d cleared up a lot of my worries, so I was feeling much better as I finished up the last of my to-do list before lunch. Of course, I started to find where my worries had wandered off to by the time I’d sat down in the small employee lounge where I was hiding with my lunch.

“I’m just texting him and making sure he knows what I want.” Grateful I was the only one in the room at the moment, I took a deep breath. “He’s not human. He needs to know what makes me happy for him to be happy. Nicholas told him to make sure to tell me if he doesn’t like something.”

I still wasn’t sure I believed that Jerker would actually put his wants before mine, but it was nice to know at least one person had told him not to be a martyr.

“You can do this.” It was literally just texting.

I had to repeat it a few more times before I managed to text Jerker, but eventually I did it.

Hey, thank you for putting your number in my phone.

Not bad. Not too short. Not too whiny.

What next?

I was so distracted this morning enjoying our time together that I forgot to ask what our plans are.

Okay, a bit presumptive on the plans part but he wasn’t human and he kept calling me my Theo. That meant I got to be a little bit presumptive.

I might’ve reminded myself of that a few times too but relief flooded through me when his reply popped up faster than I’d expected.

You are welcome, my Theo. Communication about daily events is important. I will remind you of that in our morning discussions.

Every morning, even when we were texting, or did that sound like he was going to be with me on a daily basis?

Deciding not to ask, I shook my head.

I think that’s a good idea. I should’ve remembered to ask you if you wanted to have dinner tonight or if you were busy.

Yes, not pushy and he had an out if he needed it.

I will never be too busy for you, my Theo. However, I have researched dinner options for you and practice is important when learning new skills.

Was cooking in general a new skill?

Was making food for a human new?

Okay, that topic needed to go on the list too.

Along with asking about where he was living and what he liked to eat. Yep, I needed a list…and the gumption to ask how often he was expecting to sleep over.