Clay (Mate Match #2)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Clay

My first thought when I saw Duncan was that he was the most adorable man I’d ever seen.

Seriously. He had dark eyes and moppy brown hair that looked like he just rolled out of bed.

He had on light-colored pants and a blue button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

He had a lopsided smile as he grinned toward Charlie, who was just adorable.

My gorilla took immediate notice as he got closer, and I had to fight the urge to growl when he hugged Charlie. I knew he wasn’t interested in my brother-in-law, and the last thing I needed was for my brother to kick my ass for growling near his pregnant mate.

“Duncan, I’m so happy you could make it,” Charlie said.

“I know I missed everything, but I wanted to drop off your gift,” Duncan said as he held out a large gift bag.

“You didn’t need to get us anything.”

Charlie looked around for Silver, and not a few seconds later, my brother was suddenly behind his mate.

“Hey, Duncan. Glad you could make it,” Silver said. “There’s some leftover food and cake if you want some.”

Duncan’s smile grew. “I don’t want to cause anyone extra work for getting things back out,” he said. “I just wanted to drop off the gift I got you guys.”

Duncan finally looked my way, and it was probably completely in my head, but I swore there was an electric current between us. The moment was broken, however, when Silver smacked me rudely, and I glared at him.

“Stop staring. It’s rude,” Silver said before he looked back at Duncan. “This is my brother Clay, and normally, he has better manners.”

I tried to say something but wasn’t given a chance because Silver was suddenly pulling me away from Duncan. I tugged back, but it was no use. My brother was stronger than I was. When we were inside, he finally let go of me, and immediately, my gorilla tried to head back outside.

“Where are you going?”

“Back outside,” I told him.

“No, you’re not,” Silver said. “You’re making Duncan uncomfortable.”

I did growl now and shoved Silver’s hands off me. “Let me go,” I told him. I made it to the door before Silver’s arms slid between mine and my torso, and then he hooked his arms upward and simply lifted me. “What is your deal? I told you that you were making Duncan uncomfortable.”

I was flailing around, trying to reach behind me enough to reach my brother to get him to let me go. Unfortunately, that was how Charlie and Duncan found us.

“Really, you two?” Charlie said as he and Duncan came into the house.

“Let me go,” I said again.

“Silver, let him go,” Charlie told his mate.

Immediately, he dropped me, and of course, I turned around and hit my brother. It wasn’t exactly my most shining moment, but he had been an ass, and he wasn’t listening to me. I didn’t hit him hard, but it was enough to push him several feet back from me.

“Clay, behave,” Charlie said. He didn’t appear to be amused. He had been mated to my brother for several months now, and he was used to all of our antics at this point. When Charlie made a face but wasn’t looking at me, I turned in time to see Silver dropping his arms.

“I’ll knock you in the face next time,” I warned my brother.

Charlie sighed loudly.

“Are they always so violent?” Duncan asked.

“They have their moments,” Charlie said. “You should probably sit down though.”

I could tell that Duncan was a bit on edge. “Umm, why?” he asked as he looked back and forth between Charlie and me and Silver.

“Nothing’s wrong, silly,” Charlie told him. “But you said you’d at least take cake, right? Well, are you going to eat it standing up?”

“Oh.” Duncan quickly sat but seemed uncomfortable.

I crossed the room, not sure if he intended for me to join Duncan or if I was supposed to help Charlie.

I opted for going into the kitchen and helping my pregnant brother-in-law.

He looked at me with wide eyes and then subtly indicated that I should go to the table.

I grabbed a water from the fridge and then sat down across from Duncan.

It gave me a good view of the adorable man.

Duncan offered a smile that looked a bit forced before he went back to looking down at the table.

Was he nervous? Scared? Uncomfortable? Had I done something?

“So, Duncan,” Charlie said as he carried a large piece of cake from the kitchen to the table, where Duncan was sitting.

“Any new matches on any of your dating apps?” He set the cake down in front of Duncan, who looked up at Charlie with wide, rounded eyes.

He glanced at me before looking back at Charlie, who started laughing.

“You know,” Charlie said, “I was actually sitting with Clay just before you arrived. I watched as he hit Submit on his own Mate Match profile, and we were both a bit shocked to see it come back with a match a few minutes later.”

Charlie glanced at me, then back at Duncan, who was immensely interested in the cake. I didn’t blame him. It was good cake.

“When did you decide to join Mate Match?” Silver asked me. Charlie stood, and Silver took his place, only to have Silver pull him onto his lap. They were cute together, and it had been obvious from the very beginning that my brother was completely in love with his mate.

“I’ve been considering it for a while now, but I finally got around to filling out the profile last night. Charlie encouraged me to actually hit Submit today though.”

Charlie cleared his throat. “And?” he asked, looking at me expectantly.

Why was dating so difficult? I was forty.

I’d be forty-one later this year. “And…” I looked at Duncan, who was more playing with his cake than eating it.

“Like Charlie said, I got a match.” I tried to get Duncan’s attention, but he seemed as if he wasn’t really interested.

“But I’m not sure he would be interested,” I added.

That had those brown eyes looking up at me, but he quickly glanced back down.

Charlie seemed as if he’d had enough. He sighed and rolled his eyes. “Really, Duncan? There is no way you didn’t know that Clay was matched with you,” Charlie said, calling out Duncan. “You’re constantly checking your phone at work every time I see you.”

Duncan looked up at Charlie with wide eyes. I felt my body go cold when Duncan gave Charlie a look and then immediately hid his face again. He wasn’t interested. That was too bad because my gorilla was certainly shouting about the adorable little red panda shifter.

“I’m going to head out,” I told them as I stood.

It took a lot to stare directly at Charlie and Silver, especially since I could see Duncan had looked up at me when I stood and spoke.

“If you need anything, you both know where I’ll be.

” I looked over at Duncan briefly. “It was nice to meet you, Duncan. Sort of meet you, I guess,” I added.

I’d not really met the man. He’d not said a thing to me, which…

okay. I could understand. Gorilla shifters were large.

We could be intimidating without even trying, and at times, that really worked against us.

It wasn’t intentional; we were just large shifters, as well as larger humans.

I left before anyone could say anything, and Silver didn’t have a chance to come after me because his pregnant mate was sitting on his lap. Charlie said something to Duncan, but I didn’t stick around to hear exactly what it was.

I heard the usual sounds of a neighborhood as I walked to my truck, which was parked on the street down the road a bit, but when I climbed in and closed the door, I was left with silence.

Usually, I enjoyed the silence, but for some reason, right now, I wanted anything but that.

I sat there for only a moment before starting the truck and pulling away from the curb.

I lived less than a five-minute drive away, but I didn’t feel like going home.

Instead, I drove past my place and down the block to Mica’s.

I knew before stopping that he wasn’t home because his truck wasn’t parked in his driveway.

That meant I would actually need to head back to my own place.

I didn’t want to go back to mine, but I would.

Mica most likely wasn’t the best person to talk to about certain things anyway.

That was probably Silver, but I didn’t really want to talk to him at the moment.

Most likely, I’d end up punching him again.

I turned around in Mica’s drive, and I’d made it about halfway back to my place when he called me on the phone.

“Hello,” I said as I answered the phone.

“Did you need something? You turned around in the driveway but didn’t stay.”

“Yeah. You’re not there.”

“No. I went out with Flint and Slate.”

“Seriously? Without me?”

“Man, we’re at the bar. You never want to go to the bar to pick someone up.”

I listened for a moment and shook my head as I pulled into my own driveway. “There’s no way you’re at a bar.”

“Not currently. I’m outside because you turned around in my driveway. You should come on out. Maybe you could find someone to spend the evening with.”

Immediately, my mind went to moppy brown hair and a lopsided smile. “No, thanks,” I told him. “I just pulled into my own driveway, and I’m thinking about opening a beer or two and just relaxing in my Jacuzzi or something.”

Sure, it was June, and I didn’t need to be in the Jacuzzi for heat. But it was inside, in a temperature-controlled room off my bedroom. It was more of a relaxation thing, and it was often where I went to relax my mind.

“Seriously?” Mica said. “You’re going to go sit in hot water instead of coming to the bar?”

“I am. Enjoy your night. Maybe you’ll get lucky and find that perfect someone.”

“No way,” Mica said. “For a night, sure. But no longer than that. I don’t even want to exchange names. Then they get attached.”