Chapter 1 #2
“I’m a professor for an online university that specializes in alternative species, but we actually have a variety of humans with special circumstances who don’t seem to realize most of their classmates aren’t human.
” He shrugged like he couldn’t understand it.
“I don’t know if it’s the human ability to justify odd things around them or just how we come across. ”
“That sounds fascinating, but I can see that being a mix of both.” I’d seen more than one human make crazy assumptions to explain away anything out of the ordinary.
He must’ve liked what he heard or something about my expression because he looked lighter and continued.
“The area where we live around here has been spelled to make sure regular humans don’t see us.
The only times we’re caught on cameras is this sect that’s got a back-to-nature obsession and they’re constantly on the verge of getting outed because they don’t want to use magic and don’t believe in showers. ”
Malik’s eye roll said what he thought of that.
“I’m not that social by nature but I’m not so much of an introvert that I can’t adapt if you need more people around than I do.
” His head cocked as he paused, giving him an adorable thinking expression that did ridiculous things to me.
“I don’t have that many traditional magic users in my family tree but I can sense it being used and can handle spelled objects. ”
Frowning, he rested one elbow on the table and looked a bit like a professor I used to have in college.
“I’m a Daddy. You already knew that, but it’s probably a good thing to confirm.
I’m looking for a long-term partner and sub.
I’m technically bi. Most of my species is, but I’m on the more gay side of the scale.
I’m seriously monogamous and am not looking for any kind of poly situation. ”
He was good at hitting the highlights.
“That I look human isn’t going to be an issue for you?” I’d been open to meeting a variety of different kinds of people, but I wasn’t sure if he’d been expecting something else or not. He hadn’t said what he’d asked the matchmaker for, and I was getting curious about it.
For the first time he got a sheepish expression and from what I could see I was pretty sure he was blushing. “I… I prefer human-looking partners, although I’m very flexible on their background and magical abilities.”
Interesting.
We were kind of cute in a helpless kind of way, so I could see that being a turn-on for a Dom.
“Well, I’m personally glad about that, but I think I’m missing something.” Was it considered taboo? “I’m not going to judge, but that made you uncomfortable?”
Why hadn’t I learned more about other cultures growing up?
I’d known there were people like Malik and vampires and all kinds of others, but no, I had to spend time learning how to speak Spanish because my mother thought that would be more useful.
He still looked slightly sheepish, but he didn’t hide from the answer. “In general, I like your size because… well… I can carry you. You’re very different than I am so that might be part of it, but I find smooth skin very appealing.”
Different was always more fun.
“There’s a reason people say opposites attract.” And it was kind of nice that he wasn’t going to look down on me for not being able to grow a beard to save my life. “My family intermarried over the generations with several different human populations that don’t have much body hair… so… yeah…”
I was the one who was blushing that time, and his grin flashed almost predatory for a moment before it went back to being sweet as he responded.
“That’s not a bad thing for me, so I’m glad to see we’re compatible in a variety of ways.
Besides, it’s much harder keeping diaper areas healthy when there is an abundance of hair or fur. ”
That definitely hadn’t been on my questionnaire, though if our compatibility was magically related, I wasn’t going to figure out how that worked. I was, however, going to thank the fates that he wasn’t going to look down on me the way some of my last dates had.
And I was going to continue to blush.
Why body hair was a defining feature of being an adult male human I’d never understand. Attitude and making bad decisions we couldn’t explain seemed like much more accurate ones.
“So far we are.” He didn’t mind the way I looked and he seemed to be a genuinely nice guy and a Daddy…
yep… I needed to start looking for his red flags.
We were at the point where I was starting to worry that we were playing the dating version of Capture the Flag and I hadn’t started searching for his yet.
“Okay, my turn.” What would he like to know?
“Um, I’m a young Little when I can get in that headspace.
I’m a frustrating person to be around when I haven’t gotten to be Little on a regular basis.
I really like binge-watching random reality shows like the cooking competitions when I’m just trying to turn off my brain, but it’s cartoons when I’m trying to get into my Little side. ”
What else?
“I like a variety of different types of food, so I’m not a Little that just lives on nuggets. It would be frustrating to have the same meals over and over.” The number of men who thought we should be able to live on steak and pasta was startling and I wasn’t willing to do that forever.
His chuckle said he understood at least part of my frustration but his relaxed head shake said I didn’t need to worry. “I like new foods and trying out recipes, so we’ll have to compare notes. At the very least we can come up with a plan together because I can cook and I enjoy doing it.”
Wonderful.
“I can do it, but I don’t like it. I know that sounds ridiculous since I like a variety of foods but I’m a worrier and obsessing over the steps gives me anxiety.” That never sounded reasonable no matter how many times I’d tried to explain it. “I’m a really good sous chef.”
I followed directions well and I could manage other people.
Those seemed to be a different skill set than actually doing the cooking, though.
“Then we’ll make a great team because a kitchen only needs one cook.” His Dom side seemed to peek out as he frowned. “That means no randomly adding salt to a dish or deciding to fix it behind my back.”
Oh.
“Um, no one should do that.” Friend or family? Someone had clearly been overstepping. “You know no one should do that, right?”
His frustrated expression shifted toward something more sheepish. “Family does not always respect boundaries or have common sense.”
Why were Doms so good at managing strangers but so bad at managing relatives?
“I can promise not to go behind your back and do anything like that.” It seemed obvious, but I kept going. “I want to actually help my partner not just claim I’m helping, and when I’m in a healthy relationship, I like making my Daddy happy. It’s just what makes me happy too.”
That got a knowing smile from him. “You’ve had some unhealthy relationships, I take it?”
Ugh.
“Maybe? But I don’t think I’m supposed to confess that until like the third date? I want you to think I’m functional and a good risk until you get to know me better.” First impressions should be positive.
Malik was trying not to laugh but doing a terrible job of it. “I’d heard third dates were for other things, but explaining bad decisions is understandable.”
And my blush was back.
Great.
“If we make it through date two without my having chased you off, I was kind of hoping to shift that timeline a bit.” It’d been a long time since I had other things besides a Daddy and his aura was off the charts.
His smile was sexy too.
And then there was the whole carrying me comment.
Yeah… date three seemed very far away at the moment.