It was tempting to tease, to just not say anything. Toby and Ernest already knew he wasn’t the most effusive of people, although he talked when he needed to.
When Toby came bouncing in, the young man stopped dead in his tracks, about two feet away, and just stared at him, his eyes wide.
Can he see my mating bite?Ian did leave a lovely scar, and Rick was very proud of it, but he still needed to wear a shirt for work, and he was fairly sure his collar covered it.
“There’s something different about you,” Toby said as he danced around to Rick’s other side and peered up at him. Rick was still facing the counter, making his drink.
“There’s definitely something very different about you.” Toby scooted back around the other side again. “Did you go out this weekend? Did you go on a date? Did you get laid?”
“Did you?” Rick said, although he couldn’t stop his grin.
“You know I did. Ernest is a powerhouse in that department. But what about you?” Toby poked Rick’s bicep. “Come on, spill all. What did you get up to on the weekend? You’ve got that swagger of a man who’s been ridden hard and put away wet.”
“I would be the one doing the riding, thank you very much. And I did, as a matter of fact.”
“You got laid! You had a date!” Toby clapped his hands.
“I got a ride. I rode a bull at the dude ranch event on Saturday.” Rick chuckled as Toby’s face fell.
“You rode a bull? Like in yee-hah bull riding stuff?”
“Yep. It was something I used to do a long time ago.” Picking up his coffee, Rick turned to his side, leaning his hip against the counter. “Itook your suggestion. I went to the Bucket List Buddies rodeo event, or Be a Cowboy for a Day event, or whatever they called it. Anyway, I signed up, and I went. Thank you for the suggestion.”
“Did you find your mate? I mean, unless the bull was a shifter, did you find your mate? That was the whole point of going.”
Rick took a slow sip of his coffee. “I might have done.” He couldn’t stop smiling if he tried. “Yep.”
“Oh, my gods. Ernest. Ernest!” Toby yelled at the top of his lungs, and Rick could hear a heavy thumping as Ernest charged into the kitchen with the look of a rampaging elephant, which he actually was.
“What, Toby? What’s the matter? What’s wrong?”
“Rick found his mate at the dude ranch.”
“Rick, what?” It was clear Ernest wasn’t listening. He was too busy checking Toby over to make sure he hadn’t broken a fingernail or something more serious. “Why did you yell?”
“Because, my precious darling mate,” Toby said slowly, catching Ernest’s hands. “Rick went to the dude ranch Bucket List Buddies event, and he found his mate. Who is he?”
Rick realized that Toby had turned his attention back on him. “Who is this, mate? Where is he? Is he lovely? Is he little? Is he big? Is he in between? What is he? Is he even a he? Tell me all about it.”
“His name is Ian, and I’m not a hundred percent sure what sort of shifter he is, but he works from home doing corporate market risk assessment and things like that. I don’t know much else.” Rick felt his cheeks heat. “We didn’t have a lot of time to talk over the weekend, as I’m sure you can imagine.”
“Ian? Ian.” Toby’s eyes were shifting left and right. “Is that Lionel and Hector’s friend Ian?”
“I don’t know.”
“Does he have a sister who’s had a baby recently?”
“I’m not sure.”
“For goodness’ sake, what did you learn about the man? You were with him for three days.”
“I think the list of things that Rick probably learned about his mate are not the sorts of things you need to know or listen to. Did you forget, my precious mate, I didn’t even know your name when we met, and you couldn’t tell me what it was because you were unconscious,” Ernest said, coming over, slapping Rick’s shoulder, and then giving him a quick hug. “Congratulations. I’m really, really pleased for you. When do we get to meet this Ian of yours?”
“Again, not sure.” Rick took another quick mouthful of his coffee. “I promise it’ll be soon.”
“It better be soon,” Toby said—he had his serious face on that always made Rick want to laugh. “We’ll do dinner. We’ll have dinner together, tonight. Tell Ian to come over, after he’s finished his work, whatever he’s doing, tell him to come over. I’ll bring dessert from the bakery, and we’ll cook a meal here. We’ll have a barbecue and stuff.”
Rick looked at Ernest, who was nodding. But then Toby could say the sky was green, and Ernest would be nodding. “Are you sure it’s all right? We could leave it till the weekend?”
