“But there is nothing like having your own—”
“Kay, leave the boy alone. He has a true mate, how wonderful for him. It’s a special occasion,” Dad interrupted in the background. “Ian, when will we get to meet him?”
“What about the weekend if Rick doesn’t have plans? We could all go out for lunch at the Italian restaurant you both like? I could book it.”
He could hear Mom muttering as Dad had taken the phone from her. He had always been the peacekeeper, and Ian had learned to be the same. “That would be lovely, can you book it for Sunday as we have plans Saturday.”
“Of course, let me run it by Rick when he picks me up this evening, and I’ll confirm later.”
“Great.”
Mom called out, “Don’t forget that William is expecting you on Friday to have the girls, as Bianca is away on business and he has plans with friends.”
Crap, crap, crap!He had forgotten he’d agreed to that. He released a disheartening sigh, running a hand through his hair, his mind running through his mental calendar of things his family wanted him to do. The next two weeks were going to be busy with everything he’d agreed to.
He inhaled a deep breath and released it slowly before saying, “I’m not sure Mom, I have a mate to consider too, you must see he has to come first for me?” Back was the begging voice, and he hated himself because it came layered with guilt. “I’ll call William and Winston, explain why I’ll be less available to help with the children.”
The silence that followed left him with a heaviness on his shoulders. He’d been brought up to always put family first, and for thirty-six years he’d been happy to do exactly that.Wasn’t it his turn now to do what he wanted, just for him?
“Fine, we’ll see you on Sunday where we can talk some more about this.”
“Okay, Mom.”
After the goodbyes, Ian’s head thumped down onto his desk. It wasn’t selfish to want to be with his mate when they were only in the ‘getting to know each other stage’.It wasn’t.
He clung to that, grumbling and groaning, reaching for the paperwork from his conference call. There were only a few tweaks required in the assessments, which was good news as he had a pile of other work to be getting on with, that he hadn’t done the day before.
Work, work was the best way to stop himself from worrying. It always worked in the past, and he clung to that by his fingernails.
Chapter Eleven
Rick
“What’s wrong?”
The moment Rick got Ian inside his home all he wanted to do was kiss and love on his mate with all the pent-up affection he’d been holding back all day.
The dinner with Toby and Ernest had gone great. Rick was pleased that Toby already knew Ian. Apparently, Ian was friends with Morty’s mate Hector, and Lionel and Brad—Rick had heard about, too—through Toby. So there was no awkwardness, just a fun time, with Toby taking the credit for Rick and Ian’s mating, which made Ian laugh.
But there was something definitely wrong. Rick had noticed throughout the entire dinner, it was as though Ian was playing a part. He was friendly and definitely had no problem showing affection around the others. There was just that niggle in the back of his head, where his bond with his mate sat… Rick couldn’t forget that when he went to pick Ian up, Ian had clung to him like a drowning man.
Which meant they were going to have to talk before they got down to the fun side of the evening.
“I know we don’t know each other very well yet,” Rick said, taking Ian over to the couch, instead of rushing him straight to the bedroom, which had been his first intention. “I guess now would be a good time to stop for a moment and clear the air about a few things.”
He waited until Ian was sitting down and then sat next to him, before adding, “I could feel you through our bond all day—you clearly haven’t had a good day. I’m here, ready to listen—that’s what mates are for. Not just for the fun stuff.” He waggled his eyebrows and was pleased to see Ian’s smile light his eyes. “Mates are supportive of each other through everything, good and bad.”
Ian seemed to slump. It was as if somebody had taken a pin to him and popped him, deflating him. “I really didn’t want you to get involved in all my mess when we’re all still so new to each other. I’m just feeling so… so… so torn… so undervalued. Shit, I don’t know why I’d never seen it before.
“And it’s just, they want me to do this, and then they want me to do that, and then I tell them I have a mate and it’s oh, but you’re still looking after the kids on Friday, and I can’t believe that’s what their first thought is! And then all day, all day I spent missing you, wanting to be with you.
“I knew I couldn’t come across as clingy because if you wanted clingy, you’d have gotten yourself an omega and I really don’t know what to do, and I’m just ready to tear my hair out because matings are supposed to be perfect. They’re meant to be fun, and I don’t understand where all these feelings are coming from.”
“Whoa, babe!” Rick gathered his mate close and pulled him into his chest, soothing him with long, unhurried strokes down his back. “How about you take a breath?” he said slowly. “Take a breath andstart from the beginning. I missed you today. Does that help? I missed you, and I wish that you were at the farm so I could pop in and see you in between my different chores. I figured that it wouldn’t do any harm. You work from home anyway, so it wouldn’t be that disruptive to work in Ernest’s kitchen, or he did say you could use one of the bedrooms in his house as an office… so you see, I was thinking about us being together too.”
Ian’s head came up. “If Ernest was fine with my being at the farm during the day, why didn’t he say anything at dinner? I’d have grabbed onto that with both hands.”
“Because, my wonderful mate, Ernest was respecting your autonomy. He knew that was something you and I needed to discuss privately. If I brought up something like that in front of my friends, then you may feel that you were being coerced into a decision you didn’t want to make.”
