Page 7 of Curtis & Jae (Mate Match #1)

Seven

Curtis

Used to getting up early, even on weekends, I rose before Jae did.

He needed his rest after his heat, though it had been a shorter one, likely because it had been a surprise, so I left him to sleep and went to clean up after the last day or so.

It took me a couple of hours to get everything back to how I wanted it.

There was laundry to catch up on, general cleaning to do.

While his heat was ongoing, I kind of ditched everything to ensure he ate and drank enough.

Now that I had a couple of hours, I set everything to rights again.

It helped calm my mind after a mentally exhausting weekend.

Seeing to his needs, even just getting him to have snacks, was hard.

I didn’t know enough about what he liked to keep his energy up.

I cleared away the pots and pans from my rushed meal prep over the weekend.

Mostly, I’d thrown together something for us to eat while Jae caught some desperately needed sleep.

My stomach growled, reminding me that neither of us had eaten all that much.

I decided we both needed a treat. What was better than a hearty breakfast?

He needed something full of protein and carbs.

I knew he’d need to replace some of the calories he’d burned.

We both probably did, though me less than him.

Then I frowned. Jae had loved my body. He wouldn’t want me looking down on myself for the extra weight I was carrying.

In the kitchen, I got to working on the breakfast casserole my mama used to make us before she passed.

We lost her in an accident which also put an end to my football career just before senior year.

The plan was for a football scholarship, maybe a business degree if I couldn’t go pro.

Busted up knee and two surgeries later, I was fine, but not college football fine.

Losing Mama and football in one blow would have been too much for some, but I’d found support in my family and friends.

Dad was naturally devastated to lose his wife and best friend, yet somehow, in all his grief, he managed to keep me and my sister from falling apart. He’d been our rock in a storm.

The life insurance money from Mama paid for me to go to trade school.

Since Dad didn’t need it, he shared it between me and my sister.

I gave some of mine to my sister so she could finish her degree in medicine.

Now a doctor, she had offered to pay it back more than once.

I’d always refused. She had needed it to do something important.

I hadn’t needed all that much. Instead of cash, she bought me my first work truck and paid for the branding to start my home renovations business.

I hoped Mama was looking down on us and was proud of the people we had become.

We were still tight. I saw my sister and dad as often as a busy work schedule allowed.

All of us put family first. Even fifteen years later, I still thought about my mama a lot.

Sometimes, if I was feeling particularly low, I would talk out loud to her.

It helped me work through my problems. Dad told me he did the same thing.

Moving around the kitchen, preparing food while cleaning up, was almost second nature to me since I did it often for my monthly Sunday brunches with my dad and sister.

A glance at the calendar stopped me cold. It was the same day as the brunch! My dad and sister were due to arrive at any moment!

Rushing to the bedroom, I went to wake Jae. I needed to give him the chance to bail if he didn’t want to meet my family so soon into whatever we were. I couldn’t blindside him and risk losing him for it. It could be a disaster! My family was protective and Jae was vulnerable after his heat.

“Jae?”

“Hmm, Curtis?” He opened one bleary eye.

“Gonna start by saying I am in no way ashamed of you.” I made sure he was looking at me.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I stroked his hair out of his face.

He was far too pretty for me. How’d I get matched with someone like him?

“I’d love for you to meet my family, but I get you might not be ready yet.

It’s too soon. Too damn soon for something so big. We’re barely even dating.”

“What?” He still sounded a little groggy.

“My dad and sister are on their way here. We do Sunday brunch once a month and it’s my turn to host.”

It took a moment for it to register. “Shit!” He scrambled to sit up.

“Uh, fuck! I do want to meet them, but not like this. In like a couple months, after we’ve dated more!

” I could tell he was struggling to keep it together.

He paused, craning his neck in his search for clothes.

“You’re right, it’s too soon. Will you be okay if I leave? ”

“Of course.” I could admit to myself I felt a little disappointed, but I put myself in his shoes.

An unmated omega who had just met an alpha, gone through a heat, and was about to meet two other alphas?

That would be intimidating. I’d read omegas needed safety and comfort in the days after their heats, especially if they were surprise ones.

I just wanted to keep him comfortable. That wouldn’t be possible with two strangers in the house.

“Hope you don’t mind, I washed your clothes.” I pointed to the pile neatly folded on the dresser.

Jae leaped up and kissed me soundly on the mouth. I wanted to hold him against me. “You are so amazing! Do I have time for a shower?”

I winced. He sagged back before brightening. “Quick rinse and I’ll be out of here. We can plan our next date later if you like?”

Another date? “That sounds great.” Keeping my voice even was difficult. I locked down on my pheromones and excitement. Another chance to make Jae smile!

He hopped out of the bed before wincing. “Damn. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so well used after a heat.” He missed my blush as he went into the bathroom. Sex with him had been out of this world.

It only took him five minutes to have a quick wash and dress, which was impressive.

“My ride will be here in a minute.” He stepped into my open arms, cuddling close. “Thank you for an amazing heat experience. The way you took care of me? I’ll never forget that, even if things don’t work out between us.”

Just imagining us going our separate ways hurt. I didn’t even want to think about it. I was going to look on the bright side.

“I think they will.” Putting that into the universe felt like the right thing to do.

“I do too. Call me later, okay?”

“Okay.” My relief at Jae feeling the same clogged my throat for a moment. I coughed to cover the swell of emotion.

Following him to the door, my stomach dropped when a familiar luxury car pulled up. My sister, Lara.

Jae’s gaze landed on the car. He paled slightly. Going onto his tiptoes, he kissed my cheek. With a final squeeze of my hand, he dashed by the car just as the door opened.

“Hi and bye!” I heard him shout in some relief as his ride pulled up at the end of my driveway. He was there and gone in just a moment.

“Who was that?” Lara asked as she approached.

I struggled to get myself under control. I wanted to call Jae and have him come back. To send my family away, but they were already here and our bubble had been broken. “That’s Jae. The guy I matched with.”

“The omega from the app?” She turned back as if looking for him. “He’s cute! Did you have another date?”

“Why don’t you come in before you give me the third degree? Where’s Dad?”

“He’s here,” he said, getting out of the car. “Lara was in too much of a hurry to get the tea, as you say. She forgot it takes me a minute to get out of this thing. It’s too low! Why couldn’t you have taken the SUV?”

“You know why, Dad! Jennie needs it for Milo’s soccer practice.” Lara rolled her eyes affectionately.

My sister, also an alpha, was married to Jennie, a sweet omega she met at work.

Jennie was now a stay at home mom to their son, Milo.

They hoped to add to their family at some point, but they’d struggled with miscarriages.

Now Milo was seven, it looked unlikely there was another baby on the cards for them.

Jennie was working on starting her own business and loved to call me for help and to complain about my sister, teasingly, of course.

I adored her, and we’d grown to be good friends.

The two of them were a great match. Jennie was Lara’s rock when things got rough at the clinic.

“I forgot, sweetheart, sorry.” Dad frowned.

He hated forgetting things, having always prided himself on his memory for details.

We were keeping an eye on things. Truthfully, I think it was more his hearing than his memory.

He didn’t always grasp the details when we talked fast or if there was a lot of background noise. “When’s Milo’s next game?”

Lara took Dad’s arm to support him into the house. Not that the old man needed it. He was only sixty-seven, and fairly active, too. He’d fallen in the yard last month and I think it had shaken Lara. Truthfully, it had gotten to me, too. It was a reminder we wouldn’t have him forever.

Inside the house, I served up the casserole. Dad smiled at it, his eyes filling with unshed tears for a moment before he brushed them off. He still loved our mom. Always would.

“So, the omega…” Lara began.

“Jae. His name is Jae.”

“Did you see him, Dad? He was cute, right?”

“I saw. Where’s he from?” Dad ate a bite of his food, waiting for me to answer.

“His family is originally from Korea, but he’s American. He was born here. Went to college in Portland.”

“Huh. So what’s he do?”

Rather than go through the question-and-answer session, I pulled out my phone and showed the profile on the Mate Match app to my dad while Lara got a devious look in her eyes.

“Did Jae stay over last night? You had a date on Friday, right?”

“He did. Jae stayed all weekend—”

“All weekend! Wow! It must be serious then?”

“Uh, he went into heat early. Have you heard of that?” As a doctor, I thought she might know.

Lara sat thoughtfully for a while. “It’s possible he had a reaction to your pheromones.”

“We were in a restaurant with a neutralizer.”

“Still, I’m pretty sure you’re a dominant alpha. If he’s a dom omega, then it’s entirely possible you just mesh well. Did you get close to him? Touch him at any point?” Lara was gearing up for a medical lecture.

“He took my arm when we walked through. I pushed his chair in.”

“You’ve always had impeccable manners,” Dad interjected with approval.

“That could have been enough. It suggests you two are highly compatible.”

“I’ll say!” I blurted. My face heated. That was not something to share with my family!

Lara giggled. “Jennie is going to love this! So you took him through his heat?”

“Yeah, and before you ask, we did DuoStop.”

Rather than smile, she frowned. “Okay.”

“Is something wrong?”

“No, it’s fine. Reminded me of a work thing.” She waved a hand. “Patient confidentiality. It’s fine. I’m glad you took precautions.”

“Are you going to see Jae again?” Dad asked, breaking the weird mood Lara had fallen into.

“He asked me to call him later so we can arrange another date. I really like him. He feels special.”

Both my dad and sister smiled. “Just be careful, please,” Lara urged. “You’ve got a tendency to put more into these relationships than they do. It’s always a little one sided.” She winced. “Sorry.”

“Nah, it’s good. I know what you mean. It feels different this time. I promise.”

“Alright. I’m glad to see you are happy. You seem lighter, I dunno, just different in a good way.”

Dad nodded, agreeing while he continued eating, making cheerful noises.

We chatted while we ate, catching up on each other’s lives. I spoke to Jennie at least once a week, so some of the things Lara said weren’t new to me, but I acted like I hadn’t heard Milo’s math test results and said how proud I was of him.

Dad talked about his yard and his bowling friends.

He’d made a few new friends with a weekly bowling league we encouraged him to go to.

He was retired, and we didn’t want him to be lonely.

These guys were always over at his house, or he went to theirs, just to tinker on cars, or tidy flower beds. They kept each other company.

“Me and Jennie are going to take Milo to a movie. Want to come?” Lara asked before getting in the car. Dad was already sitting inside with his leftovers.

“Nah, I’ve got some stuff around here.”

“And Jae to call.”

“Yeah, and Jae to call.”

“You really like him, don’t you?”

I nodded, unable to voice just how much. It was too damn soon. He felt too far away from me. I had to put a lid on that before it became a problem.

“Go call him and I’ll see you soon, okay? Come over for dinner this week to tell Jennie the gossip in person for once.”

“Alright. Enjoy your movie. Give Milo a hug from his favorite uncle.”

“His uncle Steven would argue that title.”

“Whatever. Bye.”

They left, leaving me at a loss. It was far too early to call Jae, wasn’t it?

My phone beeped with a text. It was my work phone as well as my personal one, so I had to leave the sounds on.

Jae

When do you think we should go out again? Thank you so much for washing my stuff and charging my phone! You are so thoughtful x

A smile stretched across my face. Maybe this wasn’t one sided for a change.