Page 110 of Monster Daddies

Instead of telling me I was weird or asking me if I’d taken my meds, he smiled. “No, but thank you.”

My brain was still struggling because nothing she’d said made me picture anyone who didn’t at least look mostly human, but Malik’s was still working fine so he picked up the slack again. “I don’t see them but I’ve met people who can. Are they distracting for you?”

“Sometimes.” Like when I met a really unexpectedly pretty one. “It was worse when I was a kid, but I’ve gotten used to it for the most part.”

When he simply waited quietly and watched me, I realized a bit too late he was still curious. “The distracting part is mostly when a lot of people are in one place. Like picture a workevent or dinner party where everyone is flashing different colors. Places like that are where people lie and boast and don’t always let the best side of themselves shine… literally and figuratively in my case.”

And then there was when I was slightly anxious and worn down too.

He chuckled, the smile lighting up his face again. “That would be distracting. Most people seem to struggle in those situations. Is that why you were looking for someone who lived a more rural life?”

That’d turned into the understatement of the year considering how far out in the middle of nowhere we currently were sitting.

“Yes.” Not that this was what I’d pictured. “I can handle busier areas but it takes a lot out of me. So when she asked the type of location I’d like to live, I imagined something quieter and with less people.”

I wasn’t sure if I should’ve been more specific, though.

Malik smiled again. “What thought just crossed your mind?”

Ugh.

I could see he was trying not to laugh as he shrugged. “You have a very expressive face.”

That was going to get me in trouble eventually.

“Um, I was wondering if I should’ve been more specific when I described my perfect place to live and… and then I was wondering what kind of house you lived in.” I was an idiot. “I wasn’t going to ask that out loud, though.”

Yep, I was an idiot.

“You really can’t ask me things unless you want to know the answer. I can stay quiet but my inside thoughts become outside thoughts when… when a Dom asks me questions.”

He might not have been human but the beautiful tint to the edges of his aura meant Dom.

Well, Daddy from what I’d been told, but we hadn’t gotten to that point in the conversation yet.

Until now.

Ugh.

Slow breath in.

Slow breath out.

The matchmaker said we were compatible and Malik had been nothing but nice so far. He’d even walked over slowly to give me a few seconds to get my bearings because it’d probably been obvious I hadn’t been expecting him.

I’d thought meeting out near the state park meant he’d be a shifter of some sort.

That had been an assumption I should’ve clarified sooner.

Malik’s eyes sparkled again. “That’s going to be helpful when you’ve been naughty.”

I could feel my face heating up as my cheeks started to ache but I refused to back down from the necessary conversation… or what might’ve been him flirting. “I’m generally a very good sub. I… I like making my Daddy happy and… and when I find the right headspace to submit, I have a very young Little side.”

It was just hard to find it living in the city.

I was an idiot to have put myself there to begin with, but I’d been dead set on trying to live as a regular human and had just ended up torturing myself.

Which honestly seemed to be a very human thing to do, so I might’ve been successful in my attempt to blend in.