Page 30 of Unicorn Unashamed

“I think we’ve both been missing some important signals here, so I want to be very clear and upfront about this. You like me?”

“A lot,” Raymond mumbled.

“Okay,” Josh breathed out, relieved. “Okay, well. The feeling’s mutual, all right?”

“It...” Raymond seemed so stunned that Josh almost wanted to laugh. Maybe sob.

“It’s mutual,” Josh said again. “I… you’re surprised by this?”

“Yes!”

“How?” Josh raked a hand through his hair. “I thought… I thought I was being anything but subtle, which is why I started trying to tone it down. You were the one who never seemed interested.”

“Scent,” Raymond blurted.

“What?”

“It was your scent,” Raymond said. “I didn’t—I try my best not to read too much into peoples’ scents, since it’s not my business, they can’t help that I’m an alpha with all these extra senses but… I paid attention to yours. Because I was paying attention to you. And I never even got any hint of interest so I… I figured there wasn’t any.”

“Oh my god,” Josh said in disbelief. “My scent blockers. That’s why, isn’t it? I wear them to mask being a unicorn shifter, since that’s just a conversation I hate having. But they dulled everything else for you too, didn’t they.” It wasn’t a question.

Raymond nodded anyway, clearly miserable. “I figured it out Wednesday. Not that you were, um, attracted to me, but that you were wearing a scent blocker. I hadn’t even considered that, before. I just thought your natural scent was fainter than most people’s.”

“You mean to tell me that your first time actually scenting me was while I was virile?” Josh croaked.

Raymond nodded again.

Josh rubbed a hand over his face. “Okay, that… that is marginally made better by the fact that you were apparently already into me but, god. Fuck. No wonder you seemed so out of it.”

Raymond cleared his throat. “Nothing happened that I wasn’t one hundred percent on board with.”

He sounded so firm, that it eased something in Josh. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. I mean that. So don’t feel bad. About that.” Then, much more hesitantly, “You really liked me? Before all this?”

“Raymond,” Josh said gently. “I’ve had a crush on you for months. You’re sweet, smart, and funny, but I didn’t think it was appropriate to say anything, especially when you seemed so uninterested. Which was apparently because you thought I wasn’t interested and so were tamping down your own feelings to keep from making me uncomfortable. Is that right?”

“Got it one,” Raymond said. Then, shyly, “You think I’m smart?”

“Okay, hold on, what? Um, yes? Of course?”

“Oh,” Raymond said quietly, cheeks pinking.

“Wait—Raymond, what—” Josh shook his head, trying to understand. “Does someone think you aren’t?”

Raymond shrugged, ducking his head. “I’m a big guy who likes to work out. It’s not a stretch for people to peg me as a musclehead. Big, dumb, werewolf, you know? Especially if they know I’m an alpha.”

Josh was suddenly furious. “Wow, fuck everyone who’s ever made you feel that way. That’s—that’s—fucking no!”

“Josh?”

“You’re so smart. Half the reason I love your humor is because it’s clever! And you love to learn! And-and talk about stuff you’re learning. It makes you happy. It makes me happy that you share that excitement with me. Who the fuck’s been trashing your self-confidence like that? I’ll fight them.”

Raymond let out a laugh, half nervous, half amused. “You don’t have to fight anyone. It’s okay.”

“Watch me!”

“But it um, it really means a lot.” Raymond rubbed the back of his neck. “That you think that.”

“Of course I do,” Josh said looking up at him, desperate for Raymond to understand. “You’re so good, okay. I hate that anyone has ever made you feel like you weren’t. God, like… I don’t expect anything. I promise I don’t. Whatever we do next is up to you. But give me the chance and I’d date the fuck out of you. No, uh, no pun intended, even.”

Raymond stared at him for a long moment before taking a step forward, then another, then another, until he and Josh were practically chest to chest. “You mean it?”

“You have no idea how much I mean it,” Josh said emphatically. “I—Sorry, I’m wearing my scent blocker again so I can’t, uh, prove it that way but yeah. I’d really like the chance to date you. Even if we sort of did this backwards.”

“God, can I kiss you?”

Josh reached up to cup Raymond’s cheek. “Yeah. Let’s start with that.”

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