Page 17 of Unicorn Unashamed

Chapter Six

They finished the documentary about alligators, and then Josh set about making dinner as promised. Raymond didn’t have much to do in the way of help, but he couldn’t bring himself to feel bad about it. In fact, he had the opposite problem; Josh making him food, in his apartment, after insisting that Raymond stay…

The human and wolf in him both recognized Josh to be a strong—and strong-minded—individual, who knew what he was worth and, so help him, he was going to make sure you knew it too. Josh was sure about who he was, spoke his mind, and he wasn’t ashamed of any part of himself.

So having Josh—fierce, smart, amazing Josh—want to take care of Raymond and make sure he was okay… Having Josh tell him that he felt safer knowing Raymond wasn’t out risking himself to the storm—

It was all just… getting to him, a little bit.

And dinner itself was so much fun. There was just more of their regular, back-and-forth banter, but sitting down at a meal instead of doing exercises. Especially with the rain continuing to pour down outside, it felt homey and cozy and very much like a date. Not even like a first date, but a date with someone you’d been with for a while. Who you really like, and you have all these inside jokes with, and—

Dinner was fun.

“God, it’s really coming down still,” Josh said peering out his window once everything was put away. “I see why we got that alert.”

Raymond came up behind him to look over his shoulder, and did his fucking best to concentrate on trying to see past the thick sheets of rain, instead of focusing on how warm Josh was, so close. “Yeah, that, uh. That really looks bad.”

“You’re not going out again tonight,” Josh said firmly, twisting around to meet Raymond’s eyes. “I will literally not let you.”

Raymond swallowed. He very, very much didn’t want to leave either. But it felt like he was walking a thin line, by staying in Josh’s space. It was one thing to nurse a crush on a client and maintain professionalism during workouts. It was another be in Josh’s home, surrounded by his scent and personality, with Josh right there—

But maybe Raymond could let himself have at least this. “I mean, if you’re sure you want to put me up.”

Josh’s eyes widened. “Really? You’re not gonna fight me on it?”

Raymond made himself laugh. “Well, I’m not exactly bummed about not having to go back out in this. And by tomorrow it should be better.”

“Right,” Josh said quickly. “Yeah, exactly.”

Raymond nodded. “I’ll text my morning boot camp group that they’ve got the day off.”

“Good! Yeah, okay.”

Raymond went ahead and sent out the message, but once that was done, he was a bit at a loss of what to do next. He was a physical guy, and his job was incredibly high energy. He didn’t usually have a lot of downtime where he had nothing to do.

Josh seemed to understand. “Want to watch a movie? It’s kind of perfect weather for it.”

“It is?”

“Yeah,” Josh said easily. “You know. Cocooning weather. Where you want to just curl up in a bunch of blankets and nap.” He gave Raymond a once-over. “You do know how to nap, don’t you?”

Raymond’s next laugh was a lot more real. “Yes, thanks, I know how. I’m usually up early to run boot camp or a session with a client. I live my life by naps.”

Josh nodded seriously. “Good to know.”

Raymond grinned and checked his phone. “Not usually at seven thirty, though. That’s a bit of a weird time for napping, even for me.”

“Fair. Which is why I suggested a movie. It’ll be fun, it’ll kill two hours, and by then it’ll be a perfectly reasonable time for us to get ready for bed, what with you being an early riser and me liking my sleep.”

“You’ve convinced me. What do you want to watch?”

Josh grinned. “You ever heard of The Gods Must Be Crazy?”

Raymond shook his head.

The grin grew as Josh snagged his remote. “Perfect. Then I get to introduce it to you.”

Raymond settled back on the couch as Josh pulled up the movie. Several minutes in, it was easy to see why Josh had selected it. It was kind of hysterical; exactly Raymond’s humor.

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