Without Reservations

don’t think I can keep a straight face if we do.”
    Bit nodded, still giggling. “Me too. I don’t think I want to explain that one to your parents.” He dabbed the tears out of his eyes. “Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Winston, nice to meet you. It’s not the food that’s funny…Chay wants to fuck the potato salad.”
    “Not the potato salad, Bit.”
    Bit blinked at him, wide-eyed, and cackled even harder. “Don’t want to explain that either.”
    Yeah, neither did he. Just the thought of telling them who Keaton was—to him—was a nightmare. Why was he laughing so hard?
    Finally, they stopped enough for Chay to put the truck in gear and get on the road. “You know, Bit, that might not be a bad way to break it to them. The lesser of two evils, so to speak. I mean which is worse, your mate being a man, or the idea that you have a hard-on for food?”
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    Without Reservations
    “Good point.” Keaton got quiet for a minute. “You aren’t planning on telling them, are you?” A slight quiver laced Bit’s voice.
    Chay glanced over at him. Bit shifted uncomfortably. “Nah, not yet.
    Relax. I told you I’d take it slow and I meant it. You have my word. I won’t say anything until you decide it’s okay.”
    The tension on the other side of the truck seemed to ease a bit. “I’m not trying to be a hardass, Chay. I just…it’s…you don’t like guys that way and now, you do want me that way? It’s a little hard to believe. Hard to trust, ya know? Not saying you’re lying, but…”
    Chay did understand. He’d had a hard time figuring it out himself.
    One thing he knew for certain though, the thought of being with Keaton, making love to him, didn’t repulse Chay. Just the opposite actually. “I don’t know how to explain it. You’re my mate and that is all that matters, we can work around the rest.” Thinking about it now, gay sex had never disgusted him, he’d just always preferred females. But with Keaton?
    Keaton was everything he’d ever wanted in a mate. More actually, Bit had extra…well, bits. Chay’s lips twitched, but he gained control quickly.
    Somehow, under the circumstances, he didn’t think Keaton would share his amusement. “When I was little I used to dream about you.”
    “Me?” Bit’s voice squeaked.
    Chay nodded. “I knew my mate would have blue eyes and blond hair.” He smiled fondly. “My mom used to tell me no way, no how was I getting a white mate. She insisted my mate would be one of us, Apache or maybe Lakota like her. But I knew. I wasn’t a bit surprised when I walked into that exam room and saw that pale blond fur.”
    “You are so lying through your teeth.” Bit chuckled.
    “No I’m not. I used to dream of my mate. Hair like sunshine, eyes like the sky…that’s what I used to tell my mother.”
    “Not that. I believe that. I can’t say I’ve ever dreamed of you, but I’ve always had a preference for men that look like you. I meant lying about www.samhainpublishing.com 37
    J.L. Langley
    not being surprised. I bet you freaked. I mean I know damned well I’d have freaked if I rescued my mate and it turned out to be a woman.”
    Chay grinned. “Yeah, okay, fine I was a little startled at that, I kept trying to figure out how there were female wolves and I’d never heard of any. But I wasn’t surprised that you had blond hair.”
    “I would have left,” Bit whispered.
    “Huh?”
    “I mean if my mate was a girl. I’d have left. Well, maybe not left, I’d have made sure she was okay, but I’d never have told her I was her mate.”
    Chay raised an eyebrow. He had considered it briefly, but he knew he never could have walked away. He didn’t think Keaton could either, the attraction was just too strong. “Are you sure about that?”
    Bit nodded. “Yeah, I…think so.”
    He grinned. “This your way of telling me if I were a girl you’d kick me to the curb, Bit?”
    Keaton shook his head, smiling. “You don’t believe me? You’re a guy and I’m trying to kick you to the curb.”
    “Touché. But guess what? You aren’t going to. I won’t allow it.”
    Bit got pretty quiet after that, but he didn’t argue. Chay took that as a good sign. It gave him hope that Bit would eventually realize this was the real deal.
    As they drove onto the Reservation, Keaton started asking questions.
    The man had a real interest in tribal history, not all that surprising since he had a doctorate in history.
    “Do you have