Page 5 of Pretty ’n Peak

“He’s taking a vacation,” Maria José jumped in teasingly. “First time in a year.”

“Yeah?” Andrés sounded only half-interested, which was good. “Where you going?”

“I’m headed out to Mount Hood.”

“Climbing?”

“Yeah.” That was as good an excuse as any. And he would be climbing while he was there.

Maria José leaned over the counter, her thick black hair dangling. “Bet he’s got a girl.”

Mateo froze for a moment. No one in his family knew he was gay, and he had no idea how they would take it. He wanted to hope that they’d be supportive and welcome the news with open arms. But the possibility that they wouldn’t made his chest tight and his head swim.

His sister’s conjecture that he was spending his weekend with a… girl… was a little too close to the truth.

Finally, his slow-moving brain chugged along with a response. “How would I find a girl on Mount Hood?”

Maria José laughed. “The internet? You know there’s online dating, right? Or maybe you’re picking her up here.”

“I bet it’s a girl.” Andrés grinned triumphantly. “Look, he’s blushing.”

God. This was exactly what he’d been trying to avoid. “Nope.”

He needed to get out of here now. It wasn’t a girl of course. It was far, far worse. Or not worse but… private. Very, very private.

Nobody’s business but his own.

Out of all the impossible things in the world, he’d won a free trip to a Cuffd Destinations weekend.

He’d downloaded the kinky dating app a few months ago, ears rushing as he filled out his information. It was similar to the app he used for gay hook-ups, which already made his heart skip beats when he was bold enough to use it. But Cuffd was a hundred times more nerve wracking, because of everything that it implied.

He hadn’t clicked a single interest on the surprisingly long list of kinks. He didn’t even know what they all meant, though it had sent him on a shockingly arousing foray into new porn. He certainly hadn’t written to anyone, or replied to the few vague messages that were sent his way.

Meeting a guy in Salem or Portland for a blowjob was one thing, but meeting a Dom was a lot.

Maria José ruffled his hair, which he’d spent far too much time combing and fretting over this morning. There wasn’t much he could do with it—it was short, black, and curly, and seemed to permanently take the shape of his hat, even when he wasn’t wearing it.

Still, he didn’t appreciate her messing with it.

He batted her hand away.

“We want to meet her,” Maria José insisted. “Bring her back here.”

“Yeah, traerla aquí,” Andrés echoed, suggestively. “We need to see your woman.”

Mateo rolled his eyes. His family liked to tease, but it had ramped up in the last few years when he hadn’t gone on a single date. At least that they knew of.

All of his five siblings were in tidy heterosexual couples with kids, or plans for them soon. Since his sister Sofia had gotten married last summer, it was becoming more and more apparent that he was the only single one, with the teasing and little nudges ramping up accordingly.

“Tell her that you’ll paint her portrait,” his mother advised. “She’ll like that.”

“Oooh… And read her poetry,” Maria José added.

“I don’t read poetry,” Mateo defended. He actually did, sometimes, but not around his siblings. He’d been teased enough as a child.

Apparently it was acceptable now, though, if he was using it to court a woman.

“¡Profesor!” Andrés whooped triumphantly, dragging out the vowels.