Page 44 of Demon Dating Service
Somehow, Matteo didn’t seem to notice. The young man with the rich dark eyes and beautiful hair smiled at him, staring like he hung every star in the night sky for him.
“No, I’m not dating anyone right now.”
“Cool. Cool.” Luke murmured and forced himself to take a step back so Matteo could finish coming up the stairs. He waved one hand at the room while running a critical eye over everything. It wasn’t too messy, but only because he didn’t have a lot of stuff. “This is my place.”
“You’ve got…a lot of space,” Matteo managed without sounding too underwhelmed. “But it’s private! You don’t have a roommate sleeping in here with you, right?”
“Yes! Everyone has their own room. The demons rarely come up here.”
“Demons?” Matteo chuckled.
Fuck!!! That was a slip.
“Oh, just a playful nickname for my roommates. They’re not actual demons. I tease them because they’re so nice.”
He would not survive this. Matteo’s cuteness and his closeness, not to mention his wonderful smell, were scrambling what was left of Luke’s poor, overcooked brain. It was rotting porridge and would ooze out of his ears soon.
“We should get to studying,” Matteo said.
“Yes.” Luke gazed around the room again. Problem. There was only the full-sized bed, dresser, and nightstand. No additional chairs, couch, or even a desk and chair. Just the bed.
“You don’t mind me sitting on the bed with you, do you?” Matteo asked, standing beside Luke at the foot of the bed.
“No! No, it’s fine with me.”
“Cool. I usually sit on my bed to read. The hard part is always not dozing off for a quick nap.”
“Okay. I promise to help you stay awake.” Luke flashed Matteo a smile, but it was tense and awkward, which was fine because Matteo’s smile appeared nervous as well.
They moved to opposite sides of the bed and sat. Luke kicked off his shoes and dug through his backpack for a book. Any book, really. He knew deep down he wasn’t going to retain a single word he read while sitting next to Matteo. He was simply going through the motions, so that Matteo would stay longer.
What was the plan?
Matteo had already broached the topic of dating. Luke needed to gather the courage to ask Matteo out on a date. That wasn’t hard.He could do this!
They shifted the pillows against the wall to cushion their backs and set their books on their bent legs. Luke had a dry tome on the history of migratory habits of birds from Canada. It looked like Matteo had some book on battles from the Peloponnesian War or something like that.
Did he need more proof than that? They were perfect for each other. They both studied boring things! In their recent conversations, Matteo had admitted that he was a business major with a minor in history.
Luke stared at the words in front of them without comprehending any of them. He checked—twice—that the book wasn’t turned upside down, giving away that he couldn’t concentrate for shit.
“Matteo?”
“Luke?”
They spoke at the same time.
“S-sorry, you go first,” Luke stammered.
“Oh. I was wondering…would you like to go out with me sometime? For like coffee or dinner. On an actual date.”
“Yes! I mean…” Luke winced. He shouted that in Matteo’s face. Couldn’t he try to act a tiny bit cool?Hell, no!“Yes, I would love to go out with you.”
Matteo’s face lit up like the sky on the Fourth of July. “Really?”
“Yes, definitely. I was just going to ask you the same thing, but I didn’t think you’d consider going out with me because you’re so hot and I’m such a dork. Why would you?—”
Luke’s rambling was cut off when Matteo’s soft lips pressed to his, swallowing up the rest of his words. A warm, gentle hand cupped his cheek, holding him still as that perfect mouthtouched his. Luke’s heart froze for a moment and then exploded in a flurry of flips and jumps, like it had started its own floor routine at the Olympics.