19. Libraries Are Fun
Libraries Are Fun
LUKE
L uke went into his morning classes with renewed energy thanks to Harper’s nonsense and Matteo’s adorableness.
He did appreciate Harper’s need to be a protective mother hen.
He had the world’s worst dating luck. In the past, the relationships he’d been in had lasted no more than a few months at most, and the majority hadn’t lasted beyond a few dates.
But with Matteo, he had hope!
He wasn’t sure, though, if the added demon assistance was a hindrance or a bonus. Their enthusiasm was nice.
At the very least, he’d made some interesting friends. No matter how late he returned home from work, there had always been several of them awake and ready to watch a movie with him or play some video games. And they never seemed to mind when he felt the need to vent about his coworkers or bosses.
However, he did need to learn to watch his words.
After Tog’s enthusiastic intervention to give his boss at Burger Hut explosive diarrhea, he had to make sure he was clear that he didn’t want to hurt any of them or make them sick even if they were annoying, thoughtless assholes who’d taken him for granted.
Yet, even that was done now. No more part-time jobs flipping burgers or stocking shelves.
Keeping up with the house wasn’t so bad.
He’d had to introduce the demons to what a vacuum cleaner was and explain why bleach couldn’t be used to clean everything, but other than that, it was a job the demons made enjoyable.
Not to mention, his bank account had a good chunk of change in it now. He could take Matteo out for a nice dinner without counting his pennies or giving up meals for the rest of the week.
After a few classes, Luke grabbed a sandwich from the campus cafeteria and headed to the library.
He thought he’d do a bit of reading and maybe text Matteo to see what classes he had left and if he had any free time.
It wasn’t likely, though. It was already November.
Thanksgiving break was fast approaching.
From there, it was all papers and exams with little to no room to breathe, let alone have dates.
They had to steal their moments when they could.
As Luke crossed the library and headed for the stairs that would take him to the second floor, his gaze caught on a familiar head bent over a book. The table was covered with a variety of other books, his laptop, and an open notebook for writing his thoughts as he read.
With a smirk, Luke walked briskly along the edge of the room so he could get to Matteo without the chance of being noticed.
He circled around, dodging other students as they grabbed books from the shelves for their studies, while student librarians pushed heavily laden carts back to the stacks to return other books to their proper spots.
Sunlight streamed down through a series of skylights, making the library appear to be a magical place.
An internal debate raged within him. What should he do when he reached Matteo?
Cover Matteo’s eyes with his hands?
Kiss him on the cheek?
Tickle him?
Ugh, all of that was too corny and silly. He didn’t want to scare Matteo away before they could go on their first date.
He was still debating when Matteo stood and turned toward the stacks, so that they nearly ran into each other, surprising them both.
“Luke!” he said in a whispered gasp.
“Crap!” Luke cursed. “I was trying to surprise you.”
“You succeeded.” Matteo grabbed Luke’s hand and pulled him to the table he’d been using. Luke fell into the seat across from Matteo and smiled the moment he noticed Matteo had yet to release his hand.
“I don’t want to disturb your studies. I stopped in to check out a book and I saw you studying.”
“Research for a paper,” Matteo grumbled. “Are you done with classes for the day?”
Luke nodded. “You?”
Matteo’s shoulder slumped, and his expression became pained. “I’ve got one more in…” he glanced up at the clock on the wall, “about thirty-five minutes.”
“Oh, then I should leave you to finish your research before class.” Luke started to pull his hand free of Matteo’s hold, but Matteo only tightened his fingers around Luke’s.
A wide grin returned to Matteo’s lips. “No, what you should do is help me retrieve a book.”
“Oh…okay,” Luke agreed. If it meant they could spend a little more time together, why not?
He went with Matteo as the younger man rose to his feet and sort of tugged Luke with a playful grin.
They wound through the area filled with tables where students were reading, writing, or quietly discussing important topics.
No one appeared to notice them as Matteo pulled him back through the tall bookcases that stretched forever.
The bright lighting provided by the skylights didn’t reach this far into the library, and the traditional bulb lighting was so much dimmer here. Shadows grew thicker, and there was even dust accumulating on the shelves.
Matteo turned at the next aisle and moved into the stacks. Luke’s brow furrowed, and he lifted his eyes to the books, trying to skim some of the titles. What in the world was Matteo researching that they were heading into what felt like a little-used area of the library?
At the next turn, Matteo spun toward Luke, put his hand on Luke’s chest, and pushed him against the shelves.
“Wha—” Luke didn’t even get all of his question out before a pair of incredibly soft, warm lips found his.
He relaxed, melting into the stolen kiss.
Matteo let out a hum of happiness as the tip of his talented tongue slid along the seam of Luke’s mouth.
Luke’s lips parted, and the kiss deepened, sending the most wonderful tingles rushing throughout his body.
Kissing Matteo was fast becoming Luke’s favorite thing in the entire world.
No one kissed like Matteo. His lips always used the right kind of pressure.
Soft and sweet as he explored, kissing Luke as if nothing could ever rush him.
No, it was like he planned to spend all day just kissing Luke.
Then, so slowly, more pressure would creep in, demanding more, stoking fires throughout Luke’s body until he was just a tangled ball of aching need. How could he not love all of this?
He was kissing the hottest guy in the world in the campus library in the middle of the day.
How was this his life now? It wasn’t that long ago that he’d skulked around the library, trying to find a secret place to grab an hour of sleep, hoping no one would discover him and kick him out.
Now he had a wonderful home, weird but helpful roommates, and a sexy man who enjoyed kissing him.
“Ope! This spot’s taken!” A woman’s soft, giggling voice broke through their kiss. Matteo ripped his mouth from Luke’s and for a second Luke could only blink, waiting for his brain to kick in.
“Sorry,” Matteo murmured, not sounding all that remorseful at all.
“Hey! Matteo!” The young woman who’d been turning away jerked back.
Her voice was still in a whisper, but the amusement in her voice had turned to annoyance as she marched toward them.
Behind her was a muscular blond who looked as if he could play on the college’s football team.
The young woman was a tiny pixie who was half his size and a quarter of his weight, and yet she had a firm hold on his hand as she dragged him behind her.
“I’m the one who told you about this spot. How could you take it?” she demanded when she was only a foot away.
“I’m sorry, but I didn’t see a sign where you’d reserved it ahead of time,” Matteo mocked.
She rolled bright-blue eyes at Matteo and shifted her too-sharp gaze to Luke. In a flash, she looked him up and down before giving a little shrug. “At least he’s cute.”
Matteo scoffed. “He’s fucking adorable, and you’re just jealous.”
Heat blazed through Luke’s cheeks at his words. Matteo was insane. He was nothing compared to the hunk standing behind the young woman, but he appreciated Matteo’s words.
“Whatever. Don’t steal my spot anymore. Find your own.”
Matteo stuck his tongue out at her, and she did the same before giggling.
With a quick turn on the balls of her feet, she flounced along the aisle with the football player trailing behind her as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
Maybe it was for him, but these were all firsts for Luke, starting with sneaking off to steal kisses in the library.
“Sorry about that,” Matteo murmured.
“No problem. Who was that?”
Matteo’s smile became a bit crooked. “Karen.”
“No!”
Matteo huffed a laugh. “Yeah, she hates that name. Curses her parents for naming her that. Typically, she goes by Kay, but I call her Karen to drive her crazy. She’s in my understanding customer psych course. Loves to brag about the spots she’s sneaked off to fool around.”
A grin spread across Luke’s lips. “And you stole this one from her.”
“I wouldn’t call it stealing. This is research. I’m verifying the information she gave me.” Matteo leaned in and stole another soft but brief kiss. “It’s not a terrible place. Busier than I prefer.”
Luke tipped his chin up, brushing his parted lips against Matteo’s, teasing him until the man swooped in for another kiss.
“Very good spot,” Luke murmured prior to capturing Matteo’s mouth in another kiss. He pulled away slowly, sucking on his lower lip. Matteo pressed closer, and Luke swore he could feel a hard cock pushing into his thigh.
Blood rushed to his groin, and he fought to swallow back a needy moan. It had been way too long since he’d last had sex.
Matteo’s strong hand gripped his hip and pulled his groin in tighter, fingers digging into his ass. The sound Luke had been fighting so hard to keep suppressed slipped out. At least they were on the same page when it came to physical attraction.
But this was not the place for this kind of fooling around, as tempting as it was. Karen had already found them. It was only a matter of time before someone else came along. A librarian was less likely to be amused by their stolen moment.
“We should probably stop,” Matteo said, his words shaky.
“It would probably be the responsible thing, even though it doesn’t feel like either of us really wants to stop.”
“Nope. Not at all.”
“Same.”
“You don’t mind?”
Luke’s eyebrows snapped to meet over his nose, and he cocked his head to the side. “Mind what?”
“That I stole you away to make out. I was worried that maybe you don’t like PDA or would be afraid of getting caught. I just wanted to steal a kiss to help me power through this last class.”
Luke hummed, leaning close for a gentle, closed-mouth kiss. “I don’t mind some PDA, and while I’m not a fan of being caught kissing in the library, I am willing to make that sacrifice in the name of helping you get through your next class.”
“So chivalrous.” Matteo sneaked a kiss. “And thoughtful.” He grabbed another kiss. “And generous.”
Luke grinned and snickered so that Matteo’s next kiss landed on his teeth.
“Can I put in a request for you to meet me occasionally between classes so I can sneak more kisses? These might be the fuel I need to survive exams.”
“I’m sure we can arrange something, but don’t you need to get ready for your class?”
“Shit!” Matteo grabbed Luke’s hand and pulled him out of the stacks to the table where he’d left all his things. With Luke’s help, he stuffed his books and laptop into his bag. Matteo sorted library books into things to be re-shelved and things that he needed to check out.
His coat half on and his bag slung over his shoulder, Matteo ran out of the library only to spin back and grab another brutal kiss from Luke that left his head spinning. In the blink of an eye, the whirlwind was gone, racing across campus to make his next class.
Luke dropped heavily into an empty chair at the table Matteo had just vacated.
His lips felt bruised in the best kind of way, and his balls ached.
Matteo was funny, adorable, and so fucking sexy.
If this stolen moment had proved anything to Luke, it was that they really needed to set up their first official date.
He needed more than a few stolen kisses. A lot more.