Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 72519 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72519 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Fuck being healthy.
“Oh, shit! Sorry. I didn’t think crows got that big. That’s why I thought they were ravens. They’re bigger than crows, right?”
Luke sneaked a peek at Matteo out of the corner of his eye to find that the man was still grinning at him. He didn’t seem to be mocking Luke or to be creeped out. If anything, he seemed relaxed and friendly. And, of course, ridiculously sexy. Today, he was wearing a pair of dark jeans and a long-sleeved shirt with a light jacket. His hair was perfectly windblown with some long strands hanging over his forehead. Luke ached to run his fingers through Matteo’s hair and finally discover if it was as soft and silky as it looked. The man could have pulled double duty in shampoo and toothpaste commercials.
“Ravens are typically bigger than crows, but I think the crows hanging out on campus are just well fed. That’s what makes them so big.”
Matteo grunted. “Makes sense. College students are constantly leaving food around for them to scavenge.”
“You…” he started, but the words died on his tongue as met Matteo’s wide and friendly gaze. He didn’t appear to scare Matteo. In fact, he appeared genuinely interested. Now Luke simply had to remember not to inundate him with useless bird knowledge that no one other than himself wanted to know.
“Did you train them?”
“No.” He huffed a little laugh and shook his head. “Crows are smart. They’ve learned to watch out for me. I feed them nuts and other snacks occasionally.” He smiled and searched his mind for something else to talk about when his evil, useless brain was kind enough to call up the last time he’d seen Matteo.
The day the crows had chased those frat boys and Matteo across the quad.
Luke gasped so hard he choked on the air.
Matteo hit him several times on the back as Luke coughed, trying to catch his breath and remember how to breathe like a normal human being.
“I didn’t train the crows to attack anyone!” Luke forced out in a rough voice between the coughing.
“What?” Matteo screeched, his eyes so wide they looked like they were going to roll out of his head. “Oh! That day on the quad!”
“Yeah! I didn’t—I mean—the birds…are you okay?”
Fuck! Couldn’t someone come along and bury me under the ten-pound bags of potatoes? This is painful?
Matteo laughed and gave him a light punch on the shoulder. “Yeah, I’m okay. Was just scared more than anything. No harm done. The crows were trying to protect you, right? I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. No big deal.”
“Protect me?”
“Yeah, because those assholes poured their drink on you. Right?”
Luke squeezed his eyes shut and groaned. For a heartbeat, he considered agreeing with Matteo, but he couldn’t. That was the kind of “harmless” lie that would come back to bite him in the ass.
“No,” Luke groaned. “I did that. As I was getting ready to leave with my friend, I grabbed my drink, and the lid came off my cup.”
Matteo hissed, and Luke opened his eyes to see Matteo wince. “Man, that was a fucking bad day for you.”
“Pretty much. Do you mind if we talk about something else?” He would prefer to go the rest of his long life without ever having to think of that horrible day again.
“Yes!” Matteo moaned, as if he were drowning in relief. The young man’s face went blank for a second, and his eyes darted back and forth as if he were searching his brain for a new topic. His expression lit up like a thousand-watt bulb. “So, do you come to this grocery store often?”
Luke’s mouth fell open.
Matteo’s swarthy complexion turned bright red two seconds after he finished speaking. Luke could see the exact second it clicked in Matteo’s brain what he’d said. If he hadn’t been so shocked, he would have been laughing.
“No! No! No! I didn’t mean it like that!” Matteo’s hands shot up toward Luke, but he seemed to have forgotten that he had one of those plastic baskets in his right hand, so it went with his hands and nearly hit Luke in the face. Luke jerked out of the way before Matteo could clock him with it. Matteo cried out and whipped his hand away. The basket flew free behind him. Thankfully, there was no one else in that part of the produce aisle, and the basket bounced harmlessly across the worn linoleum.
“Oh, my fucking God,” Matteo muttered as he marched after his errant basket. “I’m not this big of a dork.”
Secretly, Luke prayed he was, because it made him that much more perfect. Sexy, kind, and a bit of a dork. Was there any more intoxicating combination in the world? At the moment, Luke was going to say hell no.
Matteo walked to him, his footsteps just a shade short of being called a stomp, and let out a heavy breath. “What I meant was that I’ve never seen you in this store.” He squeezed his eyes shut and groaned. “Now I sound like a stalker spouting the world’s worst pickup lines. I—”