Matteo blinked, his brown eyes warm. “Thystle... That’s sweet.”
“It’s true.” Catching a note of shampoo, I leaned over and sniffed him. “Did you shower since I last saw you?”
“Was I not supposed to?” he asked.
“You can, if you want. I just love your natural scent.”
A flush bloomed across his cheeks. “I’ll remember that next time.”
When we reached the set of the date, Matteo whistled. “Wow. They did this in a couple hours?”
The game show set had disappeared, replaced by a rustic stage decorated with fairy lights and bright pops of color in the form of flowers.
“I remember this,” Matteo commented. “Taylor won a date with Crimson on season one. I always thought the moonlit date was particularly romantic.”
A growl rumbled in my throat as I held him tighter. “Fuck Crimson. Our date will be way better.”
He laughed airily. “Of course it will, because it’s with you.”
We stepped onto the platform arm-in-arm. A single table with two chairs stood in the center draped in a crisp white cloth. The sea breeze rustled the fairy lights, filling the air with the delicate scent of salt.
I walked over to one of the chairs, pulling it out for Matteo. He flashed me a smile as he took a seat.
I took the opposite one, content to stare at him while our server appeared.
“Uh oh, here comes trouble,” Gaius greeted us teasingly.
I raised a brow at him. He wore a white waiter’s apron on top of his gaudy bright yellow shirt.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
He fake sighed. “My dragon overlords have me doing double-duty.” Grinning, he produced menus. “There you go, boys.”
I wondered if somebody put Gaius up to this stint, or if he was doing it for fun. It was hard to tell with him. He was like a positive wildcard, compared to my brother, Viol, who was a terrifying one.
“I’ll leave you alone for a minute,” Gaius said. He winked, then sauntered off.
I blew out a breath. “Finally. Nobody around to bother us.”
Matteo chuckled. “Until Gaius comes back for our orders.”
“Screw him,” I said, waving a hand. At the same time, I edged my foot closer to his beneath the table and gave it a playful nudge.
Matteo arched a brow, picking up the menu. “Come on, that’s not nice.”
“I’m sick of being nice,” I mumbled. “I want to be alone with you.”
He didn’t respond, but shot me a lopsided grin as he pushed his foot against mine. It was a small gesture, but it went straight to my dick. I wasthisclose to flipping the table and cancelling the moonlit beach date in exchange for a raunchy night of fucking.
But then I saw the way Matteo looked at me, and my heart skipped a beat. It was full of softness, of want. He lived blissfully in the moment. That tamped down my impatience to speed through the date.
The camera crew lurked around the edge of the stage. I noticed Matteo glanced at them once in a while, as if uneasy about something. But he was filmed the entire time he was here, and he’d been on a whole other season of TV. Hell, he was a former music god. Wasn’t he used to the attention?
“Something bugging you?” I asked.
His eyes flicked back to me instantly. “No,” he said with the slightest hint in his voice that he wasn’t telling the full truth. But before I could dig deeper, he reached across the table and put his hand on top of mine. The resulting shivers shooting up my arm distracted me. “It’s nice to be with you like this. No crowd, no competition. It’s almost like we’re having a normal date.”
I tilted my head. “Is that what you prefer? Normalcy?”
