Page 31 of My Demon Manny

The next bowl was the rice, and I spooned some onto his plate before taking some for me, then did the same with the japchae. I'd figured the sweet potato noodles would pair well with the kimchi since it wasn't as spicy.

"This looks delicious," Lux commented, eyes on his food, and I grinned.

"Doesn't it? It's from my favorite Korean restaurant. I hope you enjoy it. The woman who owns it gave me a lot of advice when I first brought Gunner home."

"Oh? How come?" he asked curiously, using the chopsticks perfectly as he ate the kimchi. How could he make using a pair of chopsticks look so sexy?

I shifted in my chair as his question filtered through my mind, and blinked, needing a moment to answer.

"Oh. Well, I order a lot from them since they're close by. I had some baby supplies with me once, and she asked me if I had a new baby, and I told her I was a single dad. She gave me a whole bunch of advice, including who the best pediatrician was in the city, and what places to get the best baby gear and toys from. Apparently, her son had a daughter around the same time Gunner was born, so she was all up-to-date on the information."

"She sounds like a lovely woman," Lux said, voice full of warmth, and I smiled.

"She is."

The spicy food burned my mouth in the best of ways, and I took another bite of the plain rice before eating some more of the stew.

As we ate, our conversation flew all over the place. Lux told me about his friends, while I told him about Jerry, and Kat, and how we'd been close practically all our lives.

It was the most relaxed first date I'd ever been on, and I enjoyed every moment of it.

Fourteen

Lux

When our date cameto an end, I cleaned up while Archer stayed with Gunner, who'd woken up just as we'd finished eating. We'd left our dirty dishes on the table and spent the last hour or so playing with Gunner on the floor, but now it was bedtime for him, which meant we had to get moving.

After I'd finished cleaning, I changed Gunner, and then we read him some stories until he fell asleep. Archer set up the baby monitors once he was snoozing peacefully, and then we left the room.

We paused outside Gunner's room, unsure of the next move.

"I had fun tonight," I said, and Archer smiled, his dark eyes sparkling brightly.

"So did I. I'd never been on a date as effortless as ours before."

I didn't want to think or talk about Archer's dates with other people, so I quickly blew past.

"What do we do now?"

Archer stepped closer to me, and I sucked in a breath, my back thumping against the door.

"Maybe I could kiss you good night?" Archer suggested, and I swallowed hard before nodding.

Smiling, Archer placed his hands on my hips, then leaned close, his lips brushing the corner of my mouth before slowly wrapping around mine.

Archer kissed me slowly, like he wanted to treasure every movement of his lips against mine, and I kissed him back in kind, memorizing the way his soft lips brushed with mine, how his fingers tightened reflexively with the movement of his lips.

Humming softly, I wrapped my arms around his back, tugging him close. He was so solid against me, warm and hard and soft in all the right places.

Pulling away with a soft gasp, Archer rested his forehead against mine, his soft, panted breaths brushing against my skin. Humans needed to breathe, I remembered suddenly, and made a mental note to keep better track of that in the future.

"Fuck, Lux." Archer's voice was rough, his cheeks flushed and eyes dark as he gazed down at me. "I want to do this right, but I also want to drag you back to my room and make you come."

I swore under my breath as my cock ached insistently, demanding I say yes. It wasn't like we hadn't spent the past month getting to know each other. This may have been our first date, but we weren't strangers.

We were mates, and right now, I really really wanted to go to bed with my mate. I'd managed to bury my desire when Ithought of him as just my boss, or when I was worried he'd fire me once he knew the truth. But now? Nothing could stop me from wanting him now.

"I don't think they have to be mutually exclusive," I murmured, and Archer smirked, then lowered his head to kiss me again.

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