Opal by Jennifer L. Armentrout Read Free Book Online

red-and-white-checkered mats.
    But our wooden table was bare except for those candles and two wineglasses filled with water. Even the napkins looked like real linen.
    Considering the possibilities as we were seated, my heart did a flip-flop. “Did you…?”
    He propped his elbows on the table and leaned forward. Soft shadows danced over his face, highlighting the arch of his cheekbones and the curve of his lips. “Did I do what?”
    “Arrange this?” I waved at the candles.
    Daemon shrugged. “Maybe…”
    I tucked my hair back, smiling. “Thank you. It’s very…”
    “Awesome?”
    I laughed. “Romantic—it’s very romantic. And awesome, too.”
    “As long as you think it is awesome, then it was worth it.” He glanced up as the waitress arrived at our table. Her nametag read Rhonda .
    When she turned to take Daemon’s order, her eyes glazed over—a common side effect of being around Mr. Awesome, I was learning. “And what about you, sweetie?”
    “Spaghetti with meat sauce,” I said, closing the menu and handing it over.
    Rhonda glanced at Daemon, and I think she might have sighed. “I’ll bring your breadsticks out immediately.”
    After we were alone, I grinned at my date. “I think we’re going to get extra meatballs.”
    He laughed. “Hey, I’m good for some things.”
    “You’re good for a lot of things.” The moment that left my mouth, I blushed. Whoa. That could be perceived in many ways.
    Surprisingly, Daemon let it slide and started teasing me about a book he’d seen in my bedroom. It was a romance novel. Typical barrel-chested alpha male cover model with sixteen-pack abs. By the time our heaping pile of breadsticks arrived, I’d almost convinced him that he’d be a perfect cover model for one of those books.
    “I don’t wear leather pants,” he said, biting into the garlicky and buttery goodness.
    And that was a damn shame. “Still. You have the look.”
    He rolled his eyes. “You just like me for my body. Admit it.”
    “Well, yeah…”
    His lashes lifted and his eyes glittered like jewels. “I feel like man-candy.”
    I busted out laughing. But then he asked a question I hadn’t expected. “What are you going to do about college?”
    I blinked. College? Sitting back, my gaze dropped to the small flame. “I don’t know. I mean, it’s not really possible unless I go to one near a buttload of quartz—”
    “You just broke a rule,” he reminded me, lips forming a half smile.
    I rolled my eyes. “What about you? What are you doing for college?”
    He shrugged. “Haven’t decided yet.”
    “You’re running out of time,” I said, sounding like Carissa, who loved to remind me of that every time we talked.
    “Actually, we’ve both run out of time, unless we do a late acceptance.”
    “Okay. Rule-breaking aside, how is it possible? Do online classes?” He shrugged again, and I sort of wanted to stab him in the eye with my fork. “Unless you know of a college that has…a suitable environment?”
    Our meals arrived, staving off the conversation while the waitress grated cheese over Daemon’s plate. She eventually offered me some. And the moment she left, I pounced. “So, do you?”
    Knife and fork in hand, he started cutting into a piece of lasagna the size of a truck. “The Flatirons.”
    “The what-a-what?”
    “The Flatirons is a mountain just outside of Boulder, Colorado.” He cut his meal into tiny bites. Daemon had such delicate eating habits, while I was slopping my spaghetti around my plate. “They are full of quartzite. Not as well-known or as visible as some places, but they are there, under several feet of sediment.”
    “Okay.” I tried to eat my spaghetti in daintier bites. “What does that have to do with anything?”
    He peered up through sooty lashes. “University of Colorado is about two miles from the Flatirons.”
    “Oh.” I chewed slowly and then suddenly my appetite vanished. “Is…is that where you want to go to school?”
    There