Blood Past - By Samantha Young Page 0,64

you go on patrol if you want.” OK, now he knew something was up. Eden turning down some action? “Just tell me what’s wrong?” He tried to keep the chick-like anxiety out of his voice.

“It’s stupid.” She shrugged, trying to blow him off. “I feel like a chick just thinking about it.” He smiled. They were so alike in so many ways. “Uh… hate to tell you this, baby, but you are a chick.”

She blinked. “Baby?”

“What?”

“You called me baby. You’ve never done that before.”

Unsure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, Noah shifted uncomfortably. “Do you not want me to?” He was completely confused. This whole relationship thing was new to him anyway but to be in one with Eden, the most unpredictable female on the planet…

“No, it’s not that,” she reassured sliding away from him to lean back against Tobe’s headboard.

“It’s just… it’s stupid but… um… I saw you with Natalie today and she was putting what I can only imagine was her phone number into the ass pocket of your jeans.” Realisation dawned, and watching Eden look anywhere but at him filled Noah with a massive sense of relief. Yeah, OK, Natalie had been trying to get him in the sack since she’d met him. And that afternoon hadn’t actually been her boldest move. Noah had almost jammed a fork in her hand at the restaurant last week when her other hand descended under the table and began wandering in inappropriate places. Come to think of it, Noah had kind of hoped Eden’s attitude that night had meant she was jealous. Now that he was proved right… well… he knew he shouldn’t enjoy it, but it was nice knowing she felt just as off-balance by what was going on between them as he did. He grinned, shrugging. “Look it was just her number and I crumpled it up and put it in the trash as soon as I could.”

Eden glared at him for grinning so he tried to force his lips to stop and was amused even more by how difficult he found it.

“But she’s not the first one, right? There are others? There have been others.” It suddenly wasn’t so funny anymore. Noah sighed heavily. He should have known his past would come back to bite him on the ass. “Look, I’m not gonna lie, I have a rep with the Neith for not exactly being a one woman guy. But that’s over now.”

He was astonished when her blue-green eyes flashed at him with anger and anxiety. “Is it?” That earlier panic returned tenfold and Noah slid up next to her, terrified that this was actually going to be a problem. He cupped her face between his hands, trembling like a teenage boy on his first date. “You came into my life and changed everything. You changed me, Eden. You’ve brought me down to earth and I needed that. I love being Ankh, I do, it’s a massive part of who I am, but before you… that’s all there was. Everything else stretched out before me, a yawning eternal chasm of boredom… and I played around as a way to try to stem the boredom. I’ve watched my parents for years and envied them but I never thought I’d ever be lucky enough to have what they have. To have someone in my life that makes me feel so alive; someone who challenges me, who makes me feel things I didn’t know I was capable of feeling. You’ve changed my world, Eden,” he whispered, his heart pounding as he pressed a kiss to her soft, warm lips. He pulled back to lean his forehead against hers, glad to see the fear and anxiety melt out of her eyes. “Plus, immortality just isn’t cool without you.”

She laughed and leaned into him, her hands unconsciously reaching up to grab the front of his t-shirt. And then she sobered, dropping her gaze. “I’m scared of how you make me feel.” Relief swept through him and he sighed, glad to know they were on the same page. “I know. I feel that way too. But I can promise you that I am not going anywhere.” He took a minute, heart thumping so hard now he felt a little sick as he pulled back to meet her gaze. Here goes… “I love you.” His heart accelerated as her eyes widened in disbelief. It felt as if she kept him suspended in that excruciating moment forever. But then she was