Shade smirked. “You ready to kick my arse yet?”
She had to smile at that. They were all learning what a Nephilim could do. Everyone had told her that Nephilim could be just as powerful as hell princes and archangels, but as they’d been systematically exterminating Nephilim since they’d first happened, nobody knew for sure what she was capable of.
Shade’s gorgeous face turned serious. “I know this is a lot for you to take in. If it helps, I think you’re handling it incredibly well.”
It did help, and a warm glow infused Eddie. “Thank you. I don’t know if I’m handling anything, so much as going with the flow.”
“We’re all going with the flow.” Shade sat back as the waitress placed the desserts between them.
She beamed at him. “I brought two forks.”
“Thank you.” He smiled back.
The waitress stood for a moment, eyes glazed like a rabbit in headlights, before shaking her head and moving away.
Shade had captivated her like that when Eddie had first met him, naked and pissed off on the basement floor beside the hell gate. Oh, who was she kidding? Like he didn’t still have the same effect on her. He enslaved her senses by being in the same room with her. Only it might be even worse now, because now she knew what lay beneath his smoldering, beautiful exterior. Shade was funny, and kind to her, and always around to protect and comfort.
He handed her a fork. “Nothing that’s happening right now is precedented. Even Gabriel can’t find any records of anything to compare it to.”
And if there was a record, archangel Gabriel would have it. Probably in triplicate.
Shade put his fork on the table and watched her.
The soft look in his eyes brought a full-body flush, and Eddie dug into the cheesecake without questioning if she wanted it or not. He kept her permanently distracted and wrong-footed. Between being homeschooled, the theatre, and keeping the hell gate a secret, Eddie hadn’t had the opportunity to make many friends. Let alone date. Shade wasn’t merely out of her league; he was out of her stratosphere. Perhaps that was part of why she was still unsure about taking things further with him.
Yet, he’d said such lovely things to her, had insisted on wooing her. He’d backed his words by his actions as well. Still, she had such limited experience with being dated—and zero on the wooing front—that she still couldn’t understand how an ordinary woman was being wooed by Asmodeus, the hell prince of lust. It was like going from training wheels on your bicycle to single-handedly piloting the Millennium Falcon.
She wasn’t bad looking, and even attractive on a good day, but she was nowhere near the physical perfection of the archangels or female presenting hell princes. Her life had been weird, but still sheltered. She’d barely even traveled outside of Ontario. By no means an idiot, she was also not witty, clever, or well informed.
A low, raspy growl came from Shade. “You’re doing it again.”
“What?” She started guiltily and checked that she hadn’t wolfed down the entire cheesecake slice. She might have for all the attention she’d been paying to the fork to mouth action.
The cheesecake had only one bite out of it. The same bite she didn’t remember tasting.
“You’ve disappeared inside your head.” Shade took her hand and laced their fingers together. “And they don’t look like happy thoughts.” He tightened his fingers on hers. “Talk to me, Eddie.”
How to begin a conversation she couldn’t adequately articulate in her own mind. See, she couldn’t even speak her thoughts and feelings without stumbling over her own insecurities. From the moment that nasty rakshassa demon had hopped into her life, shit had gotten progressively weirder and scarier.
Wanting to smack herself, she shrugged. “I don’t know what to say.”
She liked Shade, liked him a lot. Liked him a lot, a lot but was still too chickenshit to open that conversation.
Cowardly was added to her list of deficiencies.
Shade motioned the waitress over. “Why don’t we go home?”
Even without an extensive dating history, she knew she’d screwed this one up. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Shade studied her.
Their waitress appeared beside their table like a puppy expecting a treat. “Yes?”
“Can we have the bill please?”
The waitress looked stricken as she nodded and dragged her feet off to fetch their bill.
Shade turned back to Eddie. “Want to explain what you’re sorry about?”
“For this.” Eddie motioned the table and then the restaurant. “You bringing me here was a nice thing to do, and I haven’t been great company.”
“You’ve been you.” Shade dug out some cash and placed it on the table. “And that’s all I ever want.”
Gah! How was she supposed to keep a level head when he said stuff like that?
Outside the pub, hot, muggy air rushed to wrap around them like a blanket. They’d walked to the restaurant from the theatre. The mean streets of Clayton, Ontario, were already rolled up and tucked away for the night as they strolled back.
Shade slung an arm around her shoulders as they walked.
Eddie felt so right, tucked against his side and she reveled in the feel of him pressed against her. They fit, and that did a number on her head as well. He was a hell prince. Asmodeus—Asmoday, Asmodai, Osmodai, Asmodee—prince of demons, prince of lechery. Thank you Google for that. And he was wooing her—ordinary Edme Ward.
Except maybe she was more of the extraordinary variety. What with being Nephilim and all. “Do you miss your demesne?”
Shade’s piece of hell was beautiful and fertile, reflecting the hell prince who ruled it. The only thing it had in common with Clayton was the humidity.
They strolled past the bakery that made horrible coffee for five bucks a cup but excelled at croissants and pastries.
Shade shrugged. “I’m not sure missing it is the best way to describe how I feel.” He stared in the window of the general store where you could buy anything from porn to hunting licenses. “The seal is my duty to protect. It is why I was brought into being, and I definitely feel that imperative.” He tapped his chest. “In here. The seal, my demesne, and I are connected.”
“You don’t have to stay here and look after me,” Eddie said with a glaring lack of conviction and even less enthusiasm.
Face softening, he stared down at her. “Yes, I do.” He tugged her closer and kissed her temple. “It is my honor to watch over you, Eddie.” He smirked. “And being in my demesne would be a serious crimp in my efforts to woo you.”
“Why?” The question burst out of her. She didn’t get his attachment to her. He could have anyone and everyone else.
Shade stopped them outside Mack’s butchery and put his hands on her shoulders. “Why am I wooing you?”
She appreciated that he understood what she meant, and she nodded.
“Because you’re all that I never knew I wanted or needed.” He cupped her face between his palms. “Because I love you, Edme Ward.” Her joints melted under the blaze of heat that enveloped her. None of the weirdness or her nagging insecurities mattered anymore. They had no place between them. This incredible, beautiful, powerful being loved her, Edme Ward. It suddenly didn’t seem to matter how or why. The only thing that mattered was getting closer to him.
His eyes burned molten as he dipped his head toward her. He’d kissed her before, but that had been when he was using his lust powers against her. This kiss would be real, and Edme wanted it like she wanted her next breath. The world stood still for her, confined to his mouth so close to hers and the constant ache in her body for him.
Shade’s lips touched hers.
Eddie closed her eyes against the onslaught of sensations: the heat of his body, the soft press of his lips, the strength of his chest against her palms, the heady honey and musk scent of him.
His tongue touched her bottom lip and requested entry.
