Page 31 of Guarded
Noah blinked at me, fork frozen in mid-air.
Then, he was laughing.
I joined him, shooting him an apologetic grin. “Sorry. That was cheesy as fuck, but I couldn’t resist.”
“I gave you the perfect setup.” Noah dabbed at the corners of his eyes with his napkin. “I would’ve been disappointed if you’d let it slide past.”
“I’ll never let an innuendo pass me by.”
“My kind of man.” Noah winked, and my heart started a tattoo against my ribcage. “Dirty jokes, loves innuendos, and fully prepared to rob a museum alongside me.”
I lifted my hand to my mouth in faux shock. “An angel proposing theft? Now who’s the one not behaving stereotypically?”
His foot brushed mine under the table. “You must bring it out of me.”
“What, the urge to misbehave?”
“Oh, I have no issue with breaking the rules. No, Imeant the desire to have fun,” he said. “To remember that good things exist outside of the unit.”
“Is that something you struggle with?”
“Sometimes.” He pushed more pasta around his plate. “It’s hard to know, really. I joined Juniper when I was barely twenty.”
I gave a low whistle. “I see. So what I’m hearing is that, while you look like butter wouldn’t melt, you could probably execute me from a mile away.”
“Try two miles,” he said. “But yes. I guess you could say I do okay in the power department.”
More than okay if he’d been selected for Juniper at twenty. Most angels weren’t considered for an angelic unit until they’d seen their first century. For Noah to have been chosen at such a young age, and by a unit as high ranking as Juniper…
My mate was a force of nature. There was no other explanation.
“Well, I know who I’m calling the next time I’m in trouble,” I said lightly. “Speaking of which, are you having problems with your phone?”
My question seemed to throw him. “What?”
“Your phone.” I raised a brow pointedly. “Given you didn’t respond to any of my messages over the past month, I wondered if it was broken.”
Noah had the good grace to blush. He lifted his chin defiantly though. “I didn’t realise I was required to check in.”
His frosty tone didn’t deter me. “I thought you wanted us to be friends.”
“I do.”
“Don’t friends speak to each other more than once a month?”
Noah shifted in his seat uncomfortably. “We don’t need to live in each other’s pockets, Jeremiah.”
Ouch.That one stung. “I didn’t realise that’s what sending an occasional friendly message equated to. Maybe I’m misunderstanding how modern communication works.”
“Fuck.” Noah seemed to deflate, tucking his hair behind his ears. “You’re not. I’m being a dick. I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine,” I said mildly. “But I’d like to know where the boundaries are, Noah. If you don’t want to speak to me while we’re apart, I’ll respect that, but I’m struggling to see how we’ll build anything meaningful if we can’t communicate when we’re not together.”
“You’re right.” He blew out a slow breath. “It’s just, every time you texted me, I…I panicked. Okay?”
That, I hadn’t been expecting. “Why? If you’re worried I’m going to rush you into anything, I’m not. I’d just like to be able to speak to you every now and then, that’s all.”
“I’m not worried about you rushing me.”
