Page 64 of Claimed By Blood

“I’ll beat you to the top and watch you fall from above,” she retorts, using her best haughty tone. “It’ll be far more entertaining.”

There she is. I wondered if the old Eve was completely broken, but she’s still there.

The sun is just setting as I open the door that leads us out to the bottom of the ravine where Samuel’s built his hideaway village. I scouted the area earlier, and picked the most challenging section because IknewEve would’ve killed me if I’d tried to go easy on her.

She’s so quiet. Why hasn’t she said something? Is she waiting for me to say something?

I’m so paranoid that this is going badly, that when she does speak, I miss it completely.

“Sorry?” I say, with a grimace.

Eve has never been one for blushing, but there’s the slightest hint of colour to her cheeks as she replies.

“I just asked what brought all this on,” she mumbles.

“Your orgasm,” I say, then I realise what I said and press the heel of my hand into the middle of my forehead, groaning. “Not likethat. I mean, it was a significant factor but not the main—it’s not as pervy as it sounds—”

Eve’s tinkling laugh rockets through me, stopping me before I can dig myself further into the hole I’m creating. “You haven’t changed.”

Her smile falls too quickly, and I hasten to continue. “I thought I’d feel jealous, watching you get off with the others,” I explain. “But I didn’t. I loved it. I just… I want that for us again, and I don’t want to be left behind.”

“You’re taking me climbing to get me to sleep with you?”

Did I say it like that? I guess I did.Shit.“No! That’s not what I meant.” I run another hand through my hair and stride ahead, grumbling as I try to figure out how to phrase it so itdoesn’tsound like I’m a pervert who wants to fuck her until we both can’t walk. “I just meant…”

A delicate hand covers my mouth, stopping me mid-sentence. “I missed you too.”

The wound up coil of tension inside of me loosens, and I breathe for the first time in what feels like years. “I want to earn you back, Eve.”

The smile falls. “I…”

“Don’t say it,” I beg. “I know I fucked up. Badly. Saying I’m sorry and taking you on poor excuses for dates doesn’t cut it. But I have to make sure you know I’m not going to let this go… unless you want me to, but you didn’t say that…” Please don’t say that. “I want to make this our new beginning. New me, new you… old love.”

Fuck, that sounded corny. I should’ve thought this through better. Come up with good, suave answers. Talking from the heart justisn’tromantic. Or going well.

Her quiet chuckle distracts me from my own self-directed internal rant. “I forgot how awkward you were when we first met,” she admits. “I found it cute then.”

And now? Wait, is cute good? Vampires don’t generally want cute thralls, do they? Otherwise everyone would just have pets and never shackle themselves to a person.

Before I can think of something better to say, we reach the spot I picked out.

I wave my hand at the sheer, vertical ascent and grin. There are a few points where the cliff forms overhangs where we can rest, but they’re few and far between.

“Ladies first,” I say, once again vacillating between wanting to praise Finn for the view of her ass in those shorts and wanting to kill him for the boner I’ll have to endure.

I swear, if I make it to the top without coming in my boxers, I deserve a sainthood.

She gives me a knowing look before turning to regard the rock. In the daylight, the stone is a warm, ruddy tan colour, but the slim crescent moon shines brightly over the desert, turning the sand and stone silver wherever it touches, and creating dark shadows everywhere else.

The darkness is no problem for either of us now. Eve’s always been quick, and I watch as her pupils dart across the cliff, figuring out her preferred route. She never goes for the easy way, or even the way I expect, and I watch, fascinated anew by her process. That tiny frown line appears between her brows, and I barely resist the urge to smooth it away.

Once I would’ve done it without hesitation. Now I’m fighting to reclaim that privilege.

When she springs upward, catching a barely visible crevice with one hand and holding herself to the rock with that grip alone, I grin.

We’re off.

The two of us stick to human pace and use as little of our enhanced speed as possible to keep the climb more challenging. It doesn’t take long for sweat to slick down my spine, and I take a deep breath as the scent inevitably starts to draw a far-off ghoul pack into responding.

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