“Well, we’ve been seeing each other for over a month, and now that we’ve broken the seal, so to speak, and found out thatwe’reverycompatible, I don’t see why we wouldn’t put a label on it.”
I was pretty up to date with most current slang, but I wasn’t completely sure what she meant. “Are you asking for us to go from courting to a partnership?”
“Yes. I want you to be my boyfriend. And I want to be your girlfriend.”
A sappy smile spread across my lips, and I gently cupped the back of her neck so I could pull her down into a slow, sweet kiss.
“I’d like that very much,” I said once we parted.
“Good. Very much on the same page then.”
“Absolutely.”
She settled down next to me, sitting up against my headboard and I moved to join her, draping my arm around her so she could rest her head on my shoulder.
“You wanna ask questions back and forth until we pass out or get hungry?” I asked, feeling oh so content in the moment.
“Yeah, that sounds nice.”
“Do you want to go first?”
“Nah, you lead the way.”
I chuckled. Had I ever been so happy? So satiated? It was a nice feeling, and I wouldn’t mind getting used to it.
“Okay, I’ll start. What’s your middle name?”
She gave me a slightly puzzled look. God, I loved how I could read so much on that beautiful face of hers. She never tried to hide with me, tried to pretend to be unaffected and nonchalant about everything.
“What?”
“Nothing. I kinda thought you would ask me about the whole no-wolf thing.”
“Oh, do you want me to?”
She paused, and I’d come to know that particular arrangement of her features as her pondering face. “No. I mean, I don’t mind. I don’t know why I expected that.”
“Is it because you’re used to being reduced down to that? That others see that as the most important part of your identity?”
I understood the heavy sigh she let out far too well. “Yeah… and it’s Naimh. Spelled the traditional way. My family has a lot of Gaelic in our lineage.”
“Neeve,” I repeated, not quite sure what the traditional spelling was. “That’s beautiful.”
“Thank you. What’s yours?”
“I, uh—” I caught myself. What I had been about to say wouldn’t have been accurate.
Naomi noticed my hesitancy right away and began to tease me about it. As much as I loved her fuck drunk and blissed out, I adored talking with her and seeing how that mind of hers worked that much more. “That one wasn’t supposed to stump you.”
“I know. I was going to tell you I didn’t have a middle name, but I suppose technically I do.”
“Technically?”
“See, my name when I was a human was Suleman Vikentios.But when I immigrated here with my maker, Ibrahim, I really wanted to adapt to American culture, even if I was a vampire and would only experience certain parts of it. I put down my American name as Rowan, after my adopted mother’s favorite tree, then changed the rest to Solomon Vincent. So I suppose Solomon is my middle name.”
“That’s really lovely.” She leaned over and kissed my cheek. “Thank you for sharing that with me.”
“Any time.”
