Heart of a Mortal (Loki Romance)

Chapter 6

When the bell rang, I went to the door and opened it to find a grinning Lily holding her teddy bear. I picked her up and swung her around. She giggled and held on tight, her red hair flying everywhere. I put her down and turned to her dad. He looked pale and exhausted.

"Thank you so much, Eb." He murmured.

I shrugged. "She's no trouble. I'll drop her off at school tomorrow." He nodded and sighed.

"I'll call later to check on her." He bent and kissed Lily on the cheek noisily. She giggled and hugged him goodbye. I closed the door and once we heard the car drive off something was shoved into my back pocket. I glared at Lily and dug it out, finding forty bucks.

"I'm gonna get your dad for this." I grumbled. "He knows I don't mind."

"He said I'm a handful and you deserve a Nobel prize for taking me." Lily grinned. "What's a Nobel prize?"

I rolled my eyes. "A special prize for really good people."

"Oh okay!" Satisfied, she walked slowly towards Loki. He was standing by the kitchen but quietly sat on the couch, seeming to understand the concept of being smaller for kids. She went right up to him and grinned.

"Hi." She said in her little voice. "I'm Lily. Lillian Jones, detective!" She held out her bear. "This is Watson."

Surprisingly, Loki chuckled and shook Watson's paw. "You seem to have stolen Sherlock's precious friend. What will he do without him?"

Lily grinned and hugged Watson. "I asked Sherly. She said it's okay." Loki's brows rose a bit and Lily explained. "Sherly is my dog. She's a big German shepherd!" She held her arms wide to explain how big her dog was.

I smiled and picked Lily up. "C'mon you. Are you hungry?" She nodded and pointed to the kitchen.

"Pizza!"

"We don't have pizza."

"Spaghetti!"

I laughed and walked to the kitchen. "Way ahead of you, kiddo." I set her on the counter and grabbed the plates.

"Ms. Gray?"

"Hmm?"

"Your boyfriend's really tall."

I heard him laughing again. "Loki shut up!" I shouted. He snorted but his laughter died down. "He's not my boyfriend." I had to bite back my smile.

"But he's been here a really long time."

I turned around to find him giving me a pointed look while leaning across the couch to see me around the wall. "Yeah well... Yeah."

"He's nice. He said hi to Watson."

I smiled. "I saw." I was surprised. Maybe he liked kids? I saw him walk in the kitchen from the corner of my eye. Lily bounced off the counter and ran to the door, returning with a sketchbook. I'd gotten it for her on her last birthday. She was turning out to be pretty skilled in sketching. Schoolwork was a whole different story though. I helped her onto the counter and she scooted all the way back, focused on her work.

Loki watched her for a moment and then turned back to me. "Had she no one else to go to?" He whispered.

"Her grandfather is really strict and she hates it. Besides, he's old and half deaf. He's not the best to be taking care of her."

"She's... Tolerable." He said. I turned to him, smiling.

"I didn't think you liked kids."

He shrugged. "Nor did I."