Coming Home (Sequel to This Time Around)

Chapter Twenty-EIght

“Did you feel better afterwards?”

“Only for a few minutes. Then I felt guilty because I was blaming you.”

He sighed softly, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. “I didn’t want to handle it this way. I fought Odin on it. I didn’t want to purposely hurt you.”

“You didn’t. I just… I regretted so much because there were times when I should have said something and thought, ‘well, I can just tell him tomorrow,’ and what a horrible way to realize no one is promised tomorrow.”

He reached to pull her into his arms again, tucking her against his chest and she sighed softly. “And I am so fucking lucky that I get the second chance to say those things.”

“What things, McKenna? What could you have to tell me that I don’t already know?”

“How much I love you. How wonderful the last five years have been. What a great father you are. How fortunate I am to be the woman you chose to love. How much I love your smile and the sound of your laughter and how you always make me feel safe, no matter what. I love how you make me crazy by magically making things disappear and that when I watch you with the kids, like today, playing in the sand and letting them climb all over you, I just fall head over heels in love with you all over again. I love how much you’ve shared your magic with Selig and Aislinn and how patient you are with them and how much love you shower over all four of them. How proud I am to be your wife and how much I love you.”

“I know all that already, darling girl, because you’ve let me know in every way possible.” He kissed the top of her head and gave her a gentle squeeze.

“Remember when you taught Selig to jump Cap?”

“How could I forget? You were furious about it.”

“Until I saw you jump Ravn. I’d never seen you do that before and it really just took my breath away. I fell in love with you all over again. You were amazing. And like tonight, I’ll be talking to Sif or Volstagg and I’ll look over and see you across the ballroom, dressed in whichever armor you decide on and you will just look so handsome… so sexy, I’ll be struck dumb at the sight of you. And then I wonder how the hell you fell for me.”

He laughed softly against her hair. “McKenna, that happens to me on a daily basis. You take my breath away, darling girl. At first, it was because you were so damn cute—this tiny little thing with nerves of steel and a spine to match, standing up to me as if you really were a match for me. But, all you asked for in return for helping me was that I not harm anyone else. Not that I didn’t harm you, but that I didn’t harm anyone else.

“As I told you then, you were kind to me. With a beautiful heart. And when I met Joe, all I could think was you needed someone to protect you from men like him. You were too kind, too easy to take advantage of, and I wanted to be that man. Only, then I found out that you really weren’t nearly as weak as I’d thought. You’ve a strength I didn’t know possible and by then, it didn’t matter because you had my heart, love. And as to how I fell for you? That’s easy, because I’d have to have been mad not to. You were everything I dreamed of, love, and you still are.”

She shivered and glanced up at him. “We make a good pair, you and me, Jötunn. And I promise I will never take our life together for granted ever again.”

He bent to capture her lips in a tender kiss and as it deepened, she turned in his arms to face him once more. When he pulled away, he whispered, “I love you, Midgardian.”

“I love you, too, Loki. Now, shut up and kiss me again.”

“As you wish, love,” he murmured just before his lips claimed hers once more.