Coming Home (Sequel to This Time Around)

Chapter Thirty-One

"Sorry, love." His hands went still. "I think you broke it, darling girl. I'll go fetch Eir."

"Oh, no. That's not necessary. Let her sleep. I'll hobble down there in the morning."

"Are you certain?"

She nodded. "I'm positive. I don't want to wake her for something like this. I just need some ice or something."

He grinned. "You've come to the right place, as you'd say."

As he spoke, his right hand took on the bluish tint she knew so well and this time, when his hand came to rest on her foot, it barely hurt at all. She sighed softly. "Wonderful. Just what I didn't need."

"Lay back, McKenna, and make yourself comfortable."

"With my foot on you? I don't think comfortable is going to happen."

"Try."

She gingerly lowered back onto her elbows, then shifted onto her back. Loki caught her ankle once more, easing it over his knee so the outside of her foot came to rest against his calf. "Are you comfortable?"

"About as comfortable as I can be, I guess."

"Good. Now, close your eyes and try to go back to sleep."

The coolness from his body seeped into her aching foot and little by little, the pain receding. Loki flicked his fingers and the lights went out, but she could still make out his silhouette. "Loki, I appreciate this, but please... go to sleep. I'll just prop it up on a pillow until morning."

"Hush. This is the least I can do, since I'm the reason Aislinn keeps having nightmares."

"Stop it, Loki. Feel sorry for yourself tomorrow. Go to sleep now."

His laughter rose soft into the darkness. "Is that what I'm doing?"

She shifted her foot off him and moved to curve against him. "That's exactly what you're doing."

"Very well. At least let me do this, then."

She didn't see him flick his fingers, but then she felt him fumbling about her ankle and the cold she felt wasn't from him. "You conjured up an ice pack for me?"

"Too cold?"

"It's fine. Thank you." She snuggled back against him, resting her head on his shoulder. As his arm came down about her, she sighed. "They should stop soon. The nightmares, I mean."

"I hope so."

"They will." She trailed her fingertips up along his stomach. "Loki?"

"What?"

"Earlier, in the garden... that wasn't too much, was it?"

A low chuckle rose into the darkness. "You did not just ask me that, did you?"

She smiled against his chest, her fingertips now grazing up the middle of his chest. "I know, it's kind of a dumb question, but I've never really been the adventurous type when it comes to sex, so I really debated about whether or not to do that."

"Well, you chose wisely." He gave her a gentle squeeze. "And no, it wasn't too much. It was incredible, is what it was. I still get a little tingly when I think about it."

She lifted her head to peer down at him, even though she could only just make out his features. "Tingly? So you're still thinking about it, then?"

"Oh, absolutely I'm thinking about it. Love, no man-no matter what realm he's from-is ever going to not think about an encounter like that. We dream of things like that happening to us."

"Oh, you do not."

"I most certainly do." He kissed the top of her head. "I've got a mental list going of all the places I'd like to christen with you and all of the things I'd like to do to and with you in said places."

That made a strangely delicious shiver ripple along her spine. "You do?"

"You don't?"

Now the heat swirling through her became a little uncomfortable. "I-I-not really."

"Really?" The bed shifted and now he loomed over her in the darkness. "You don't have any fantasies, love? None at all?"

"I told you, I've never been much of an adventurer when it came to sex. I always thought the guy I was with would just laugh at me."

"Oh, darling girl, you don't know how wrong you are." His lips brushed along her neck and she bit back a sigh as her eyes closed when he added, "You should only know how many I have where you are concerned, my love."

"Should I?"

"Oh, yes. Remember the night I bound your wrists?"

How could she forget? It still made her shiver to think about. "I do."

"That was only one of many." His lips skimmed over the hollow in her throat before he shifted to kiss along the line of her jaw. "And you sinking to your knees in the garden was absolutely amazing, love. Any time you wish to do that, I will only encourage you. But, just be warned... the same rules apply for me."

She shivered at the thought of Loki doing something similar. "Is that so?"

"Oh, yes, darling girl. As I said, I have a long list of things I'd like to explore with you. Odin's throne and the pergola are only the tip of the iceberg, as you'd say."

There was such deep, sensuous promise in his growled whisper that heat flared through her. "I'm in trouble, aren't I?"

"Darling girl," he nuzzled her, flicking the tip of tongue against a sensitive patch of skin just beneath her left ear, "you are going to thank every last god known in all nine realms that you're a woman when I'm finished with you."

Her toes curled and she shivered again, but her sigh turned into a laugh as he added, "Unless, of course, your daughter never sleeps through the night again, because I'm going to be too tired from sleep deprivation to do much more than this."

She wound her arms about his neck and let her fingertips brush his nape. "I really hope she sleeps through the night soon."

"You and me both." He kissed her lightly on the mouth, then shifted to lie beside her, tugging her against him. "Now, we should both go to sleep before my lusty thoughts take over and we're up until the sun rises."

"Hmmm... and that would be a bad thing?"

"Not if we didn't have Selig's birthday tomorrow. But since we do-"

"Good point." She snuggled against him, stretching to brush her lips over his cool forearm. "G'night, Loki."

""Good night, love."

"I had a wonderful time tonight."

She felt his smile, heard it in his voice as he whispered, "So did I. And I'm fairly certain I was the envy of every man in Asgard. Even more so if they knew what happened in the pergola."

McKenna shivered. "I'm glad I listened to my instincts."

"As am I, darling girl. As am I."