Coming Home (Sequel to This Time Around)

Chapter Thirty-Four

Leaning her head against his shoulder, she whispered back, "I know they're fine, but I can't sleep unless I take one last look at them. You know that." She glanced up at him. "Even after all this time, I still marvel at them-all four of them. We did this, Loki."

He pressed a kiss into the top of her head. "We work well together, Midgardian. I've said that from the beginning, before Selig was even an idea."

As they left the nursery, she shook her head. "He was never an idea. He was an accident."

"He was a miracle," Loki corrected, giving her a gentle squeeze. "Wrapped up in an accident."

"That does sound better, doesn't it?"

As they stepped into their room, Loki closed the door behind him. "Honestly? I've always thought that calling him an accident makes it seem as if he was unwanted. And that was never the case."

"No, it wasn't, but it wasn't exactly what I'd expected, either." McKenna slipped off her shoes and sighed as her feet were flat on the floor for the first time in hours. "Oh, that's so much better."

He grinned. "And you're tiny again."

"Four inch heels are not for the fainthearted," she said over her shoulder as she went into the closet.

When she emerged, Loki was lying on his back in bed, staring up at the ceiling. He'd stripped down to only a pair of navy blue boxer briefs and it wasn't the first time McKenna thought Champion should be paying him to wear their underwear. "Before I fell into your apartment, I never even entertained the notion of children. Now, I cannot imagine my life without them."

"The little pests grow on you, don't they?"

He smiled as she crossed to her dresser and tugged her sweater over her head. "Yes. They certainly do."

She tugged off her jeans and tossed her bra into the laundry basket-smiling when Loki groaned softly-and tugged her tee shirt and shorts on in place of them. Then, as she stretched out on her stomach beside him, she said, "So you didn't want kids?"

"I never thought about them," he told her, smiling at her. "I had other plans, remember? A wife, a family, they never came into play."

As he spoke, he freed one arm from behind his head and rolled onto his side. She fought back a sigh as he trailed his fingertips along her thigh. Smiling, she said, "So, women were just kind of a one night stand thing for you?"

"More or less."

"Typical."

His fingertips grazed the back of her knee, sending delicate shivers racing up and down her body. "Honest." His eyes softened and a smile played at his lips. "You weren't thinking long term back when we first met, were you?"

"Loki, I'm a girl. We're always thinking long-term."

"With a god wanted for murder?"

"Well, okay, maybe not at first. But, once I saw you naked, oh, hell yes."

His laugh was low as it rumbled toward her. "You wanted me for my body?"

Her breath hitched as his fingers swept up along the back of her thigh again. "You look pretty damn impressive naked, you know." His fingers slid beneath the leg of her shorts to brush the underside of one cheek and she shivered. "And you're really amazing in bed, too, you know...And, oooh... that feels nice..."

He leaned over to brush her lips with his, whispering, "You are so easy, love. Do you know that?"

His fingers crept higher still and she slid an arm about his neck to pull him down as she replied, "I'm married to you. I'm allowed to be easy and you should thank God I am. Not all wives are, you know."