Unforeseen

Finally Unpacking

I swept out of the throne room as quickly as I could, pulling my loose blonde hair around my shoulders and letting it hang in front of my face to hide my rosy cheeks. Purposefully not making eye contact with any of the guards or servants that I passed in the halls, I all but powerwalked all the way to my personal chambers. As soon as I was behind my chamber's door, I flung myself onto one of my chairs, cupping my face in my hands. Oh my gosh! I was overheating like I had a fever! But, I could hardly be blamed for my blush! Not after... Loki...

I drew my knees up to my chest, burying my face into my skirts as I grinned to myself. Oh, my heart was still pounding so fast! I wanted to giggle and keep grinning like a fool and yet I wanted to curl up all the tighter and hide my embarrassment at the thought of how Loki's lips had felt on my lips, and... and on my skin! Lifting my fingers to the place where I could still feel the chill of his lips, I shivered. He'd kissed my neck... and it had felt so intimate and vulnerable and new.

A sudden thought occurred to me, my fingers halting on the crook of my neck. Immediately, I leapt from my chair, rushing into my bedchamber and to the mirror above my vanity. Had he...? He wouldn't have actually left a hickey on me, would he? He was too smart to actually leave such an obvious mark on me! Right? All the realms thought he was dead and that I was his still-mourning widow-betrothed, how would I be able to explain a freaking hickey? Throwing my hair over my shoulder to expose my neck, I leaned over the vanity and examined my skin.

I sighed in relief. My skin at the crook of my neck looked perfectly normal without mark or bruise. Loki's kisses had been so soft that the skin wasn't even pink beyond my blush. With my crisis adverted I plopped down onto the vanity's stool staring at myself as I fell back into thought, trying to absorb the whole interaction Loki and I had experienced.

Loki had been so forward! Would he attempt to kiss me like that again? I blushed at the thought, feeling embarrassed even as a small hopeful bloom blossomed in my heart. Oh gosh, Loki, what were you doing to me? Come to think of it, he'd been becoming more forward with me since I arrived on Asgard, testing his limits and exploring new ways to try to give me a heart attack!

Not that I minded it at all. No, even though I was still a shy mess, having to swallow my own babbling and blushing like a school girl as soon as he started talking sweetly to me in his poetic, romantic way or when he leveled those enticing, sensual green eyes of his at me, I could not deny to myself that I loved Loki's confident wooing.

I loved how beautiful and desirable he made me feel, how loving each touch and kiss and whisper was even when they were mischievous and flirty and heated. They reinforced Loki's affection and devotion to me. Loki may be a trickster, but when he was with me, each of these things told me nothing but the truth that was in his heart. Each of them told me that I was the one that had entranced his heart even as each of my reactions and words cemented the fact for him that my own heart was his alone. Is this what it felt like to be courted? If this is just a taste of what our engagement is going to be like, I'm not sure if my heart could take it! It might just pop the next time he tried to kiss me!

I remembered how his hands had traveled more over my body this time, trailing along the top of my thigh and hip, which both had been new territory for him. He'd always been chaste in how he handled me, which I appreciated as almost everything to do with romance and love was so new to me, and he still had been, but it was clear that he was trying to figure out where our current boundaries were. When I'd made it clear that I had drawn a line in his advance, not having felt comfortable with actually straddling him, he'd immediately stopped pushing. Again, I was thankful for that. My inherent shyness and modesty would have gone into high alert if he'd been too audacious or presumptuous, but he hadn't. He'd started easing me into the more physical realm of our relationship gently, taking baby-steps. He was a tease and a flirt, but he was still a gentleman.