Chapter 10 #2
He strode to the bar and sat right in front of her, not bothering to ask for a drink or hide his true intention.
This wasn't the time to play around. Val would want to be told straight up and right away.
She finished serving several beers and then looked at him and smiled.
He wasn't sure he'd really seen her smile at him before.
She'd laughed at him, but smiled, genuinely smiled, that was something new.
Which made what he was about to tell her all the more difficult.
She walked to him. "Did you find out anything?"
"Do you have a few minutes for a break?"
Her eyes narrowed, and then she nodded. "Sure."
"Can we go up to your place?" he asked.
"I don't think we have that much time," she said.
"Not for sex. I just think we should talk in private."
Her expression darkened. "All right." She turned to the other bartender. "I'm taking my fifteen."
The other bartender waved.
Val scanned the bar and then looked at him again. Loki stood and followed Val up the stairs. They'd barely gotten inside her apartment when she rounded on him.
"What's wrong?" She crossed her arms over her chest.
Loki closed the door and looked around her sparse apartment.
The place smelled of sweet coffee and the faint cleaning product Frigg used on her floors.
The walls were the color of old bone, the kind of off-white that came standard in every furnished unit.
Efficient and no-frills, it contained all the items Frigg usually furnished, nothing more.
No knick-knacks. No personal items. Nothing to signify anyone had even moved in.
“Well?” she pressed.
"I found out who is looking to cash you and Elle in to Surtr." He walked to the small wooden table and sat.
"What's the problem? Tell me who he is and where to find him, and I'll take care of it."
Loki unbuttoned his suit coat and crossed his legs. "That's the problem. I can't tell you."
"Why not?" she demanded.
"Because he is a client of mine and there are laws I have to follow."
"Human laws."
"Yes, but still laws. I am expected to follow the same rules down in the Underworld as I do up here. My clients rely on my discretion. If I break that oath, I'll lose my clients."
She shrugged. "So what? You don't need to work. You must have plenty of money. And I’m sure the humans pay better."
"It's not the money, love. It's the boredom.
I have to do something to fill my eternity.
You have bartending, I have my law practice.
That right was bestowed on me by Lucifer himself.
If I break it, I'll have more problems than just losing clients.
I'll probably be kicked out of the Underworld, or locked up and tortured, or both.
And I've had enough torture for one eternity. "
"Well, if you aren't going to tell me, why did you call me all the way up here?" She shook her head and stomped toward the door.
Loki appeared in front of her, blocking her way. "I can't tell you who he is, but I can tell you where he will be."
She chewed the inside of her cheek. "Okay."
"Trust me, I want nothing more than to rip him apart myself, but I'm not allowed. However, I made him a deal."
"What kind of deal?"
The kind she wasn't going to like. "He's agreed to meet you tonight at Valhalla’s Throne. He said if you can beat him in the cage, he'll stop looking for you and tell Surtr you aren't in the Underworld."
"And if I lose?"
"Then he gets to take you and Elle to Surtr."
"What? Hel no. Why would I agree to that?"
"You don't have to. If you don't show, he’ll leave and keep hunting you. If you don't want to chance it, then keep hiding up here and wait him out. But if you do beat him, you'll never have to look over your shoulder again."
Val chewed her lip and stared at him. "Do you think I can beat him?"
"Absolutely." He threw her his best reassuring smile.
She cocked an eyebrow at him. "The truth."
His smile faltered. "I do. It won't be easy, but since he can't use any of his magical abilities, I think you can. Though I can't say what state you will be in when you are done."
She thought for a moment. "Will you take care of me when I'm injured?"
Loki's erection jumped to life. Hel yeah, he would take care of her. "Anything you need, love."
A slight smile played over her lips. "You better not promise something you aren't willing to or can't do."
"Is this a test?"
"If you want it to be."
Desire coursed through Loki. He liked nothing more than a challenge. And damn if she wasn’t the best challenge he’d ever faced.
Loki took a step toward her and laced his fingers in the hair at the base of her neck.
"You might be the death of me, woman."
She pulled his hips against hers. "I sure hope not. What fun would you be if I could kill you so easy? I’d feel betrayed that so many had lied about your stamina."
Loki groaned at the feel of her svelte body pressed against his. He leaned in and kissed her neck. “Last night didn’t convince you of my stamina?”
She chuckled. “You call that stamina? Now I do feel betrayed. I’m now wondering if the reason you left me unfulfilled by my door this morning is because that’s all you had.”
Loki growled and kissed her hard. So that’s how she was going to play it.
She wanted to see stamina; he would show her.
He’d simply been trying to be gentle with her.
But if that’s not what she wanted… He’d show her exactly how much he wanted her.
He'd already had her several times, but it still wasn't enough.
He doubted he could make love to her a thousand times and tire of her.
She pressed him back against the door and kissed him harder. Her passion heated him all the more. Her hands roamed his body and grabbed his rear as she continued kissing him with gusto. She bit his bottom lip, and Loki pulled away as his desire spiked.
"I thought you said you didn't have time," he teased.
She smiled and stripped off her shirt to reveal the curves of her breasts, nipples already begging for his mouth. "I lied."
There was no going slow. No time to warm her up or make sure she had all her needs met. The air between them crackled like a live wire, raw and electric with need. She clawed at her pants, like they had offended her.
He barely had time to blink before she was naked, her skin flushed. The scent of her arousal hit him like a punch to the gut, thick and musky, making him throb painfully against his zipper. She'd stripped off her clothes and stood naked before he got his pants off.
"Snap them off," she commanded.
He didn’t want to show off, but hel if she wanted him naked that bad, he wouldn’t complain. With a snap, his clothes disappeared.
She stalked to him and cupped his length. “Now, take off your glamour.”
He froze. He’d never stood naked in front of anyone without his glamour before. Doing so felt like being more than naked. It was like tearing down the wall he used to protect himself from every other being.
“Don’t tell me you’re suddenly shy.”
“No, it’s not that, it’s just…” How did he explain?
“I want to see you. To feel you. The real you.”
Her eyes traveled over his face, searching, probing.
With a knot in his gut, he let the magic fall off his skin. Her gaze softened, and she touched his face.
“I like the real you.”
His heart squeezed so hard he fought the tears threatening to spill from his eyes. Loki grabbed her and picked her up, pinning her to the wall.
She laughed and looked down. “I feel closer to the ceiling than the floor now. How tall are you?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe seven feet.”
She reached up and stroked his horns, sending sensations trickling over his scalp and down his neck that he’d never experienced, heightening his pleasure.
He couldn’t hold back any longer, so he entered her hard and fast.
She shuddered and grabbed his horns tighter. “You’re so much bigger everywhere,” she moaned, pressing her lips to his.
He thrust into her again, her body smaller, tighter, but not weaker. She took his entire length and mewled, wanting more of him. He’d never been so turned on by a woman in his life.
Something inside him broke open as she accepted him, took him in fully, and still wanted more.
She moved her hips back and forth, grinding onto him.
“Faster,” she whispered. “My break is almost over.”
Loki grabbed her by the neck as he thrust into her again. She moaned, and her head fell back as he leaned in and licked her throat.
"Loki," she moaned.
The sound of his name almost sent him over the edge.
"Loki," she panted again.
"Signe." He bit her shoulder, and she shuddered. "Signe... I love you." The words tumbled from his lips.
Had he just said that? Had he really told her he loved her?
Shit. Why had he said that? What had made him confess that?
He had no idea, but he also knew that it was the truth.
As much as he never thought it would happen, there it was.
She’d taken his walls and bulldozed them, shattered them, ground them to dust, and stood on the remains.
And all that remained was his truth. His raw, real truth. He loved her.
She pulled his face to hers and kissed him before searching his eyes. "Tell me again," she whispered.
His chest squeezed. "I love you, Signe. I know it doesn't make sense, but I do."
She didn't speak for a minute, and he thought she might push him away; instead, she pulled his mouth to hers and kissed him before setting her head against his. "Are you saying that because I'm a good lay?"
"I've never told a woman I loved her before. Ever. No matter how good they were in bed," he confessed. “Not when they asked me to. Not when I knew it was what they wanted to hear.”
“Do you think that’s what I want to hear?”
He shook his head. “Quite the opposite. I’m positive that’s the last thing you want to hear, love.”
She kissed him again. "Then I accept your words as truth. And now I want you even more."
She pushed her hips into his, and Loki turned with her and walked to the bed and dropped onto it. She flipped him onto his back and straddled him. Loki dug his fingers into her hips as she ground against him, sending waves of pleasure up the back of his legs and making his thighs burn.
She moaned and hummed as her friction increased and she rode him harder and faster. Her wings burst from her back and fanned out beautifully in the sunlight.
Loki held out from the climax that wound tight inside him. She was so beautiful. So perfect. He wanted every piece of her. And he wanted to see it. Wanted to see her climax. Wanted to watch her fall over that edge between pain and ecstasy.
It didn't take long. Her nails dug into his chest, and then she sucked in a sharp breath. He tried to rock her through her climax, but the sight of her beautiful, strong body, mixed with her calling his name, was so blissfully erotic he couldn't hold back.
His body exploded as he came. Every muscle in his body tightened, and he no longer controlled his muscles. His eyes closed as the euphoria washed over him, but she hooked a finger in his mouth, and he opened his eyes again to find her watching him as she called his name again.
Finally, they both finished, she fell onto his chest, where her heartbeat through his own ribcage.
He rubbed her back, touching where her skin met her wings.
Her wings twitched and folded down flush against her skin.
Their hearts beat in unison, and she ran her fingers down his arm and laced her fingers in his much larger ones before kissing his chest.
She looked up at him. “You are much more handsome in your true form. But I want you to save it only for me. For now, at least. I don’t want to share this part of you with anyone. And whenever we make love, I want you to be in your natural form.”
“Because I’m so much bigger?”
She bit his chest, and he laughed.
“No,” she finally said. “Because I want us to be able to be completely open with each other. If we’re going to do this, I don’t want you to hide anything from me, and I need to know that I can fully be myself with you as well. Broken, flawed, and beautiful all at the same time.
He kissed her, and though they'd just finished, he already wanted her again.