Chapter Seven
HARMONY
“Tell me again why you have to leave?” Odin whispered against my lips as we stood pressed together beside my truck.
“Because I have to go feed my animals.”
“Told you. I can send a prospect over there to do it,” he reminded me, shoving a lock of hair behind my ear.
He had. About seventy-six times while I was getting dressed.
“I know.” I bit my lip, thinking how much I loved that he didn’t want me to leave. It had been a long time since I’d felt wanted. “But, I do things a certain way. Plus You Bitch and Eeyore can kinda be a pain in the ass. Pun intended.”
He snorted. “I can’t believe you have a donkey named You Bitch.”
My brows went up. “Babe! She earned that name.” When I bought her, her name was Sweety. There isn’t a sweet thing about her. She’s a literal pain in the ass. She refuses to go in the barn, she’s a bitch when the farrier comes. You name it, and she is going to put up a fight.
Odin was looking at me with a weird expression on his face.
“What?”
He shook his head. “Like it when you call me babe.”
My brows snapped together.
Had I called him that? I replayed the last sixty seconds, and sure enough, I had.
“I really need to go, babe,” I said, stressing the endearment because I loved seeing that soft look on his face, and I wanted it to stay there.
He groaned, his forehead dropping to mine. “If I hadn’t called church, I’d go with you, then drag your sexy ass back to my bed.”
My cheeks flushed at the memory of everything we’d done in that bed.
All. Night. Long.
Jesus, he was insatiable.
Every time I thought that was it, surely he couldn’t go another round, surely this is the moment he tells me, it’s been fun, but you gotta go, he’d reach for me again.
Then this morning, he’d woken me up with breakfast in bed before settling between my thighs and declaring he was hungry for his breakfast too. I’d nearly come apart just from the first swipe of his tongue.
My eyes lifted to his and my thighs clenched.
“Shit,” Odin growled, his eyes darkening like he knew exactly what I was thinking about. “You’re killing me, babe.”
“Sorry,” I lied, biting my lip to keep from smiling.
He shook his head, that sexy smirk still playing on his lips. “No, you’re not.”
No. I really wasn’t.
I’d gone almost two years without sex. Even though Reggie and I had only been divorced for a year, we’d been separated for much longer.
But now… Now my body was deliciously sore in all the right places. My thighs ached. My breasts were tender from his mouth and hands. And between my legs... I closed my eyes and blew out a breath. I was going to feel him there for days.
“You okay, baby?”
I blinked back into focus to find him watching me with a knowing smirk on his face. “Just... thinking.”
“Oh yeah?” He dipped his head, nuzzling his nose against my neck. “About what?”
About how you made me come so hard this morning, I saw stars. About how I can still feel you inside me.
“Nothing,” I lied again, feeling heat radiating off my cheeks.
His deep chuckle rumbled against me. “Liar.”
I pushed at his chest playfully. “Whatever. But, I really do have to go.”
“I know.” He sighed, stepping back but keeping his hands on my hips. “I’ll see you later.”
The promise in those words sent butterflies loose in my stomach.
“Okay,” I whispered as I climbed into the cab of my truck. I really did need to get out of there. My animals were probably losing their minds. They tended to do that when their breakfast was two seconds late.
Leaning in, he kissed me slow and deep, like he was memorizing the taste of me.
Odin leaned in through the open window to steal another quick kiss before shutting my door and tapping the roof twice with a rumbled, “Be good.”
“I’ll try,” I promised as I cranked the engine and started down the gravel drive.
“Holy shit,” I whispered as I lifted my eyes to the rearview.
Odin was still standing outside the clubhouse with his hands shoved in his pockets, watching me leave.
A giggle bubbled up out of nowhere.
I knew I was acting like a silly schoolgirl with her first crush, but I couldn’t help it.
I’d slept with a man I’d just met. Not just slept with him—I’d given myself to him completely. Multiple times. In ways I’d never experienced with anyone else.
I wasn’t that kind of woman.
I didn’t do one-night stands or jump into bed with strangers.
But the pull I felt toward Odin was like nothing I’d ever experienced before. It was magnetic. Consuming. Like my soul recognized his and demanded to be reunited.
That probably sounded crazy.
Hell, it was crazy.
But it was the truth.
“Wren will know what to do.” Biting my lip, I pulled out my phone and hit Wren’s name on my call log as I made the short drive next door to my farm.
She answered on the second ring. “Well?”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Well, what?”
“Don’t you dare play coy with me, Harmony Dane. I’ve been dying over here. Did you take him the bread?”
“I did.”
“And?”
I pulled into my driveway and put the truck in park. “And... I stayed for dinner.”
Wren gasped. “You stayed? With all of them?”
“Yeah. His mom was there. She’s really sweet. And he has a son named Reid. He’s sixteen and—”
“Harmony.”
“What?”
“Did you sleep with him?”
I bit my lip, heat flooding my cheeks.
“Oh my God, you did!”
“Wren—”
“I knew it! I knew it! Tell me everything. And I mean everything.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not giving you a play-by-play.”
“The hell you’re not. Start talking.”
Taking a deep breath, I leaned back against the seat. “It was... amazing. He was amazing. I’ve never felt like that with anyone before.”
“Like what?”
“Like... I don’t know. Safe. Wanted. Like I was his, and that was exactly where I was supposed to be.” I paused, chewing on my bottom lip. “Is that crazy? We just met.”
“Harm, you did everything by the book with Reggie. You dated for months before sleeping with him. You had a big wedding. You played by all the rules.” She paused. “And look how that ended.”
My chest tightened.
She was right.
I’d done everything “right” with Reggie, and he’d turned out to be a monster.
“Maybe it’s time to follow your heart instead of your head,” Wren said softly. “I don’t think it’ll lead you astray.”
I blinked back the sudden sting in my eyes. “Thanks, Wren. For being such a good friend.”
“Always.”
I closed my eyes and thanked the Gods for giving me such an amazing friend. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“You’d better. I want more details.”
“Bye, Wren.”
Hanging up, I climbed out of the truck and headed toward the barn, feeling much better about last night.
Because Wren was right.
It was time to stop overthinking everything and start living my life.
Stepping out of the shower, I grabbed the towel on the edge of the sink and started drying off.
“What the hell?” There was a massive hickey on my thigh. I lifted my eyes to the full-length mirror on the back of my door and froze. There were love bites everywhere. On my neck, my breasts, my hips.
“Jesus. The man must have been on a mission to leave a mark on every inch of my body.”
Shaking my head, I giggled.
Then just as quickly, I sobered, my hand drifting to my belly.
He hadn’t used a condom this morning.
Jesus. What if I was pregnant?
After we’d both realized how caught up in the moment we’d gotten and the monumental mistake we’d made, he promised he was clean.
Thank the Gods for that, but that didn’t prevent pregnancy.
“How could I be so stupid?” I groaned. I was twenty-five and knew better.
But as I stood there with my hand on my belly, I remembered the way he’d looked at me this morning, his green eyes dark as he’d pressed his forehead to mine. “You’re mine now, baby. You know that, right?”
Was it really that easy in his world? You met your person, and then BAM, you were just… together?
No games.
No dragging it out.
Just—hey, I want you. Let’s do this thing.
Weirdly... I liked the idea of that.
No second-guessing. No wondering where I stood.
Shaking my head, I pushed the thought away. There was no reason to freak out. I’d do the responsible thing and go into town and get a Plan B.
Pulling on a pair of cutoff denim shorts and a white tank top, I didn’t even bother with a bra.
I’d make my run into town and zip right back.
Jogging down the steps, I rounded the corner into the kitchen and came to a shuddering stop.
“Jesus!” I pressed my hand to my chest. “What are you doing in my house?”
Reggie looked up, his jaw tight, eyes narrowed to slits. “The better question, Sweetheart, is what were you doing at the Saint’s Outlaws compound last night?”
My brows pulled together. Was he serious? We were divorced. Had been for over a year. I didn’t answer to him.
“That’s none of your business.”
Something dark moved behind his eyes, and then he surged out of the chair.
Before I could even wrap my head around what was happening, his hand was around my throat, and he was slamming me against the wall.
“No!” I croaked, clawing at his hand.
“I can smell him on you,” he snarled.
Then, like the bastard he was, he cocked back his arm and let it fly, his fist smashing into my face.
White hot pain exploded across my cheek at the same time black spots danced in my vision.
“You whore!” he roared, using the deathgrip he had on my neck to throw me across the room.
I held my hands out, trying to catch myself, but there was no use. My body crashed into the kitchen table, and I dropped to the floor, my head smashing against the tile.
I barely had time to process the pain before Reggie was on me again. His fist wrapped around my hair, and he yanked back my head.
“If I can’t have you, no one can.”
His fist connected with the back of my head, and the last thought that went through my mind before everything went dark was that he was going to kill me this time.