Chapter Fifteen #2
"You've taught me many things, Thor Odinson," she replied with a smirk playing on her lips. "It’s time I show you the creature you’ve unleashed, and what it's like when a woman holds the reins."
His entire body tensed, each muscle coiled like steel wire beneath his skin. As he sat hoping not to break the chair under him, he realized how eager he was for what might come next under her command. It stirred both curiosity and apprehension in equal measure.
“Have you ever let a woman be in control before?” She backed up before undoing the buttons down the side of her dress.
“No,” he admitted, his erection groaning against his leather pants.
She slid the dress from her body agonizingly slowly, spending seconds revealing a mere inch.
Thor's mouth dried. His fingers curled into fists as the golden fabric slid down over her breasts, revealing the white, silky fabric underneath. She moved with deliberate slowness, her hazel eyes never leaving his face as she watched his reaction.
The dress pooled at her feet, and she stepped out of it, standing before him in nothing but the delicate undergarments.
The sight of her, confident, powerful, commanding, sent a jolt through him that had nothing to do with his godhood and everything to do with the woman he’d encouraged her to unleash.
Elle walked around behind him, her fingers trailing across his shoulders. Her breath fell against his ear as she leaned close.
"Do you know what it's like," she whispered, "to spend your entire life being told what to do? When to speak, when to be silent, where to stand, how to move?" Her hands slid down his chest, nails dragging through his shirt. "Always at someone else's mercy."
Thor's breathing quickened. He finally understood. She wasn’t just seducing him, but claiming the power that had been stolen from her for so long.
"You're right," he managed, his voice rough. "I did create this. And I wouldn't change a damn thing."
She came around to face him, standing between his spread legs. She flicked her fingers at the fireplace in the corner, and it caught with a small explosion. She flicked another fiery red rope toward the door, and the lights overhead extinguished.
The firelight from the hearth cast dancing shadows across her skin, making her look otherworldly. The delicate white satin did little to hide her form, and Thor had to remind himself to breathe.
"Good answer." She traced a finger along his jaw, then down his throat. "Because I'm not done with you yet."
Elle straddled him again, settling herself against him. Thunder sounded outside, and she smiled. The heat of her core pressed against his erection through his pants, and he flexed hard against the magical bands, making the chair creak.
"Easy," she murmured, rolling her hips. "I told you not to break it."
"Then stop torturing me."
"You think this is torture?" Her eyebrows arched. "Thor Odinson, I haven't even begun."
She kissed him again, deeper this time, her tongue sliding against his as her hands worked at the buttons of his shirt.
She worked them free one by one, her fingers brushing against his chest with each movement.
The contact sent electricity skittering across his skin.
When she finally pushed the shirt open, her palms flattened against his bare chest, and she traced the scars with curious fingertips.
"Tell me about this one," she said, touching a jagged mark that ran from his collarbone to his sternum.
"Ice giant. About fifteen hundred years ago."
She leaned down and pressed her lips to the scar, and Thor's head fell back. The sensation of her mouth on his skin while he couldn't touch her was exquisite agony.
"And this one?" She moved to another scar on his ribs.
"Troll. Norway. Can't remember when."
Another kiss. Another jolt of pleasure. She was mapping him, learning him, claiming every part of him that battle had marked. The bands around his arms tightened as he strained against them, desperate to pull her closer.
"Elle," he groaned. "Please."
"Please, what?" She looked up at him through her thick lashes, and the firelight caught in her eyes, making them glow amber and golden.
"Please," he said, his voice rougher than he'd intended. "Touch me."
She smiled. “I am touching you.”
She slid off his lap, and the loss of her warmth made him want to roar in frustration, but then she knelt before him, her hands working at his belt.
Thor's breath caught. The sight of her between his legs, completely in control, was almost more than he could handle. The leather of his pants strained against him as she pulled the belt free and tossed it aside.
"You know," she said as if discussing the weather and not engaged in something driving him insane, "Val always told me that men were simple creatures. That they wanted one thing and once they had it, they moved on."
Her fingers traced the line of his waistband, and Thor had to concentrate to form words. "Val doesn't know everything."
"Doesn't she?" Elle looked up at him, and something vulnerable flickered across her face before the mask of confidence returned. "Then tell me what you want, Thor. What do you really want from me?"
The question hung between them, weighted with more than that moment. Thor understood she wasn't asking about sex. She was asking about everything. Their future, his intentions, whether he would still want her when the novelty wore off, when she wasn't new and exciting anymore.
"I want everything," he said, his voice steady despite the fire raging through him.
"I want to wake up next to you every morning.
I want to teach you to ride my motorcycle and take you to every restaurant in Los Angeles until we find your favorite.
I want to argue with you about raw fish and watch you play with the goats.
I want to help you discover who you are when no one is controlling you. "
Her eyes glistened in the firelight.
"I want to watch you grow into the powerful woman you're meant to be," he continued.
"I want to be there when you decide what you want to do with your life.
I want to hold you when the nightmares come, and I want you to hold me when mine do.
I want to build a life with you, Elle. Not just tonight.
Every night. For as long as you'll have me. "
A tear slipped down her cheek, and she brushed it away. "You're sure?"
"More sure than I've ever been.” She studied his face for a long moment, searching for any hint of deception, any crack in his sincerity.
Thor held her gaze, letting her see everything.
The vulnerability, the hope, the absolute certainty that had taken root in his chest the moment he'd realized she was gone.
"Then you should know something." Her fingers stilled on his waistband. "I don't know how to be what you need. I don't know how to be a partner or a lover or- or whatever this is supposed to be. All I know is how to survive. How to be small and quiet and invisible."
"That's not all you know." Thor leaned forward as much as the bands would allow. "You know how to be brave. You stood up to Surtr. You claimed your power. You chose your own path."
"Because you showed me."
"No." He shook his head. "I didn't show you anything. It was always there, Elle. I just gave you a safe place to let it out."
She bit her lip. The firelight painted her skin in shades of gold and orange. She flicked her wrist, and the bands disappeared. He lurched forward and captured her mouth with his.
Picking her up, he wrapped her legs around his waist and carried her toward his bedroom, lit only by the ambient glow filtering in from the living room fireplace.
He laid Elle on the massive dragon-carved bed, the mattress giving under their combined weight.
The posts rose toward the ceiling like ancient sentinels, and for a moment, he was transported- not to Asgard, but to something better. Something entirely his own.
Elle's hair spread across his pillow in waves of auburn and ginger, and the sight made his chest constrict. She belonged there. In his bed, in his life, in every moment going forward.
He braced himself above her, drinking in the sight of her flushed cheeks and swollen lips. Her chest rose and fell with quick breaths, and heat radiated from her skin even through the thin satin.
"You're staring," she whispered.
"I'm memorizing." He traced the curve of her cheek with his thumb. "Every time I look at you, I find something new."
“What have you found so far?” she asked.
"That you're impossibly beautiful," he murmured, lowering his head to kiss along her collarbone.
"That you have a small scar right next to your earlobe.
" His lips moved lower, tracing the edge of the satin.
"That your skin is a constellation of freckles I want to count.
" He kissed her abdomen. “That your belly button dips in, but at the bottom it pokes out a little too.”
Elle's fingers threaded through his hair, and the gentle tug sent pleasure spiraling down his spine. He worked his way across her skin, savoring each gasp and sigh that escaped her lips.
"Thor..." Her voice wavered.
He lifted his head. "What is it?"
He waited, giving her the space to find her words. Emotions flickered across her face. Desire, uncertainty, something deeper that made his heart clench.
"I'm afraid," she whispered.
"Of me?"
"Of losing this. Of waking up and finding it was all a dream." Her wide, round eyes searched his face. "Of you realizing I'm not worth all this trouble."
Thor cupped her face, forcing her to look at him. "Listen to me. You are worth everything. Every breath. Every lonely moment of my existence. Ragnarok itself. All of it, I would do a thousand times again if it meant I got to have you now and forever.”
Elle yanked him to her, her lips claiming his mouth.
He kissed her back with fervor. She wrapped her legs around his waist and flipped him on his back.
They stripped off the remainder of their clothes, and before he gained his bearings, she pushed him back on the pillows and slid down on him.
He grabbed her hips as her silken body wrapped around him.
He swore in Olde Norse and grabbed her hips. She stared into his eyes as she rocked her hips on his. Thor stared at her. Beautiful, radiant, and his.
Her rhythm picked up, and his orgasm pulsed up the back of his legs. His erection throbbed and tightened, wanting release.
Not yet. Not until she got hers.
He moved his fingers between them, finding the sensitive spot that made her gasp. She gripped his shoulders as their bodies moved together.
Suddenly, she sucked in a breath, and her eyes went completely golden.
She stared straight at him as every inch of her burned bright and warm.
The sensation sent him over the edge as she cried his name.
Rocking her hips against him harder. His body spasmed as it spilled into her.
He pulled her through her climax as she called to him over and over.
Lightning lit up the sky outside as thunder crashed against the walls, making them shake.
Finally, she fell on his chest.
“That… was… amazing,” she breathed.
“Midgard-shattering?”
“Helheim ending.”
He kissed her soft, making her mewl into his mouth.
“I love you, Thor Odinson.”
He brushed her cheek. “And I love you, Sutrelle, daughter of Aelena, of Asgard.”