Page 43 of Forging Chaos

“You better not sleep in the bunk bed. I was thinking we probably wouldn’t sleep at all.” She hums, and I wash her hair, then nudge her to scoot down further in the water so I can use my hands to cup water over it and rinse everything. Eventually, she turns, and we wash each other’s bodies with the soap, her nipples impossibly hard, dragging along my chest when she leans forward to wash my back. Is she loving this as much as I am?

“Tell me about your travel plans,” I tell her, to get my mind off the word “love” and the creeping feeling of attachment that is overtaking my brain.

Thora smiles. Her face is clean and bright and pink from the hot water. Or the sex. Or both. “I have everything set up,” she tells me. “Passport. Visa. Ticket. I fly out on August 1, and Fern is meeting me at the airport. Which is good because myplane gets in super late at night, and I don’t want to take the bus alone at one in the morning.”

I frown at this. “You better not take a bus alone at one in the morning.”

She swats at me. “I just said I wasn’t. Wyatt has a car.” Suddenly, I hate that my cousin will see my girl when she embarks on her life goal. My girl…that’s not fair. I haven’t earned the right to call her mine. We’re just messing around while she waits for her next step, and I figure out what the hell my life looks like now.

I realize she has continued talking, and I lace my fingers together behind my head while she sits facing me in the giant tub. My leg is half asleep from dangling out of the tub, but I have my whole life to improve my circulation. This is my only chance to see Thora Janssen excited about international scholar orientation at Oxford.

“And then I’m pretty much on my own in the library,” she says, clasping her hands together under her chin. She rests her elbows on my knees, and I press my legs together, pinning her in place. She giggles. I love it. “Nine entire months just learning about international family law and social services policy. I’m going to draw correlations and bring it all with me to law school. It would be great to do a Master’s in Public Policy, too…what?”

She tucks her hair behind her ears. I shake my head. “Nothing. I just like hearing you talk about this stuff.”

“You and Fern and nobody else.” She sighs. “All right. I’m turning into a prune. You said you’d feed me.”

Thora flicks the drain on the tub and the water starts gurgling out. “I guess you’re in a hurry for my hot beef.”

“Oooh, I do enjoy steamy meat.” She cracks up as she steps out of the tub and, to my frustration, covers her body in a fluffy towel. “Do you need help getting out?”

I wish I could tell her I didn’t. I wish I could do a lot ofthings, but I accept her hand and swing myself out of the tub, leaning against the side of it while I dry off.

Thora follows me to the kitchen, chatting about her packing plans while she pulls clothes from her bag and, unfortunately, covers up. I tug on a pair of shorts and start prepping one of the meal kits while we drink wine. It feels so natural, teasing her, talking about random shit like whether she needs compression socks for an international flight. “You’re not middle-aged with circulation issues, Thora. I think you’ll be fine.”

She sips her drink. “I’ve never flown before at all…how should I know?”

“You never flew anywhere?” I offer her a spoon to taste the pan sauce while the meat simmers on the stove.

She closes her eyes and nods. “That’s good. And no. I’ve never really left Pittsburgh much.”

I think about my own childhood, traveling all over the world for my extended family’s sports adventures. But none of that has prepared me for a future once my life got derailed. Thora has built herself a bulletproof plan, all within the confines of the Steel City.

I plate the food and realize I can’t easily carry it all to the table, so I slide the plates onto the counter, and Thora hops up into one of the stools. We eat side by side, talking about nothing and everything until she slides her plate away, drops a hand to my crotch, and tells me to show her our bedroom.

CHAPTER 33

THORA

I absolutely cannot get usedto this. What is this life where I’m swept off to a luxury cabin with a man who not only makes me come but cooks me dinner and plies me with delicious wine? I wake up cocooned in crisp, soft linens that smell so fresh and clean. And I’ve got a warm, hairy arm around my waist again, with Odin breathing softly into my hair as he holds me tight.

Maybe I can appreciate it for what it is: a perfect getaway. A gift for my graduation. Although, based on the sounds he was making last night again in bed, this is as much a reward for Odin as it is for me. We used that entire bottle of lube.

My body alerts me to the need to use the bathroom, and I struggle to free myself from his iron grasp. I eye the giant tub in the mirror as I fix my hair and brush my teeth. Did we really spend an hour in there just talking about my future? I realize I didn’t ask him anything about his rehab or what comes next for him.

And then I gaze at his sleeping form and realize that was probably by design. Maybe this is an escape for him from thinking about all of that. I know his family is giving him a lot of pressure to make decisions and fill out paperwork. I heardFern and Wyatt talking about that, and Odin has hinted at a few things.

I decide he deserves some more time to just mindlessly enjoy some pleasure, so I crawl my way back into the bed and reach in between his legs.

I find him hot and hard, and I smile, giving him a few pumps before I wrap my mouth around the tip of his cock. His eyes fly open, and he looks down at me, stunned, face-melting into utter joy as I plant kisses all along his shaft.

“Morning,” I whisper, wrapping one hand around the base of his cock while I do my best to fit him into my mouth.

“Are you serious right now? Wow.” Odin bites his lip, staring as I manage to get a few inches of his length inside my throat before I hollow out my cheeks and give a good, hard suck. “Oh, Thora. Gorgeous. Wow.”

His hand drops to my hair, reverent, as he stares at me. I release him with a wet pop as I catch my breath and then hold his gaze while I suck with all my might, bobbing my head up and down, pumping him with one hand and cradling his balls with the other.

His body goes limp as Odin leans into the sensations, but soon enough, I feel him stiffen everywhere. “Thora, honey, I’m gonna?—”

---