Page 8 of Valkyrie Restored

The idea of having supper with them, of spending that much time alone with them, both excited and worried me. Something about them drew me. I dimly recalled feeling a slight draw to them the first few times we met, but it paled in comparison to what I felt now. Each time I met his gaze, my stomach seemed to drop out of my body and my heart did what it should have done when I faced the bear—it raced. And that scared me. Needing a moment to settle myself and to think about an appropriate, non-hormone driven answer, I latched onto his mention of a northern lodge. “What do you mean ‘northern lodge’? I guess I don’t even know what you do.”

He flashed another smile as he leaned in closer to me before smelling the scent emanating from the warm pot I’d placed on the table in front of me when I’d run out of things to prep. This one contained petals from one of the flowers I grew in my greenhouse. “Mmm, that smells so nice. Floral with a hint of spice. Probably good to elicit passion in the people who smell it.” He winked and my face caught on fire. How did he know that? I’d been steeping this batch for two days to concentrate the scents to infuse into a sensual massage oil.

“Y-yes,” I stuttered as he chuckled.

“I’m sure it will be a best seller.” He leaned back a bit, giving me room to breathe normally. Or at least as normally as I could when his scent filled my nose. I really needed to learn what it was made of because I was sure I could become rich from bottling it. “As to the northern lodge, Hurrit and I operate a wilderness and hunting company. We also run fishing charters. During the summer we tend to do more fishing here on the lake and closer wilderness tours, but during the fall and winter, our business tends to take us more northerly. After a couple of years, we purchased some land on the shores of Hudson Bay and built a rustic lodge and a couple of outbuildings up there to be our winter base of operations.”

“That sounds amazing. I love being out in the wilderness. It’s one of the reasons why I purchased this house. I love having the woods and the undisturbed shoreline so close.”

“Well then, Hurrit and I will have to fly you up to our lodge some time. Take you on one of our tours.”

I wanted to jump at the opportunity, but at the same time, if having supper with them freaked me out, how would I handle a trip like that. But before I could say anything, he continued, “We can talk more about it when you come for supper. Tonight. See you at six.”

And then he left. Walked out the open door with a wave over his shoulder as I stood there with my mouth hanging open.

I guess I was going to supper whether I wanted to or not. Not when he didn’t give me a chance to turn him down and my manners prevented me from standing them up with a “no-show”. Now I just had to figure out how to get my unruly hormones into check.

A breeze picked up, sending a small amount of the concentrated scent from the pot into my nose. Shit. Working on the massage oil wasn’t going to help, but I had to do it, or the batch would be ruined. Maybe there’d be enough time for me to try both my regular personal pleasuring device and the new one that arrived early this morning. The extra large one I’d purchased after my encounter with Hurrit and the bear.

6

Hurrit

The heatof the grill roasted my face as I stood over it, keeping a close eye on the moose meat kabobs, not wanting them to overcook. But the heat didn’t bother me as much as the sound of Elin and Arran’s happy voices in the kitchen. That made my blood boil hotter than the bar-b-q.

Much to my annoyance, Arran waited to tell me that he invited Elin over for supper until I walked in the kitchen and questioned why he made so many skewers of meat and added some extra sides. The one thing I told him not to do.

Yet I couldn’t tell what made me angrier: the fact that he invited her, the fact that I couldn’t stay away from her, or now, the fact that I had to listen to him flirting with her.

It drove me nuts that everyday I found myself searching for her. A couple of times I’d spotted her walking along the shore while I’d been on the boat working and I immediately stopped so that I could leave the boat and follow her. I never got close, but something inside me forced me to make sure she was safe. A protective instinct that I couldn’t seem to kick. When I wasn’t at the boat, I found myself walking the neighbourhood, checking to see that wasn’t being attacked by anything else the gods chose to use. And each time, I hated myself for it.

I’d been attracted to women before. Even slept with many of them. But none of them ever made me feel like this. This level of devoted interest rivalled what I felt for Arran. And that wasn’t acceptable.

But now, having to listen to him flirt with the woman who…no! Stop thinking about it. She’s nothing to you.She already occupied to much room in my head. I didn’t need to give her more which was why, having her here, in my house, bothered me so much.

I turned the kebabs as I gritted my teeth at the sound of Elin’s laughter. She sounded so happy, so with it as opposed to how reserved and befuddled she’d been with me. For a moment, I felt a bolt of jealousy. Why could she be so open and happy with my husband? Or better yet, why was Arran so busy flirting with her?

Thinking back on the day, I should have known something was up. Arran was too happy when he came home from his errands. Too horny since he attacked me the moment he came through the door. While his lips smashed against mine, he ripped off my shirt, popping the buttons and sending them bouncing off the hardwood floor. He slid his hands down my body, taking a little more care with the button and zipper on my shorts before dropping them to the floor. I moaned into his mouth as he wrapped his warm hand around my dick, giving it a couple of quicks jerks. It took what little brain power and control I had to keep myself upright. The way my knees shook, I ended up amazed that it was his knees, not mine, that landed on the floor.

“Arran?”

“Shh.” And then he swallowed me down, letting his throat surround me. The only words that came from my mouth were whispered pleas for more, harder, and don’t stop until the words became ineligible.

And now I had to listen to him flirt with the woman who’d made his blood boil, but in desire, not anger.

“Fuck me.” I pulled the skewers off the fire, adding them to the plate which contained the grilled corn-on-the-cob pieces and the other grilled vegetables. “Foods ready,” I called as I set the platter on our outdoor dinning table.

The screen door banged against the wall of the house. It was the worst spot to have the door, right next to the wall of the L-shaped wing, but we hadn’t had a chance to renovate that portion of the house yet. When we moved into the community about fifteen years ago, we did some initial renovations, but preferred to focus on building up our business. It wasn’t that we needed the money or couldn’t afford to hire contractors, we just preferred to do the work ourselves. When you spent as many years alive as we did, you began to take pleasure in doing things for yourself. Besides there was a huge amount of satisfaction when you took a job from the beginning to its completion.

Elin stepped out of the house first, carrying two bowls. The smile on her face, the brightness in her eyes had the edges of my lips lifting before I could hold them down. “I’m good, Arran. I can handle these bowls.”

“But you’re our guest. Beautiful women like you should be waited on hand and foot by men like me.” Arran followed her out onto the deck carrying a full drink pitcher, and two more bowls filled with side dishes.

She rolled her eyes, but the blush that rose to colour her cheeks showed she liked his flattery. Now I wanted to roll my eyes, but I didn’t. My gaze darted between the two as they walked across the large deck to table, cataloging every glance the two shared and how their bodies moved together.

If I hadn’t been worried before, I was now.

Flirting was Arran’s second language or possibly even his first. Over the centuries together, I’d grown used to hearing it. Most times I brushed it off knowing it was harmless. Other times I welcomed it because it meant that we’d be adding a woman to our bed sport activities. But this was different. This was more.

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