Page 28 of Master Vidar & Vali

“Exactly! Well, no. I mean then we talked and they were so nice. So I just couldn’t do it again.” That made sense right?

Rose tilted her head a little too far and grabbed the bar to right herself. “So you don’t like my friends because they’re nice?”

“No! I mean sort of. They had sex because I said it was just sex. I can have just sex but not with someone I like. Like really like. If I have more mind-blowing sex, thenlikemight becomemore and they don’t want more, so it’s better to just be friends. But I kinda want the great sex. Get it?”

Mari rolled her eyes which was more impressive than it should have been.

“I’ve known them since they were eighteen years old, and I have never seen them want anyone as much as they want you, Zara. I think maybe they ‘like really like’ you. The three of you need to have a conversation. If you are all honest with each other, there is nothing you can’t overcome.”

Her words rang true. I nodded a few times to show my agreement, enjoying the way the world spun. “That is sage advice, thank you, Mari. You are brilliant.”

Her regal nod made me giggle as she accepted my compliment.

Rose jumped up and spun in place. “Great sex for everybody! But that is a later activity. Let’s put on some music and go raid that wine fridge.”

Chapter Eleven

Lincoln

Asgard was a second home nestled in the Poconos Mountains that was the perfect place to relax. The night was calm, with a gentle, cool breeze that brushed against my skin, carrying the fresh scent of pine and mountain wildflowers. We were far enough up the mountainside that the air was crisp and clean almost as if the purity could heighten every sense.

Despite thoughts of what the girls were doing tingling at the back of my mind, I got lost in the sight of the sky above on the drive over. The vast expanse of deep, velvety black, studded with countless stars that seemed impossibly bright without the city lights to dim their brilliance. There wasn’t even a moon in the sky to detract from the twinkling glory.

It was a good call for us to come here and give the girls time and space to bond. We sat around the pool, the glass roof open to the sky. The lounge chairs around the pool had soft, plush cushions that cradled my body perfectly, allowing me to forget all my worries. The discrete staff had brought us all a glass ofscotch to aid in finding peace. It was the kind of night that made me want to pause and simply soak in the moment, savoring the serenity and the beauty of the surroundings.

On weekdays, except for special events, there were rarely more than a few people present and the majority of them were staff. At Asgard, I could let go of the day-to-day worries and just be myself without judgments. It wasn’t that Zara was stressful but the situation surrounding her was. It didn’t help that neither Colin nor I knew where we stood with the beautiful woman. Plus, we still had to find the dick who had marred her beautiful face with a mottled display of bruises and make sure he was out of her life for good.

Traveling back and forth from the city to work on the case every day was insane even if we were using the helicopter to cut down the travel time. But some of the things I needed to do to track people required the computer resources I had at headquarters and were not easily moved. Colin was a good friend to travel with me even though he didn’t have to, but it was taking its toll on both of us. This needed to end.

“Why so glum, chum?” Jared teased. “I saw your lady love, and she is the perfect blend of sultry goddess and girl next door.”

Gabriel handed me a drink and sat back in his lounge chair. We often sat by the pool when we relaxed. It was funny because Asgard was massive and offered so many different spaces in which one could relax and reflect, but for us, it was always the water we sought to soothe our aching souls.

All three sets of eyes rested on me which made me want to leave and find the nearest surveillance booth and lose myself in an unnecessary upgrade of the system. Talking about emotions and expectations was difficult for me. It was probably why I loved shibari so much. I could turn on music and both my sub and I would lose ourselves in time. My focus was on the intricate detail of painting with my rope, with the sub as a canvas.

Colin liked talking. He would drive a woman crazy with whispered words using sensation play to push a subbie to the edge of subspace. He’d once brought a woman to orgasm just by lightly rubbing his hands across her body and talking dirty. So different, but together, we just worked as a team.

“Linc?” Jared reminded me that I was supposed to be talking to him.

“There is nothing wrong. Zara has just been avoiding us since… well, the other night.”

“Oh? Do tell.” Jared leaned in all keen eyes which reminded me very much of his alternate namesake, Loki, the god of mischief.

“She hasn’t been avoiding us. Zara just hasn’t been up for more play.” Colin was the eternal optimist. “Being with the two of us is intense, and we both know she enjoyed herself. Her life is also intense. She probably just needs time to wrap her head around things.”

Jared sat back and steepled his fingers. “Women are a bottomless well of contradictions.”

I couldn’t hold back my laughter. “Aren’t they just. Thing is, she seems to be holding back and I don’t know why.” My gaze slid to Colin to see if he had anything to add, but he remained silent. He’d been like that since Zara closed herself off, and I wondered what was going on in that head of his.

It wasn’t like Colin to close up about anything except our time in the service and his brother. Usually, he was an open and non-stop extrovert. Zara pulling away and him going quiet concerned me. What had they talked about? She’d been gone for a while and when she’d returned, she’d curled up in bed with me and fallen right to sleep. At the time, I’d thought it a good sign but since she hadn’t returned to either of our beds, I was starting to question that.

“My advice is, don’t leave her steeped in her thoughts too long. A mind when left to itself always thinks the worst,” Gabriel offered.

Jared, golf clapped. “I bow at your feet, oh wise one.” He teased Gabe every opportunity he got, but it had been him in the end who’d been able to get through to Gabe about his feelings for Rose, and had been with him when Rose had been kidnapped.

Our group of friends was settling down one by one, but I doubted Jared ever would. Though he was the best friend anyone could ask for, he never connected with anyone but us. That connection is what I’d wanted for years without ever knowing it. Zara had shown a light on a part of my heart I hadn’t known was there. I wanted what my friends had.

“You don’t bow at anyone’s feet, don’t be ridiculous,” Gabriel muttered. He wasn’t a man of words, but since Rose had come into his life I had noticed that our conversations no longer were focused solely on work or the club. Her vibrant personality must’ve been growing on him.

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