Page 30 of Valkyrie Unknown

“No. Whatever comes next will be far more entertaining than building cookie-cutter homes for cheapskate contractors.” As I said the words, it hit me how true they were.

She smiled, and climbed out of the car when I did. We headed into the front office, to find the desk empty and the TV behind it playing a silent version of local weather.

I rang the bell and we waited. Ten seconds. Thirty. A minute.

I dinged the silver bell again, and another minute or two stretched on.

As I reached for it a third time, Azzie covered my hand with hers. “Either they don’t hear, they don’t care, or they can’t get to us yet.” She leaned over the counter. “Hello.”

“Give me a freaking minute, for fuck’s sake,” a distant voice called back.

She gave me a self-satisfied look and as shrug and shoved her hands in her pockets.

A few minutes later, a toilet flushed in another room, and shortly after, a man wandered into the lobby, still buckling his belt. He looked between Azzie and me and smirked. “One room?”

I didn’t care one way or the other, but Azzie mi?—

“That’s fine,” she said. “Two beds.”

“That’s what they’ve all got.” He snorted and grabbed a key. “Hundred bucks for the night. Checkout is at eleven. We don’t do any fancy continental-breakfast bullshit, but you can get delivery, and the ice maker is broken.”

“Great.” I handed him the cash, and he gave me a key. He only stopped leering at the two of us when he had to look away to use the computer.

Creepy asshole.

“Have agreatnight,” he offered as we walked out.

I didn’t care what he thought, but I was still figuring out how Azzie reacted to things. As we headed to our room, I said, “People will make assumptions.”

She furrowed her brow. “About…?Oh. You and me.”

“Yes.” I unlocked the door and stepped in first to survey the room and make sure it was safe. All motels in the country must get their cleaning supplies and air fresheners at the same place, given they all smelled faintly of pizza and stale smoke. “So you’re aware, I don’t assume anything of the sort. We’re traveling together for safety and training, no other reason.”

Azzie joined me in the room, and I locked the door behind her. I turned to find her standing closer than I expected. She pressed her body to mine, and heat and desire seared through me.

Apurrrumbled from her throat, as she trailed a finger down my chest. “But what if I want you to make assumptions, you big, scary bear?”

Fuck, the teasing was annoying mostly because it was working. My body reacted, and my bear roared with want. I cleared my throat with a loud cough.

She backed away with a laugh. “Your chain is going to be fun to yank.” Her playfulness didn’t hide the hint of arousal drifting from her.

At least I wasn’t the only one harboring a physical attraction. “You get that one time. It doesn’t work again.”

“We’ll see. For the record, people are going to say what they want, and sometimes they say stupid things, and every once in a while it hurts. Gods know the things I heard about my m—” Her playfulness flickered into a frown. “Anyway. I’m a big girl; I can handle it. If it makes people happy to assume you and I are fucking, so be it. I’ve been with far worse than you.”

She had yet to see me anywhere near my worst. “You don’t know?—”

“Stop. I do know you’re not a bad guy, because you’ve saved me twice in the last twenty-four hours—just because—and you drove me here for the same reason.”

“Notjust because.”

“Then why?”

I couldn’t answer that question for her because I still wasn’t certain myself what I was doing here and why she compelled me to act this way. I tossed my duffel bag next to the bed closest to the door. “I didn’t sleep last night. Can I trust you while I catch some shuteye?”

“If you couldn’t, would I be here?”

I kicked off my shoes and stripped out of everything but my boxers. I yanked the blankets off a bed I was too tall to sleep comfortably in, and lay on my back on the mattress, my feet hanging over the end. Life had taught me how to sleep on command when the situation called for it, but my mind was roaring with the events of the last day. Why was I here? Why did I keep saving Azzie? Why was I drawn to this woman, and if it was only because of the prophecy, was I signing on to be someone’s tool? Again?

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