Page 21 of The Hard Way

“She’s the boss,” Zeus joked.

Margie showed Thor to his little room first. It was cherub madness, with cherubs on the shelves and even painted on the ceiling, flying among the clouds.

She showed Zeus and me to the largest room with a nice king-sized bed. Cherubs looked down on us from the ceiling, too.

Odin smirked. I narrowed my eyes at him.

Odin wasn’t smirking when I visited him in his room later on while Zeus was showering. He’d turned all of the cherub figurines around to face the wall, but there were cherub-in-the-clouds paintings on the ceiling, too.

I was just laughing. “Well, that’ll put a person right out of the mood for butt-fucking.”

“It’s not funny, goddess. I don’t know if I can sleep here with the cupids.”

This wasn’t good; he hadn’t been sleeping well without cupids staring him down from every angle.

His demons were coming back—that’s what Thor and Zeus had been saying lately. That was how they explained his backslide.

“I feel like they’re watching me,” Odin said.

I pushed him onto the bed and crawled over him, blocking out the view of the ceiling. “Is this better?”

“Much.”

I removed his glasses and kissed him.

He ran his hand over the side of my ribs. “How is it feeling?”

“Way better, just like the last zillion times you asked.” It had been over a week since the injury, and it really was getting better. “No more asking.”

“I’ll ask as much as I want, goddess.”

“Watch out—if you ask again, I might punish you!” I pressed his hands down onto the bed. “I’ll sexually torture you. I’ll sexually torture you until you’re begging me to stop. I will have you panting and begging, that’s how badly I will sexually torture you—”

“Oh!” Margie was standing at the door with a stack of towels. “The towels you wanted, Mr. Cleveland.”

I jumped off.

She averted her eyes and set them on the dresser.

“We were just kidding around,” I said.

She smiled brightly and left, shutting the door behind her. I went and locked it, mentally reviewing what part ofI’ll sexually torture you until you’re begging me to stop. I will have you panting and begging, that’s how badly I will sexually torture youshe probably heard. I turned to Odin and mouthed the wordFUCK.

He put his hands over his face, but I kind of suspected he was trying not to laugh.

“Fuck!” I whispered, aloud this time.

Odin eyed me. “What kind of person are you, Jackie Trent? You’re barely settled in, and already you’re threatening one of your subordinates with sexual torture? And what about poor Max Dormand?”

“Do you not think she believed me that I was kidding?”

“No, Jackie. You were very convincing.”

“Stop it!” I collapsed on the bed next to him. “How am I ever going to face her at breakfast now?”

He turned and propped himself up on his elbow. “At least you made me forget about the cherub eyes.”

There was another knock.

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