Page 59 of Odin
“You’remy dream, Willow. Not some structure.”
The words do hit home, but she’s still upset. “Do you think this is some kind of sign?”
“I think it was just bad wiring. We were going to have an electrician come first thing next week and deal with that. It’s extremely bad timing and the whole thing is unfortunate, but I’m thankful that no one was in there when the fire started, and the building doesn’t have much in the way of others around it. Hopefully, they can contain the fire and there won’t be more damage. I’m just sorry that our place is going to take so much longer to complete now. Not that we can’t do something bigger and better, and exactly what you want. It’s just going to take time.”
“I’m fine,” she assures me. I can see that she is. She’s hurting for me, not for her. In the midst of the chaos and the unexpected, she’s steadfast. “I’m fine exactly where I am, and I’m so thankful to be here. I’m only worried about you going out there.”
“We’ll be safe, I promise.”
“I’m so sad this happened at all, but you’re right about the timing. No one was there because they’re allhere. But your bike…”
“The bike was going to be redone completely.” That’s why I brought it over to the building as soon as the purchase went through. It was going to be my first project there. “I’m okay with just getting something new, though. I had insurance on it too. Plus, that one didn’t have an extra seat.” The number of bikes at the clubhouse that don’t have an extra seat and rarely get ridden now that men have someone they want to put on the back with them, is bordering on comical. “Will you have something to eat?” I tuck one of the wispy locks of hair behind her ear. “Save a steak for me.”
At last, there’s a glimpse of a small smile. “Of course we’ll freaking save you a steak, and everyone else who’s going with you as well.”
Willow looks up at me with worry and anxiety, but beyond that, something so much deeper. It hits me harder than news of the fire did, and I wonder all over again, what I did to deserve to have her here, waiting for me, thinking about me, worrying over me, her arms open to eagerly welcome me back.
“I didn’t tell you that I love the new eyepatch.” She grazes my cheek with a tender kiss. “It suits you. It all suits you.”
It’s a black leather piece. My others are all cotton, but I wanted something special for today. You can get anything on the internet and I’ve ordered plenty in the past, but this one took me hours to eventually decide on it. That she noticed and that she likes it, means so much. It still sends me reeling a little that she finds me so attractive.
We’re planning on staying in my room tonight, and the final look she sends me before I turn around and head out with Tyrant, Raiden, and Crow, is full of heat.
It’s not one of those,I’m going to save you a steak, so hurry backlooks. I know that I’ll have a full plate waiting for me, probably kept warm in the oven, but that’s not what her face says. It’s more like,hurry back, because you’ll need a shower after being out there, and I can’t wait to take one with you and get dirty all over again.
It still blows my mind that she’s here, that she’s my wife and I’m her husband. Life sure as hell isn’t done surprising us yet, as that phone call just indicated, but we’ll all face it together. I’ve become a better man for having the club behind me. Willow has all the women to support her, but we’re also a pair now. Our lives will forever be woven together. We’re so much stronger this way, standing together.
Chapter 20
Willow
Inever wanted a traditional wedding, and I’m more thankful than ever for the people who made this day special for us. There was never going to be a dance and a DJ, no formal ceremony or uptight dinner with a seating plan that had everyone quarreling. It was just good friends sharing memories and making new ones all night long. To me, that’s the best kind of evening anyone could ever have.
It’s because of Odin that I now know what calm in the storm actually means. Where others would see only destruction, he sees possibility. Losing that shop is a way bigger deal than he made out. I know that he has to be utterly disappointed, and on our wedding day, it’s a bitter pill to swallow. Instead of cursing the luck of it, he’s already making plans. He came back with a head full of numbers and designs. I know that Tyrant and Raiden would have wanted him to stay here and enjoy our night, not take hours of it to deal with disaster, but this is his project, and I know how much responsibility he feels for it. He came home starved and devoured his steak, baked potato, salad, and cheesecake that we put aside for him, in under five minutes.
The clubhouse will probably be a little bit wild until the early morning hours, but no one ribs us for wanting to head to bed early. The mood was a little more somber after the fire, but nothing that would have stopped the usual commentary about a wedding night. We didn’t get any of that, and honestly, I’m glad it was just hugs and goodnights and well wishes.
The first thing I do after the door is closed on Odin’s private room, is start stripping his clothes off. Starting with his club vest. I unzip the jacket, hoping like hell that there’s a good method out there for getting the smoke smell out of leather. I help him shrug out of it and hang it on one of the pegs at the back of the door.
By the time I turn around, he’s already unbuttoning his dress shirt.
I quickly replace his hands with mine. He should be tired, exhausted even, but when I peek up at his face, that’s the last thing he appears to be now that we’re in here. He has a look on his face that is pure carnal hunger. It heats up my insides just to look at him.
I didn’t get much sleep last night, and it’s been pure adrenaline that’s carried me through today. It all seems to culminate in my lower belly in a storm of butterflies. We’ve spent nights together for the past few weeks, learning each other’s bodies, creating and sharing in a new level of intimacy. Some nights I went to bed sore between my legs from all the sex, and in the morning, Odin woke me up with his tongue there, banishing the ache. Other nights though, we’ve just held each other.
This feels different than all those nights. I guess it is, because now we’re not just Odin and Willow. We’re husband and wife. Legally married.
It feels so much more reverent to undo the buttons on his shirt, revealing his hard pecs and those chiseled abs, the sexy V that disappears into his pants.
Every button that I undo somehow feels like a brand new discovery. I can barely breathe. My lungs are straightfire by the time I slip that shirt away and start on his belt, working the buckle open and then the button of his pants. The zipper glides down smoothly.
His hand covers mine and he stops me, but only so he can toe his heavy boots off. He guides my hands himself, stripping off his pants and boxers together.
His cock springs up, standing straight out in front of him. He steps away from that pile of clothes, ignoring his own need even though the head of him is red and swollen, leaking precum from the tip that glistens in the light.
I want to fall to my knees right here and take him into my mouth.
He steps forward and his hands closer over my forearms. Without saying anything, he guides me around, so he can undo the zipper on the back of my dress. He’s careful with it, peeling it away from my skin with gentleness. He lifts it over my head, smooths it, and then folds it and places it on the foot of the bed.
