Coming Home (Sequel to This Time Around)

Chapter Forty

CHAPTER FORTY

McKenna couldn't hold back her sigh as Loki's lips swept along her neck. His hair brushed in his wake, cool and soft, and his voice was barely a whisper. "What're you thinking about, darling girl?"

"I'm thinking I'm glad to be home."

"Why?" He gently nipped the side of her neck, which made her chuckle and squirm against him.

"Because I like being here." She gazed at him over her right shoulder. They were in the kitchen, at the French doors overlooking the back deck. The twins were napping, Selig and Aislinn were in the family room playing MarioKart. "When I had to come back here to get those papers, I hated every second of it."

Her smile faded at the memory. "This house just felt so weird when I thought you weren't coming back. I felt like I would suffocate if I had to stay here."

He slid his arms about her waist and tugged her even closer. He said nothing, but nuzzled her softly and brushed a kiss over her ear. Her eyes closed, she leaned her head back against his chest, and just savored the feel of his arms around her.

His arms tightened briefly and he broke the silence as he murmured, "I can imagine."

"No," she shook her head, "you can't possibly. Everywhere I looked, memories haunted me, Loki. I could hear you, I could feel you, I could even see you, but you weren't here." Her throat tightened and her eyes stung and she squeezed them shut. Swallowing against the lump rising in her throat, she murmured, "And I don't ever want to feel that way again."

His hands slipped beneath the bottom of her purple turtleneck to brush her stomach. He brushed her ear with another kiss and whispered, "I will do my best to ensure that never happens again, love. I promise."

She sighed at the gentle stroke of his fingertips against her. "I know." She turned to face him, draping her arms about his neck.

"Daddy, are you going to come play with us?" Selig came into the kitchen, where he stopped in his tracks and his nose wrinkled. "Ugh. More kissing?"

McKenna smiled at him around Loki's shoulder. "No more kissing for now, little man. Daddy is all yours." She turned her smile up to Loki. "Go and play MarioKart while I get dinner ready."

He winked, brushed her lips with a quick kiss, and said, "If you insist, love." He turned to Selig. "Is Aislinn still playing?"

"No. She fell off Rainbow Road and got mad. Then I fell off and I got mad, but I want to try again."

"That's how you get better at it," Loki told him as they walked out of the kitchen.

A few minutes later, both Loki and Selig were yelling at the television as Rainbow Road got the best of them. Neither one of them were particularly skilled at that course and Aislinn finally told them both to quiet down, which made McKenna laugh. She laughed even harder when it got very quiet in the family room.

"I guess we know who's in charge in there," she murmured, moving to the refrigerator to take out the chicken that had been defrosting since that morning, when they first returned home.

She'd missed being home. Asgard was home, too, of course, but this house was their home in a way Asgard never could be. And as she moved to the Viking stove to preheat the oven, she was ever so relieved she didn't have to make the decision whether or not to sell it.

The kitchen was one of her favorite rooms in the house-warm and spacious, with plenty of counter work space and storage space, with a deep sink as well as a smaller sink for washing off vegetables and the like, and a built-in Sub-Zero refrigerator/freezer. A pot rack hung over the center island, the appliances were stainless steel, and she loved every minute she spent in there.