Coming Home (Sequel to This Time Around)

Chapter Forty-Two

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

As Loki burrowed up from under the covers, he stretched, his eyes opening as his hand slid over into empty space. With a low groan, he rolled onto his back, blinking sleep from his eyes as he stared up at the ceiling. He didn't remember the last time he'd slept so soundly—quite possibly not since the first night he slept beside McKenna at the Winchester, long before Selig arrived. Since the children, Loki had become accustomed to waking with the slightest of sounds. Not quite as sensitive to them as McKenna, perhaps, but more often than not, when a baby cried, he woke up along with McKenna.

Rubbing his eyes with one hand, he smiled as his foot brushed his boxer briefs, buried down at the foot of the bed. He and McKenna fell asleep tangled up in each other, clothing be damned. Maybe that was why he'd slept so soundly. Either way, it was one of the nicer ways to greet a new day.

The sun shone in through the windows, spilling across the carpet, and the house was quiet. McKenna was up somewhere, but from the sounds of it the children remained abed. Rare, but it did happen from time to time.

He stretched to hook his foot in the leg of those briefs, tugging them up from the foot of the bed, and wadded them to toss into the laundry basket. A flick of his fingers to close the door and make sure it was locked, and he rose to cross to the dresser.

A quick shower and he dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved tee shirt, tugged on a pair of somewhat battered Ariat Heritage cowboy boots—a gift from McKenna, who joked about him being the only Jötunn cowboy she knew—and then left the room to go check on the children.

Selig's room was empty, his bed rumpled, but empty. Aislinn and the twins were still asleep. As quietly as he could, he tugged blankets up and brushed foreheads with light kisses, and then went below.

The television was on and he paused in the wide doorway of the family room, leaning his shoulder against the molding. He didn't recognize the cartoon flickering across the screen, but smiled at the sight of McKenna and Selig, stretched out on the sofa, both sound asleep.

He moved around to the back of the sofa, where he lifted the pink and black crocheted afghan, and unfolded it to drape over them. Selig sighed in his sleep, snuggling closer to his mother. Leaning against the back of the sofa, Loki gazed down at them both. McKenna smiled in her sleep, and he wondered if she was dreaming.

Asleep, stress of the last few months fell away from her face, and it took every bit of will Loki possessed to not trace the smooth curve of her cheek, to stroke her hair away from her forehead.

He smiled. She feared he'd look at her differently because of the other night but she should only know how wrong she was, how much he enjoyed that night. There was nothing she could suggest, nothing she could whisper to him in the darkness of their bedroom, that would, as she kept phrasing it, freak him out, and he wanted to drive that point home to her. If anything, it made him want her even more.

As if she sensed being watched, McKenna slowly opened her eyes, blinking the sleep from them, and a grin played at her lips as she whispered, "Am I awake? I was just dreaming about you..."

He reached over to brush her hair away from her forehead. "I hope it was a nice dream."

"Very." She carefully untangled herself from Selig and eased away from the sofa to stand. "I was dreaming about the other night."

Judging by the delicate flush that rose along her cheekbones, she meant the night she'd bound and blindfolded him and that made him smile again. "Do tell?"