Coming Home (Sequel to This Time Around)

Chapter Forty-Nine

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

They lay there, on the banks of the Sølvfoss, entangled in one another, with only the rush of the falls for company. McKenna let her eyes close, her head resting comfortably on Loki's chest. The only reason she knew he was still awake was because his fingers lazily skimmed along her hair. She sighed softly, snuggling closer to him, her hand sliding over his belly, over the ridge of his hip, to curve against his side.

"What's on your mind, love?" His whisper broke the comfortable silence, his fingers going still.

"I'm just thinking about how much everything is going to change again." She skimmed her hand back over his belly, up toward his chest. "In the span of six years, I went from a struggling bartender with a jerkoff boyfriend to the girlfriend of the most wanted man in nine realms. From being single to wife and mother of four. From being just an ordinary Midgardian, to being the wife of the soon-to-be king of Asgard. Of the nine realms, actually. I've been Miss, Mrs., Lady McKenna, Princess McKenna and now, this time tomorrow, I'll be Queen."

She lifted her head to smile down at him. "If someone had told me seven years ago that this was how my life was going to turn out, I'd have told them they were crazy."

The clouds parted, the skies clearing to a velvety black with a full moon. Loki's eyes glinted in the moonlight and a smile played at his lips. "Tell me about it, love. If someone had even suggested to me the woman of my dreams was Midgardian, I'd have laughed in their face. And yet, here we both are."

"Here we are."

His hand slid up her arm, along the curve of her neck, and around to the back. With a gentle tug, he drew her down, his lips meeting hers in a soft kiss. She sank into him, wrapping her arms about his waist as he rolled to pin her beneath him.

He broke the kiss, whispering, "My Midgardian..."

"Always." She gazed up at him, tracing her forefinger along his cool cheek. "My Jötunn."

He didn't smile, his expression as somber as she'd ever seen as his gaze locked with hers and he murmured, "Always, McKenna. I will always be yours."

"You look so serious, Loki." She brushed her fingers through the dark hair at his temple, pushing it behind his right ear. "What is it?"

"I almost didn't kiss you that night. On the boardwalk."

"You didn't kiss me that night, love. Remember? You bit me."

Now he smiled. "I almost didn't do that, either. " He dipped to kiss the tip of her nose, then swept his lips against hers before continuing, "I didn't want to put you in any danger and I knew as long as the Chitauri searched for me, you were in danger."

"So I found out."

His smile faded. "But I couldn't resist you. I fought it, but I couldn't get you out of my mind. I had to know what it would be like to hold you in my arms, to kiss you, to feel you against me." His voice softened and he braced himself on one arm, bringing his free hand up to curve against her cheek. "I had to know. And I've never once questioned the wisdom of that decision."

She couldn't resist teasing him. "Well, that's good to know, seeing as how you're stuck with me and all."

"I hardly consider myself stuck with you, darling girl. There is nowhere else in the nine realms I'd rather be and I cannot imagine any other woman at my side. As I told you after Selig was born, you are everything I ever dreamed of and so much more than I ever dared hope to find."

He said it so softly, she only barely heard him, and tears stung the backs of her eyes as she gazed up at him, into those beautiful blue eyes she loved so much. "Oh, Loki... wow... you leave me speechless, even after all this time."