She thought of the scars on his chest. “Is that what happened to you? Did you show the wrong person mercy?”
His hand pulled away from hers. “If we keep talking, you won’t ever get to sleep.”
She’d liked holding his hand. But he didn’t want to talk anymore, she got that. Maybe she’d pushed too hard. She’d been getting him to reveal personal information, but she hadn’t told him much about herself. “I like solving mysteries,” Maisey admitted. She let her eyes drift closed.
“I did notice that about you,” he murmured.
“Want to know why?” Another yawn. Hmmm. Maybe Odin had been right. Maybe she was about to crash.
“Why?”
“Because I’m a mystery.” Her breath rustled out. “Don’t know where I came from. Just appeared at the hospital. Left right outside the emergency room doors.” She’d always wanted to find her birth parents. She never had. “The local sheriff and his wife raised me. Pop sure loved solving mysteries, too.” But he was gone now. So was her mom. Some days she missed them so much it just physically hurt.
“Maisey?”
“Thank you for making sure I’m not alone.” Sleep pulled at her. “Night, Odin.”
Silence. So much silence that she was drifting off just as—
“Good night, sweetheart.”
***
“Odin!” The scream tore from her.
“Right here.” His hand closed over hers.
Her heart stuttered. “He was coming for me again.”
“Only a dream. A bad dream.” His hold tightened. “I’m right here. No one is taking you. I swear it.”
She drifted back to sleep.
***
Sunlight trickled through the blinds. Maisey rolled over and slowly stretched. Then she carefully peeked over the edge of the bed.
No Odin.
Her gaze darted around the room. The blankets had been neatly folded and placed on her reading chair, with the pillow stacked on top. But there was no sign of her PI. “Odin?” She slipped from the bed. Shoved her hair out of her eyes and headed for the bathroom. Maybe he was in the kitchen, getting some breakfast.
She swung open the bathroom door. It took her sleep-fuzzed mind a moment too long to process the scene before her.
The blurry form of a man behind her foggy shower door…
Steam drifted in the air around her. Steam, but there was no water because he’d just turned off the shower and he was—
Opening the glass shower door.
“Odin!” Her cry of alarm came too late. Maisey got a full-frontal view. Full, frontal, and fabulous because obviously that had not been a cold shower. Oh, no, mega hot. Not just because of the steam in the air but because of—
“Wanna hand me a towel?”
She grabbed a nearby towel and threw it at him. She didn’t even wait to see if he caught it. Maisey had already spun around. “I am so sorry! I had no idea you were in here. I—” I should go. I should definitely go.
“I’m covered.”
Immediately, she looked back.
Gah. Why had she looked back? Now the towel was draped over his hips, but beads of moisture darted their way over that amazing muscled chest of his and down his abs. Abs for days and days…
“Feel free to have your turn.” He motioned for the shower. “And since I know how much you like for things to be…even…” He winked at her. “Maybe I’ll get my turn, too.”
What was he talking about—oh, right. Their first kiss. Then their second. And her saying they needed to be even and… “Are you asking to see me naked?” Her mind was not functioning properly. She hadn’t gotten even a sip of coffee yet. It was too early for this.
Or…maybe not early enough?
He closed in on her. “Why?” His hand curled under her chin. A careful, tender touch. “Are you offering?”
Chapter Eight
She was beautiful first thing in the morning. Maisey’s thick hair tumbled around her shoulders, gently tousled. Her eyes were wide, her plump lips parted, and all Odin wanted to do was lean forward and pull her against him.
“Are you teasing me right now?”
He straightened. He had been leaning forward. “I don’t tease. Ask any of my friends.” They’d laugh their asses off at the very idea.
“I haven’t met any of your friends. So it’s hard for me to ask them.” Her gaze dipped down his body. Lingered. Warmed. The gold in her eyes seemed to burn brighter.
Well, well… “Like what you see?”
“Very much,” she replied instantly even as she did a quick, fanning motion with her hand. “But I’m sure you get compliments from women all the time. I’m sure they tell you how much they’d love to lick the water off your abs and—”
A laugh sputtered out of him.
Her eyes closed.
His hand rose and pressed to her cheek. “Can’t say anyone has ever told me that before.” He couldn’t recall the last time he’d laughed, either. He brushed his lips over her forehead. The caress seemed to be the most natural thing in the world. But his laughter faded as he eased back. Because suddenly, he did have an image of Maisey licking the water off his abs. Only in that image, her mouth dipped lower and lower. She tugged the towel from his hips and her mouth went right to his—
“I should shower. Get dressed,” Maisey blurted.
Ah, so she hadn’t been offering to get naked for him. Too bad. His hand slid away from her silken skin. “When you change your mind, you let me know.” He brushed past her. His body had to press against hers. The bathroom was small. He was big.
She was perfect.
“Change my mind—about what?”
He looked back at her. “Letting me see you naked.”
Maisey gulped. “You…were serious.”
Had she doubted that? Maybe he should make certain they were crystal clear. “We’ve been dancing around things so far. A few kisses.”
Her nose scrunched. “I thought they were pretty good kisses.”
Damn fantastic. “Those are the preliminaries. But if I get you naked, if you’re standing in front of me and I get to see every single inch of you, I’m gonna want to touch.”
She swallowed.
“Then taste. Lick and kiss.” His voice roughened. “Then I’ll want to fuck.”
“That’s, um, quite the order of operations you have going there.”
What was it about her that made him feel so good? His dick was shoving against the towel, making a freaking tent that she had to see, and even though he wanted her like mad, her words still made him want to smile.
She didn’t get it. He wasn’t the smiling type. Odin wasn’t the guy who did the easy jokes and laughed all the time. He had a buddy who covered that bill. Odin was the serious one. The too-intense one. The one who never seemed to fit so well with crowds and who always said stupid shit to women.
Except…
Maisey makes everything feel different.
He released a breath. Ignored his aching dick, for the moment. “If you’re standing before me, naked, offering your body to me, I will fucking take it.” Bald. Flat. A warning. “I won’t pull back the way I’ve done after a few kisses. You cross that line, you take that step, and I will devour you.”