In frustration, she threw back the covers and padded to the bathroom where the nightlight saved her from facing the glare of the bright overhead lights. The bottle of melatonin surrendered its last pill of the homeopathic sleep wonder and she downed it with a gulp of water from the faucet, not bothering with a cup.
A search though the top of drawer of her nightstand produced the Electronic Wonder, her tried and true vibrator. Isabella slipped the soft vibrating gel shaft between her legs. The vibrator became the hard spear of Galvin’s cock sliding into her and the gelled flaps of the self-pleaser were his fingers tickling her engorged clitoris.
Her daydreams of dominating the situation kicked in and she controlled Galvin as well as the timing for release of their passion. The orgasm came quick and intense. She turned off the vibrator and dropped it to the floor. Rolling over Isabella cuddled the extra pillow against her, pretending she snuggled against her lover’s back. Finally, sleep pulled her into oblivion.
Galvin sat at the kitchen table in the tiny apartment he’d chosen to establish his lifestyle in the mortal world. Efficiency was the word the landlord used to describe the small space, and efficient definitely fit. One side of the room contained a couch that doubled as a bed with a flat screen television placed on the wall end. The dining area consisted of a table that he could barely squeeze two chairs around. His first glance of the minuscule kitchen had caused him to laugh out loud. A gourmet cooking area it wasn’t. Half a dozen wall shelves, a single cabinet, a hot plate on the counter, a sink smaller than a wash basin in the men’s room at the television station, covered the basics along with a tiny refrigerator that held a day’s food. Good thing I don’t cook or I think I’d be in trouble.
But the price was right and saved him a lot of lying. Humans would find his not having an address odd. And he was certain they’d consider him stranger yet if they didn’t receive answers to their questions about his living arrangements. The last thing he wanted to deal with were trivial issues such as where he lived. Thus, he rented small and cheap to cover the address information he listed when the human resources manager gave him the reams of paper to fill out. Fortunately, his family contacts were extensive and the information fed back to the HR department covered voids in his limited earth bound life.
Turning the waterspout back to the heavens took a lot of effort and he noticed Isabella shoot him a strange look once he’d accomplished the feat. Distracted by another super cell building to the west of the city she didn’t pepper him with the questions he picked up racing through her mind. There were situations in which being an immortal came in handy, even when he suppressed his abilities.
He needed to center on his father now, not on Isabella. Thoughts of her distracted him from the problem with Thor and his meddling. The Thunder God enjoyed his games and Galvin’s profession in the mortal world seemed to bring out his father’s competitive streak.
The trip back to Asgard and the halls of his parent’s home to talk with his mother hadn’t produce the results Galvin hoped for. Either Sif did not yet talk with Thor or if she did, then his father chose to ignore her suggestion. Thor’s temper and stubbornness were things legends were made of.
“Galvin.” Startled at hearing his name called, he turned to find Loki standing beside the refrigerator.
“Do you have any bottles of the water the humans call beer?” Loki buried his head in the refrigerator.
“When did you develop a taste for drinks of the human world?” Galvin studied the Lord of Pranks who stood before him with a disappointed look at not finding the desired beverage.
Handsome didn’t describe the deity in either the mortal or immortal world. In his natural form, Loki’s black eyes sparkled with mischief when happy and shot fire when angered. The eyebrows perched above the dark orbs always wore a quizzical arch which drew ones attention even more to his distorted face. The punishment, when chained to three boulders for angering the other gods, did nothing to improve a homely appearance. The venom secreted by a serpent placed above his head left scars. They would have been worse if not for his faithful wife Sigyn who held a bowl over the Sly One’s head to catch most of the venomous acid. Her quick moments in empting the vessel, accounted for some of the poison dripping on to his skin, that resulted in the red marks he still carried as a brand of his sentence.
From his study of the history of this world, they both traveled in now, Galvin read stories comparing Loki to another force of darkness, Satan. Give him a pair of horns, a tail and a pitchfork and the little god could probably pass himself off for the Son of Darkness. But the Prankster lacked the power or the true evil, the Lord of the Underworld possessed.
“To what do I owe the honor of your visit, Loki? Did my mother send you with news on her talk with my father?”
“I would think by now you figured out the results of your mother’s conversation with Thor. No, I came to tell you of my talk with your father.” Loki’s eyes clouded for a moment with what appeared to be indecisiveness.
“Yes,” Galvin encouraged.
“Like you, I saw an increase in the adverse weather patterns for this area and paid a visit to Sif, as you know since you were there when I arrived. After you left, she spoke with Thor and much as I anticipated, he did not appreciate her interference. Your mother was very upset and asked if I would try to reason with him.”
Galvin’s guest investigated the kick-knacks set around the apartment, picking up an item to examine before placing it back and moving onto another as he continued his story.
“Thor appeared in good humor when I came upon him. He spent the morning riding through the heavens on his chariot and practicing his throw of his hammer, Mjollnir. Thankfully, for you he chose another part of the skies for this practice.” Loki stopped his wandering and held up his latest item for appraisal. “What is this?”
“That is a cell phone. A device used by humans for many things.” Galvin laughed at the perplexed look on Loki’s face before explaining further. “They receive calls and check what is called e-mail or text messages, as well as access the Internet. Some even use them to do video conferences and send pictures.”
“Ahhh. This world is so complicated these days.” Loki put the device down. “Now, of what was I speaking?”
“My father spent a pleasing morning and you found him in good humor.”
“Yes. Combined with his excellent lunch he was in an exceptional mood. We discussed mundane issues until the conversation worked around to you.” The deity paused again.
Galvin understood Loki’s hesitation to betray Thor’s trust. The Thunder God released him from a slow death decreed by the council of gods and then convinced the other gods to accept him back into Asgard. Then again, loyalty was never Loki’s strong suit.
“Your father resented your mother’s plea on your behalf and has become convinced that you are too much of a…what they call in this world, a ‘Mama’s Boy’. He has decided to test you and see of what you are made.”
Damnation! My attempt to avoid conflict with my father has backfired. But that realization has come too late. I should have confronted Thor and asked him to discontinue playing with the weather patterns.
“Does my father intend to continue his games?”
“He no longer considers what he does a game. The opposite can be said now. His intent is to unleash adversity like this area has never seen before. I came to warn you and allow you time to garner your strength to battle him. You will need all the energy you can muster to resist against what he has planned.” Loki discontinued his investigation of objects in the apartment and now paced back and forth.
“He has put on the belt, Megingjard, to double his already considerable power.” The pacing stopped and Loki met Galvin’s gaze. “For this test you will need to draw on all the strength passed to you not only from Thor and Odin, but also any that runs in your veins from your grandmother, the goddess Jord. The heavens will see an event seldom observed and earth will long remember the storms created by the Th
under God to test his son. Or as the mortals say, ‘hold on to your hats folks, the fun is about to begin’.”
Loki’s laughter echoed through the tiny room long after he disappeared without even a good bye.
Amazing how much better twelve hours of sleep made one feel. Isabella stretched before throwing back the covers. Time to prepare of for another day of fun. Thank goodness there’d been no dreams either, or at least none she could remember. Fully awake now, her body demanded a mad dash for the bathroom to take care of its morning needs.
Next, she padded barefoot into the kitchen to fix coffee. While the coffee brewed a quick search through the refrigerator and freezer netted a frozen bagel which she popped into the toaster. She’d pick up something more on the way to work.
The toaster dinged its alert and she checked the bagel, once again pushing down the lever to achieve the level of crunchy, she preferred. The carton proclaiming to be low fat cream cheese barely contained enough to smear on the top of the toasted bread and she added a glob of strawberry jam. At least the jar isn’t empty.
Inhaling deeply before she took her first sip of the brew, she let the aroma flood her senses. The smell of coffee always titillated her more than the taste.
The memory of her two intense encounters with Galvin sent what was becoming a familiar tingle through her body. She consumed the last bite of bagel and started to choke, her throat closing when her stimulated mind recalled the unprotected sex.
“Dear God in heaven, how can I continue to be so stupid?” Once again, protection had become secondary in her sex addled brain when Galvin’s hands touched her hungry body. The Queen of Protection, dethroned by genitals that developed a mind of their own when a hunky Viking touched them.
She’d lost her sanity, not once but twice with this guy. “Okay, calm down. You’re on the pill so as your illogic pointed out the last time, pregnancy doesn’t enter into the picture. But, the reason you’re always so cautious about using condoms is disease. Consider the source here. This guy didn’t seem to be…what? What doesn’t he seem to be other than…someone you can’t keep your hands off of at any presented opportunity. Shit!” Isabella’s good humor and appetite disappeared and she welcomed the sound of the ringing phone to take her mind off her stupidity.
“Sandy, glad to hear you’re still one of the living.” They all were dead from exhaustion after the long hours at the studio.
“You may not be so glad when I tell you orders from the powers that be have come down. We’re supposed to take a couple of vehicles from the station car pool and head out of town. Looks like there’s another storm developing which can lead to some interesting weather according to Sam who got the word from Leif Moultar. This one is supposed to make the last storm look like a blip on the horizon.” Sandy didn’t have the usual chipper lilt in her voice.
“How the hell does Leif Moultar know? Since when did he become a weather man?” Isabella bit down on the inside of her cheek to maintain the control she sensed slipping away.
“Guess when you own a television station you become a weather genesis by osmosis.” The sour note of Sandy’s tone let her boss know the weather intern wasn’t impressed either.
“Okay. Call in the rest of our team and I’ll be there as soon as I can get me pulled together. What does one wear on a storm chase?”
“Go for something practical, especially shoes, and sexy since I’m sure you’ll be on camera and don’t want to disappoint your male fan base,” Sandy giggled.
“Yeah, right. See you shortly.” Isabella hung up and ran for the shower.
Surveying her wardrobe while she dried off she pulled out a pair of jeans. “Screw sexy. If I’m going to end up mucking around the countryside I’m going for comfort.” She pulled on sneakers and a V-neck tank top over which she tied the matching cardigan around her neck.
“Shit, shit, shit.” Just what she needed. To have a man who could barely spell weather, tell her a major storm was coming.
Then throw in being trapped in car beside a man who takes her breath away just by his existence in her life, during said storm chase, and this day couldn’t get much better. Did she need the closeness of Galvin for hours on end while they bounced around the back roads outside the city? No, not on an emotional level, but she did need to keep an eye on her newest employee and would be in the vehicle that contained Galvin Haldor. Lust factor or not, she needed to observe this man under stress conditions. So far, other than chest puffing with his comments about knowing weather, she didn’t see a lot to qualify him to be part of the weather team. It was too bad, because the more she found out about the kind of man he was in other areas, the more she cared about him.
“Damn.” This weather forecasting job just became much too complicated.
CHAPTER NINE
Isabella glanced over at her passenger who had a death grip on the arm rest of the four wheel drive vehicle they’d received from the station. “You’re going to leave indentations if you don’t relax. Friend of your father’s or not, Leif Moultar will probably charge you for the damage.”
“You drive like a mad woman, you know that?” Galvin released his hold and glared at her. “When did you learn to drive…last week?”
“Hey, remember you’re talking to a city girl here. I didn’t learn to drive until I was in college and my driving instructor was my boyfriend of the moment.” She shot a grin at Galvin. He needed to know there’d been other men in her life. “His father also drove Formula One race cars, so guess you could say I learned to drive for a racetrack.”
“Which this isn’t,” her companion mumbled.
A quick look in the rearview mirror told her the van with all the tracking equipment and the rest of the crew was having no trouble staying with them. Sandy won the toss with the two men for the privilege to drive the white beast at their last stop and Isabella’s confidence in the woman’s ability to stay with her proved accurate.
“Sandy doesn’t seem to have any trouble keeping up, so my driving can’t be that bad.”
“She’s as crazy as you are.” Galvin glanced over his shoulder. “You two are scary. Both of you have one track minds when you focus on something and right now, it’s speed. Do you not… Don’t either of you realize you can be hurt if you crash?”
This comment earned him a demonic laugh. “Why do you think I like her so much? Hey, if we have to go on this storm chase I want her covering my back. And speaking of storms, we could be injured or killed chasing storms, too. When it’s your time to go, then poof. You could be hit by a bus while crossing the street.” The man beside her needed to learn to relax and live a bit more.
As for Sandy, she may not have her degree yet, but the young intern had more going for her than reflected by a piece of paper. She was a quick learner who thought outside the box, something Isabella prided herself on being able to do. If things got tricky, she wanted someone like that backing her.
Galvin Haldor hadn’t proved anything to her other than his ability to make her scream with passion. Plus he seemed terrified of a little speed. As for the rest of the weather team…nice guys, but rigid in their thought process.
“Sandy, what are you guys picking up on Doppler?” Isabella asked over the 2-way radio. Moultar somehow managed to get one of the station’s vans completely outfitted for storm chasing in a matter of days when the station owner decided the team needed to out into the countryside. Hell, the control freak man in charge even managed to get a vortex probe mounted on top. Given the national weather map predictions, the director at storm center would probably tell Albino Man the investment in all the equipment was a waste of his money. This region didn’t get storms to warrant such extravagance.
The real truth though, the information from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Washington, DC, where the maps were prepared, could be as accurate as a rolling dice. She knew they couldn’t be relied on for precision in local areas less than one hundred miles across since the local atmosphere flows changed things dra
stically. Though sometimes she thought the national group could do better with a crystal ball or Ouija board.
“Things look good so far,” Sandy reported over the static of the 2-way radio system they were using to stay in communication. “Only a small front showing about fifty miles northwest of here.”
“Great, we’ll head in that direction.” Isabella handed the map to Galvin. “Here, make yourself useful and find what road we need to take.”
She appreciated the beauty of the landscape as they made their way in the direction Sandy’s group had found the activity. Growing up in the city, she’d never spent much time immersed in nature. A visit to one of the parks sprinkled like islands throughout the miles of steel and concrete was her idea of a day in the country.
“Isabella, things are heating up,” Sandy’s voice crackled over the 2-way clutched tightly in her free hand.
Damn, what a time for transmission break up. “Great. Are we heading in the right direction to intercept?” Isabella saw nothing but sunshine and blue skies. Not even a cloud in sight.
“Yep. Doppler indicates thunderstorm activity intensifying. Right now, the implication appears to be ordinary storm liveliness. Nothing to indicate tornado activity. Strange we’re only seeing cirrus clouds though. The readings I’m getting indicate heavier ones.”
Isabella thought the same thing as she glanced at the thin white streaks against the blue sky. She glanced over and saw a frown on Galvin’s face. “What’s wrong?”
“Something doesn’t feel right.” He placed his hand on the ceiling to brace himself with the bounce when the vehicle landed after coming over a hill.
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