Nordic Heat

by Lizzie T. Leaf

  “If only things were that simple.”

  She recalled searching for Galvin at some point. Was it during the fire? Memories of the smoke filled room rushed back. No, that wasn’t it. He had been on her mind until the smoke forced her to focus on saving herself and then helping the fireman.

  The coma? She couldn’t possibly remember things that happened while she was in a coma. Could she?

  Looking down at the gold bands on her wrists a shiver of fear rippled through her stomach. How did they get there and why couldn’t she take them off? They tied in somehow to the man with the blazing sun eye. Maybe one did remember comas. They were basically a deep sleep and no different than recalling dreams. Right?

  The desire for a hot bath propelled her to the bathroom. She adjusted the water temperature and poured a half bottle of lavender bubble bath under the stream cascading from the facet into the large sunken tub. Watching the bubbles build, she inhaled the perfume the steam released. Shedding her jeans and T-shirt where she stood, Isabella tossed her bra and panties toward the clothes hamper in the corner before she slipped down into the sea of foam. “Ahhh.”

  Okay Galvin, time to think about us. What am I going to do about you? She stroked bubbles over her skin, relishing in the silky sensation. I love you. If only things were simple and you were the boy from down the street, not an immortal god. Can I take growing old and watching you never age?

  A memory from her coma dream popped into her mind. What was it the sun-eyed guy said? Oh, yeah. He gave me immortality. She grinned at the idea and glanced at her reflection in the mirror that stretched above the sink’s counter. “Right. And I also own a couple of gold mines. That explains the bracelets.”

  She pushed up out of the tub and pulled the large fluffy pink towel around her. Luxuriating in the softness against her skin, she appreciated feeling feminine and delicate.

  Her mind returned to what the man said. Immortality. If only that were true. I would have forever with Galvin instead of a few short years.

  When the doctor announced to her family she was awake and they had all crowded into the room, everyone else faded into the back ground when she saw Galvin’s face. His smile gave her heart a little flip and warmth flooded through her that carried all the way to spot between her legs, creating a heated tingle there. The urge to kick her family out and pull him into the bed with her almost won over logic.

  Probably a good thing the doctor kept trying to get people to leave, telling them she needed rest. The truth though, she never felt better.

  Drying the last bit of moisture from her skin, she dropped the towel. A glance in the mirror on the back of the bathroom door caused her to pause. Moving closer she examined the reflection of her body. Did she look taller and have less flab? She turned sideways for a profile view. Good grief, her tits appeared perkier. Twisting for a look at her backside, she admired her tight ass.

  “Hmmm. Comas must play games with vision, too.” A dream promise of immortality gave a new vision to the body’s flaws. Laughter bubbled over and she moved into the closet to select an outfit.

  Looking over her clothing selection, nothing appealed to her. She needed something that would be good for going out to kick ass when the need arose, maybe something in leather. A shopping trip would be in order, but for now a pair of jeans and a clean red T-shirt would have to do the job.

  Kick ass? “Shit.” Where did that come from? I’ve never been in a fight in my life, why do I feel the need now?

  Are You Lonesome Tonight? Pealed throughout the condo. “Got to change that damned door chime. Can’t get my useless brother to do the job, so I’ll frickin’ do it myself, tomorrow.” She worked her way through the condo and didn’t pause to check the peep hole as she normally did. Flinging open the door she met the grinning face of Galvin Haldor.

  “Hello, Handsome.” Delight filled her being.

  “Hello, Beautiful.” He swept her into his arms, tilted her back and planted a kiss that Rhett Butler would envy.

  “Aren’t we in a good mood?” She asked as he helped her back to her feet and followed behind her, his palms against her ass cheeks generating heat deep in her core.

  “How do you feel?” His squeezes through the tight jeans increased her desire.

  “Good grief. If I had a dime for every time I’ve been asked that question, I could retire.” Leaning back against him, she sighed. “I feel absolutely frigging fantastic. Never better.” She turned around. “You look like a cat that just discovered a big bowl of cream. What’s with the smirk you’ve been wearing since I opened the door?”

  “Smirk? I just returned from a visit with my grandfather. Why would I smirk over that? ” Galvin leaned in and planted another kiss; his tongue teased the outside of her lips. “Do you remember anything while you were unconscious?”

  Puzzled she frowned. “I recall dreams. I think they happened while I was in the coma, but I’m not sure.”

  “What dreams?”

  “I don’t want to talk about my dreams right now. I’ll tell you later.” Her arms snaked around his neck and she pulled him tighter, surprised at her own strength when he gasped. “I want you.” She loosened her hold and rubbed her body against his.

  “I want you, too.” He returned her kiss with the same passion, his erection pressing against her stomach. “But, I want more than just sex. I want your love.”

  Her hand caressed his cheek and her fingers trailed along his jaw. “That you have. I can’t deny to you or myself any longer how much I love you.” She buried her face in his neck and inhaled, enjoying the scent of him, male and musty.

  “I love you more than I can ever tell you,” he murmured against her hair.

  “Me, too.”

  Pulling away, she began to wiggle out of the taut denim of her jeans, shedding the rest of her clothes as she made her way to the bedroom. A glance over her shoulder told her Galvin got the idea and pieces of his apparel joined hers.

  She tossed the comforter off the bed and settled against the pillows to watch the man of her heart step out of his boxers. His erection pulsed in anticipation of what he knew was coming. Patting the bed, she invited him to join her.

  Galvin stretched himself alongside her, pulling her into his arms. His mouth blazed a trail over her shoulders, licking gently at the pulse point of her throat before continuing down to capture a nipple.

  A gasp escaped when his tongue traced the areola and his teeth nipped the hardened bud. Heat screamed downward and the moisture pooled between her legs, the ache of desire almost painful. Enough of this. “My turn to decide on the game we play.” The strength to fulfill a fantasy she’d kept hidden all her sexual life surged through Isabella. One she only brought out occasionally in her imagination when satisfying her own needs.

  Moving with a speed that amazed even her, Isabella sat up and reached into the nightstand drawer and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. She secured Galvin’s wrist to the bed without giving him the opportunity to resist.

  “What’re you doing?” Galvin pulled against the restraint on his left hand while she secured his right wrist with a scarf.

  She sat back and admired her handiwork and the god who lay sprawled before her.

  “I’m going to show you what woman on top is all about.”

  Her hand reached out and tickled the tip of his dancing cock. She wrapped her fingers around the circumference below the sensitive head, the fluid secretion on the tip allowing her hand to slide up and down with ease. Isabella’s lips curled into a leer. “I’ve always wanted a man at my mercy like this.”

  Galvin’s low groan became music to her ears as her fingers toyed with the silky pre-cum on the cockhead. The desire to feel the smoothness with her mouth sent her head downward until her lips touched the quivering organ she grasped in her strong hands.

  “My, my. What do we have here?” Her tongue flickered out as quickly as frog reaching feasting on mosquitoes, again and again. Galvin twisted, tugging on the restraints that secured his arms ab
ove his head.

  “Like this, do you?” Isabella relished the power coursing through her and moved her head lower, blowing hot breath against his scrotum. She slipped her mouth over the warm skin and rolled a testicle gently around. Allowing that sac to slip from her lips, she captured the other and repeated the action. His moans intensified, encouraging her to continue.

  Finished with his testicles, her head moved up again to the rock hard erection and covered it with wet lips, sucking the entire shaft down her throat. The ability to consume the entire length without gagging startled her. She’d not been able to devour his entire cock in their prior sessions and needed to use her hand at the base.

  Her head worked up and down, swallowing the pole before extracting it to the point of release and inhaling it down her wet passageway again.

  He wriggled under her administrations and groaned. “Please. No more.”

  The tightening of his genitals signaled his impending release as loudly as his words. If she continued, he would spurt his seed and she wasn’t ready for that. She leaned back on her heels and stroked his thighs. Her fingertips delighted in the sensation of his heated skin under the downy covering of blond hair.

  “No, I don’t want to waste this.” Isabella leaned forward and grasped the twitching cock. Still holding the blood engorged appendage, she lifted up and moved her hips forward until she positioned her hungry sex over it. Placing her well lubricated vagina lips against the tip, she slid down. “Oh. That feels wonderful.”

  He filled her completely and she sat for a moment letting her muscles squeeze the heated flesh buried in her. She began to rock back and forth, tilting forward to allow the base of his penis to rub against her swollen clitoris.

  Galvin pushed up with his hips and each demanded more from the other. Her orgasm began to build, a burning inferno deep inside, rushing forth and consuming her. Shockwaves ripped through Isabella with an intensity she’d never known. “Oh my God.” The ripples gradually subsided and her vision cleared.

  Looking down at the male under her, a combination of guilt and elation warred in her heart. Guilt over using the man she loved in such a selfish manner; elation over the best orgasm she’d ever experienced.

  Leaning down until her lips met his, she kissed him softly. She pulled back and looked into his glazed blue eyes.

  “Wow.” He shook his head. “That was amazing. Now, if you’ll untie me, maybe we can engage in some of that afterglow cuddling and talking you females are always wanting.”

  Okay, maybe she wasn’t completely selfish.

  Removing his restraints, Isabella massaged the red marks left on his wrist in his efforts to escape the cufflinks on the right one. Maybe I should have used scarves on both.

  “I don’t know what’s come over me.” She sprinkled little kisses over the damage. “I’ve never done anything like that before.”

  “It’s your first time making love as a Valkyrie.” Galvin pushed a curl behind her ear.

  “Are you nuts? Me a Valkyrie? Yeah, right and pigs fly.”

  “In my world they do.” He shifted positions and pulled her head to his shoulder and buried his hand in her curls. “I asked you earlier what you remembered from when you were in the coma.” His fingers continued to play with her hair.

  He has lost his freaking mind. Valkyrie my ass. But then maybe that could be the name of their new game. She did feel strong and powerful when they played it. She’d explain to him later that here on Earth these games were called bondage and submission, and she definitely liked being the one in control.

  The dream, now that was another matter. She wasn’t sure how much she wanted to share from her unconscious state. All the drugs they’d pumped into her at the hospital probably accounted for that strange experience.

  “You met someone in your dream, didn’t you?”

  Sitting up as if shot out of a cannon, Isabella whirled around and stared at him. “How did you know?”

  “I visited Odin in Valhalla while your parents brought you home.” Galvin reached up and stroked her cheek. His thumb caressed her lips as his palm cradled her jaw. “I was afraid of losing you. You pulled away from me after our visit with Freya when she planted more seeds of doubt to go with the ones my father started and I knew you were going to send me away.” He sat up and arranged himself to bring them eye to eye. “I paid an earlier visit to my parents to tell them of my plans to become a mortal and to ask them how to accomplish the change. They weren’t much help. Today, I went to see Odin to seek his help.”

  Become mortal! Now I know he is insane. No being in their right mind would want to assume the problems of a human.

  “Your grandfather? I’ll bet he danced for joy when he heard your stupid idea.” Isabella’s heart became a kettle drum in her chest pounding a tattoo against the bones. He loved her enough to become a mortal.

  “I didn’t have to disclose my plan to him. Loki had already taken care of the issue for me. Seems he went to see Odin at the time of your hospitalization. While you lay in the coma with the life seeping from you, he pleaded with the God of Wisdom to make you a Valkyrie.” Galvin encircled the gold bracelets on her wrists with his hand. “See. This is your proof.”

  “Holy shit.” She stared in fascination at the gold bands. “They’ve been driving me crazy. I wondered when they were put on and why I can’t get them off.”

  “They are a part of your immortality. Now you no longer have a valid reason to reject me.” He turned over her left hand and kissed its palm. “Isabella Girardi, will you marry me?”

  Tears stung her eyes and she swallowed hard in an attempt to find her voice. “Yes! Yes, yes, yes.” Flinging her body against his, they tumbled back on the bed laughing.

  “We should call your parents. I’m sure your mother will want to get started on wedding plans.” Galvin pinned her down and stretched her arms over her head.

  “Knowing Ma, she’s had my wedding planned for years.” Angela had talked about her plans for the big day since Isabella was a young girl. “No phone calls with this news. Ma has waited too many years to hear me say I’m getting married. I want to see the look on her face when her dream comes true.” She wiggled in an attempt to break his hold. “But, she’s waited thirty-five plus years, another hour won’t kill her.”

  “True.” Galvin leered down. “Look who has the upper hand now.”

  His mouth claimed hers and Isabella knew they’d have many years to determine who was in control. She suspected neither of them would ever have complete dominance over their relationship— except possibly in the bedroom.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  “Ma, I’m not wearing that dress.” Isabella wrinkled her nose at the cloud of tulle and lace her mother was trying to foist off on her for a wedding dress. She’d given into her mother’s plans for the wedding on just about everything, but she be damned if she’d walk down the aisle in this piece of fluff. She’d look like a blob of meringue.

  “Bella, your mother has spent a lot of time looking for the perfect dress.” To make her life more miserable, Aunt Rose came with them on the dress hunting expedition.

  But she was strong. If the two thought they could gang up against her and sway her taste on what she wanted to wear, the needed to think again. “And, she hasn’t found it. At least, not for me.” Isabella crossed her arms determined to win this round. “That may be her dream dress, but no way is that going on my body.”

  Her mother looked at Rose and shrugged. “What can I say?” Her voice quivered with choked back tears. “My daughter doesn’t appreciate all the time I’m putting into this wedding.”

  “Cut the dramatics, Ma. Of course I’m grateful for all the time you’ve spent on arranging things.” God, she hated it when her mother did the almost crying thing, just let the tears flow and be done with it. “I’ve gone along with you on the number of bridesmaids, even though I think eight is too many. I gave in on the color and style for their gowns and letting you turn the house into a garden.” She and half th
e guests would be lucky not to pass out from the overwhelming scent of all the flowers. Hope there aren’t a lot of people attending with allergies.

  Angela sniffled. “I wanted the wedding in the church.”

  “And I’ve always wanted to be married at home. Hell, you got your way with the reception, so let’s call it a draw. I still think we could have found a cheaper place than that ritzy hotel.”

  “Oh, but Bella, the event manager agreed to decorate with the garden theme. The ballroom will be decorated as beautiful as our house.”

  Sighing, Isabella shook her head. Whose wedding was this anyway? At times, she felt her mother was the one getting married the way she stuck her nose in every little detail. But she’d known since she was five years old that when the time came, it would be Ma’s show. For the most part, it was easier to roll with the flow than go up against Angela’s dream.

  She picked her battles carefully with her mother. If not, she would end up licking her wounds or at the very least being exhausted. Well, the dress was worth a battle as was the wedding location.

  “It’s my wedding, Ma.” A glance at her aunt let her know she was included in that statement, also. “I have my own ideas about what I’m going to wear.”

  “What? These crazy outfits you’ve taken to wearing lately.” Angela shuddered when she looked over at her daughter. “Why all the black leather?”

  Rose bobbed her head in endorsement of her sister-in-law’s question.

  Isabella stood in front of the three-way mirror and appraised her outfit. It still wasn’t what she wanted. Her mother dragging her all over town to make the final decisions on wedding plans gave her little time to work on the final designs for her new wardrobe. She felt something more warrior like was needed. The episode she caught of Xena: Warrior Princess on cable last night gave her an idea. For now, she’d make do with the leather bustier and vest.

  Turning, she considered her refection from the side view. “Hmmm.” Nice tits.

  She glanced over her shoulder to get a better view of the back. The pants fit her like a second skin. Now that she was a Valkyrie, concern about letting her female parts breathe to avoid infections wasn’t an issue. Was it? Still a skirt was more along the lines of what she wanted for the wedding.