Page 51 of Savage King

Skathi choked on thin air. “Tessa!”

Odin didn’t seem to mind Tessa’s outlandish introduction, his big, fat grin telling her he was perfectly fine being known as Skathi’s Norse god.

“That I am,” he admitted, still standing across the room, taking in the view of them and winking. “And you must be the infamous Tessa, the one who bangs my Goddess on the mat every day during training. I hear you’re going to put the kill down on Tanya “The Tiger” Collins in a couple of weeks.” His big voice carried easily, which meant every head in the building turned toward Tessa and Skathi.

His attention caught by the buzzing cell in his hand, Odin cursed under his breath and silenced it.

What was that about?Odin’s broad shoulders were immediately tense, his once open expression suddenly shuttered.

Uninvited, Fang grabbed a chair at the table, sliding his large, lithe body into the seat much too close to Tessa. The woman tensed, and Skathi fought the urge to warn the man that Tessa was, very much, a hands-off kind of woman.

Tessa could handle herself.

Tessa didn’t even bother looking in his direction, her expression seemingly unbothered. But Skathi knew what was boiling underneath; Tessa was annoyed.

“You a fighter?” Fang asked, not taking the hint that Tessa wasn’t in the mood to chit chat with him.

“I’m training her,” Skathi offered, hoping to disarm the situation before Fang learned first-hand just how well Tessa was trained. Not that Tessa would just clock the man, but she was known to swing a fist when the situation warranted it. “She has her first bout in several weeks against Tanya Collins at Hard Knox, that MMA gym in Carson City.”

“Yeah?” Fang asked, awe in his deep voice, his gaze pinned to Tessa as if she were the most interesting thing he’d ever seen.

“Yeah,” Tessa replied, still not looking at Fang, though her cheeks were turning a pink Skathi had never seen on her friend before.

Interesting….

After stopping to say something to the prospect at the bar, Odin finally reached her, and she stood, throwing her arms around his neck and pressing a chaste kiss to his lips.

“Fuck that, baby. Give your man a proper greeting. I need your mouth, Goddess. It’s been too long since I’ve had a taste.”

“Eight hours?” she blinked up at him, incredulous. “It hasn’t even been a day.”

“Fucking too long. I might starve without your taste on my tongue, baby.”

She opened her mouth to mock him playfully, but Odin didn’t waste a second, dropping his mouth to hers and devouring her.

The sound of a door slamming and hurried boot heels clacking against the concrete broke apart their moment. Shocked by the abruptness, Skathi pulled back, dropping her arms from around Odin’s neck.

“Odin, there you are,” the beautiful blonde woman, Bonnie, from the brothel exclaimed as she hurried toward him, throwing her arms around his waist and planting her face in his chest. “I have been trying to call you all day. Why haven’t you answered?”

Uh, what the fuck?Yeah, she cursed, but the situation definitely warranted it. Why was Bonnie throwing herself at Odin, and why was she so desperate to get a hold of him? Was that the call he’d silenced that had him tense and shuttered?

Odin stiffened, his wide gaze flicking from the top of Bonnie’s head to Skathi, who’d crossed her arms over her chest. Odin’s mouth twisted into a thin line as he grabbed Bonnie’s arms and dislodged her. He took a step back and looked down at her, his expression hard.

“I ignored your call because I didn’t want to deal with your shit today, Bonnie.”

Today? Meaning this had been going on for a while.

“You’ve never had a problem with my calls before, Odin,” Bonnie snapped, reaching out to place a hand against Odin’s chest. “But this time the calls were about business.”

Insinuating all the calls before were about pleasure?

Refusing to meet Odin’s piercing gaze, Skathi swallowed the ball of jealousy that formed like a cyst in her throat.

“Don’t act like you call me and we shoot the shit, Bonnie. It’s only ever business, and right now I want to know what business you have with me that couldn’t wait until I am back in the office tomorrow. I got plans with my woman tonight, and I’m not keen on changing them.”

Bonnie’s shoulders dropped, her head dipping as she gazed up at Odin with wide, pained eyes. The perfect wounded woman affect. She was playing the part of vulnerable damsel well…for a sex peddling harpy.

“I don’t know what to think but…I can’t get a hold of Janine, Maisey, or Charlene. They were supposed to go to some movie casting thing yesterday but since then, they haven’t been answering their phones. I’ve called and texted. Charlene missed a scene with a client, and both Maisey and Janine were scheduled for a ménage this afternoon. No one showed up. The clients are angry and demanding a refund on their membership fees, and the other girls are worried.”

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