Page 66 of Savage King

“I can take care of myself,” she interjected gently. “I was trained for situations like that one.”

He sighed. “I know that in my head, Goddess, but my heart didn’t care if you were invulnerable and shielded in adamantium. It only cares that you were in danger and something could have happened to you.”

“I understand that…I felt the same way about you. About Tessa. My stomach was in knots over it; worrying for Tessa, and then wondering if you would walk out of the warehouse safe and sound. I knew that I had to shut that down so I could focus, so that once I stepped foot in the engagement zone there would be no distractions because distractions can cost lives. But, once Alfanzo was down, his men were neutralized, and Tessa was safe, I nearly collapsed in relief.”

And this is why I need to keep her out of club business….

No! That wasn’t fair. Not only was she trained for deadly circumstances, she’d been instrumental in safely securing the building and saving Tessa and the girls. Without her, they might not have all made it out without a scratch. His men were alive and healthy because Skathi had been there.

“I want to use that as an excuse as to why I was such an ass to you yesterday.”

She snorted. “You mean when you shut me down and let me walk out of there because you were too macho to tell the little woman about what was happening?” He couldn’t miss the bitterness in her voice, but he’d deserved all her acid.

“Yes. I was an ass, and it took Trouble throat punching me with the truth to see that I was looking at everything wrong. I was all about you sharing your life with me but I was slacking on doing the same in return. I wanted all the benefits without any of the sacrifice.”

“Sounds pretty one-sided to me,” she said wryly. “But you have to know that I am not in this with you for casual sex and posturing. I don’t care that you’re wealthy or are president of an MC or the CEO of a million-dollar company. I care that you are Stellan Vikander, man, son, brother…the man who means so much to me. After Aaron, I refuse to be with someone who can’t give me all of himself, not when I give everything I am.”

Her heartfelt admission struck him hard. He’d known he was being a selfish prick, but to have her scared that he was just like Aaron was enough to gut him.

“I want to give you all of me, my Goddess, my Valkyrie….” He wanted to weave their lives so tightly together, one person didn’t move without the other feeling it, no matter how far apart they were.

“Then give me something…anything,” she pleaded, cupping his bearded cheek in her hand.

He closed his eyes, leaning into her gentle touch.

“My father hates that I didn’t want to follow in his footsteps. He’s of the generation that sons are required to care more about the family legacy than their own happiness. Hell, my mom told me my dad wanted to be a sailor when he was a little boy, but his father, my grandfather, had saddled him with guilt and speeches on family duty, so he caved to the pressure. After he had me, he just assumed that’s what you did—push your kid into doing what he doesn’t want to do just because all the generations before expected it. That wasn’t me, though. I don’t even like the ocean—hence my settling in a place so opposite the ocean it might as well be…well, a desert.” He chuckled and Skathi huffed a sweet laugh. Her presence beside him eased some of the anxiety that had risen up when he realized he was actually going to tell her the whole of it. Opening up wounds old and new. But she was the medicine, the treatment, the cure for what had been bleeding for so long. The sutures he needed for clean, healthy closure.

“But, I refused to cow to him. I saw how miserable he was building ships instead of sailing them, and I saw what it did to my mother, being married to such a miserable bastard, and I didn’t want that to be my life. Miserable and stuck in an unhappy marriage. So…I took an out. I enlisted in the Army as soon as I turned eighteen—didn’t even tell my parents about it until the week before I was scheduled to leave for boot camp. Needless to say, my father hit the roof, screaming at me about how much a failure I was because I wasn’t doing what was expected of me, that I was letting the whole family down. That I wasn’t man enough to be the son he sired and raised, that I couldn’t be a Vikander because Vikanders built ships. I left…and we didn’t speak to one another for two years. By then, I was training for the Rangers. The relationship was strained, but I was willing to put some effort in because I missed my mother, and…well, I was their son. I missed what we’d had in the good times in between all the legacy speeches.”

“What about now?” Skathi coaxed, her voice soothing. Gods, he loved this woman.

“The night of the clubhouse party, right before I came face to face with the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen, I was up in the office on the phone with my father. He’d called because he’d seen pictures of the MC online. We’d taken a ride in force and people stopped, stared, and snapped pics. We weren’t doing anything illegal. We were enjoying the weather, our rides, and our notoriety.” He smirked at that. “My dad was bent out of shape, upset that I was still living my life as some kind of outlaw. He basically said I was still a disappointment because I wasn’t working for the family business. I hung up and we haven’t talked since.”

Skathi hummed, planting a soft kiss against his chest. His cock, which hadn’t gotten the memo that it was time for talking and not fucking, pulsed against Skathi’s belly. She gasped, thrusting her hips against it.

He hissed. “Fuuuck, baby. As much as I want to take your body up on that offer…I really think I need to get this out there. This is important to me. I want to share this with you so that we can move forward.”

Groaning playfully, Skathi said, “Fine. But you’ll owe me three orgasms later.”

He growled, nuzzling her neck. “I’ll give you all the orgasms you can handle, baby.”

She shuddered, her nipples poking him in the chest where her breasts were squished against him.

Gods, give me the restraint….

“Anyway…I…I saw you that night and knew I needed to make you mine. But fresh off the conversation with my dad, there was a voice in the back of my head that kept whispering that a woman like you would never want a man like me, a man who’d failed at being the son my father needed. A man who failed at all his relationships before. A man who would never measure up enough to be loved by a goddess.”

She sucked in a sharp breath. “But Odin…you have to know I felt the same way about you. I mean, come on, when I first saw you, you were flanked by two blonde bombshells. Tiny, skinny, beautiful women, who were so in contrast to me that I just knew I couldn’t compare.”

“They don’t compare to you, my Goddess. You are big, yes, but I need big. I’m a big man, with a big appetite, and big dick. I was tired of trying to find satisfaction with women I was always too scared to hurt. I couldn’t be my true self with them, because they were all breakable. And they—”

“Were sycophants who told you what you wanted to hear just to have a chance to nab themselves the MC prez?”

Groaning a laugh, he answered, “Got it in one. And that isn’t what I pictured for myself when in those hidden moments when I knew I truly wanted more. I wanted a partner—not just in bed but also in life. I wanted someone gentle enough to ease my troubles, strong enough to call me on my shit, and sturdy enough to take my cock. You are everything I could have ever wanted, and so much more than I could have dreamed of having.”

Her eyes glistening, Skathi gave a watery smile.

“You say the most beautiful things, but you have to know that Aaron hurt me, so much. He taught me that words mean nothing because people lie to get what they want. He had me, strung along with promises of love, but he was still screwing other women, women who were a size zero. In the end, I knew his attraction for me wasn’t the primal, carnal attraction one is supposed to feel for a spouse, but rather he was attracted to what I could give him.”

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