Page 31 of Odin

It was early for lunch, but the restaurant traffic was steady. There was a couple a few tables over from us, and when the woman laughed at something, that's when the memories rushed in. My grandfather had called me into his office that night to announce my arranged marriage. He'd been so cold about it, and I'd run to my room and instantly called Kat. We'd met here for dinner to discuss, and Dino had been the flirty waiter. How did Odin know Dino had waited on us?

I stared at the menu, pretending to analyze it. The night we'd been here, Dino had paid me too much attention, and Kat had encouraged me to go for it. It was in the little things, like I swore he would touch the back of my arm when he went by our table, and the flirty comments he made. However, we'd played it off and had a good time with each other.

The hostess had told Odin they'd never had a waiter named Dino, but they had. He had had blue eyes.

Looking over the top of my menu, I watched Odin, and he looked up over the top of his menu to look at me. Blue eyes. I didn't shy away from him, but I looked for any similarity that I could remember between the two of them. I didn't know how long had passed, but in my mind, Odin became Dino as I remembered him from that night.

Odin. Dino. They were the same.

He'd snuck into a Bratva-owned restaurant to be close to me. I didn't know whether to yell at him for being so stupid or kiss him for protecting me. He had risked being killed if they had found out.

"Odin," I said, as I lowered my eyes to my menu.

He made a slight noise to let me know he was paying attention.

"This isn't up for debate. I am naming our first son Dino, after his father. It's a better name than Thor." I looked up from my menu and met his eyes. His face was stoic, but the emotions were swirling in the blue pools of his eyes. "Why?" I asked him.

"You're not asking me how?"

"No. I just want to know why." I was serious and considered thehowto be a trade secret that I shouldn't know.

"You were mine, and when I arranged our marriage, I asked if I could meet you officially. I figured they would give you some time to get to know me, and I'd win you over. They denied it, and every day that passed made waiting for you worse. I got lucky when Katalina showed up here and said her friend was coming for dinner. She gave me just enough time that I got to watch you walk through the door."

"Do you ever regret it?" I asked.

"No, Mrs. Nystrom. I'd do it again as long as I got you.” He placed his menu on the table and made sure he had my full attention. “Let me know when you’re ready for Dino.”

***

Odin

We were on our way to our next stop, but I needed a favor that I was dreading asking for.

I stole a quick side-eye at Serena. She was staring out the front window, but her face didn't show any of the distress from earlier.

I hit the phone button on the steering wheel and let it dial in the car, the sound ringing until it connected.

“Hello?” a female voice answered.

“Didn’t they ever teach you to screen your phone calls?” I took another side look at Serena, but she was now facing me. There was a huge smile on her face, recognizing her best friend's voice instantly. It made me smirk to watch her. She wouldn't like this conversation.

“Look, asshole…”

"Kat! It's us," Serena popped into the conversation. I didn't know if she couldn't help herself, or if she'd just done it so that Katalina wouldn't say something she'd regret.

“Not cool, Handsome, not cool. Rena!! Tell me everything. I tried to call you, to make sure you were alright, but your phone was off." Katalina had quickly dropped me to speak to Serena, and I was okay with that. It made me like her more, like a stray dog you couldn't get rid of.

“What are you talking about?” Serena looked at me.

“I don’t know, you tell me. I heard that there was a break-in at your penthouse. Details are sketchy. My father asked me if I had heard from you. I told him no, which is the truth. It’s none of his business, though.” She was talking a mile a minute.

I liked Katalina more and more. If she ever asked me for a favor, it would be hard to tell her no.

“Wonderful. I wish they would leave me alone.” Serena scrunched her nose and made ahmphsound.

“No can do, babes. You’re too nice to be left alone.”

I took this moment to interrupt them. “Katalina, I need a favor.”

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