Page 7 of Thor
“You’re aware the purpose of speed dating is to talk and get acquainted with people, right?”
Speed dating?What was speed dating?
She shook her head.
His eyebrows creased. “You aren’t here to speed date?”
She lifted her hand but put it back down and chewed her lip instead, unsure of how to answer.
Thor sighed and ran his hands over his face. “You see all the men here?”
She scanned the other tables.
“You spend five minutes with each of them. Then if you think you’ve made a match with someone, you exchange information and get together.”
That’s not why she’d come. She’d come to procure papers. Papers to help her blend in on Midgard.
Thor peered over her shoulder and spotted someone. She followed his gaze to the table where Val talked to a handsome long haired man with piercing blue eyes.Loki.
He and Val seemed to be having an animated conversation, but about what, she had no idea.
“Hey.” Thor reached across the table and squeezed her hand.
She pulled away instinctually, and he raised his palms in defense.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” He watched her for a moment. “Are you sure you want to be here? If you don’t, I’m happy to walk you back home. Eve and Aphrodite will understand the mix up.”
Sutrelle looked over her shoulder again at Val and Loki. A bell rang and all the men stood from their seats and began moving tables. When one of the men tried to switch with Loki he glared at the man until he scurried away.
“If you don’t want to sit through a dozen more meetings like this you should come with me,” said Thor. He held out his hand to her. She didn’t want to go with him, but as another man with deep red skin and pitch-black eyes sat across from her, she slipped her palm into his calloused one and stood.
A spark of heat passed between their hands and rushed up her arm and into her belly. He looked down at her hand in his and then into her eyes. Confusion played over his features.
He lifted her from her seat and escorted her from the room. Thor stopped by the desk momentarily and nodded to the woman behind it. A smile crept across her face, and she winked at him.
Thor led Sutrelle through the velvet curtain and to the outer bar area. She allowed herself to be guided to the exit, unable to focus on anything other than the warmth pulsating through her body.
* * *
Thor didn’t knowwhy he needed to help the timid beautiful creature, but he couldn’t help himself. Seeing her sitting at the table like a newborn doe had made his chest clench. Soft hazel eyes wide with trepidation. Beautiful thick auburn and ginger waves cascading down her back like a cloak of modesty. Slender fingers clutched together and trembling. He had no idea how she had ended up at the speed dating event, but he was sure of one thing— she didn’t belong there. Especially not while wearing the short tight black skirt and sleeveless cream blouse. Both showed too much for his liking and then again, not enough. Either way, the clothes didn’t seem like something she would normally wear. He saw her more in something soft. flowy and feminine, then in something so… sensual. Like an innocent beauty lazing in a meadow of flowers instead of in the ashy grayness of the underworld.
He’d thought for a second that possibly she was a mortal, but the moment he’d touched her hand he’d felt the power she carried within.
He pushed open the exit and as soon as they stepped out the door, she took a deep breath and leaned against the side of the building as if it was the only thing holding her on her feet.
Standing outside DeLux shrouded in moonlight he wondered what the hell he was doing. He’d not been a savior of damsels in distress in centuries. But somehow, he couldn’t help but want to protect the fragile, lovely, creature who stood before him.
“Where can I take you? Where do you live?”
She glanced up and down the street. “I... I’m not sure how to get there.” Her voice came out so softly he’d almost missed it.
“Are you new here? I’ve never seen you before.”
“I... I’ve been here about a month but... not down here.”
“You live in Midgard?”
She nodded.