Page 27 of Fenrir
His eyebrows scrunched together as he looked her up and down. “Hi.”
She gave him a wide smile but immediately pulled it back when one of his eyebrows cocked skyward.
“Who is it?” Vivian called from the other room.
Grace glanced over her shoulder, grabbed her jacket off the hook by the door, and then shut it before either of her roommates could see. “Going out. Be back later,” she called. “Ready?” she asked, stepping onto the porch and linking her arm with his.
Fenrir looked down at her and then at the door and back again. Her gut clenched.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
She gave him a smile. “Nothing. I’m just excited to go.”
His nostrils flared, and he crossed his arms over his button-down shirt. She realized he wasn’t wearing what he said he would. He was dressed more business casual than rocker god. A dark button-down shirt mostly covered the Pink Floyd t-shirt from earlier in the day. She followed the thin pinstripes of the shirt down to his trim waist and the heavy black leather studded belt that sat there.
“Grace?”
Her gaze shot back to his.Damn.Dating a godlike lie detector was not going to be easy. Especially since she’d spent her entire life having to lie about who she was. Lying was something she’d become accustomed to.
She groaned inwardly. “I don’t want my roommates’ opinions on us.”
“They don’t like me,” he said flatly.
She stepped forward and set her hand on his forearm. “They don’t know you. Besides, I don’t need their opinions on what I’m wearing, my makeup, hair, or hair or… everything.”
He relaxed a fraction, and slowly his gaze slid over her body. “What’s wrong with what you are wearing?”
She looked down. She wasn’t super dressy in her oversized magenta flowy silk blouse and black leggings paired with black flats, but she didn’t think she looked bad. She looked at him.
“I like this much more than the mini chocolate bar wrapper-sized dress you wore last night. Not that you didn’t look amazing in it, it’s just I don’t know that I would be able to control myself if you were wearing something like that again.”
She snickered. “That was all, Brigeeta. The make-up and hair were all Vivian. This is me. Just me.”
He reached out and touched her face. “I’m glad to see you, just you. You’re much too beautiful to smear your face with all that fake colorful gunk.”
She laughed. “Wow. Make-up is gunk, huh? I’ll try to remember that.”
He leaned in close and nipped her earlobe. “I mean it. I don’t want you to wear that stuff when you’re with me. And no fake fruity sprays, either. I don’t want anything to dilute the heavenly scent that is you.”
Grace moaned as he kissed her neck and then looked deep into her eyes.
“Tell me you won’t be fake with me.”
She nodded. “I couldn’t if I wanted to, could I?”
He kissed her lightly, and it took everything inside her to keep from pulling him into an all-out make-out session again. Better yet, pull him up to her room and strip him naked- her roommates be damned! Hell knew she’d heard them enough times with their various one-night stands.
Fenrir pulled his lips from hers and threaded her hand in his. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s get this over with.”
Over with?Sadness filled Grace. That’s how he felt about his family. He didn’t want to be with them. The dinner was an obligation he wanted to just get over with. Suddenly Grace wasn’t as sure she should have agreed to go so readily, but then her spirit took over. Yes. She most definitely should go. Fenrir needed someone who was on his side. And there was no way in hell she would let them treat him as anything but what he was - a god.
* * *
Fenrir’s agitationgrew with every step he took closer to Loki’s building. As if sensing his tension, Grace leaned into him and rubbed the back of his hand with her thumb.
He looked down at her, and she leaned her head on his shoulder as they walked to the front door of the large white marble building. He punched in the code, and it buzzed open.
Once inside the elevator, even Grace’s presence couldn’t stop his beast from pacing. Since being chained to the rock, his beast had never been able to relax with the other gods. They had caged his beast with their magical chains, and it had been his beast that had gone insane far sooner than Fenrir had himself.