Don’t Play With Odin by Cynthia Eden

Chapter Six

“Someone tried to kidnap me.” Maisey was having trouble wrapping her head around that whole horrifying situation. “Me. Someone actually tried to kidnap me.”

Her memories were sketchy. She remembered something being off in the stairwell. The door didn’t close. It always clangs closed behind me.

It hadn’t closed because someone had followed her into the stairwell. She’d realized that, then she’d fallen.

Or been pushed? Her money was on being pushed. She took a swift left turn at the edge of her sofa and paced back toward a watchful Odin.

“If you hadn’t been there…” She seriously owed him. “Where would I be right now?” She stumbled. Stopped. “What would be happening to me?” And had this same thing happened to Whitney? When she’d vanished, had she been taken by someone, swiped right from campus only to never be seen again?

Maisey’s hands wrapped around her stomach. An EMT had checked her out. Except for a few bruises and scrapes, he’d said she was good. He’d called her lucky.

Only luck didn’t have a whole lot to do with the matter. She was alive, standing in her house—because Odin had saved her.

“Don’t.” The word was low. Rough. His expression was all dark and broody. Come to think of it, he’d had that same dark and broody expression ever since she’d opened her eyes and seen him in the garage. “Don’t think about what could have happened. That path won’t do you any good.”

Yes, well, she knew the path was a nightmare, but she couldn’t stop her overactive imagination from tumbling right down it. Once she’d been taken away from campus, her abductor could have tied her up. Tortured her. Used a knife or a—

“Maisey.” Odin was right in front of her. She didn’t remember him rising from the chair. Probably because she’d been imagining her own death scene. “You are safe. I’m here. Nothing is going to happen to you while I am—”

She heard a quick jingle. Knew it was the sound of her new motion sensor alerting her to someone at her front door even before the doorbell rang.

Odin’s lips tightened.

“It could be the cops again,” Maisey murmured. They’d said they would follow up after taking her statement on the campus. The black truck had been found—abandoned—in the Engineering parking lot. Campus security had tracked down the student who owned the truck, but she’d been stunned to discover what had happened. Turned out, she’d reported the truck missing a day ago.

The perp had vanished. Switched vehicles, then driven away. Or, heck, maybe even walked away once he’d ditched the ski mask.

“Maybe they have more questions,” she continued as she tried to steady her still racing heartbeat. “Or maybe…” If you wanted to be really positive… “Maybe they caught the guy!”

His expression told her that he doubted that particular turn of events. Odin pulled up his phone. He’d linked her security system both to her phone and his. Since her phone was broken, it was good that he had the setup still accessible on his device. He stared at the screen, and if possible, his expression grew ever darker as he saw the person waiting on her doorstep.

“Odin?”

“It’s your neighbor. Guess he came to pay you another late-night visit.”

It was nine. Hardly super late but…

“I’ll deal with him,” Odin promised. “Just…rest or something, would you?”

No, she would not. Resting was the last thing she felt like doing. Maisey was pretty sure she would be jumping out of her skin any moment. She sidled along behind Odin, and he tossed her a frown.

The doorbell rang again.

Odin flipped the lock and wrenched open the door. “Now is not a good time for us,” he snapped.

The porch light fell on Clay’s face. “I heard about Maisey’s attack!” He craned his body and head to see around Odin’s massive form. “Maisey! Are you all right? What can I do? How can I help?”

Those hardly sounded like the words of a cold-blooded killer. Then again, if he was a cold-blooded killer, wouldn’t he be trying to throw them off the scent? Wouldn’t he be acting concerned?

“Maisey has all the help she needs, but thanks for stopping by,” Odin assured him. He started to slam the door shut on Clay.

“Wait!” Maisey jumped forward. What was Odin doing? This was an opportunity for them to question their suspect. “Thank you for checking on me, Clay.”

Swearing under his breath, Odin eased back.

“Of course! Word is spreading through the staff like wildfire.” Clay stepped over the threshold and into her house.

Odin’s body stiffened.

She put her hand on his arm. Easy. “How was your trip?”

“My trip?” His brow wrinkled. “You can’t want to talk about that!”

Yes, she did want to talk about that trip. Very much. She wanted to hear about it and Hannah Martinez.

“Forget my trip. You were attacked! Judith from the English Department said that you were nearly killed!”

“Kidnapped,” Odin corrected in that deep, rumbling voice of his. A voice that sent shivers sliding over Maisey’s skin. “She was nearly kidnapped.”

Clay’s mouth opened and closed as he struggled for words. Finally, he burst out, “But why would someone want to kidnap Maisey?”

“Why would someone want to break into her house?” Odin threw the question back at him. “Because my instincts say the break-ins and the abduction attempt are related.”

“Your instincts?” Clay gave a nervous laugh. “What are you, a cop or something?”

“Something,” Odin replied flatly.

His body was practically vibrating with fury. She could feel it. “Odin is a PI,” she mumbled.

Clay backed. “You…you’re dating a PI?”

Odin’s arm lifted and wrapped around her shoulders. He pulled her closer to him. “Damn straight she is. And this PI is gonna make absolutely certain that no one hurts her.” She looked at his face and saw that Odin’s bright stare was locked on Clay with laser-like focus as he continued, “I will find the person who tried to take her. I will make him suffer.”

Another nervous laugh came from Clay. “Don’t you mean…the cops will find him? Not so sure that’s what you should be doing by yourself—”

“This is personal. I’ll find the bastard who is after Maisey.” The air thickened with dangerous intensity. “He will be stopped.”

Clay gulped. Sweat dotted his brow. “Got a lot of practice tracking down criminals, huh?”

“Enough.”

Clay’s gaze darted to Maisey. “Can we…can we talk alone?”

Why? But before she could reply—

“No.” Odin’s voice was clipped. “Now back up or lose the foot.”

The foot? Maisey looked down. Saw that Clay’s foot was still over the threshold.

Odin was moving to slam the door.

With a yelp, Clay yanked his foot back.

Bam. She stared at the closed door. Odin flipped the locks.

“I think I should have talked more to him.” Her head tilted as she nibbled on her lower lip. “I wanted to grill him about his trip and that would have given me a chance to—”

“You need to stop playing.” He took her arm. Pulled her back to the den. It was a gentle pull, sure, but still most definitely a pull.

At the couch, she yanked her arm free of his hold. “I’m not playing at anything.”

“No?” Again, his voice was a dangerous rumble. “You want to go off and have a private chat with our lead suspect.”

Yes, so she—

“Worst fucking idea ever.”

Anger hummed through her. “No, really, tell me what you truly think.”

“It’s the worst fucking idea ever,” he snapped again.

Her eyes narrowed. “At least I am trying to get more information. I hired you on Friday, and we have not made any progress on the case!”

“Are you kidding me right now?”

She honestly didn’t even know what she was doing. All of the tension inside of her was erupting and words were just sort of tumbling out of her mouth. “You ghosted me.” There. She’d said it. What pissed her off. “I thought we were working on this together.”

“From here on out, we fucking are.” A muscle flexed along his jaw. “I’m sticking to you like glue. No more stake-outs down the street. I’ll be here.”

She was lost. “What stake-out down the street?”

“Did you truly think I was just gonna abandon you after the break-in on Friday?”

Yes, she had certainly considered that possibility. That went back to the whole “ghosted” bit that she’d just mentioned.

“I didn’t think you’d like me cramping your style, so I stayed a safe distance back. I wanted to watch to make sure you weren’t having any unwanted guests.”

Maisey needed to be sure she was understanding. “Saturday night…you were watching my house?”

A hard nod.

“Sunday night…you were watching my house.”

“Didn’t I just say as damn much?”

“Why didn’t you come inside?”

His eyes blazed. “Thought it would be better…to have space.”

What did that mean?

“Also, if the perp didn’t think I was here, figured he’d be more likely to make a move.” He heaved out a breath. “Even had eyes on you at the campus. After all, we’d told Clay that you had a backup on your computer there. I wanted to see if he tried to access it.”

“Is that why you were in the parking lot?”

“Clay wasn’t on campus. I’d seen him leave earlier. I thought you were safe. When he left, I went to do some recon work. When I got back, the parking lot was empty, but you were still there. Shit. Do you know how scared I was when I lost contact with you?”

Big, bad Odin had been scared? She found that hard to believe. “I am not a mind reader.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Do you know what it means to keep someone in the loop?”

A muscle jerked along his jaw.

“This…” She motioned between them. Her bracelets jingled on her left wrist. “This is the loop. You and me. You’re supposed to keep me in the loop. That means you are supposed to tell me what’s happening. I can’t work with you if I don’t know what the heck you are doing!”

His nostrils flared. “You smell fucking delicious.”

“I—” Maisey shook her head. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Hell of a lot. Space. I was trying to give you space by staying outside but that shit is over. I won’t make the same mistake again.” His eyes glittered. He stepped closer. “Like glue.”

Her throat was very dry.

“You want the full loop details?”

“Yes, I would like that very much.”

“During the day, I was following up leads. Working the case. At night, I was making sure you were safe.”

She could not look away from his stare.

“I screwed up earlier. That is on me. I underestimated the danger. If I’d been a few minutes slower in that garage, you’d be gone.” His hands lifted and closed around her shoulders. “You would be gone.”

He pulled her closer. His grip was strong, but he wasn’t hurting her. He was very careful. There was a heat, an intensity, in his touch that swept through her. Maisey couldn’t look away from him. The air was tight and thick. She was dimly aware of her own thudding heart beats. Mostly, though, she was aware of Odin. He pretty much overpowered everything else.

Maisey knew this was not the time to tell Odin that he was hot. That he was so gorgeous that she was having trouble breathing. She knew she was obviously going through some sort of emotional meltdown because of the attack. Anything she said or did would be influenced by her ricocheting emotions. But—

“You are so sexy,” she whispered.

His eyebrows shot down. “What?”

“Thank you for saving me today.”

“It’s my freaking job to protect you.”

No, it wasn’t. She’d hired him to find proof of Clay’s guilt or innocence. Odin staking out her place… Odin saving her from an attacker…that was beyond the scope of their initial deal.

“You shouldn’t have been in that situation. That’s on me.”

“Why are you blaming yourself? You’re not the one who tried to take me.” Had he missed her thank-you moment? She was grateful—beyond grateful—because he had saved her ass.

“You’re my client. I will keep you safe, I will—fuck.” He hauled her against him. “You scared the hell out of me.”

This was the second time he’d mentioned being afraid. Before she could press him about that…

His mouth took hers.

Surprise held her immobile—for like, all of two seconds. Then she was throwing her hands around his shoulders and holding on tightly even as she pressed up to get even closer to him.

Odin.

He lifted her up. She loved it when he did that. Lifted her up and held her against his body and made her feel all delicate and feminine against him while he was hard strength and power. His tongue thrust into her mouth, and she didn’t even try to hold back her moan. This, this was what she wanted. This surge of desire that made her feel reckless, wild. Alive.

Her nails bit into his shoulders. Her mouth met his in a greedy explosion of need and hunger. This reaction didn’t normally happen to her. When she kissed a man, she didn’t go from a peck on the lips to wanting to tear the clothes off the guy’s body within about a minute.

Not normal. At all.

Maisey had always thought normal was way over-rated.

One of his big hands was sliding under her shirt. She loved the feel of his fingers on her skin, and if she and Odin could get more of the clothing out of the way, that would be great.

Vaguely, she became aware that he was moving. Turning his body, turning them, and heading maybe…to her bedroom?

Her legs wrapped around his hips. The better to hold on. She didn’t stop kissing him though. She caught his lower lip, gave it a sensual tug.

“Maisey…”

She had never particularly liked her name. But when Odin said it…all deep and gravelly and hungry-like…

She rubbed against him.

He lowered her onto the bed.

Wait, the bed?

He caught her hands. Pressed them against the mattress. Loomed over her. The trip from the den to the bedroom was kind of vague for her. Her heart thundered, and her gaze locked on his.

He wasn’t kissing her any longer. Just staring at her with eyes gone stormy from need.

She licked her lips.

“That…wasn’t supposed to happen,” Odin said.

What wasn’t? Him kissing her? Or them winding up in her bedroom?

“You need to sleep.”

Sleeping was the last thing she felt like doing. Her body was screaming with energy. “No.”

His hands were still around her wrists. Her legs weren’t around his hips any longer. They dangled over the side of the bed. Actually, they dangled and spread and he was between them. His hips were lodged between her open legs, and there was no way on earth that she could miss the heavy arousal pressing against her.

“I don’t want to sleep,” Maisey told him. She was afraid that if she slept, she’d have a nightmare. A flashback to the stairwell and garage. Doing podcasts about historical crimes was different from actually being a victim in a current crime. Being a victim made everything different.

“I want you,” Odin gritted out.

She sucked in a breath.

“But not like this. Not when you’re scared and you’re looking for an outlet.”

Still reeling, Maisey gazed up at him.

“And not when I’m so pissed I can barely think,” he added gruffly. “Not when I keep thinking about how I want to find that sonofabitch and rip him apart.”

Her heart jolted. “You saved me.” Her hand lifted and touched his jaw. She could feel the stubble beneath her fingertips. “I don’t…do this.”

He tensed. “Do what?”

“I don’t meet a guy then stumble into bed with him the next day.”

“It’s not the next day. It’s been several days.”

Her heart slammed into her chest. “I just…I don’t want you to think this is normal for me. I-I feel…”

“Adrenaline. Fear. An emotional tornado that’s about to blow you apart.” His jaw flexed. “Got it.” He let her hands go. Shoved up.

She scampered up, too. She pushed to her knees and grabbed his arm. “Stop. You don’t know what I feel.” She barely knew herself. “Every time that you kiss me, I get so turned on that even breathing seems hard.”

He didn’t move.

“I don’t react that way to most guys.” How about…to any other guy? “I’m not one for pretending or being coy…” She wouldn’t know how to be coy to save her life. “I say what I think. I want you to know—” Deep breath. “The way I’m reacting with you, this isn’t normally me.”

A hard nod. His eyes glittered.

“You are not understanding me at all.” Her hold tightened on him. “It’s not adrenaline. It’s not because I had a terror-filled attack. It’s because I want you. And you want me. We’re two adults. We’re not seeing anyone else.” She hadn’t dated in months. She’d pulled back because she was too over the scene of people being fake. Fake social media. Fake smiles. Over people acting like their worlds were perfect when they weren’t. “I get that you’re my PI.” Had that my sounded a little possessive? Maisey thought that it might have. She found that she felt a little possessive toward him. “But who says we can’t be more?”

There. She’d done it. Put herself out there. More than she ever had before. Because Odin—he was different. Real. Nothing fake about him. What you saw was what you got. And what she saw…

Hero.

He’d saved her. He was working with her to unmask a killer. In a world that was too often filled with darkness, she had stumbled onto a real, true-blue, good guy. What were the odds of that?

“Oh, Maisey…” A sad shake of his head. “You don’t want to go down this path with me.”

She did. Hadn’t she just said as much?

His fingers curled around her wrist. Slowly lowered her arm.

“You don’t know who I am.”

“You’re Odin. Former Delta. PI. Hero. You’re—”

“I’m a man who has done plenty of bad things in my life. Things that you don’t want to ever touch you.” He glanced at his fingers around her wrist. “I’m not good for you.”

Bull. She thought he was exactly what she needed.

“I shouldn’t be touching you,” Odin muttered.

“I like it when you touch me.” A low, husky confession.

A shudder worked over him. “You shouldn’t say things like that.”

Yes, she should. “I’m not into lying.”

His gaze held hers. “Neither am I, so believe me when I say…I am not good for you.”