Proposition

Valuable Time

It was almost devilish, how much fun I was having with Loki felt like the biggest emotional thrill I had experienced in a long time.

We were four days into the first week of our visit and things were going amazingly well.

Loki was proving to be a fantastic host, his family was extremely welcoming and the workers didn't appear to ask questions as to why we were there without Avena, especially as they knew me as her friend from the last time.

Ezabella had spent most of her time wandering around the palace, telling me later on in great detail how she had met someone along the way and they had given her a tour around the area she was searching, telling her the history as well as personal stories.

It was fantastic that she was enjoying herself and it gave me a chance to spend some one on one time with Loki, which tended to mostly consist of us sitting around and reading as he stroked my ever-growing bump.

Sometimes, he would sit on the floor as I lounged across the comfortable seat in his library and read to the baby, in these moments of peace, I would close my eyes and play with his hair, sometimes I even ended up dozing off.

The only way I could have been happier in those moments was if I could say that Loki was mine.

For now, I had to settle with what I got.

Night had taken over once again and the palace had begun to start winding down, for the most part.

We had all eaten and people were either starting to trickle out of the feasting hall to go to their rooms or, in the case of the warriors, they huddled around a table in the far corner, getting ready for a night of drinking.

Ezabella had left with a servant girl, both of them giggling and sharing looks that filled my heart with excitement and hope for her.

Once I had had my fill, I stood up and bid the people at my table a goodnight before heading out, slowly making my way to my guest room.

To no surprise, I was stopped by Loki catching up to me before I had even made it to the second corridor.

"May I ask, do you have plans tonight?"

I looked at him as he smiled, a handsome, genuine smile.

"I was just going to lie in bed and read a little."

"Excellent, perhaps you can join me in my bed tonight."

I stared at him for a moment then smiled widely and nodded, not having to think of the decision for a second.

"I would absolutely love to."

And that was how I ended up naked once again in Loki's marital bed, only this time without the buffer excuse of attempting to get pregnant.

Though unlike last time, where he had had to be quick and callous about our short affair, Loki took his time to make sure that I was cared for and showed a gentler side than what I'd seen previously.

During our attempts, he had been uncaring and mostly trying to get a job done, he'd barely speak to me before or after and never bothered with any aftercare, instead choosing to leave that to Avena and myself while he rolled over and went to sleep.

Even then, Avena would typically just shoo me out of the room and leave me to it.

Unlike those times, Loki had been caring and kind, making me feel like I was the only woman in the world.

When I had come out of the bathroom after having a long and relaxing soak to help ease my pains, he told me how beautiful I was and took advantage of the fact that I was only covered by a towel.

"Don't get dressed," he had smirked at me, "let me join you after I'm done, we can read in the way I'm most comfortable doing it when alone."

Apparently, Loki had a penchant for reading nude while in the privacy of his own quarters, a fact I found oddly endearing, though it had become a less frequent habit after he had gotten married.

Avena didn't take kindly to it, for reasons unknown.

Once Loki was out of the bathroom, he picked up a book and threw back the covers to his bed, giving me an open invitation to climb inside and get comfortable.

He slid in behind me and pressed against my back, one arm resting propped up so that he could rest his head on his palm while the other lay atop my shoulder, holding the open book.

"Are you comfortable?" He asked.

"For the most part, your bed is much comfier than my one at home, but I usually have something to rest my stomach on top of."

Loki nodded and pulled away, shifting around for a brief moment before maneuvering us around so that he could slide a sturdy pillow beneath my bump.

"Better?" He said once we'd settled back into our initial position.

"Very," I nodded, smiling over my shoulder at him.

"Wonderful, then let us begin."

He started reading and I instantly got lost in his voice.

How I loved that voice.

The book he had chosen was a series of Asgardian folktales, full of fantastical characters and morals for children to learn as they grew older.

There were some stories I hadn't heard of and knew I would end up re-reading myself, especially as I was finding it progressively more difficult to concentrate on what he was saying.

Although I was enjoying the reading session, my mind kept flickering back and forth to our current position.

How it felt to have him pressed up against me, his voice soothing and yet also ridiculously alluring.

Much to my chagrin, my body ended up betraying me and reacted with a large spike of hormones that flushed through me and I found myself aroused once again, something that was becoming a progressive problem.

I tried to ignore the growing pressure in my privates and tingle of my chest and worked extra hard to focus on what he was saying, not the dirty images that played in my head.

I tried to force away the thought of his hand kneading at my sore breasts and then running down the outside of my thigh before moving to the inside, where his fingers would gently pry my legs open an-

"Are you doing that on purpose?"

Opening my eyes, I looked over my shoulder questioningly to be met with an amused smile.

"Doing what?" I asked.

"Grinding yourself against me, it's quite distracting."

My eyes widen as my cheeks flush red, to try and hide my dismay I look away from him and cover my face with my hands to hide my embarrassment.

Now that I had been brought back to reality, I could feel the results of my hip rolling pressing against the crevice of my butt and my body reacted with another flush of intense arousal.

Loki chuckled deeply and moved away from me.

For a second, I thought that I had done something wrong and he was calling it a night.

As it turned out, Loki was merely putting the book down and I soon found myself being pulled against him, his fingers feeling along the stretch marks from my bump to my hip before moving down to my thigh.

"If you wanted to do something like that," he murmured, pressing cold fingers against my inner leg and leading it to rest on his hip so that he could line himself up, "all you had to do was ask."