“It sounds bad, I know,” he admitted. “But,” he quickly went on, “I didn’t use it for anything weird. That day with The Silent was the first time I ever went to your apartment and it was just to help you move. I swear.”

“How many girls have you gotten dossiers on?”

“None. Except you.”

“Why didn’t you just ask me out . . . like a normal person?”

“To be honest, I didn’t think you’d stay at that job as long as you did. I wanted the info so I could track you down if you disappeared on me before I worked up the balls to ask you on a date.”

“Vig, you don’t seem shy. Introverted, definitely. But not shy. Why was it so hard for you to just ask me out?”

“Because I knew you wouldn’t say yes. I just wasn’t sure why at that time, but now I know it was because you thought I’d . . . what did you call it? That I’d gotten my brain scrambled.”

Kera bit the inside of her mouth. She didn’t want to laugh in his face, but he was absolutely right. From the first day she’d seen him, she’d felt bad for him and wanted nothing more than to get him into a good VA program. That was it. So his instincts had been right—she’d never have agreed to go out with him then.

“You really want to laugh at me right now, don’t you?”

Kera busted out laughing, dropping her head into Vig’s lap and rolling on her back, her hands covering her face.

“Treacherous female,” he muttered, even as he stroked her hair.

When she finally finished laughing at him—which took a little longer than Vig would have liked—he asked, “Can we just forget how badly I screwed up here?”

Kera lowered her hands. “Forget? No. Because this will make excellent dinner party conversation years from now. But now that I know you better, I won’t hold it against you.”

“Thank you.”

Kera reached up and wrapped Vig’s hair around her finger.

“I like your new tattoo,” he told her.

“Thank you. Erin did that for me.”

“A lot of the Ravens go to her for their work. I’ve always heard that she was good.”

“She is. And she’s been wanting to cover my ex’s name since the first day I got to the Bird House. It seemed to really bother her.”

“Then I owe her one because I hated that his name was on you.”

“I wouldn’t give it much thought. I was really toasted when I got it. So was he. It was just a bad night in Taiwan. I always intended to get it covered but I didn’t have the money.”

Kera loosened her grip on Vig’s hair and reached back to touch the piece. “I think it’s already healed.”

“It probablyhas.” Vig continued to stroke Kera’s hair, spreading the strands across his leg. “By Odin, I want to fuck you.”

“Subtle as Thor’s hammer,” she teased.

“Never said I was subtle. Ravens aren’t subtle.”

“Good. Then I can be direct. We can’t fuck.”

“Why?”

“No protection, unless you brought some in your pockets.”

“Can’t bring anything but what we’re wearing and edge weapons.”

“Because why go to Asgard if you can’t bring your favorite sword?”

“Exactly.” Vig slid his hand under her chin, rubbing his thumb against her neck. “But there are all sorts of safe things we can do.”

“Why, young man! I don’t know what you’re talking about! I’m a very nice girl.”

“Nice? Definitely. Good? Very.”

Kera laughed out loud and Vig lifted Kera up by her shoulders, maneuvering her around until he had her straddled across his lap. “Kera, I’m a descendant of Vikings and I’ve not only had an entire day of my own battles, but I’ve watched you kick ass from here to Vanaheim.”

Kera put her arms around his shoulders and wrapped her fingers in his hair. “Your point?”

“My point is that I’m harder than I’ve ever been. You can’t expect me to just ignore that until we get back to my house.”

“Are you saying it’s my job to take care of you?”

“I’m saying it’s our job to take care of each other.”

“Out here? In front of everybody?”

“Who’s everybody?”

“I saw an owl. I know I saw an owl.”

Vig leaned in and kissed her neck. “Don’t you want to get out of these clothes?” he asked her softly against her ear. “Just for a little while.”

He licked a line up her neck to her ear, nibbled on the lobe. “Imagine all the things we can do with our hands alone.”

“You sure you’ll respect me in the morning?”

“I have to, otherwise you’ll just beat me to death with one of those damn hammers.”

“You have no idea how true that is.”

Vig slid his hands down around Kera’s waist and grabbed hold of her tank top. He lifted it, easing it off her body, his eyes locked with hers.

Kera brought her arms over her head so he could get the shirt off without tearing it and she reached for her bra herself. She tossed that aside and leaned into Vig, kissing under his chin and across his jaw. But when she finally pressed her lips against his, it was like something snapped between them.

Something hot and uncontrollable.