“Yeah, I knew.” Sean opened two beers and handed her one. “But it didn’t stop me from hoping I might be wrong.”
Her eyes shot to his. “Why?”
He didn’t hold back. “Because I didn’t like you very much, Svala.”
She couldn’t blame him for that. Not at all. She eyed the picture for a moment and allowed him to take her jacket before she turned her back and continued admiring his place. The handcrafted furniture. The painstaking craftsmanship.
“Did Aunt Amber know you sketched this well?” Her eyes returned to the drawings. “Because you are as talented as her, Sean.”
“No.” He shrugged, not overly concerned, just matter-of-fact as he leaned against the counter and eyed her. “Amber didn’t really know much about me.”
So it seemed.
She glanced at the drawing of her as a child before turning back to him. “When did you draw that?”
“When I was younger. When I was still dealing with my father and needed something to cheer me up.” There was a haunted look in his eyes as they lingered on the picture. He shook his head, dragged his gaze away and eyed the cabin before he continued. “After dad died, I knocked the original building down and started rebuilding.”
Svala thought about what she had seen in his memory. The abuse his father had put him through. “I would think you would have wanted to leave here.”
“Nope. People…women…might run from me but I don’t run from them.” He shook his head. “I might’ve not been able to fix ma leaving, but at least if she ever decided to come back, she still had a place to call home.”
“But she never came back, did she?” Svala whispered.
“No. I heard she died a few years back up north somewhere.” Sean eyed the place. “But by then, this was my home, and it still is.” His eyes met hers. “And I made damn sure I was surrounded by those who mattered most.”
“So you knew about me?” she said. “From dreams, yes?”
“Hard to say.” His eyes stayed with hers. “It felt more like,” he shrugged, “just more like you’d always been there. In my thoughts somehow. Not really dreams I don’t think. Just there when I needed someone to talk to…or to sketch.”
Svala nodded.
She completely understood because it had felt the same way for her.
“Then I am sorrier than ever that I’ve been such a disappointment,” she said softly and meant every last word.
Sean continued watching her before he murmured, “I’m done worrying about how you’ve acted and more interested in what lies ahead, okay?”
Like her, he meant every word. And she was never more grateful.
Svala nodded. “Yes, that sounds good.”
Their eyes held for another moment, one full of promise…of change.
“C’mon.” He headed for the garage. “Let’s go admire our boat.”
A smile curled her lips as she followed.
It was their boat.
A little Viking ship that had gotten inside their minds and hearts.
Though she knew it was likely not her place to ask, she couldn’t help herself as she followed him into the garage. He was her mate after all. “I know you said she didn’t know you could draw but did you ever bring Aunt Amber here?”
Who knows. Maybe he tucked everything away when she visited.
“Nope.” He eyed the boat. “We only ever met at the chalet.”
She eyed the boat as well, thoughts of Aunt Amber fading as she crouched beside the hull and ran her fingers over it lovingly. “It’s still in one piece, Sean.” Tears came to her eyes. “It should have been broken and lying on the sea floor, but it’s not.” She looked at him. “It’s in one piece and here.”
“It is.” He crouched and put his hand over hers. “And so are you.”
“Yes,” she whispered.
While she didn’t want the answer, she had to know. “Are you glad I found my way back, Sean? Are you happy that I’m here?”
He eyed her for a moment before he cupped her cheek and whispered, “Hell, sweetheart, I couldn’t be happier.”
Dragon senses and all, she never could have anticipated how quickly he would pull her up into his arms or how deeply he would kiss her. While she enjoyed every moment of their kiss on his boat, it could not touch this. The way his lips and tongue felt against hers as he walked her backward then swung her into his arms.
By the time he laid her down in his bed upstairs, they were struggling to get each other’s clothes off. Svala could have made them vanish with a spell, but what fun was there in that? She wanted these moments to feel natural for him. She wanted to embrace the humanity of it.
So material tore.
Zippers ripped.
Clothes went flying.
She could not feel him soon enough.
The hardness of his flesh.
The heat of his body.
“Sean,” she whimpered between kisses as the last of their clothing finally fell away. While she had every intention of making her way down his body and exploring what had long been denied her, he was faster.
“Oh,” she cried and arched when his mouth latched onto her nipple, and his fingers did things between her legs she never saw coming. She might slowly but surely be inside her mate’s mind, but she never could have guessed how good he would make her feel.
Normally, she controlled sex, but for the life of her, she could not seem to wrestle back authority as he worked his way down her body. Sean was not just surprisingly but remarkably good with everything he had at his disposal.
His fingers.
Lips.
Teeth.
His five-o’clock shadow.
Just when she’d managed to get past the feel of his talented mouth rallying untouchable sensations, he used his fingers to pleasure and distract her. He was so thorough that her eyes were rolling back in her head before his lips even made their way between her legs.
“Svala,” he eventually moaned against her thigh after he had sampled and brought her to peak too many times to count.
What kind of human was this?
She bit her lower lip, shuddered with pleasure yet again and grinned.
He was her human.
Determined to pleasure her mate, she rolled then straddled him. She liked the feeling of his long, strong body beneath hers. The way his eyes went half-mast, and he inhaled deeply as she kissed her way up his chest. What she didn’t anticipate was how weak he had already made her and how eager he was.
Svala squealed with excitement when he flipped her onto her back, gripped her wrists above her head and came between her legs. His lips brushed hers before their eyes held and he thrust. She groaned in pleasure but never shut her eyes as he worked his way into her.
As she felt every last inch he had to offer.
More than pleased, she released a ragged moan as he filled her then began moving. She knew he had been tempted to grab a condom from his bedside table but didn’t. And she knew why. He had been told dragons could control pregnancy.
More than that, he trusted her.
Truly trusted her not to become pregnant without his consent.
Humbled by that trust, aroused by it, she wrapped her legs around him and moved with him. She felt him from the inside out in a way she never had with another man. Theirs tongues twisted and explored until her pleasure became too great and their eyes held.
The way he looked at her while he moved heightened her desire and made what they shared something different. Far more powerful than anything she’d had prior.
Sean was different.
More than that, she was different when she was with him.
Better.
Ferocious, beautiful, powerful, desired, and far more.
The more he thrust, the higher she went. Somewhere she wanted to stay forever. Somewhere she trusted. It was that feeling, those feelings, everything he made her feel, that prompted her to say something she had never said to another man.
“I love you, Sean,” she gasped as
he finally thrust so hard she buckled in orgasm.
Though he didn’t say it back, his eyes met hers as he locked up, and groaned with release. She didn’t have to wonder about how he truly felt.
It was all right there in his eyes.
After that, everything melted away as their sex, no, lovemaking, didn’t end but continued throughout the day, night and right through the next day. Every once in a while, they’d doze, or he’d venture from the bed and bring them back food and drink, but it was never for long.
The nourishment they sought had nothing to do with food and everything to do with being in each other’s arms. To finally finding one another despite the odds.
At some point, she fell sound asleep in his arms, more content than ever. Happier than she could remember being in a long time. All because of him. This. What they had found. And he would only add to that when she found him in the garage later.
Chapter Thirteen
SEAN SENSED IT the minute Svala woke up. He felt her in a whole new way since they’d slept together. He understood her better. Her vulnerabilities. Weaknesses. Strengths. And they weren’t all that different than what he had guessed beforehand.
While she might act tough, she was as vulnerable as him when it came to losing people she loved. And even more unwilling to face the fact that her mother and father could soon be gone. So he wanted to give her something. He wanted to continue what Megan started.
“Sean,” she murmured from the doorway. She wore nothing but his oversized Patriot’s sweatshirt. Her hair was a tousled mass of curls as her eyes went between him and the boat. “What are you doing?”
“Sanding it down,” he said. “Getting it back into shape.”
He had been for hours.
Her eyes went wide, frightened, when she thought he might have sanded away Kjar’s carvings.
“They’re still there,” he said softly. “I wouldn’t get rid of those without asking you first.”
Her brows drew together. “That sounds as if you’re hoping I will ask you to.”
“I understand that they mean a lot to you, Svala.” Sean met her eyes as he stood and wiped his hands on his jeans. “But they’re my stories before I met you.”
“Yes.” She frowned. “So.”
“So, they got you here, and I’m grateful.” He pulled her close. “But I thought maybe it’s time to focus on more recent things. Stories that share what you’re going through now. Between us. Between you and your family.” He brushed his lips over hers. “To create new memories.”
Her eyes swept over the boat. “There is not much space left, though.”
“No.” His eyes met hers. “Not yet. Not without your permission.”
Not only did he see the distress in her eyes, but felt it in his mind. It wasn’t always easy letting go of the past. What she needed to realize, however, was that the past was right here.
“You’re in my mind now, Svala,” he said softly. “You can revisit these memories whenever you like because I’m not going anywhere.”
She blinked several times as she processed what he’d said. What it meant.
“Let me show you.” He pointed at a small carving he’d done in the boat. It was of her and her mother sitting together on the couch in the chalet. Svala had wild curls. Her mother was bald from chemotherapy. They had found happiness despite how difficult things were. She was finally the daughter her mother needed her to be.
“And then there’s that one.” He pointed at another. It was of a king lying in bed sick with Svala sitting by his side. Not angry but determined. Ready to fight instead of run away.
He walked around the boat and pointed at the bow. “And then there’s this.”
It depicted a woman as she leapt into the air then shifted into a dragon flying toward a man standing at the end of a dock. Him and her. Then another of him pulling her into his arms in human form, a look of relief on their faces as their small Viking boat sailed inland toward them.
“When Megan first found evidence of your father years ago in a little box on the shore, it was my idea to build this boat, Svala,” Sean said. “It would always be hers so long as she wanted it but deep down, I knew I did it for a reason. I made sure it was hers for a reason.” He tilted her chin until their eyes met. “Because I wanted to find you.” His eyes searched hers. “I wanted to find the woman who consumed my thoughts but never my dreams.” He stroked his thumb over her chin. “The girl who was a friend when that sort of person didn’t exist in my life.”
She closed her eyes and leaned her cheek into his touch. “But I did.” Her eyes opened as a tear rolled down her cheek. “I do.”
He felt how much she appreciated his carvings. How she wondered about the ones that had been there for so long.
Was she ready to let go of the past?
Did she realize that he intended to stay by her side every step of the way?
Sean glanced at the carvings then back at her. “I hope you realize things have changed, Svala.”
Her pupils flared with emotion, and she whispered, “They have, haven’t they?”
He nodded and finally shared what he had been mulling over the past few hours while he carved and cared for their boat. “I turned back, you know. After I decided to leave you, I realized I made a mistake and turned back. So even though you came back to me, know that I was doing the same thing, Svala. And you know why?”
She shook her head.
“Because it occurred to me that if we were together, you’d never really leave me,” he said. “I didn’t have to worry about you walking away.”
Her eyes stayed with his. He knew what she was thinking. That yes, she would leave him eventually to help her family. To fight a war. To seek revenge.
He cupped her cheek. “You won’t be leaving me because I’ll follow you anywhere, sweetheart.” He eyed the garage then her. “Here or there.”
Svala’s eyebrows perked and hope flashed in her eyes. “You would leave all of this, your boats, and cabin, to travel back in time with me?”
“Yeah,” he said softly. “I would.”
“But you worked so hard,” she whispered. “You came so far.”
“I did,” he conceded. “But I learned a long time ago that things can be knocked down and rebuilt.” He ran a hand along the boat. “Just like this, in its own way, can be rebuilt with new carvings. New memories.”
“True,” she murmured and put a hand over his as she eyed the carvings he had already put there. “I truly want new memories.” Her voice dropped to a heartfelt whisper. “With you.” Her eyes met his. “Many of them. A lifetime full.”
Sean didn’t wait around for her to say more but kissed her long and hard before he scooped her up, sat down in a nearby chair then hit the button on a remote control. Svala’s eyes widened as the door adjacent to the one they brought the boat in through opened. At least the solid part. Because behind it was glass with a picturesque view of the sea.
“What is this?” she whispered.
“Modern day technology. I work in here a lot during the winter and enjoy a good view.” He wrapped her more securely on his lap. “It’s too damn cold outside to open the door.”
She ran a finger over his bare chest and eyed him with appreciation. “If you were Viking, you would not care.”
“I’m not Viking, and I’ve worked my ass off enough that I don’t have to be out in the elements if I don’t want to be.” He chuckled and nodded at the sea. “But I generally prefer to be on the other side of the glass.”
“Yes?” she said, cuddling closer.
“Yeah.” He grinned. “Fishing, not fighting like a warrior…not yet.”
“Fishing,” she murmured and eyed the ocean. “I would like to fish.” Her voice was soft and hopeful. “With you.”
“I know.” He took her hand and trailed it along their boat. “That’s why I carved that one.”
Svala leaned over, peered at it and grinned. “Is that you and I at the helm of your fishing boat?” Her eye
s met his. “Are we both in charge then?”
“I suppose that’ll depend on if we’re starting new memories together, sweetheart.” He pulled her back against him, eager to get back to bed. “Ones that’ll take place either here or in Scandinavia.”
Her eyes had just met his again when he swore he caught a glimpse of Odin’s Wild Hunt shooting across the sky. Seconds later, Svala’s head whipped around, and her eyes widened on the horizon. “Did you see that?”
“Odin’s Hunt?” He smiled. “Yeah, I think so.”
“No.” Svala frowned. “It was a,” she puffed out her cheeks then said, “a big man in a red suit with a sleigh and reindeer.” She pointed from South to North before her eyes widened on him. “Emily’s Santa Clause, yes?”
Sean smiled, shook his head and shrugged. With Grant, anything was possible.
She leaned, ‘Svala close’ and grinned. “So Emily was right. Santa did give me what I wanted.”
Sean kept smiling. “So it seems.”
“This is good,” she murmured and eyed their boat again. “We will keep your carvings.” She scooped up a piece of sandpaper as her eyes met his. “And we will add more, yes? Our memories together?”
“I’d like that,” he murmured then tossed aside the sandpaper.
She frowned as it hit the floor. “Then why not start now?”
“Because I need a little inspiration first.” He lifted her and winked before he headed for the door. “And I know just where to find it.”
She wrapped her arms around him and grinned with approval.
There were no certainties when it came to a woman like Svala, but he got the feeling they were on the right track. He’d spent an unexpected Viking sort of holiday with her that had closed the gap between them.
It was safe to say this yuletide season had offered far more than he anticipated.
A glance into their past that changed everything. One that helped him see Svala more clearly...that helped him find love. Emily might say Svala got what she wanted for Christmas, but so had he. Sean smiled as he held her in his arms later that night. What more could he have asked for? She finally broke free from her anger and was exactly the woman he hoped she might be. The one he never stopped believing existed beneath her rough exterior. The one surfacing against the odds.
A Viking Holiday: The MacLomain Series: Viking Ancestors' Kin Page 11