“You like a challenge?” she murmured, ducking her head into the curve of the shoulder, hands greeting every inch they had missed. Challenge was good. Challenge could be provided. Summer admitting to missing his tender sentiment would have been more problematic. He flickered back to true form, suddenly distracted.
A grin spread over his face; a plan was forming.
“Mmhm, which is why — can you just … ” The sentence ended on a moan, instead of the question Summer meant to ask. The wash of magic against her skin, and the change in the hands on her body, brought her to open her eyes again. A slight frown creased her forehead.
“Loki, that smile coupled with the endearments you’ve been using … what are you plotting?”
“Plotting is such a harsh word,” he said. ”I’d prefer to call it problem-solving.” He offered a hand, and when she gingerly took it, they rose to their feet. He looked down at the much smaller being, remembering what fierce power was concealed there. Loki considered himself a scholar of people; fascinated by characters, the intricacies, motivations, secrets they thought no one could see. But he could read them.
Most of the time. ”Tell me, by what means did you come to Asgard?”
“The same way I always did,” she said, frowning up at him. “I walked between the realms.” Summer leaned back over and snagged her bottle, straightening up to blink at Loki. “You’ve just gotten out of prison and you want to cause trouble already? Because deliberately hitting all my turn-on zones just now wasn’t enough?”