A Dom and His Not So Submissive Sub (10 page)

             
Vanessa felt her stomach drop. Being called back to talk about test results never was a good thing.
Damn it, don’t let me be pregnant.
She drove home, feeling worse the longer it took to drive through traffic. What would she do if something were actually wrong with her? What could she do? Freyr was prone not to care, but what if he actually did feel differently about her? “Stop it,” she told herself firmly. It was probably nothing but Dr. Wang’s attempt to be nosy. He seemed like the kind of man to resort to trickery to get his way. She half way convinced herself she wasn’t possibly pregnant or having some other horrible complication. When she went back to the doctor’s office it would have all been one big joke at her expense.

             
She pulled into the parking garage where Freyr lived. He purchased another parking space beside his vehicle just for her, so she wouldn’t have to pay the astronomical price all parking garages downtown charged. Upstairs in the penthouse, Freyr held an intense phone conversation. When she arrived, he was too busy to pay her much attention, so Vanessa occupied herself with raiding his refrigerator. She had a craving for something she hoped he had.

             
By the time he hung up, Vanessa had eaten most of his chocolates. “Something happen?” he asked her.

             
Vanessa put the sweet down with a sigh. “I don’t know. We have to go back in two days.  My doctor wants to meet you.” If Freyr thought the request a bit strange he didn’t comment on it.

             
“I have to change our plans tonight,” Freyr told Vanessa. She gave him her full attention, curious. They had planned for this nice dinner a few weeks ago, to give him a chance to woo her.

             
Now he had to change things on her? “Oh?”

             
He nodded. “A couple of business associates wish me to dine with them. I do not wish to leave you out but I will understand if you want to wait for my return here.”

             
She stuffed the last of the chocolate in her mouth. She might as well go. To not be by his side would be tantamount to being ashamed of him. Besides, she wanted a distraction. “I’ll go with you. It could be fun going to a stuffy old formal dinner.”

             
Freyr smiled with relief. “I will tell you all you need to know.” He thought for a moment, looking her up and down. “And we will buy you a dress.”

             
Vanessa translated the sentence in her mind. What he meant to say was, he was going to buy her the dress and she would accept it graciously since Freyr never allowed her to pay for anything. This one time she was not going to argue with him. Formal dinner wear was very expensive and although she did have money of her own, it was nowhere near as much as Freyr had at his disposal. As he desired to be her man, it would do her well to allow him the chance to pay for her.

Velvet was not something Vanessa would have normally chosen to wear for a dinner. If it weren’t for the look on Freyr’s face as she appeared from the fitting room wearing the floor length, royal blue gown
, she would have never allowed him to buy it. It was fitted to her body, cupping her breasts lovingly while lifting them higher. The waist was just a bit too tight for her normal liking, but the saleswoman said that was the cut of the dress, so she didn’t complain out loud.

             
Freyr couldn’t keep his hands off her hips, running his hands over the fabric sensuously. He paid for her to have her hair put in an elegant coif at an upscale salon where they also took care of her make up. She was never so glad to have hair that was both naturally long and pretty decent on the kink or she never would have trusted the salon he chose. At six fifteen, the limo arrived at the front of Freyr’s building. At seven they arrived at the restaurant. As the first of the group to arrive, the maître d guided them to the private room to wait.

             
Vanessa was nervous with all the glamour surrounding her. Crystal chandeliers glinted off golden highlights on the tableware. There was not one single other black person in the whole of the restaurant. She noticed the stares she received but chose not to care. Freyr obviously didn’t mind being with her or holding her possessively by his side, so why should she care what a bunch of jerks thought. It was Freyr who pulled her seat out for her when she sat down. The menus were written in French, a language she knew enough of to get by. Certainly, she felt confident that she could order her meal without worry.

             
“Did you want wine?” Freyr asked before he ordered from the waiter. She shook her head, remembering the doctor’s appointment. She had to be careful with what she did just in case, not that she was expecting to be pregnant, because she wasn’t and the next appointment would prove it. At least, she hoped it would anyway.

             
By the time the other guests arrived, Vanessa was attempting talk herself off the ledge of full blown panic. In total, she faced three couples. There was one man Vanessa could not help staring at. He wore an eye patch over his left eye and he was, in her opinion, quite ugly. Freyr introduced him as Odin, the CEO of some business she forgot the name to. His wife, Vanessa could have sworn they called her Frigg, wore the oddest wig the exact shade of gold, not blonde like Freyr, but honest to God gold. With them they brought Thor, and his wife Sif. Then there was Freyr’s twin sister Freyja and her husband Odur. If Vanessa had felt a little uncomfortable before, she was now near to panic. There really wasn’t much for her to do. Occasionally, just to prove he had not forgotten her presence, Freyr grasped her hand, to calm her nerves. He asked that the others speak in English, but the accents were so heavy she often could not understand what was said in the first place. It was just a little too much for her to deal with at the moment. She felt like it would be better if she left the room, maybe get a stiff drink to calm down, regardless of what may be going on with her body.

             
She excused herself to the washroom. She was so busy trying not to panic, she never realized she was followed.

             
“My daughter was correct. You make my brother happy.”

             
Vanessa spun away from the mirror to face the sister. She didn’t know what to say to a comment like that. Wasn’t she supposed to make her brother happy? Wasn’t that why Freyr spent a lot of time with her?

             
“I try,” she said weakly.

Freyja checked her make up at the vanity.  She hid a smile at th
e nervous way Vanessa behaved. “When my brother sought to marry Gerd, I warned him away. He did not listen of course, being so enamored of her. After the divorce, he fell into such a depression I worried the sun would never shine again so brightly. To see him now smiling is wonderful as Freyr’s face was not meant for sadness. As his sister, I of course, worry he may be moving too fast. You are human. Your life is so much shorter than our own. But I suppose your mortality is nothing I should be worried for. It is what it is. Is that not a saying of you Americans?” Freyja glanced at the human from the corner of her eye to judge her response.

             
She wanted to make sure the girl understood exactly what she would be getting herself into if she intended to remain at Freyr’s side. This wasn’t like playing with another human male.  Freyr wasn’t going to be able to always control himself. But, after taking a closer look at the girl, Freyja was pretty sure the human had already figured that out.

             
Vanessa already knew everything Freyja told her. She knew she really had no future with Freyr. She would grow old and he would always look young, eventually growing tired of her. She thought she might have understood what the sister was saying. Vanessa really didn’t belong with Freyr, even though he was happy right now. She was inconsequential when all things were considered. Vanessa returned to the table amid the tinkling laughter of the group. She sat in her seat for the rest of the dinner, not really meeting anyone’s gaze.

             
Freyr noticed something was off with Vanessa. He sent a glare in the direction of his sister, knowing she had to have opened her mouth about something. Freyja didn’t seem to notice his gaze. Once dinner was over, Freyr and Vanessa took their leave.  He wanted to speak with her about what Freyja might have said to upset her.  But Vanessa didn’t want to talk. Instead, she distracted him with lovemaking in the limo, praying she had not fallen too deeply under his spell when he finally grew tired of being with her. She’d gotten herself in so deep, she feared she would be unable to pull herself together and if she actually were pregnant, she feared what could happen if he left her holding a baby and no ring to call her own.

Freyr watched Vanessa as she lay curled on his chest. Never before had he felt such love for one person.  She was the epitome of beauty in his eyes.
He knew his sister had upset her and that she refused to say what exactly it was that Freyja made her think of. But he had a feeling he knew. It was probably the same matter that had been on his mind since he’d met her.

             
Freyr sighed. He’d make the call to his friend in the morning. He was immortal. There was no use claiming his title if he wasn’t willing to use his position to his advantage. He’d cause an uproar amid the Aesir, but what did he care? He lived in Chicago now. The others did not influence his thoughts.

             
He smiled in the dark. Yes, he’d make that call in the morning. Hel help those that stood in his way of getting exactly what he wanted.

Chapter 8

“You’re pregnant,” Dr. Wang announced the moment he opened the door to the exam room, a bright smile on his face.

             
Vanessa, who had been in the process of explaining to Freyr why they couldn’t have sex in the room paused in the middle of her sentence. Her mouth remained open in shock.  The only thought going through was mind was,
what now?

             
Freyr’s reaction was very different. His smile turned into a grin, just before he pulled Vanessa’s face toward him in a kiss with the power to raise the room temperature five degrees. The added shock had a negative effect on Vanessa’s brain. She shut down completely, only listening to Freyr’s introduction and his questions to the doctor.

             
This had to be a joke. She, Vanessa Harris the woman least likely to start a family, was pregnant with the child of a Norse god. She had to have heard incorrectly. She continued to wait for the punch line to happen, for someone to tell her that she was not in fact pregnant, but that she was instead getting the prescription that she had been waiting for.
Please, just let me get my birth control pills.
She didn’t care if even inside her head, she could hear the whining in her tone. She didn’t want to have a baby right now. She wasn’t even married, yet. She knew it wasn’t a joke when the doctor handed her a new prescription for pre-natal vitamins, wished her luck and strongly pressed that she find an Ob/Gyn as fast as humanly possible. Freyr promised to keep the doctor posted on the progress of the child as he guided her out of the room and the clinic. Vanessa hadn’t said a word yet.

             
Freyr’s voice penetrated her foggy mind. “We need to celebrate. I know just what to do.”

             
She hoped he did because she was absolutely clueless and she didn’t have the heart to tell him that they should be planning a funeral instead. Goodbye, figure. Goodbye life as she knew it. Perhaps one day things will be different, but for right now, life ended and it was all because she stupidly thought that she could have unprotected sex with Freyr.

****

Freyr started the bath water running, making sure it was warm enough for Vanessa. He could not contain his smile. He was going to be a father once more. He must have called nearly everyone he knew, starting off with his son Fiolnir.

             
He was just so excited. He couldn’t wait to be able to hold the tiny life in his hands, even though it was months away. He just…he couldn’t believe it had happened to him. He was going to have a family, a real one this time. He poured a liberal amount of lavender scented oil in the water. It would relax Vanessa, which in turn would soothe the growing embryo. He heard her moving around in his bedroom, most likely finally coming to terms with the changes in her life. He wasn’t worried. She was his and this helped to prove it.

             
They would go on that camping trip, and then he would properly meet her family over dinner. After he did that, he would convince her to visit his home to meet his son and possibly the rest of the gods. Marriage would come before she gave birth if she truly wanted it. He was flexible on the when and the where as long as it did happen.

             
“Vanessa,” he called to her. Vanessa shuffled into the bathroom, a large bath sheet wrapped around her. Freyr held out his hand for her to take. She stared at him for a long moment before finally taking his hand. He guided the towel away from her body, laying gentle kisses on her skin. Soon she would be even lovelier.