Page 93 of Reaper

She gives me a soft smile as she puts down her knife, comes around the counter and gives me a hug. After a few moments, she pulls back and smiles again.

“Good. You’re a good fit for him and will help balance him out. I think you’ll fit in quite nicely here. I’ve only heard of one instance where they didn’t let in a woman.”

I nod. “Yeah, Devil told me about what happened with Shark’s woman, Chastity, earlier.”

“I don’t think you’re going to have a problem, Sweetheart. I doubt there’s anything in your history that would alarm them. Now,” she says as she walks back to her cutting board, “let’s get to work. Those boys will be hungry once they’re done with their meeting.”

An hour and a half later, we have everything made and ready for supper. As I’m putting the last lid on the warmer, the door to Church opens and the guys all file out.

Someone whoops and I hear boots quickly walking down the hallway.

“Merci beaucoup,ma reine et ma chère(thank you very much my queen, and my dear),” Loki says excitedly as he pulls us both in to hug us at the same time. Then he surprises me by placing a kiss to both of our temples. “It smells like the housedema mere(of my mom).”

“Get your lips off my woman,” both Reaper and Odin growl almost in unison as they spot us through the pass-through window.

Loki’s chest shakes with laughter as he kisses both our temples again before letting us go.

“Just complimenting the chefs the way I would thankma mère(my mom).”

Both Reaper and Odin grumble, but let it go. I share a look with Mama Astrid as we both try to hide our laughter.

“As a heads up, Loki is like that a lot. He’s very affectionate. Charlene raised that boy right. Even if he does like to play pranks,” she tells me.

I bite my lip to keep from laughing. Yeah, I can see Loki as a prankster, but I’ve also seen how affectionate he can be. This isn’t the first time he’s hugged me, squeezed my shoulder, or done something nice for me.

After we set everything out on the passthrough, I grab a soda from the fridge and head out to the main room. Instantly, I’m ushered to the front of the line, and my confusion must show because Reaper chuckles.

“We have a rule. Whoever cooks gets to get their food as soon as they come out of the kitchen. We started it when Mama Astrid started cooking for us years ago and kept it going.”

Smiling, I nod my thanks to the guys. Then, I grab a plate, utensils, and start piling my food on my plate. I take a little bit of the pasta and the mac and cheese as well as assembling a po’boy. My stomach has been rumbling while we were cooking, and I want to try it all.

“Where do you want to sit, Darlin’?”

Grabbing my soda, I turn as I balance my plate and look around the room. “Let’s go sit with Loki and the others. I’d like to hear more about the food, and if he’s up for it, his background.”

Reaper stiffens next to me and I look up at him in surprise.

“Did I say something wrong?” I whisper.

Reaper hesitates. “Not wrong per say, but don’t be surprised if he’s tight lipped. He usually doesn’t say much about when he was growing up.”

“Okay,” I respond quietly and Reaper frowns.

“It’s nothing bad, it’s just… his way of growing up was a bit different from what people are used to around here and he was judged a lot when he moved here. Now he’s pretty tight lipped about it as a result.”

A knot loosens in my chest at that, relieved that he most likely didn’t have a bad home life.

Reaper leads us over to the table and pulls out a chair for me. I smile up at him in thanks and sit down.

“Ça,c'est bon(This, this is good),ma reine(my queen)!” Loki exclaims before taking another bite of his po’boy.

I smile, having heard both of those words from movies before so I know what they mean and hold up my po’boy. “I’m glad they measure up to what you’re used to. I’m excited to try them all as I haven’t had much Cajun cooking before.”

Taking a bite, I immediately close my eyes and moan as the flavor hits my tongue. Fuck. This is so good.

Opening my eyes, I blush at the heated look Reaper’s giving me while a couple of the guys chuckle.

“Whoops,” I say once I’ve swallowed the food in my mouth.