Thank you very much everyone! Just wanted to give a shout out to Imogen74! If you have not read any of her amazing stories, please do. She just started a new one, "When Loki Met Jane" and it is off to a hilarious and smashing start!

Chapter Twenty-One

"I'm going to crack," Jane whined to Darcy. She was laid out on her couch, pinching the bridge of her nose. Darcy was on the floor with the remote, flipping through channels. "I can't take it. I'm going to jump him."

"It's been a day."

"Has it though? I mean, if you think about it Loki and I have been two years in the making—"

"You're reaching. You hated him."

"Did I though? Or did I really just harbor feelings I wasn't prepared to face?"

"Still reaching. I was there. You hated him."

Jane sighed and rested the hand that had been pinching her nose on her belly. "He has a thin upper lip. I want to bite it."

"He does have a thin upper lip. I don't want to bite it though. I have on occasion wanted to kick his ass."

"I want to bite his ass, too. He has a really great ass."

Darcy looked over her shoulder at Jane. "Holy fuck, you have it bad."

"I love the way his eyes crinkle when he smiles."

"I might give my stamp of approval to bone his ass if this is all I'm going to hear for the next two weeks."

"I can't help it," Jane sighed. "I haven't been laid in a very long time and I haven't been in love longer than that. And with Loki everything is just infinitely more intense. He asks me to pass the salt and it's like he's asking me how I want to be fu—"

"Jane, please stop. I have never heard to you talk so explicitly. It's freaking me out."

Jane looked down at her. "You talk way more explicitly than I do about sex."

"Yes, but it's expected when I do it. You're like…I don't know, a nun. You had that shit on lock down. You never even talked about Thor this way."

Jane frowned thoughtfully. "You're right. I never did. Imagine that."

"I just think it goes to show that Loki unleashed a part of you that Thor didn't, and probably wouldn't have. Loki is your perfect match, Thor never was. Plus, you're in the throes of new love where everything is wonderful and perfect and he can do no wrong—"

"Let's not go that far. This is still Loki we're talking about. It's not as if all he's done before us getting together is erased. It's just that I want the opportunity to yell at him while I fuck him. Oooh….maybe with a whip."

Darcy got to her feet. "Okay, let's get you outside. You're getting into some weird territory here and I'm sorry Jane, I love you, but if you keep it up I'm going to have to leave."

Jane giggled. "I was just kidding, Darcy. I wouldn't use a whip on Loki."

"Actually, I think he's probably like it."

Now Jane sat up. "You think so? Maybe I could just get like a cat o' nine tails or—"

"I beg of you to stop."

Jane held up a hand. "Stopping. Sorry."

"How about we go see a movie or something?"

"Sure, okay." Jane swung her legs off the couch and got up. "Let me get online and see what's playing and when."

Darcy followed her into the kitchen where Jane's laptop sat. "You know…" Darcy began.

"Yeah?" Jane said as she bent over the table and brought up the screen on her laptop.

"You told him no sex and no kissing, right?"

"Right."

"Well…what about a hand job? You could give him one of those."

Jane's finger froze over the mouse. "Could I?"

"There's nothing wrong with being a little creative in other ways, right? I mean, it might take the edge off for him, but it will also drive him nuts wanting more. Plus, I kind of like the idea of not kissing him while you do it. It would amp up the tension I'd think."

"Or maybe I could drive him nuts the way he did to me last night. With just my words. It would be some great payback to get him all hot and bothered the way he got me all hot bothered."

Darcy smiled almost sadly. "My little girl's growing up!"

Jane laughed. "All right, I need to stop thinking about this. Let's see what we have here…"

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When Jane and Darcy left the movie theater a few hours later, Jane checked her phone and found that Loki had practically blown it up with text messages and a couple phone calls.

The text messages stared out with varying degrees of: Where are you? What are you doing? Are you ignoring me? Are you trapped under something heavy and large?

And then they progressed to: I miss you. I want to see you. I couldn't sleep last night. I jerked off thinking about you – does that bother you? I'm probably going to have carpal tunnel at the end of these two weeks. I bet you taste like sunshine and sugar. I keep thinking about how your lips will feel against mine. I think I need to jerk off again…

Jane got hot and bothered just reading them.

"You're flushed," Darcy noted as she drove her and Jane back to Jane's apartment. "Loki blow up your phone with some hot texts?"

Jane snapped her head back against the headrest. "Yes," she whined.

"Payback, Jane. Just sayin'."

"Yeah, I think I sort of have to now. He's amping it up trying to get me to crack."

"Game. On. So, I have plans with Fandrall this evening, so…"

"I'll call him."

Darcy smiled. It was fun seeing her best friend so enamored and happy.

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As soon as Jane got home she called Loki and told her she was home now and he could come over. He was there within a twenty-minutes.

"Did you fly here?" Jane asked when she answered the door.

He yanked her into his arms and rubbed the side of his face against hers. "I drove. Really where were you? I missed you."

"I was seeing a movie with Darcy. And I could tell you missed me by all the texts." She nipped at his ear the way he was always doing to her and he groaned. "They got me rather hot when I read them all," she whispered. "Especially when you were talking about jerking off..."

"Jane, if you don't want me to take you right now in this hallway I suggest you stop."

"That's not fair. You drove me crazy last night."

"Ah, I see, so this is payback?"

She averted her gaze. "Maybe."

He chuckled. "Have you eaten?"

"No."

"Then may I take you out?"

She nodded. "Let me just grab my hoodie."

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"Loki?"

Jane and Loki both looked up at the blond woman that had approached their dinner table. She was rather pretty, Jane noted. Quite buxom and petite and she was looking at Loki with more than a few stars in her eyes. Jane shifted in her seat, waiting for an introduction.

"Tamara, hello," Loki said cordially. "How are you?"

Tamara?

"I'm good. Wow, I didn't expect to run into you." Tamara blushed and Jane arched a brow. "How are you doing?"

Loki smiled. "I'm well, thank you."

"So, what are you doing now? I haven't seen you in so long. Maybe we could get together—"

Jane was baffled. Was this woman actually asking her boyfriend out on a date?

"Pardon me and my manners," Loki said and gestured to Jane. "Tamara, this is my girlfriend, Jane. Jane, this is Tamara, an old friend of mine."

Friend? Sure. Okay.

Jane held out her hand to shake Tamara's hand, deciding that being polite was the best way to go. Tamara looked at her hand as though Jane was covered in scabs. She flipped her blond hair over her shoulder and looked back at Loki. "Give me a call sometime, Loki."

Loki said nothing as Tamara walked away in a bit of a huff. Loki turned back to the menu and Jane just stared at him. "Uh, what was that? Who was that?"

Loki looked up at her, the picture of innocence. "That was Tamara."

Jane just looked at him expressionless and Loki smirked, clearly finding himself amusing. "Did you date her?" Jane asked, resisting the urge to reach across the table and smack him.

"No," he replied and looked back down at the menu.

Jane glared at him. He was purposely giving her a hard time and though Jane didn't like to think of herself as the jealous sort, the way Tamara looked at Jane could have frozen a lake.

Well then fine. If he wanted to play, Jane could play. She picked up her menu, making sure he couldn't see her face and said, "Hey, did I tell you I saw Steve a few days ago? He's even cuter in person than online."

In a blink her menu was gone and Loki's blue eyes were like ice. "When? How? Why? Don't tell me you're still talking to him because I can tell you right now that's going to stop."

"I'm sorry what was the first question again?"

"When did you see him?" Loki growled.

"What was the nature of your relationship with Tamara?" she volleyed back.

"We slept together. A lot."

Jane snatched her menu from him. Now she was jealous. It wasn't a comfortable feeling. It wasn't as though she had never experienced jealousy before. Some could say she had with Thor when it came to Sif. That had always felt more like competition rather than jealousy. Sif was out to look better than Jane, and Jane had been out to one up her. It had less to do with Thor and more about Jane just wanting to be outdo Sif. This though, this was pure jealousy and it made her skin feel too tight.

Jane, who had been prepared to answer Loki's question about Steve decided to keep mum instead. It was childish and stupid but in the moment she didn't care.

"Jane. When did you see Steve? How long ago? Are you still talking to him?" Loki demanded.

"So were you fuck buddies?" Jane asked.

"Yes. It didn't last long and it wasn't noteworthy. Tell me about Steve—"

"What does that mean, not noteworthy? Did you not enjoy the sex?"

"Jane," Loki said wearily and rubbed his forehead. "Tamara does not signify. It was during a rather dark time in my life and I was only looking for an escape when I met her. She was, too, but then she wanted more from me than I could give. I ended it. End of story."

"She was in love with you, wasn't she?"

"Yes."

"But you didn't love her."

"No. She was a nice girl, but not for me."

"But she was okay to sleep with."

He arched his brow. "You've never had flings? One night stands?"

"No. Anyone I've been with I was in a serious relationship with. How many flings and one night stand have you had?"

"Jane," Loki said through clenched teeth, "I will tell you what you want to know, but only after you tell me about Steve now."

"Ballpark figure."

"Jane!"

"Oh for Christ's sake. We ran into each other at the market, he told me he was dating someone, and of course we're not still talking online. Do you honestly think I would do something like that?"

His expression softened and his eyes were full of tenderness and love. "No, Jane, I don't. I lost my head at the mention of him is all. You didn't tell me about it—"

"Well, apparently there are a few things you haven't told me either," she retorted.

"Jane, there are still things to learn about one another, don't you agree?"

"Yes. I just don't appreciate being teased when it comes to your flings."

Loki slid out of the booth and got up to slide in next to her. She moved away from him and he reached out and pulled her to him. He wrapped his arms about her and kissed her temple. "You're right. I'm sorry," he whispered. "It's just that…it's just that she didn't mean anything to me and I didn't appreciate the way she blatantly ignored the fact that you were here with me. I thought you could see that when I wouldn't even say good-bye to her. I meant to tease, not to harm."

Jane rolled her eyes and pushed him away from her. "Well now I just feel stupid. Go back over there, please."

Loki sighed. "You're an impossibly stubborn woman, you know that?"

"Yes, I've heard that. Mostly from you."

Loki moved back to sitting across from her. "My past doesn't matter to me. Flings. One night stands. They don't matter. I don't care about them and neither should you. You're the only one I've ever loved and the only one I will ever love."

"You've never ever been in love before?"

"No. Have you? I mean, aside from Thor."

"I was never in love with Thor."

"You gave a fairly good impression of someone that was!"

"I wasn't. I can see that now. I was in love with the idea of him maybe, but not him. I was in love with someone once before I think, but it was more…comfortable. Not like this. This is…"

"Intense."

"Yes."

Loki nodded. "There was a girl in high school that I thought I was in love with, but when I look back on it I'm not sure if it was lust and a bunch of hormones running rampant or love."

"Maybe all three?"

"Maybe." He reached across the table and took her hands in his. "I spent a lot of time being angry and hating the world. I didn't really believe in love, didn't think it existed. If my own father couldn't love me the way a parent is supposed to, how was I supposed to believe in romantic love?"

It hurt Jane's heart to hear that and she lifted their joined hands and kissed his knuckles. "Can I say something about your Dad?"

"Of course."

"He's an idiot."

Loki laughed. "Thank you."

"I mean it, Loki. He is. And he probably knows he is by now, but is too proud to fix it. And that makes him even sadder and more idiotic. It's him, not you. It was never you."

"Thank you, Jane."

"I really really mean it, Loki. I want you to know that."

"Are you going to Good Will Hunting me?"

"No. I just think…I think when you love someone their hurts become yours."

His head dipped and he swore. "Christ, Jane."

"What?"

"How do you do this to me? Reduce me to a sodding mess…"

"I think because you've never let anyone get this close to you. I think because you didn't think you were lovable and now you…." She searched for the right words. Now you feel me giving back what you give me. Does that make sense?"

He looked at her with tears in his eyes. "Yes," he croaked. "You heal me."

She smiled. "Ditto."