Perfekt Order (The Ære Saga Book 1) (9 page)

“I… erm… how long have you been out here?”
When in doubt, deflect
. Jason’s old football adage came in
mighty handy now and then. Or was that
the best defense is an
offense
? My brother had a
lot
of adages.

“Just a few minutes.” Tyr stood, stretching
his impossibly long legs as he walked down the porch steps. “Shall
we?”

“Sure.” I turned toward the house as I bent
down to double knot my shoe. “Thanks for picking me up at such an…
are you staring at me?”

“No.” Tyr quickly shifted his gaze.

As I straightened up, I bit the inside of my
lip. “Tyr Fredriksen, you were totally checking out my bootie.”

“Do you want to run or not?” he muttered.

“Fine.” I jogged toward the sidewalk, nudging
him with my elbow as I passed. “What would Red think?”

“Who?” Tyr fell in step beside me.

“My roommate saw you out with a girl with
reddish-blond hair. Your girlfriend?” I deliberately kept my tone
light.

“You keeping tabs on me, Ahlström?” One
corner of Tyr’s mouth turned up.

“No.”

But I’d tipped my hand. We ran in silence
until we reached the edge of the forest. Tyr ran ahead of me, then
turned so he was running backwards. Uphill.

“Showoff,” I muttered.

“I don’t have a girlfriend.” He kept his eyes
on me as he ran.

“Oh.” I shrugged. Inside I was turning
inverted aerials off a bumps course. “Anything else?”

“Yeah.” Tyr grinned. “Race you to the top of
the hill.”

He turned and sprinted for the peak. I tried
to keep up, pushing off the balls of my feet with everything I had,
but Tyr was taller, stronger, and a whole lot faster than me. Plus,
he’d had a solid head start.

He made it to the top a whole minute before I
did. By the time I got there, he stood with crossed arms and a
smirk. He wasn’t even out of breath.

“No fair.” I put my hands on my knees and
panted. “You cheated. How did you run so fast?”

“Better athlete than you.”

When I glanced up at him, a giggle built up
in my throat. “You’re totally checking out my bootie again.”

“What? No. I’m making sure you’re okay. Your
face is red.”

“Because some cheater just raced me up a
hill.”

“Fine.” Tyr uncrossed his arms. “Two out of
three?”

“I have a better idea.” I stood straight.
“Race you down to the creek.”

Tyr stiffened. “I told you, Mia, a hiker saw
a wolf down there.”

“That was more than a week ago,” I reminded
him. “Is that going to freak you out forever?” But my arm throbbed.
I’d seen a wolf in the woods, too. Correction—I’d imagined one.
There was no way I’d been bitten by a giant wolf, saved by a
mysterious blond-haired guy who may or may not have borne a passing
resemblance to Tyr, and walked away without so much as a scratch.
The whole scenario was just preposterous.

Still, Tyr clung to his story about a hiker
seeing a wolf. Well, maybe the hiker had the same hallucination I
did. The woods
were
pretty spooky in the wrong kind of
light.

“Let’s not take any chances with you.” Tyr
set his jaw.

I shoved my hands into the pockets of my
hoodie. “You think I can’t take care of myself?”

“I think…” Tyr paused. “I think you can’t be
too careful with wild animals. And there are plenty of nice trails
we can take instead. Like that one over the hill. Have you been up
there yet?”

“No.” I didn’t mean to sound so petulant.

“Then let’s go. It’s a five-mile loop, so
we’ll have to double back to get you home in time for class. But
even going halfway out is worth it. Especially in the
mornings.”

Tyr started to jog and I took off after him.
Since he was ahead of me, he’d never know if I snuck a peek at his
backside as he ran. Lord almighty, I was a hypocrite.

But it truly was spectacular.

“What’s special about the mornings?” I tore
my eyes away from Tyr’s tush and made myself move into position
next to him.

“You’ll see.”

He didn’t say anything more, so we ran
through the forest in silence. There was no golden sunlight today,
only dim grey light filtering through the trees from an overcast
sky. It gave the woods an eerie glow. We ran past a cluster of
enormous redwoods, each swathed in a fabric of kelly green moss.
When the trail bent to the left, I snuck a glance at my companion.
He wore the same grey sweatshirt as he had the last time we’d
worked out, but this time the hood was off, exposing a disheveled
mass of blond hair. His eyes stared straight ahead with laser-sharp
focus, but his lips were curved up in a half-smile.

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

“Nothing.” He glanced down at me and my
insides warmed. If the twinkle in his eye was any indication, he
knew just how he affected me. Drawing my shoulders back, I resolved
to play it cool. We rounded a corner, and I skidded to a stop.

“Holy mother of pearl…” I trailed off.

“Told you it was worth it.”

Worth it
didn’t begin to describe the
view. We’d run up a gentle slope, and now we stood at the edge of a
ravine. The dusty dirt trail was lined on both sides with logs, and
just beyond the logs on one side, the path dropped into a deep
canyon. Lush green ferns and thick blankets of moss grew over
fallen redwoods, forming an intricate pattern that looked almost
deliberate. The ravine was big, maybe fifty yards wide and thirty
yards deep, with a thick wallpaper of greenery snaking up the
opposite wall. The oversized ferns and fallen trunks gave the
forest a primordial feel—as if a velociraptor might streak through
the brush at any moment.

“This is incredible,” I whispered.

“Say it.” Tyr nudged me with his
shoulder.

“Say what?”

“
Tyr, you were right
. Go ahead. Say
it.” He grinned down at me.

“You’re ridiculously competitive. You do know
that.” I put my hand on my hip.

“Takes one to know one.”

“Good one.” I drew a deep breath, admiring
the gorgeous view in front of me… and the one next to me, too.
Hmm
. The ravine may have been mysteriously beautiful, but
the Swede was beautifully mysterious. It bothered me that I still
knew virtually nothing about him. I turned to face Tyr. “What’s
your story, anyway?”

“What do you mean?” His smile faltered.

“I don’t know a lot about you. How old are
you?”

“You want to know about me, eh?” Tyr kept his
eyes on his knuckles. His fists were clenched so tight that his
veins bulged.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

He met my eyes and pointed to his head. “Kind
of weird in there.”

“Try me.” I sat on a fallen log and patted
the spot next to me, ignoring the way the bark jabbed the thin
fabric of my workout pants. Tyr dropped down, and stared into the
trees.

“I joined the military after school. Served
my term, and followed Henrik here. I’m sorting through a few things
while I figure out my next step.”

“That doesn’t sound so weird.” I bumped his
arm with my elbow, ignoring the tingling that raced across my skin
at the touch. Tyr stiffened, so I pulled away. “Pretty
straightforward if you ask me.”

“Yeah, well…” He trailed off. “Tell me
something about you.”

“What do you want to know?”

“I don’t know. Something not a lot of people
know.”

I racked my brain, looking for a benign
tidbit I’d be willing to share. My life was pretty low-key; the
things people didn’t know about me tended to be embarrassing. “Oh,
here’s one. I am completely tone deaf.”

“Tone deaf?”

“Couldn’t carry a tune in a basket. Always
stuck in the back during elementary school pageants. Was asked to
sing quieter in church. And when it’s time for the Star Spangled
Banner, I lip sync out of respect for my country.”

“That’s a good one,” Tyr chuckled.

“Now you go.”

“Huh. Uh… I can’t cook.”

“At all?” I asked.

“Correction. I can cook macaroni and cheese,
fry up bacon, and man a grill. But I torch anything I put in the
oven, set off the smoke alarm when I try to use the range, and I
caught a pan on fire trying to make Henrik a birthday cake. Last
time I ever baked.” Tyr’s mouth settled into a half-smile. His
shoulders had relaxed while we traded stories, bringing his
intense-factor down a notch.
Thank God.

I giggled as I pictured Tyr’s smoking cake
pan. “That’s pretty great.”

“You again.” Tyr rested his elbows on his
knees and leaned forward.

“Okay. I
can
cook. Can’t paint, can’t
draw, can’t sing, but my art is edible. My mom’s a foodie, and she
made us amazing four-course dinners every night. My brother, Jason,
and I got to help in the kitchen a lot. We were both making roasts,
soufflés, lasagnas, you name it by the time we started high school.
She wanted to make sure we could take care of ourselves once we
were on our own. Jason used to complain about it, but he loves
cooking now that he’s figured out it gets him more dates.” I
snickered.

Tyr studied me. “You’re very close with your
family.”

“Of course. They’re great.” I shrugged.
“What’s your family like?”

“How about another fun fact?”
Huh?
Why
wouldn’t he want to talk about his family? “I know you like running
and skiing. And cooking. Tell me something that will surprise me
about you.”

“Um… oh. I’m a pretty fierce fighter.”

“You? The girl I just schooled on a fun run.
You can fight?” Tyr bumped his knee against mine. The familiar burn
radiated up my leg, but this time he didn’t pull back.

“I can,” I squeaked. Then I cleared my
throat. “I most definitely can. When I ran my ski team’s dry-land
training, the girls got bored with the cardio and weights I put
them through. So I brought in a mixed martial arts coach to stir
things up. He taught us grappling and self-defense and all these
fun moves—totally got everyone motivated again.
And
we were
able to have some fun with the guys from our brother school when
they made fun of us for having slower courses than they did.” I
giggled at the memory of the boys’ captain laying facedown in the
snow. He’d called us snow bunnies, so I’d challenged him to a
wrestling match. I hadn’t hurt anything more than his ego, but he
and the rest of the boys had to set gates for
both
courses
for the rest of the season… and they didn’t call us names
again.

“Mmm.” Tyr leaned over, so now both his knee
and
his shoulder were touching me. My entire side was on
fire. He tilted his face toward mine, and when he spoke his voice
came out in a low murmur. “Care to show me sometime?”

“I’d… uh… I…” Oh, hot bejeebus. Tyr’s voice
was every bit as hypnotic as his eyes. I was being sucked into a
vortex… a beautiful, blond vortex of Swedish awesomeness, that was
equal parts intimidating warrior and overprotective boyfriend.
Without the boyfriend part. Much as I wanted to melt into Tyr’s
touch, I was very much aware he hadn’t properly asked me out yet.
But I wanted him to. Boy howdy, I wanted him to.

I leaped to my feet so he didn’t see me
blush. “It’s probably getting late. I need to shower before my nine
o’clock class.”

“Let’s get you back then. Ladies first.”

Tyr held out an arm, and I jogged past him
with a smile. He fell in beside me and we ran back to my street in
an easy silence. When we got to my house, I paused.
What
now?

Tyr raised one eyebrow.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing. Just glad we did this.”

“Me too,” I admitted.

“We should do it again.”

“Okay.”
Please just ask me out
already
. I pushed the thought into his head and waited.

Tyr stared at me for a long time. His eyes
moved slowly from my face, down the contours of my body, then
settled on my mouth. My internal aerials resumed, and I wanted to
leap into the air and pump my fist. Instead, I stared up at him
with wide eyes. This was it. He was going to kiss me. We were
finally going to—

“Well, see you around.” Tyr nodded as he
stepped back. Waves of disappointment crashed over me as he turned
on one heel and sprinted back for the woods.

Away from me.

I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands,
hoping to push down my frustration. Now what?

****

Now nothing. The next few weeks passed
without a word. Tyr didn’t swing by Henrik’s class, he didn’t stop
by my house, and I didn’t see him on my morning runs. I toyed with
the idea of taking the Woodside Trail to see if I could coax him
out of whatever hidey-hole he was stored up in, but I decided it
wasn’t worth it. There was that alleged wolf roaming the forest,
plus, the idea of an angry Tyr was about as appealing as a root
canal.

Besides, I wasn’t one for playing games.
Either Tyr liked me or he didn’t—the hot-cold thing was just
silly.

“Arugh!” I threw my pillow at the wall. I was
so done thinking about him.

“You okay?” Heather poked her head in my
room. She held open a textbook in one hand, and a highlighter in
the other.

“I’m great. Just over boys.” I closed my
window against the late September chill, then walked over and sat
on my bed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to break your focus. I know you’re
working on a paper.”

“Believe it or not, I’m
ahead
on my
outlining.” Heather ran her hand through her hair and exhaled. “But
I’d better get back to it. The study schedule you made up for me is
going to be a hard pace to maintain. How do you do it? I mean, do
you ever take a break? Throw the routine out the window?”

No. No I did not. And it was a source of
constant teasing from Jason. “You sound like my brother.”

“I’m just saying the routine is all well and
good, but it’s exhausting. What would happen if this order…”
Heather gestured around my tidy room, “if it got shaken up a
little? Would you be able to handle it? Or would you completely and
totally… is that a goals sheet taped to your mirror? Does it really
say… ‘
Top Five Things To Accomplish Today
?’”