“I’m terrified,” he admitted, holding her tightly against him. “I’ve never done this before. A relationship, I mean. I’m so afraid of mucking it up and hurting you or making you hate me.”
He was starting to become aware that some of the others on the beach were watching them. They were trying to be discreet, but he could see them. He blushed, but decided that the eyes of all those strangers on him were the only thing keeping him from having a perfectly natural, but – given the location – embarrassing reaction to holding the lady he loved.
“I don’t really have anyone to give me advice on how to make this work. Bragi is the only brother still married and he and Idun are …” Hermod thought about his brother and his wife for a moment. “Well, honestly they are what I hope we become. Totally and completely in love with each other. Or we could e like Dagr and Nott. But they are just ridiculous.”
He lifted Bast’s chin and smiled at her. “I promise not to take you to meet my mother until you are ready. She’s been waiting for centuries for me to find a woman I could love and would love me back. Mom may squeal a little when she hears that I found that with you.”
The Norse messenger gently kissed her. “We’re in this together. All the scary parts and the amazing parts. We’ll figure it out together. Okay? Together. No leaving me again without talking to me about it.”