Page 32 of Enchanted with the Orc (The Kingverse Orcs #4)

Enka

I covered my mouth so my grin wouldn’t show as Tasia tried to change the subject so quickly that it was the most obvious thing I’d ever seen. It was very cute and I loved seeing her a little flustered. It made me want to kiss her until she calmed down.

After all, our daughter knows we’re going to get married.

I was almost certain my hand couldn’t cover the shit-eating grin I was wearing now. It had to have covered my entire face. I received one hard glare from Tasia letting me know that I was right, before she hustled over to the kitchen to start dinner.

I walked over with her at once, well used to the routine we’d started since we’d moved into the suite.

I set the table with Gabbi’s help and then settled her in front of the television with her favorite show while I moved over to put on the giant apron I’d bought.

It matched Tasia’s, and we stood side by side while I hesitated to ask her what she needed.

I shouldn’t have bothered though. She turned to peek at her daughter before turning on me with a glare and a hissed,

“I can’t believe you were smiling like that where she could see.” She gestured wildly toward our daughter and I beamed down at her with a shrug.

“What did you want me to say?” I asked, feigning innocence. “She has a wild imagination.”

That I plan to make real as soon as I can.

“I want you to say no ,” she scoffed, rolling her eyes and I took a moment to study her gorgeous profile, realization hitting me hard.

She was the furthest thing from scared. In this moment, she felt safe enough to pick a fight with me. With me . A male who was three times her size. Pride sizzled strong and hot inside me, swelling my chest until I threatened to pop the seams of the apron.

I knew I had to be looking extremely smug, because when she turned to me, she narrowed her gaze, peeked another look at her daughter and then stepped on my foot. I didn’t feel it, but the fact that she was safe enough to do it—

Don’t swoon. Adult males do not swoon.

I pulled my hair into a top knot and then washed my hands, taking the knife from her where she was massacring the salad and began to chop it with calm strokes. I expected a kick to the shins, but she huffed, turning back to take the steak from the containers I’d had them brought in with.

“Are you mad at me?” I asked in a low voice, leaning down to take a whiff of her hair.

It was a long moment of us working in silence before she sighed, turning to me with pursed lips. “I should be.”

“But are you?” I needed to know, my mood turning sour. I didn’t want her to be upset .

“No,” she sighed, and I put the knife down, turning to ensure that our daughter wasn’t looking before I tilted her chin up with my thumb, ducking so we were eye to eye.

“I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, I promise. I just… I like you,” I whispered, and it was the biggest understatement of my life. “We don’t have to do anything,” I told her, even though my cock would probably strangle me in my sleep.

She searched my face before relaxing, reaching up to cup my cheek, stroking her thumb over it. I closed my eyes, savoring the feel of her gentle touch.

“I want to,” she whispered, and then leaned forward to press a quick, chaste kiss to my lips.

“See?” Our daughter screeched from her seat. “Married!”

Explaining to Gabbi that we weren’t getting married so she couldn’t pick out a dress to be in the ceremony felt harder than it should be. I would, in fact, adore having our daughter in our wedding ceremony.

But since my mate wasn’t ready for that discussion yet, I tabled it, knowing that there was no way I wouldn’t bring it back up. I was just biding my time. It had been all well and good when she’d relegated me to the role of a friend . Even a best friend.

I understood the boundaries there. My hope had been dormant in my chest. But after she’d decided that we could be more . Even if just physically at first, the hope was now a burning flame, growing with each moment.

Dinner was fraught with demands for tulle and tiaras from our daughter—who had been watching some wedding show with one of her aunts and knew what an A-line was and why Tasia would look fabulous in it.

It was like watching tennis.

“Pink peonies,” Gabbi demanded, stuffing her plastic spork into her mouth, grimacing in retaliation that it had contained a piece of broccoli. She didn’t spit it out, though, and I considered it progress.

“We’re not getting married, sweetheart,” Tasia sighed, pressing a finger to the space between her eyes as if she was getting a headache.

“And earth tones are in ,” Gabbi announced. My eyebrows swept up.

“What are earth tones, Gruk-ir?” I asked, interrupting for the first time in a while. She shrugged and went back to chewing before speaking.

“Randy’s never wrong, Mommy,” she said with an aggrieved sigh.

I looked over at Tasia with an amused grin and she couldn’t help but smile back. Before long, we were laughing and Gabbi was looking between us with a grin.

Once dinner was done and Gabbi had had her dessert—one cookie that somehow became two after multiple rounds of begging—it was time to get her ready for bed. I marveled at the ease with which I’d fit into their lives .

While Tasia gave our daughter a bath, I cleared up the toys that were askew after Gabbi “cleaned up”, and pulled the bed out of the sofa, anticipation growing inside of me.

There was going to be something different in our routine now.

Tasia and I were going to take a big step in our relationship.

A huge step that I hoped she was ready for.

I was. I was more than ready to touch her. But that same eagerness could be my downfall if I wasn’t careful. I didn’t want to overwhelm her with my need for her. I ran my palms down my pants considering how I was going to ease her worries and concerns when a soft palm touched my arm.

I looked down to find my Tasia there, staring up at me with concern. “Are you okay?” she asked, her brow furrowed, and I nodded, moving toward the sofa like we always did. We took up our usual positions but instead of turning on the television, we studied each other from opposite sides.

“Are you sure?” I asked her, in a low whisper so Gabbi couldn’t hear us in case she was still awake. Not that I needed to worry. Everything in these suites were soundproof. But I couldn’t help my stomach from churning with worry.

Instead of sending her down the same spiral I had gone, my words made her smile. She nodded, running her toes along my foot.

That’s not supposed to be an erotic touch.

And yet, everything from her was erotic.

The air between us was charged with anticipation.

Her quick movements shocked me, and I wasn’t prepared for her to suddenly be next to me, but when she was, I smiled at her, reaching up with slow, steady movements so she could shove me away anytime she wanted to.

I ran my fingers over her cheek, a sigh leaving me.

“You’re the most beautiful thing that I’ve ever seen,” I whispered, and ran my dulled claws down her cheek, along her jaw and then to her neck.

She tilted it backward for me, giving me more access, so I ran my thumb down her soft throat until I was touching the skin of her chest.

I swallowed hard, glancing up at her and freezing my fingers. But her eyes were closed and her lips were parted on swift puffs of air. As if she couldn’t quite catch her breath.

Gods, this is everything I dreamed of and more.

I ran my claw down to the soft skin above her t-shirt and stopped as soon as I hit the material.

Still, her luscious breasts were full enough that my claw dipped between her cleavage for one blissful moment.

I swallowed at the same time as she did, and she opened her eyes to look up at me with an expression that I’d never thought I’d see from her.

Lust. Pure lust was shining from her gaze.

I couldn’t stop myself then. My body surged, tackling her to the sofa-bed, taking her down under me. Her softness pressed against me and my eyes all but rolled back in my head.

Fuck, she’s perfect.

I pulled away long enough to look down at her—gauging her reaction—but I shouldn’t have worried. She wiggled under me until her legs were wrapped around me, and her face was lifted to mine, seeking. Her lips ran across my jaw and I may have blacked out.

I was lost to the moment. I was lost to her.

I took her lips in a heated kiss, deepening it until our breaths were shared.

Her breasts were pressed against my chest, so I clenched my fists on either side of her head, holding myself a little away from her in case the feel of her made me lose all of my control.

“Enka,” she gasped against my lips—a soft whimper of sound.

The little bit of control I had snapped. Not that there was much of it left. I cupped her jaw, squeezing a little until she parted her lips, letting me in. Then it was wet sounds of sucking and the heat of our tongues as I fucked her mouth with mine .

Gods, I’ve been waiting for this. Praying for this.

And I loved every second of it. She was soft heat and sweetness under me. Everything I’d ever wished for. Her hands skimmed up my back, tentative and soft. I groaned against her lips, sucking harder on her tongue until her fingers were digging into my flesh, pulling me closer.

Yes. Want me like I want you. Need me like I need you.

I tried whispering the words into her mind, willing her to feel what I was feeling, but I shouldn’t have worried. My female rolled under me, her pussy a scalding heat against my thigh.

“I need you,” she pulled away long enough to gasp before she kissed me again.

Alarm bells were ringing in my head as she tugged at my t-shirt, struggling to yank it off of me, but I pushed them aside.

I reached back, gripping my t-shirt behind me and then pulling it over my head.

When I was revealed to her, she stopped kissing me, pulling back to stare down with an expression I couldn’t quite interpret.

It wasn’t until she leaned down to lick my chest, swiping that tiny hot tongue across my skin, that I recognized what it was.

Greed.

My little mate was greedy for my body. I’d never been so flattered in my life. Did she like my body then? I hadn’t thought much about it. I was so big compared to the perfection of her smaller, softer body.

But was she as attracted to me as I was to her? I doubted it, yet looking at her as she ran her fingers down my chest, running them over my stomach, a small moan leaving as her pupils dilated, I wondered.

My mate wants me.

I kissed her again, her hips rocking hard against the jeans that I was wearing. She had hers on as well and the denim was a thick double-layer between us.

“Take them off,” she murmured against my lips, hooking her hands into my belt loops and tugging down.

My laugh was soft and husky as I took those hands into mine, pinning them beside her head. Her eyes went wide with shock and I paused, but the gleam of interest there told me everything I needed to know.

“No touching,” I murmured against her lips, stealing kisses between the words. “ I want to touch you .”

“Then hurry,” she gasped, arching her back until her breasts were pushed upward, crushed against my bare chest.

She isn’t playing fair.

“I want to take my time with you,” I told her, running my tusks along her skin, marking her with my scent. Instead of pulling away, she pressed into it, arching harder against me for my mark.

Fuck, this female is everything.