Page 20 of My Orc Contract Husband (Eastshore Isle #9)

Chapter Eleven

Tarkhan

She’d broken me, and I wasn’t sure who I was any longer.

Friday night was the first time I fell asleep before her, though I’d been dimly aware of Sami holding me and whispering soothing nonsense. That was my responsibility; to take care of her. I’d failed, allowing her to care for me.

And yet.

And yet, I couldn’t regret it.

How could I regret it?

You are worthy of pleasure, Tarkhan. You deserve happiness.

I closed my eyes, tipping my head back to face the steady stream of hot water from the shower, remembering her words.

Remembering how those words tore down what little control I’d maintained, tore down the last of my self-punishment.

Sami had broken my control, had given me pleasure , and I wasn’t sure how I felt.

That was the first time I’d come since Torrah’s death, and despite Sami’s words, I still don’t think I deserved it.

But she was my wife, and she’d insisted I did.

After half a lifetime of denying myself and focusing on bringing pleasure to others, I suppose I could understand Sami’s need to do such a thing for me.

But…now what? Who was I? I was no longer filled with guilt, no longer filled with pent-up frustration. Sami had removed that.

Now I was…empty. Wrung out.

I turned off the water and reached for my towel. My towel, which Sami had hung beside hers. My shampoo was in her—our?—shower, and my shaving kit was in the second drawer. This was my home now, at least for another forty-nine weeks…and she was my wife.

Standing in the doorway, I watched my wife sleep.

And realized that yeah, I felt empty now, but Sami was slowly filling me up.

This marriage was supposed to be temporary. But after letting her in…how was I supposed to let her go?

I was standing at the window, staring over the backyard, not really seeing anything, when I felt her wake. Was that strange? I’d never experienced that before, knowing when someone woke up, but I couldn’t deny it. A moment later, I heard her pad into the bathroom, heard her readying herself.

And when she joined me in the living room, I felt her then, too.

“Good morning,” she murmured, snaking her arms around me and pressing herself to my back.

This was how she’d stood last night, only she was dressed today. My lips twisting a little ruefully, I reached around to pull her to my side so I could wrap my arms around her as well. “Good morning. This is where you belong.”

When she hummed and pressed her cheek to my chest, I saw she was wearing that T-shirt with the acronym I didn’t know. “How do you feel this morning?” she asked.

I considered, then sighed. “I don’t know. What you did for me?—”

“Was one of the most incredible experiences in my life,” she was quick to interrupt.

When I glanced down, she was glaring up at me fiercely.

“I’ve never brought someone else pleasure before, Tarkhan—I mean, I’ve never made anyone orgasm.

Oh, you know what I mean!” she huffed. “My point is it was powerful. It made me feel…special.”

Oh gods below, I could understand that. It’s how I’d felt for the last decade. It was all I’d had; all I’d allowed myself to have. So I bent to kiss her forehead. “That’s because you are special, dkaar .”

“What does that mean?”

I hesitated. “ Beloved . ”

And her response was immediate. “Well, I like it better than honey . You called all your lovers honey , didn’t you?” She squeezed my middle. “You call me that when you’re getting standoffish.”

Did I? I smiled, amazed that this female knew me so well already.

“A few more weeks, and that maple will start to turn.”

Surprised by her non sequitur, I followed her gaze to the lone maple tree along the back fence. “Oh. In Bramblewood, the maples would all be yellow and red and orange by this point.”

“But we’re much warmer here.” She nodded to the two large shade trees.

“Those are live oaks, different than the oaks out west. They lose their leaves in the spring and drop about a million acorns each fall. I love to sit out on the back porch with my coffee when the mornings start getting chilly, watching the squirrels go nuts over them.”

That sounded…really nice. Peaceful. “Nuts over the nuts, huh?”

Sami’s response was her I heard your joke, and it wasn’t funny, but I’m acknowledging it snort, and my lips twitched again.

How did I already know her well enough to catalog her snorts?

You knew her well enough to marry her, didn’t you?

This morning I felt…fragile. Barely held together, but the parts I could identify, the parts of me that weren’t empty, were Sami .

“Have you paced off the backyard yet?” she suddenly asked .

I hummed, glancing down at her, and she loosened her hold on me to lift one arm and point.

“That back corner has always just been…I don’t know, useless?

I put my clippings back there—I keep telling myself I’m going to build a proper compost bin one of these days.

The light’s not great, so I didn’t put in any of my garden beds.

But the space would be big enough for a workshop. ”

It would be. I hummed again and squeezed her against me. “I’ll head back there and check it out.” And start work on a compost bin for my wife. “From here, it does look like there’s plenty of space.”

“And since we don’t have a fence, you shouldn’t have any trouble getting equipment back there.”

“You’re serious?” I studied her face. “You wouldn’t mind me building something back there?”

“Of course not.” Smiling softly, she stretched up on her toes, and I leaned down to meet her lips. “It would mean I’d get my garage back.”

My bark of laughter wasn’t my normal laugh, but it felt good . As if I was slowly finding my equilibrium again, figuring out who I was. Who I was supposed to be.

She shifted, and I caught sight of that curly-lettered acronym across her beautiful breasts. Inspiration struck, a way to lighten the mood. “Shut the fuck up,” I blurted. “All Creatures Of The Dirt Love A Delicious Leaf Snack.”

Her laughter was refreshing. She pressed her face against my chest to stifle the sound. “That’s horrible!”

I cleared my throat and tried again. “Squirrels Took Flight Under…A Canopy Of Trees…Digging Leaves And Dropping Loose Seeds.”

Her shoulders shook with laughter. “Oh my God, you’re good at this.” Her words were muffled, and I kept going.

“How about: Stop Telling Ferns ‘Ugh’ And Compost Only Twigs…Dirt, Leaves…Acorns, Daisies…Lichen?” What would the last letter, the S be?

“Squirrels!” she blurted, then dissolved into giggles again.

“You want to compost squirrels?” I asked in mock-seriousness. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Oh, but talking to ferns is okay?” she shot back, and this time my chuckle was genuine.

“You know I’m just going to keep trying to guess what this shirt means, Sami.”

She hummed and stretched up to brush a kiss against my throat. “Maybe I won’t tell you then.”

“Is it naughty? Your other shirt was naughty.”

“Oh yes , it’s naughty!” She chuckled knowingly.

Shut the fuck up and take this dick like a good girl .

Just remembering the way she’d blurted it on our wedding night had my cock stirring in my sweatpants, and I shifted, resisting the urge to pull her closer.

Did I have time to sit her on the window sill and feast on her pussy until she came?

Surely I was owed that, after how she licked me last night?

But she pulled away with a sigh and I knew my cock—and my Kteer —wouldn’t get their way .

“Okay, I have a showing in ninety minutes, so I better get ready. After I’ll be stuck in my office for a bit, but after that, I’ll bring out my laptop and we can start researching the foster system in this state.”

I reared back in surprise, swinging to follow her. “What? You want…?”

With a soft smile, Sami returned to me, placing her palms on my chest. “Now I understand, Tarkhan. Me telling you that you are forgiven for your sister’s death…that isn’t going to cut it.”

My hands rose to close around hers, holding her close. “Sami…”

But she just shook her head, forestalling my interruption. “We’ll keep donating, we’ll keep sponsoring youth baseball teams, and we’ll figure out how to become foster parents. And eventually you’ll see how much good you do for this world.”

How in the world did I get so lucky as to find this female? I stared down at her, in awe. Finally, I managed to choke out a, “ We ?”

Her smile flashed again. “ We ,” she confirmed, then stretched up on her toes to kiss me.

And when we parted, I felt that emptiness inside me filling.

I spent my morning out in the yard, planning and designing my workshop.

I needed some lumber to start on Sami’s compost bin, so I took a break and headed to the hardware store.

Not my first time there, but I really got a kick out of chatting with the owner, Mr. Morrison, about various projects and possibilities .

On the way out, my stomach rumbled, and I ducked into the bakery, the one run by Cairo’s Mate Meli.

She was just about as cheerful as Cairo was grumpy, and she always made me smile.

In the months I’d lived in the apartment on Main Street, the one Abydos still paid rent on, I’d become addicted to her breakfast pastries.

Turns out that her pastrami paninis were just as good.

While I was finishing up my order, Luxor and Zoe came in, walking their dog.

I remembered Lux as a scrawny little kid who’d dragged himself through the veil after us, without permission from the elders.

We’d all looked after him in that facility, until the day the scientists had been able to fix his legs, and he’d suddenly become taller than all of us.

Seeing him all grown up, with a Mate and a home and a sense of surety, was amazing.

In fact, Eastshore Isle in general was amazing.