Page 13

Erik

I wake up with a smile on my face. I don’t know what made Inessa come to my bed in the middle of the night, but I’m sure glad she did.

I guess she’s growing to trust me.

I’m whistling as I chop the fruit for her fruit salad. Today I add a small dollop of yogurt and a sprinkle of toasted nuts to the top for an extra flourish. I forgot to tell her a letter arrived for her yesterday from USCIS. I set it next to her bowl so she’ll see it when she wakes.

I've already finished my breakfast when the bedroom door opens and she peeks out. Snickers barges past, tail wagging furiously, to nip at my heels until I set a bowl filled with dog kibble on the floor for her.

When I look up, Inessa is reading her letter. Her brow is furrowed into a deep crease. “Three years!”

“Something wrong? ”

She looks up, blinking. I can almost see her compose her expression into a neutral smile. “No. Nothing. Good morning.”

“Good morning.” I’m a little sorry she won’t confide in me, but I don’t push. It makes me feel a little better when she takes a large bite of her fruit salad and lets out an appreciative noise. “This is very good. It is different today.”

I nod. “Yeah. I added some nuts.”

There’s a pause.

I should be getting ready for work, but I always linger. Kivrayn’s way less grumpy these days, so he won’t bite my head off for being a few minutes late. Then an idea hits me. “Would you like to come with me today? Meet everyone? See what I do? You wouldn’t have to stick around the whole day of course, but it would be nice to show you.”

She’s reading the letter again. She doesn’t look up. “Hmm?”

“Would you like to come with me to work?”

“Ah, no. Thank you. I will stay here. I have some things to do.”

I had hoped today would feel different. But even after the breakthrough of last night, there’s still distance between us. It’s like she’s got a wall up, and I got a glimpse over it last night, but the structure’s still in place.

I sigh. “I guess I’ll get ready then.”

“Erik?” She sets the letter aside and I pause in the act of walking to the bathroom. “Yeah?”

“The letter says we must get married soon.”

This perks me up. “Of course! I made up a whole scrapbook of ideas. And I made a few bookings of places which might be nice, just because I wasn’t sure what you’d want. But you know we can choose anywhere. Only it might be hard to book now if we have to do it soon. How soon did it say?”

“Thirty-five days.”

My heart sinks. “Oh, that’s hardly any time.” I rush to reassure her. “But don’t worry. I’ve got this. I’ve already researched. I know a great place for flowers and a secondhand dress shop that’s really great, and you know we can probably order some pretty shoes for you online if we do it tonight.”

“Erik,” she stops me.

I hold back the urge to blurt out the five other ideas about to roll off my tongue. “Yeah?”

“We don’t need a big wedding. We can do it at the city hall or the courthouse. I looked it up.”

“Oh.” She’s right of course. I just didn’t want her to think I can’t give her everything. I want her to feel like she had the special day she deserves. Doesn’t every bride want that?

“I will ring today and book.”

“Sure.” I slump to the shower and try to shake off the feeling of disappointment as I shampoo my hair. I should be happy. This is one step closer to happily ever after.

Only when does the ever after start? I still feel like I’m walking on eggshells. Which is not a good feeling. Especially for someone as large as I am.

I’m going to grind up all those shells into paste with one step!

As if to highlight my negative thoughts, I bump my elbow on the shower screen getting out and stub my toe on the bath.

I’m crestfallen on the metro to work, and when I get in and see a sticky note attached to my desk, I’m almost afraid to look.

I need to talk to you .

No name. It doesn’t need one. The only person who would be that blunt is my boss. I set my things on my desk and trudge across the warehouse, pressing the button on the elevator to take me to the top floor. I hope Loren is in today. He’s always less tetchy when she’s around.

Unfortunately, it’s only Kivrayn in the big office. The glass windows in here look out over the city high-rises rather than the harbor on the other side of the building. Kivrayn has a scowl on his face, which draws his dark orange brows down over his eyes, but at least there’s no smoke wafting from his nostrils.

I perk up a little. “Hi, boss.”

“Would you like to sit down?” He gestures toward the chair opposite his desk and I squeeze myself into the squeaky leather, tucking my arms in tightly at my sides.

“You wanted to see me?”

He sighs. “Erik, I’ve had complaints from two different customers about bangs and dents on otherwise unblemished items last week. What’s going on?”

I grimace. I was definitely rushing more than usual transporting stock from the auction floor into the shipping containers and onto our trucks. I wanted to get home to Inessa. “Sorry, boss.”

“You have an excellent record, Erik. This isn’t like you. I’ve sent them vouchers to cover the cost of shipping and hopefully that will be enough to satisfy them. But don’t let it happen again. You know I always factor in plenty of time to allow for gentle handling.”

I nod. “I know. I’ll do better. ”

We sit there in awkward silence for a while longer and I know he’s waiting for me to explain what went wrong. The trouble is, I have no excuse. Not really.

I hang my head and ride the elevator back to my office where my chair protests with a loud screech when I sit in it, and I bang my knee on the drawers when I spin around to check the date the big shipment is coming in from Europe.

I’m unloading boxes in the basement storage area when a thought occurs to me. Maybe Inessa is lonely. Maybe she’s sad because she has no friends and family to invite to the wedding.

I’m torn about whether to invite my family. They’re big and noisy and I get the feeling they won’t get along very well with Inessa. They’ve never been super keen on humans. And I definitely think she’ll find them intimidating.

Maybe a small wedding would be good after all.

I finish work later than usual because I take extra care. I don’t want to let Kivrayn down again. When I get home my belly is growling angrily and I wonder to myself if Inessa would like me to take her out to the local burger joint. It’s not much, but they do the most amazing curly fries. She’d probably like somewhere classier. She strikes me as a classy kind of lady.

I’m getting tongue tied finding the words to ask her when I walk into the living room and catch her wiping at her eyes. She looks up quickly, her cheeks flushed and her eyes red. “Inessa, what’s wrong?” I drop to my knees in front of her.

She sniffs. “It’s nothing.”

“No really. You can tell me. Is it something I’ve done?”

She gives me such an agonized look I think she’s about to tell me that it is, but she shakes her head. “No, Erik. You’re lovely. I am not a very good wife, I think. I’m afraid you’re disappointed in me.”

“Never!”

“Even though I just used you last night to take what I wanted and then I left?”

I instinctively reach out for her and have to stop myself. She doesn’t like to be touched. At the last moment, I divert my hand to her ankle and she doesn’t flinch. “Inessa, I want you to take whatever you want from my body. Whenever you want to. I’m going to be your husband. Your mate. That means it’s my job to satisfy you always. If all you want is to ride my face every day and come in my mouth, then it would be my pleasure to give that to you.” Doesn’t she understand I’d do anything?

She stares at me. “Even if you don’t get to touch me or hold me?”

I nod. “Even then. I just want to make you happy.”

She’s quiet for a while, but I’m not sure what to say other than what I’ve already said. Once or twice she opens her mouth as if to speak but then changes her mind.

I wish I knew what to do to put her at ease.

Eventually she wriggles her toes with a scowl. “Look at these nails! I do not think I have ever been so long without a pedicure. They look terrible.”

I stare at her feet in my lap. “They look perfect to me.”

“Look at this.” She puts her foot in my lap and wriggles the big toe, and I can’t help myself. I reach out and touch it before I can think better of it.

To my surprise, she doesn’t stop me.

I carefully begin to massage them. She leans her head back on the sofa and sighs, her eyelids fluttering closed. “I could give you a pedicure. You’d have to tell me how to do it, but I’d love that.”

She sighs again. “You are good at this part.”

I love that soft sound. The sound that says I’m pleasing my mate.

I keep going, kneading gently at the places where she’s tense. She makes more soft moaning noises and I can’t help the reaction of my body. My cock grows harder in my lap, and though I ignore it, eventually it swells so much it nudges at the arch of her foot.

She looks up. She moves her foot experimentally and it throbs in response.

The corner of her mouth curves. “You really do like pleasing me, don’t you?”

“I do.”

Breaking free from my hold, she rubs the side of her foot along the swollen flesh of my cock over my work shorts.

I groan.

This was supposed to be about her, but I can’t help how good that makes me feel.

“Would you do anything I asked you to?”

My pulse jumps in my throat. “Yes. Anything.”

“Then take off your clothes and kneel here. Show me what a good boy you are.”