Page 45 of My Orc Nanny

Ohwow.

That was…

That was better than a wedding vow, as far as I was concerned.

I reached up to cup his face. “I accept you, Aswan, and look forward to the future with you. With…”Us.I wanted to say it, but I didn’t. Couldn’t.

I wasn’t sure I was ready for Benjamin, Tova, and Joshua to know aboutthisyet. Travis leaving had ripped Benny up, even though we hadn’t been truly married for a long time before then. What would me accepting Aswan in my life do to my son?

Luckily, Aswan understood. Of course he did.

With a rueful smile, he slid from me and twisted, gathering me in his arms as he stood. I pressed against him. “What are?—”

“Bathing my Mate,” he murmured, stalking toward the large bathroom he alone used these days. “It wasn’t well done of me to find my pleasure so quickly, and now I need to make it up to you.”

“Quickly?” I squeaked, even as he bent to turn on the water and I had to clutch him. “I came twice.”

He dropped a kiss on my lips. “You should have come five or six times before I allowed myself to find pleasure.”

Five or six times? My eyes widened. “I’ve never…”

“I know.” His gaze turned solemn as he set me upright. “And while I’m sorry the males of your past didn’t know what a treasure you were, Hannah, and didn’t know how to treat you right, I’m selfish enough to admit a little pride at knowing I’m the first to make you scream my name.”

Ah,therewas the blush. He saw it and chuckled, then bent his head to capture my lips in a sensual kiss as the water filled the tub.

It was amazing how primed my body was, how attuned it was to this male. Or maybe it was justAswan.When he pulled away, I was already breathing heavily, and his proud smirk said that he knew it.

“Soon,” he promised. “First you must relax, then I’ll make you come, Mate.”

Oh, heck yeah. I could get used to this being Mated thing.

But what would my kids think?

Pushing the thought aside, I lifted my arms to his neck. “Five or six times,” I murmured, and drew him back down.

Chapter Eleven

Aswan

The old legends were true:Claiming my Matehadcompleted me. The week after Hannah and I had consummated our Mate bond, Tova and I were walking Joshua down Main Street when we passed Giza juggling the keys to his tattoo parlor and his new daughter Raina. I jumped in to help, and the older male took one look at me and burst into proud chuckles.

“Congratulations,t’mak!” he announced, slapping me on my shoulder before accepting my help in unlocking his shop. “Sakkara told me you were settling into Eastshore, but I hadn’t realized how well.”

I knew I was blushing, but myKteercrowed with pride, and so I smiled as well.

“Aww, she’s adorable,” Tova was telling Giza. “Is that whatEmmy looked like as a baby? Does she look like you or her mom? What’s her name? Can we go inside?”

Since this last one was directed to me, I sent Giza a raised brow in question, and he ushered us all into his shop. The front half was a sort of display area for orcish artwork—mainly made by Karnak here on the island, but there were pieces from as far away as Bramblewood Bluff—while the back half was where he did his tattoo work.

To my surprise, he spent a half hour—the time we were waiting for Ben to finish his class at the rec center—answering all of Tova’s questions about baby Raina and his Mating bond with Harper, Raina’s mother and Eastshore’s resident lawyer…while I tried my best to keep Joshy from tasting priceless art.

Yeah, I was settling into Eastshore alright, and it was all thanks to my Mate.

For so long, Bramblewood had been my home, and I thought that was the best I could hope for: a new purpose among other non-humans, and a restaurant of my own. But here on Eastshore? I’d found a real community…and a family of my own.

My Mate was here, and she’d accepted me as hers. What more could I want?

Kitlings who look at you the way Raina looks at her father.

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