Page 24 of Enchanted with the Orc
She’s all I need.
“Yep,” I said again, rubbing my palm along her back, soothing us both with the movement. “Better than ever,” I lied.
His inscrutable gaze stayed on me for a beat longer before he looked down, continuing to empty things from the bag without comment. He pulled a tub of blueberries from the bag and with a little gasp, Gabbi wiggled until I put her down and I was abandoned by my daughter who ran headlong toward him again.
“Mine,” she said with a bold tone, holding her little hand outtoward him, staring up at his towering form without an ounce of fear or trepidation.
“Let me wash them first,” he told her with a wink, turning to the little sink and pulling another bottle from the bag. I frowned as I watched him pull a few bowls from the bag, adding some of whatever was in the bottle, some water and then empty the entire tub of berries into it.
“No!” I gasped, rushing forward. “You can’t add soap!”
He blinked at me before shaking his head. “It’s a special solution for fruits and vegetables,” he told me, holding the bottle out toward me. “It helps get pesticides off of them so Gabbi won’t eat them. The book says that it’s essential to their well-being,” he added with a firm nod and I looked from the bottle to him before I burst out laughing.
The offended furrow between Enka’s eyes made me stop, but it was difficult. “I see you’re taking the bookveryseriously,” I said, wiping a tear from my eye.
“Of course I am,” he said with a shrug. “I don’t want anything to hurt her.” The sincere words stopped my laughter immediately and that terrible ache in my chest was back. Regrets for every single one of my actions in the past.
I wish I’d waited for him.
Glancing down at the top of my daughter’s head, I corrected that thought right away.EverythingI’d gone through had been worth it because of her.
I nodded, letting him finish what he was doing while Gabbi stared up at him with her hands held out with expectation. “Abu,now,” she cried, and Enka’s smile was back on his face right away.
“Give me a second, Gruk-ir,” he told her with a wink and I watched Gabbi’s little face go from mutinous to grinning in one second flat.
What the hell? Since when does my daughter have patience?
She hummed to herself, her little arms wrapping around one of hismammoth calves as she waited. Frowning, I watched as he filled the little plastic bowl he’d bought, shuffling with her as she held on to him, careful not to jostle her.
He had her seated on the sofa with her blueberries before I knew what was happening. After that, he plated up eggs, bacon and pancakes, gesturing for me to head toward the sofa. A blue dog was grousing about his bath on the television and my eyebrows went up as I realized that he’d already queued Gabbi’s favorite show.
I settled into a seat next to her and Gabbi moved closer to me before patting the empty leather seat to her left without pulling her gaze from the television. I smothered a laugh as Enka lowered his massive bulk onto the sofa with us.
Thankfully the furniture in the suite was orc-sized. The seat swallowed my daughter and I, but Enka fit right in.
“Coffee?” Enka asked, handing over a cup along with sugar packets and little containers of creamer. I smiled, thanking him as I took them.
Settling into the seat, I marveled at the comfort I felt sitting there with my daughter and this male who should be a stranger. I didn’t feel the need to fill the air between us with chatter the way I did most people I met.
I didn’t feelanythingexcept… safe. It was the oddest sensation in the world. Something deep down inside of me recognized that when it came to this male, I wasprotected. I busied myself with eating, giving Gabbi little bites of pancakes between her blueberries, and when she was full—with only about ten blueberries left in the tub, she handed them to Enka instead of me.
It was the first time she’d ever done that. My mouth was hanging open as Enka took them without question or complaint, popping them into his mouth. They were both glued to the television and Enka laughed—a deep, rough chuckle that sent a shiver through me—at the same time thatmy daughter threw her head back on the sweetest giggle.
I’m not the only one who feels safe.
She recognized something in him as well. I was terrified to find out what it was, but I leaned back into the plush sofa, letting it hug me as I put my arm around my daughter to hold her close. It felt so domesticated andnormalthat I had to pinch myself for a quick second to make sure I wasn’t still sleeping.
Glancing over at the big green male next to me—who was still deeply invested in whether the little blue dog would get into the bathtub—I reminded myself that I couldn’t have a future with him. No matter what someone was like at the start of getting to know them, they changed. And I’d fallen for a skilled actor before. No way was I going to do it again.
Chapter Fifteen
Enka
“We can’t get a lizard,” I told our little Gruk-ir as I sat at the table, coloring pages spread across it while she peppered me with questions.
I was hunched over one—an animated sketch of a unicorn that I was assigned by our daughter to colour bright pink—and I wasfielding as many requests as I could.
“Why?” she asked, not sounding perturbed at all. I was certain she wasn’t taking my answer as a no. She thought she could wrap me around her finger, but I wasnotgoing to be that kind of father.
