Page 53 of Enchanted with the Orc
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 sayno,” she scoffed, rolling her eyes and I took a moment to study her gorgeous profile, realization hitting me hard.
She was thefurthestthing from scared. In this moment, she felt safe enough to pick a fight with me. Withme. 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’tswoon.Adult males donot 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 chopit 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 beupset.
“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 weweren’tgetting married so shecouldn’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 afriend. 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 bemore. 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 anA-linewas and why Tasia would lookfabulousin 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’renotgetting married, sweetheart,” Tasia sighed, pressing a finger to the space between her eyes as if she was getting a headache.
“And earth tones arein,” Gabbi announced. My eyebrows swept up.
“Whatareearth 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.
