Page 70 of Till Orc Do Us Part
His voice, thick with sleep. “You are safe.”
Gods.
Safe.
That’s the problem, isn’t it?
I don’tdosafe. Not with men like him. Not with anyone anymore.
I slip free of the covers with as much grace as I can muster, bare feet hitting the floor. My jeans and sweater are folded neatly on a chair—his doing, I’m sure.
I pull them on in silence, every muscle taut.
The room smells like sea salt and cedar. Like him.
I glance once at the bed—broad frame, dark hair tousled against the pillow, his chest rising and falling in deep, steady rhythm.
Too steady.
Too real.
I make it downstairs before the walls close in.
The kitchen is all sharp lines and cool metal. I clutch a chipped mug beneath the tap, gulping cold water like it might drown the panic rising in my throat.
I slept here.
Jamie is with Liara. I sent that text last night with trembling fingers, knowing even then what I was choosing.
But now? Now the choices crowd too close.
I’m not built for this.
For letting someone in. For soft places I can’t control.
I grip the edge of the counter, head bowed.
“Running already?”
His voice curls low from the doorway.
I force a breath. Straighten. “Just getting water.”
He moves into the room, bare feet silent on the tile, a worn tee stretched across broad shoulders.
“You could have stayed,” he says.
I shrug, throat tight. “Didn’t want to wake you.”
He watches me a moment. “You woke yourself.”
I hate how easily he reads me.
Before I can fire back, he crosses to the counter, taps something on the tablet resting there.
“Lease finalized this morning,” he says. “Coastal lot. Long term.”
My pulse spikes.
