Page 29 of My Ogre Husband
“Chicken parmesan,” he says, stirring something in a pan. “And homemade marinara to go on top.” He quickly opens a bottle of wine, then pulls down two glasses and fills them. “I know it’s late, but we didn’t eat dinner, so…”
Oh, wow. He’s really pulling out all the stops. I take an uneasy seat on one of the stools at the island, and Egorr slides the glass in front of me.
“Maddie…” he begins.
I hold up a hand. “I want to forget it ever happened.”
He furrows his brow, then shakes his head. “No. We need to talk about it.”
Egorr walks around the island and sits down at the stool next to me.
“I want you,” he says, with a surprising sternness. “I want you more than anything. More than anyone else. And I’ll do whatever it takes for you to believe that.”
Ugh, I’m not going to cry again today.
“I think it’ll just take time,” I say quietly, swishing my wine glass to hide my unsteady hand. “I…” I swallow hard. I need to tell him why it hurt me so much. Why what happened tonight hit me in the place where I’m most tender.
“What is it?” Egorr asks, his expression open and ready to listen.
“You know I was sent back.” I try to still the rapid beating of my heart as I expose my weakness to him. Egorr just nods, waiting for what I have to say next. “I wasn’t enough for him. I wasn’t the right fit. He… he wanted something else, someone more like him.”
Someone who didn’t need furniture, for starters. Probably someone who wasn’t as needy as I am.
“I like you, Egorr,” I say with a sniffle. “And I want to be enough. But today made me feel like I wasn’t. Like maybe you need someone else, after… you know.” I rub my face with one hand, and my voice drops quieter. “When we didn’t fit.”
Egorr’s brows rise, and I think he finally understands. Shaking his head, he rests his hand over mine.
“I’m so sorry I made you feel that way,” he says in a tender voice, his eyes so full of emotion it makes me feel like crying again. “You are enough, Maddie. You’re the one I need more than anything, the one I want to share my home with me. You’re so wonderful that I feel like I don’t deserve you.”
“What?” I’m affronted. “Why would you think that?”
“Because you’re fun. And outgoing. And really, really beautiful.” He lets out a self-deprecating laugh. “What beautiful human wants an ogre? An ogre who lives alone and is, apparently, utterly clueless?”
I gape at him. “But I do want you.” I turn my hand over and wrap my fingers around his. “Truly, I do.”
“Even though I hurt you?” he asks, voice turning sad. “In more ways than one.”
“I think we were both a little clueless in the bedroom. You’re, um… very well-endowed.” I blush as I say it.
He blinks, then smiles.
“I think I’m normal for an ogre. But once you’re healed, we’ll be more careful.” He leans down to kiss my forehead. “And that doesn’t mean anything about how suited we are for each other. It will just take time.”
The oven beeps, and Egorr gets up and grabs an oven mitt to take the chicken out. It smells incredible. After he serves up the chicken parmesan, I get completely engrossed in my food.
“This is fucking amazing,” I say, shoving another forkful into my mouth. “Do you cook like this all the time?”
Egorr shrugs. “I try. Though there’s not a lot of reason to cook anything fancy when I live alone.”
I wipe my lips with a napkin. “Well, I guess now that you’re not living alone, you can cook fancy all the time.”
He laughs, and it’s a booming, lovely laugh, that feels like maybe we’ve gotten through the worst of it.
“I’d like that.”
After we’ve cleaned up dinner, we settle down on the couch in front of the fire. Egorr spreads his legs and offers me a seat between them, and I grab my book before settling in. I lean back against his big chest, and he pulls down a blanket to cover both of us.
We spend the rest of the evening curled up together, Egorr’s big breaths calming my unsteady heart. He pauses his reading from time to time to smooth a hand down my hair and leave a kiss on the crown of my head. Before I know it, I’m asleep in his arms, my book forgotten on the floor.
