Page 35 of Halfling
“You could consider yourself my guide,” she continued.
“A few more days north and I’ll be past anywhere I know.” She’d know as much as him about where they were or where they headed.
“Bodyguard, then,” she amended.
She’d done that thing with her hip, pushing it to the side and angling it up. Her arms were gathered under her breasts, pushing them up to devastating effect, though he didn’t think she did this part on purpose. Overall, he recognized it as the posture she took when she refused refusal. She could coax and cajole, but she’d have her way.
Orek knew she would the moment she asked.
He couldn’t seem too eager.
He didn’t understandwhyhe was so eager.
Just that he was. And that, apparently, he was going north. Further than any orc had been in five generations.
“I will take you,” he said.
Her mouth opened, as if she’d been about to argue again, only to be overtaken by another radiant smile. She bounced on the balls of her feet, her face so bright she nearly drove away the gathering night.
“Thank you,” she breathed.
His cock stirred again, and he cleared his throat. He’d have to learn to deal with and hide that on their journey, but he couldn’t regret his choice.
Parting from her today felt wrong. Perhaps it was that things felt unfinished. He never knew if his mother got to safety. With Sorcha, he could guarantee it himself, could make it happen and witness it.
Yes, that’s why. I need to see it for myself. See it through.
Maybe then the fist around his heart would ease and the beast inside would quiet down again.
“You don’t need to pay me, though.”
Sorcha pursed her lips, an expression he thought her army of siblings must see when she was scolding them. She arched a brow at him too for good measure.
“But I will. This isn’t some small thing you’re doing for me. You’re helping me return to my life. Let me help you, too.”
Orek bit back his immediate refusal, making himself think. He wouldn’t demand much, certainly not from a family with so many younglings to support. But if they offered, perhaps he could ask for just enough to help him start a life somewhere. It wouldn’t have to be money; it could be supplies or advice on where to settle.
Yes, that seemed fair. Return her to her life, get what he needed to start a new one of his own.
Somewhere he could have a place of his own to worry over the attachment that not only wouldn’t stop but instead would surely grow, and nurse the pain he’d surely feel at finally being parted from her for good.
A problem for later.
“All right, then.”
Sorcha smiled again and stuck out her hand.
Like before, Orek clasped his own around hers rather than her wrist. A frisson of heat sparked where his skin met hers, up his arm, directly to his chest.
Her smile turned cheeky. “You’ll be glad to know I bought my own bedding. And spoon.”
He couldn’t help his huff of laughter.
“Keep it,” Orek said when Sorcha tried to return the coin purse.
She grumbled in exasperation. “No. I’ve spent half of them already. They’re yours.”
When the stubborn orc still wouldn’t take the little coin purse, ignoring her as he fed the kit a piece of warmed carrot, Sorcha flounced to his pack, threw back the flap with a flourish, and dropped the coin purse into the seemingly endless bag. She arched her brows at him before sauntering back to her spot at the fire.
