Page 15 of One Night with Her Untamed Orc
Huffing like an angry boar, I push out of the tent, not caring that I’ve yanked the tent pole out of the ground and collapsed the tent. “What are you doing?” The words burst out of me, higher pitched than I would have liked. Hands on my hips, I wait for an answer.
Tarik has the audacity to look confused.
I keep waiting. He keeps looking at me. Silent and still, like a god come to life remadeinto stone.
“I didn’t mean to scare you. You really thought I was a wolf? I imagine I’m more bear-sized, at least.”
“I thought bear initially, but then remembered reading about wolves on the island. Not bears. Wait! That’s not what we’re talking about. Your size comparison—body or cock. We’re talking about why you show up at night! After ghosting me today.”
“You’re comparing my cock size to other animals?” I can just hear a smile in his tone.
“I’m not discussing your cock right now.”
“Maybe later?”
“You’re all the same. Men want to be worshipped for their cocks and ignore the pressing topics. Which right now is, why didn’t you come down this afternoon? Or evening? When I was still awake?” My voice rises to yell at him again. I try to take a calming breath to bring my heart-rate down, but it’s near impossible. How on Earth did I fall for a reclusive, stoic orc who doesn’t understand the basics of not freaking out women who are alone in the wilderness at night?
“You weren’t asleep.”
“What?”
“I could hear your breathing; you weren’t asleep yet. In your tent, yes. But very much awake and agitated.”
“I was agitated because of you! You went back to your cabin and forgot about me. Then you showed up and scared me.”
“I didn’t mean to scare you. And I could never forget you. Poros and I moved your gear down. It took me ages to get rid of him. I—I made you dinner and waited. But you didn’t show up. Figured you wanted to be alone and enjoy the last night of your trip. After sunset, I got worried and needed to make sure you were okay.”
“You got worried?” The words come out angry still, but they give me pause. The little spark of hope in my chest that says,yes, he does care for youerupts into a tiny flame again. “I didn’t go up the hill because you weren’t here when I came back after getting my samples, I didn’t know what to think. I mean, I know you’re busy, but I got twisted in my head and assumed you needed space. It doesn’t help that I have to leave tomorrow. Go back to finish my research and my program.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I want you in my space. And I was not here because I was making dinner for us.”
My stupid stomach growls again. How many times has that happened in the past forty-eight hours? Geez. Talk about not sexy. “Sorry you wasted your time. I had a delicious chicken and rice curry.”
“You lie,” he says in his rumbling way, but I can hear the faintest chuckle under his breath.
“Possibly,” I say, allowing a smile to emerge.
Tarik steps closer to me and holds out a hand. “I know you have to leave tomorrow. But we have tonight to be together.” I take it, and he leads me back up to his cozy cabin.
Chapter 14
Tarik
“Hey, Tarik!” The shout pulls me out of my thoughts. Sweaty, heaving to catch a breath, I set down the axe and turn to growl at whoever interrupted me. This oak tree was struck by lightning in the storm. Today seemed like the perfect day to take out my emotions.
I’m not angry. I’m not sad. But I am feeling a lot of feelings, and I hate that. My life is deliberately simple. Devoid of unnecessary interactions with people. And therefore, devoid of drama, such as helping my fated mate pack up her camp into her little boat and then drive away.
With each swing of the axe, I think about the sweetness of hearing her say my name as she came. The pleasure of hearing her laugh. The softness of her breath against my body. I want to love and cherish her, protect her and keep her safe. But she’s got big plans—researching eels in the Sargasso Sea, wherever that is—and I don’t know how to fit intothose plans.
“What?” I say, stopping mid-growl when I realize it’s Poros. He is unfazed by me.
“Do you want help with that before we work on my fall planting list?” I forgot he was coming back today. It seemed like a good idea; a good distraction from Emma leaving. But now that I’m in the middle of feeling all these…things, I don’t want to stop. When I go back to chopping the now downed trunk in half, Poros approaches closer. I pause long enough to note his hands on his hips, a contemplative look on his face.
“Lucky for you, I found out she’s going to give a presentation on her eel findings in two weeks. She sounded excited and also flustered to get all her data together in time. Apparently there’s some sort of budget crisis and she’s trying not to get her funding cut.”
I freeze, then step up and over the log, axe in hand, and down into his space. “When did you speak with her?”
“I saw her in town on my way here. Your lunch from Moonlit Grounds is inside, by the way. Ravena said she made it special with you in mind, whatever that means. But yeah, I figure you can see her in two weeks. That’s not too far away.”
