Page 63 of Pursued By the Orc
“Rudgar and Zara.” He added another finger. “Enka and Tasia.” The fourth finger lifted and he held up his huge hand to me.
I leaned forward, lifting his last finger and pressing a gentle kiss to it. His wide eyes jumped to me, his lips parting in shock. “Krusk and Emma,” I murmured, smiling at him.
“I can’t blame you for not wanting to throw that at me when we first met,” I told him, shaking my head. “I was already overwhelmed with everything that was going on personally. And well,” I shrugged. “If it’s the norm for courting a mate of another species, then you would have just done what you learned.”
“You’re not angry?” he asked, his head tilted as he studied me closely.
“I don’t like that you kept it from me,” I said in a slow voice. “But I can’t say that it would have helped your case either. I actually like that we became friends,” I explained, ducking my own head now as I grinned and shy heat crept up my face. “Although I think I knew from the start that we were more than that.”
“I’d take anything from you,” he whispered, and I looked up into his sincere eyes, reaching out and cupping his precious face in my hands.
“I know,” I told him, a tear leaking from the corner of my eye.
The distress that blasted off of him immediately, as he swiped at it, cradling me against him, rubbing his big, calloused palm against my back told me everything I needed to know. This male would hurt himself before he ever hurt me. I knew it with every inch of my heart and soul.
“I love you, my mate,” I told him, squeezing myself tighter against him.
He stilled, his breath shuddering out of him. “Y-you accept me?” he croaked, and I nodded instead of speaking, my ownvoice clogged with tears.
“I thought it would be obvious,” I said, grinning down at him. “I haven’t even gotten off of you this entire time.” I pressed a kiss to his lips. Gentle and sweet. “Something that you’ll learn about your mate eventually is that when she’s angry, she doesn’t like being touched.”
I ran my hands over his strong shoulders, adoring the strength there. The place deep inside my brain that came from the females before me who equated strength with a potential mate was singing for him. The place in my heart, where I knew he was agood malewas joining in.
“I love that I’m your mate,” I whispered. “Because I loveyou,” I explained. “I want every bond we could ever have. I wish there was such a thing for humans. And I might not be ready for it now,” I told him, beseeching his understanding. “But as soon as I have everything settled in my life, I promise...” I started, shaking my head, unable to finish.
“I understand too,” he pressed kisses along my shoulder and neck. Open-mouthed and longing. “I’ll wait for you until the end of time, Zemar.”
My heart.
He’d been saying it from the start. Had known all along what we would be to each other. And he’d just been waiting for me to accept him. He’d been doing everything in his power to give me what I needed. What I wanted.
To become the perfect mate.
My heart ached for this beautiful male who didn’t want anything except for the one person who would share the rest of his life with him. The sweet, soft soul who’d known nothing but hardships in another plane but had tried to make mine so much easier on this one for no other reason than kindness and love.
He’d promised that we could be friends and I knew without a single doubt that that male would have been nothing more to mefor the rest of his life if I’d asked him for it. That kind of sacrifice. That kind of devotion that meant he would have been willing to defy his instinctsfor me.If that wasn’t the purest form of love, I didn’t know what was.
While every inch of Krusk’s body strained for mine, he would have held back. Hewasholding back even now. His cock was a straining length in his pants, but those hands were still at his side.
Control still locked every inch of his bodynow. I licked my lips, running my fingers down his chest, across his abs, feeling the ribbed muscles flex under them, and then bypassed his cock to get to his thighs. His breathing—which was always smooth and unbroken, even when he was doing heavy lifting and sweating buckets—was panted and gasped.
The rush that I got, knowing that this big male was putty in my hands. That with a crook of my finger I could bring him to his knees. That was the most erotic moment of my life.
His big palms—hands that I’d seen lift an incomprehensible stack of weights to help one of my yoga students find her lost hair barrette that had fallen off in class—were so gentle as they made their way across my skin. His level of strength could break me without a thought.
But the care that he took with me. The way that he ensured that every touch was soft, loving and giving. That ratcheted up my arousal to a level I’d never experienced before. Especially knowing what I was to him. That there was never going to be a moment I had to worry about losing him.
CHAPTER 42
Emma
Running my tongue down his jaw, I moaned as he rocked his hips, his cock pressed against my sopping pussy. Realizing what he’d done, he stilled, but I nipped at his skin, my own hips taking up the challenge he’d dropped.
Holding onto his shoulders, I rode him with our clothes on, rubbing every inch of his cock with my slick panties. “Can I touch you?” he whispered, and I nodded.
Yes, to what? I’m not sure. Yes, you’re Krusk. Yes, everything you do to me is okay. Yes, please touch me before I melt into the bed.
“You smell so fucking good, Zemar,” he purred against my ear, running his palms over my ass again, but firmer. With intent.
