Page 25 of Rathgar

While Soren’s house has a very modern look with lots of steel and bronze, Rathgar seems to have taken the opposite approach. It’s very cozy, welcoming, and the plants and flowers scattered everywhere makes it feel like I’m still outside.

“What do you think?” Rathgar asks under his breath. He puts Iris down at last. Her first inspection is to plop down and run her fingers over the textured carpet.

“It’s…” I look around and struggle for the words. “It’s beautiful. You put all this together for me?”

Wow. I wasn’t expecting to actually feel guilty. The man left me without a word! For months!

But when I look around at all the thought and care he put into the layout and decorations, I realize he was thinking about me all along. Little accents, like the time I told him my favorite flower was the lily, brighten up the space. He’s customized everything all the way down to the direction the windows face because I hated getting woken up by the sun.

All those times I thought I was just talking to hear myself talk. He’d grunt and move on to something else, but he’d heard me. He listened and filed it all away for later.

For this.

My amazement grows with each room I visit. It has to be the pregnancy hormones, but seeing all this just makes me want to curl up with as many blankets and pillows as I can find. A little nest, just for me and my baby. That sounds nice.

Iris makes a beeline for the door at the back of the house and it’s the one room I haven’t visited yet. Rathgar follows behind me. When I crack open the door, I clap a hand to my mouth in shock.

A child’s bedroom. A sweet, soft room filled with an Iris-sized bed, a collection of colorful toys, and what’s more — a huge mural next to the bed, depicting the mushroom forest.

How…how did he know all this?

“Look!” Iris says with delight, running forward and pointing at the painting. “Red!”

I look over my shoulder at Rathgar. He shrugs so nonchalantly, as if this isn’t the most amazing thing anyone’s ever done for me in my whole life.

“How did you…why did you…” The words clutter on my tongue and won’t come out.

“What?” He raises an eyebrow. “All this?”

“Yeah…” I gesture around at everything. “It’s so…”

“Anyone would do the same. I know you’re not…you know…staying, or anything. But I still like to follow the old ways.” Rathgar rubs the back of his neck, avoiding my gaze.

He keeps talking, but those few words play on repeat in my brain.

Not staying.

Not staying.

He’s right, of course. As nice as this place was and as much trouble as he must have gone through, it was only temporary. And it was going to take more than a few throw pillows to forgive his absence.

Forcing myself back on track, I realize I haven’t seen my bedroom yet. There’s Rathgar’s, which has all the warmth and charm of a forest enclave, but…

“Um, Rathgar?”

“Hmm?”

“Which one is…I mean, where’s my room?”

His face turns, as if I’ve just spoken gibberish. I tap at the translator over my ear. Nope. Still working. Rathgar closes the distance between us, putting a hand out to pin me against the wall.

He’s so close like this. So large and intimidating and so deliciously alpha. His scent floods my system and my gaze softens, roaming over every muscled ridge of his body. My mouth goes dry, but wetness seeps between my thighs.

He smells it, too. I know he can by the strangled groan he makes in the back of his throat. If there’s a sexier sound in the world, I don’t know about it. Something about having such power over this huge, intimidating warrior turns me on like nothing else.

Knowing that it’s my body and my scent making him feel this way. Knowing that the growing bulge in his pants is for me and me alone.

“I thought you knew,” he says gruffly. I shiver as his deep voice washes over me. There’s nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. He’s got me caged in against the wall by his strong arms and massive body.

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