Page 22 of My Orc Contract Husband
Whoa, calm the hells down, Tark. Just because there’s a beautiful female sitting in your lap doesn’t mean you get to fuck her.
Well, to be fair, up until now, precedent has shown that beautiful females sitting in my lap are therebecausethey wanted to be fucked. But that wasn’t Sami. Here and now, she needed me to be someone other than a charming playboy. She needed safety, protection, comfort—not some horny orc who couldn’t control himself around her.
Besides, if I was ever lucky enough to taste Sami Shayson, I know it wouldn’t be a fucking. I’d belovingher. The thought should have terrified me, but instead it felt right, like something clicking into place.
Focus, idiot. Icould practically hear Abydos’s voice in my head, calling me out for getting distracted.
Right.
“Okay.” I took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of old hay and summer rain to clear my head. “So is it marriage in general you object to, or just to Montgomery?”
I dunno why my mind went to the marriage issue first—well, maybe I did. Maybe I’d been thinking about what I’d told Abydos the other night. Fuck, I wish he hadn’t stormed out and headed to the airport on the mainland. I could’ve used his advice.
“Just him,” Sami whispered, and I realized I had no trouble hearing her. Was it because orc senses werestronger than human senses, or was the rain finally slowing down? Maybe both.
What had we been talking about? “Just him, what?”
Green eyes flashed toward me, and her lovely lips curled upward just slightly on one side. “I only object to marryinghim. I want marriage to be onmyterms.”
Nodding, I adjusted my hold so she could rest her back against my arm, which was braced on my knee. “And if youweremarried on your terms, then Montgomery wouldn’t be able to force you to marry him, right?” I could feel the warmth of her back through her thin, damp dress, the delicate ridge of her spine under my palm.
I guess my mind was still stuck on the marriage thing, huh? But she just snorted and shook her head.
“You don’t know him.” She ducked her chin, her gaze locked on her fingers, which were twining together again and again. “If I were married, my husband would conveniently disappear. It’s what happened to his first wife when he used up her inheritance.”
What the— I reared back, my nose wrinkling in disgust.“What? You’re talking…murder?” The concept was foreign and ugly in my mouth, and I had to fight the urge to spit to get rid of the taste.
She shrugged and tipped her head away from me. “I don’t know… I just remember him bragging that she’d outlived her usefulness and now he was available to marry again.”
“Fuck,” I whispered. The curse felt inadequate for the rage building in my chest, but it was all I had.
Suddenly, she rocked forward, trying to climb from my lap, and I wrapped my hands around her waist to help lift her. Distracted by the feel of her body against my palm, I spoke without thinking.
“If your husband was bigger and stronger than Montgomery, the bastard couldn’t win.”
She froze, halfway to standing up, and I froze in response, as I realized what I’d said.
Time seemed to suspend itself, crystallizing this moment into something sharp and fragile.
Slowly, she straightened, and as if I couldn’t bear to lose my connection to her, my hands lingered, sliding down her waist to her hips to her thighs. When she twisted to stare down at me, my tongue flicked against my tusk in a nervous gesture, and I pulled my hands away.
“What did you say?” she rasped, her voice rough with something I couldn’t identify—surprise, hope, fear? All three?
“Nothing.” I swallowed, shifting my gaze to the ruined windowpanes across the way. “Doesn’t matter.” Dust motes danced in the slanted light, and I focused on them desperately, trying to avoid her searching gaze.
“You said if my husband was bigger and stronger…” she whispered, and I couldfeelher gaze sweeping over me, making my skin burn.
Don’t make a big deal out of this, I whispered to myKteer.
The idiot didn’t listen. When it comes to biology, it never listens. Instead, it preened under her attention, purring in hopeful anticipation.
“Sami…” Fuck, how was I supposed to finish that sentence? I planted my palms against the rough wood of the barn floor. It was splintered and dry under my hands, a sharp contrast to the memory of her smooth skin. “You don’t need to…”
“You need a wife.” Her eyes were wide, her voice barely louder than a breath. “You need a wife for a mortgage, right? Otherwise you won’t be able to afford to buyandbuild your shop. And I need a husband who Pierce Montgomery can’t intimidate.” The words came out in a rush, and I could see her pulse beating frantically at the base of her throat.
I was already shaking my head, the floorboards somehow harder against my ass now than before. “Sami, you don’t need to marry me to get me to help with that asshole. I’ll help any way I can.”
She turned completely, standing at my side. My head came to her navel, and I tipped my head back to meet her eyes. From this angle, she looked like a goddess, backlit by the damp light streaming through the barn windows as the sun fought against the dwindling rain.
