Page 79 of Pursued By the Orc
She swallowed hard, nodding, not able to speak for a long moment before she said, tears sparkling at the corner of her eyes. “You’re doing an amazing job already.”
She took a deep breath, moving toward me until she was pressed against me, wrapping her arms as far as they could go around my waist, tipping her head back and staring up at me. “Thank you for avenging my dad, too. I... I wish I’d known.” She bit her lower lip before she blurted, “I’ve been such a coward. Burying my head in the sand. I was such an idiot.”
“How’ve you been an idiot?” I asked, shaking my head. “You had no idea what was going on. You were keeping that same beautiful head above water, treading until you were exhausted.Why would you think you’d have time to figureanythingout?”
I stared down at her, waiting for her response, but the sparkle of tears swelled in her eyes again and she squeezed them shut. “Thank you. I still don’t know if I’ll ever forgive myself, but thank you for saying that.”
I leaned down to press a chaste kiss to her lips. “It’s nothing that isn’t true, Zemar.”
Savla cleared his throat from the corner of the room where he’d stayed after everyone had left. He lifted his hand in an awkward wave. “I’m still here,” he announced and we both blinked at him.
“Why didn’t you say something before?” Emma demanded, turning away from him to swipe at her tears.
“I tried, but it never seemed like the right time,” he admitted with a shrug.
I rolled my eyes, waving at him to exit the house. He shrugged, snatching my keys from the table and heading outside. “I’ll be in the car. I expect that you’ll want to start packing up Grandma to bring her home?” he called over his shoulder with a wink.
“I want to clean all of his stuff from the house first,” Emma grumbled, waving her hand in front of her face.
“It really does smell like a cigar bar in here,” I told her, scrunching my nose in disgust.
“Grandma’s going to hate that,” she sighed, peering around. “And it looks like he redecorated.” Her little scowl told me everything I needed to know about what she felt about his taste.
“What do you need my help with first?” I asked, and she turned to grin at me, lifting to her tiptoes. I ducked my head, giving her what she wanted, pressing a chaste kiss to her lips. I didn’t allow myself to take it any further.
She was busy, her mind was probably whirling with plans, and I had to respect that.
“You’ll help me?” she asked, wrapping her arms around my waist.
I nodded, frowning down at her. “Of course. Anything you need.”
“You,” she whispered. “Just you.”
The love that I had for this female and the emotions that her words created inside of me threatened to overflow my chest. How the hell had I been able to win this magnificent, beautiful, Goddess of a woman?
“I’m going to call the interior decorator my dad hired to do the place in the first place,” she told me, resting her head against my chest. “Hopefully she has some old files. I just... I don’t want to see the house looking this way. Like it’shis.”
“Call her now,” I told her, not wanting her to be uncomfortable for a moment longer.
She gave a small laugh, releasing a long breath. I wondered if she’d been holding all of that tension and stress inside her. Now she could release a little of it. Her uncle was going to jail for averylong time, and now that the forged documents were identified, the probate could continue with the original.
“I’ll call her later,” she whispered. “For now, let’s go home.”
I froze, not sure I’d heard her right.
“Home?” I asked, running my palm down her soft back, praying that I understood what she was saying. That I hadn’t misinterpreted her.
“Oh,” she gasped, her eyes flickering up to meet mine. “I... Do you mind if I stay with you?”
The hesitance in her voice was my undoing. I cupped her precious face in my hands, searching her expression to see if that was what she really wanted. I couldn’t possibly be that lucky. I’d already gotten far too much of everything I’d dreamed of.
She gripped my shirt in her tiny fingers, tightening them and the silence of the house, now that everyone had left, spread between us for a long moment. I took her fingers in mine, entwining them, savoring the rare peace, the heat of her body,and the chemistry arcing between us.
“Home is wherever you are,” I whispered to her, and I watched her face crumple.
Her gasp of breath precipitated the tear that leaked from her eye. She swiped at it, slapping her palm across my chest. I grabbed it before she hurt herself, lifting to press a kiss to the tiny, delicate fingers.
“You have to stop making me cry,” she sniffled, and I nodded, even though I wasn’t surehow. My mate had a sweet, sensitive heart and she didn’t mind showing that vulnerability to me. I’d cherish every tear for the rest of our lives, even though I hated seeing them.
