Now I’m crying and I don’t even try to., stop
“I love you too,” I finally manage. “I think I have since that damn pastry.”
His lips quirk, sending a shiver low in my belly. “The pastry., uh?
“Well, yeah! You bought me a pastry because I fuckinglookedat it. Who fucking does that?” I’m smiling and crying at the same time.
Then he kisses me, deep, slow and certain, and the bond floods bright and warm between us, and I feel exactly how much he means it, all of it…
* * *
On Monday, Janey loses her entire damn mind. I walk into work with my hair not quite hiding the mark on my throat and Sven’s scent all over me, and I don’t even make it to my desk before she’s grabs my arm and drags me into the breakroom and shuts the door.
“You. Spill. Now. Everything.” Her eyes drop to my neck and go fucking enormous. “Is that… ESME! Is that amating mark?!”
“…”
“You MATED the boss!” She’s bouncing. “You mated the… I knew it, I KNEW it! Oh my God, the whole town’s been losing it. Do you know how many people have asked me… and you kept saying… Esme, you absolute liar…”
“I genuinely didn’t know it was a whole thing!”
She grabs both my hands. “I tried to tell you.” I giggle. “And now you’ve got his bite on your neck and you’re glowing and…” She stops. Her eyes narrow, drop to my midriff, narrow further, and something crosses her face… “Wait. You’re really glowing. Like a lot. Esme, you’re…”
“I’m what?”
She opens her mouth. Closes it. Then shakes her head, smirking.
“Nothing,” she says with a huge grin. “You happy?”
I think about the wall of orc I woke up in. The bond humming warm in my chest, where I can feel Sven from across the building in his office, probably terrorizing someone, definitely aware of where I am too.
“Yeah,” I reply, returning her smile. “I really am.”
Eighteen
Esme
“They’re going to love you,” Sven says for the fourth time, taking the turn to his family’s compound.
“So you’ve said,” I grumble back, a ball of freaking nerves.
“It’s true.”
I turn to stare at him… “You’re nervous!” I can feel it through the bond: a low hum under his unshakable calm. “You are! Why areyounervous, Sven Greymark? They’reyourfamily!”
He’s quiet for a second, hands tight on the wheel. Then he finally mumbles, “Never brought anyone home.”
And just like that, I’m not worried about whether they’ll like me anymore. I just want to climb into his lap and wrap myself around him. But I don’t. I just smile and squeeze his tree-trunk thigh.
* * *
The house is enormous. I knew the Greymarks had money… Their last name being plastered all over town, shit, being thetown’s damn name made that clear… but I wasn’t ready for… this! A long, wide building made of stone and glass is sitting on top of the hill, lit up against the dark night, with way too many cars parked in the drive. And I can hear it before we’re even parked: a whole house full of noise spilling out into the evening.
“How many people are here right now?” I ask.
He kills the engine. “All of them.”
My jaw slacks.
