Page 72 of That’s My Orc, Tusk Off

I could feel her breath. Could smell the herbal tea she’d been drinking.

One of her hands came up, and she laid it on my chest.

Her hand twitched.

I pulled back, and her hand fell away, her fingers dragging down my chest before they dropped to her lap.

I couldn’t do it like this. I couldn’t ask her to save me instead of choosing her.

She pulled back too, but gently.

“You think you’ll lose me?” Her voice stayed soft, but the edge in her tone made me look at her face. “I’m not going anywhere.” She leaned forward. “But I need you to want me here, not need me here. Do you understand the difference?”

I stood because sitting felt like taking something I hadn’t earned.

She stood too.

We faced each other in her small living room, the letter on the coffee table between us.

“I need to go,” I said.

I walked to the door. My hand was on the handle when she spoke.

“Traig.”

I turned.

“Whatever you decide,” she said, “I meant what I said. I’m not going anywhere.”

The drive back to the rescue league blurred. I parked in front of my cottage and sat in the truck with the engine off.

I need you to want me here, not need me here.

She was right.

How did I prove I wanted her for herself when everything about this situation made it look like I needed her to help me stay on the surface?

I got out and walked inside.

I undressed and lay in my bed.

The cottage pressed in around me.

“I don’t want her here because I need her.” The words came out steady. “I want her here because everything is better when she is.”

“I don’t know how to prove a bond to someone who’s never tasted her cookies or seen the way she looks at creatures like they’re important. She looks at me like I’m important.”

“I’m afraid of losing her.” The admission cost me. “But I’m more afraid of never telling her I chose her. That I chose her the moment she moved the message pad and didn’t get upset when I moved it back. I’ve been choosing her every day since.”

I had to tell her soon.

Before it was too late.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

WILLA

The coffee was waiting when I arrived at work the next morning.