Page 34 of My Orc Package Deal

She wasn’t a guest in my house.

This was her home too. She was part of my family. I was part of her family.

And I didn’t want anything to jeopardize that. The realization deflated my Kteer slightly, and possibly my cock as well.

“Look,” I began. “About earlier⁠—”

I smelled her spike of embarrassment, although she kept flipping through the mail. “You don’t need to say anything.”

“I really am sorry, Kesha.”

“No, I’m the one who should be apologizing.” Her voice was a little too fast, to match the movement of her fingers through the mail. “I’m the one who jumped you—” She sucked in a breath, her attention suddenly focused on a piece of mail. “What’s this?”

I shook my head, although she wasn’t looking at me. “It was in the box with the rest.” Since our neighborhood was a new build, mostly filled with houses of the guys who’d moved with me from Colorado, we all shared one of those community mailboxes, which meant I only sent Jay to collect the mail every few days. “Could have been there for a few days.”

I didn’t think Kesha was paying attention to my words. She’d slid off the stool and was staring down at the letter, her expression blank as the pulse at the base of her neck jumped. I could smell her fear and instinctively took a step toward her.

“Kesha?”

She didn’t look up, but sucked in a deep breath.

“Sweetheart.” I was at the counter, reaching for her. Her fear had infected me, infected my Kteer, and I needed to protect her. “Kesha, what’s wrong?”

When my hands closed around her upper arms, she startled and jerked toward me, her gaze slamming up into mine. “What?”

Frantically, I searched her face for an answer. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

Kesha blinked, and I saw her expression fade to something softer. When she exhaled, the tension bled from her shoulders. “Nothing’s wrong,” she said, then in two quick movements, ripped the letter into pieces without even looking at them. “I’m fine.”

I didn’t even notice when she dropped the pieces of the envelope onto the counter, because Kesha had turned back to me, her palms flattening against my bare chest. That contact seemed to center both of us…or maybe I was just confused by how we both shuddered and seemed to sway closer.

Kesha’s palms were warm against my chest, her touch sending sparks through my skin. My Kteer rumbled in approval, but I forced myself to stay still, to let her set the pace. She’d been the one to pull away earlier, and I didn’t want to make the same mistake twice.

Then she spoke, and my chest tightened.

“I feel like I’m just taking from you, Korrad, and you’re not getting anything out of this marriage.”

I let out a sharp, disbelieving snort before I could stop myself. “You think I’m not getting anything out of having you in my life?” My voice came out rougher than I intended, the scent of her—cocoa and silk and that sweet, maddening arousal—making it hard to think straight.

Her fingers flexed against my chest, but she didn’t pull away. “This is your house, your island, your life, and I’m just mooching off of you.”

I froze.

She still felt like that?

After weeks of living together, of sharing meals and laughter and the quiet, domestic rhythm of our days?

After the way she’d stepped into this community, this family, like she’d always belonged here?

My Kteer growled in frustration, but I ignored it, focusing on her words. “Kesha⁠—”

“If I could believe I was giving you something equal⁠—”

That was it.

I grabbed her hand before she could finish, my fingers wrapping around her wrist. She gasped when I dragged her hand down to my waist, her breath hitching. I pressed her palm against the hard length of my cock through my pajama pants.

It was filthy. It was crude. It made both of us freeze in shock…but then she whimpered and her fingers spasmed around my thick ridges.