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Theo leaned in as Natalie threw the door wide for me, whispering into my friend's ear. Her eyebrows jumped, and a startled, brief laugh rose from her lips.
"Umm, why don't I take you up to the guest room and you can…get settled first," Natalie added, gaze flicking between Theo and me.
Theo hustled away, glancing wide-eyed over his shoulder at me and heading back toward their kitchen, while Natalie led me to the stairs.
"I smell, don't I?" I asked in a whisper, my cheeks flaming. I'd been sort of lost when I’d realized Khell had left the cottage and left me to my own devices. The only thing I could think to do was dress and leave.
"Eh. Weres have prissy little noses," Natalie said with a shrug, climbing the stairs ahead of me. "I didn't notice anything."
She didn't, but Theo did. Theo had opened the door and got a big ole whiff of…orc. Orc cum. Was it all the same to him, or would Khell's be—
I shook my head as we reached the landing, and the new window film caught my eye. Natalie and Theo's small Albany Park house was backed up to an apartment building, and she'd been complaining about the renters being able to see into her house.
"Pretty," I said, pointing to the frosted, almost lace-like pattern on the window.
"Thanks, we took your advice. Theo wanted these hideous stained glass decals, but Emmie and I outvoted him."
The idea of infant Emmett having interior decorating opinions brought a smile to my lips that caught Natalie's attention.
"There you are," she said, voice uncommonly gentle. "You looked kinda shell-shocked when you walked in, babe."
For no clear reason, I caught a ragged breath, standing on the landing and staring up at Natalie on the stairs. My eyes stung and then immediately watered, blurring my friend's face and her home surrounding us.
"Oh, babe! What happened?" Natalie's smear of bright, warm colors rushed toward me, and I sagged as her arms wrapped around me. "Was it awful?"
I laughed, but the sound was watery. "It was fucking amazing, Nat."
Natalie squeezed me tighter and laughed. "Oh. You poor thing. Come on, let's get you washed up. I'll sit on the toilet, and you can tell me about all the new kinky shit you love to do."
I blushed again, but this time my laughter was more sincere, full of the relief of having a Natalie and wondering how others managed without her.
Natalie's guest bathroom didn't have quite the collection of bath accessories that MSA's cottage did, but the water was hot and Natalie lit a candle at my request so that the glow pulsed on the other side of the opaque plastic curtain.
"Shit, you got your money's worth," Natalie said, voice foggy from my position under the stream of hot water.
I washed myself with gentle touches, exploring every tender and sore spot Khell had left on me.
"I think it's normal though, to feel that way," Natalie said.
I'd confessed to the way I'd been thinking of Khell by the end of the week, because even though it was crazy to fall in love with the sex worker you’d hired to make your brain explode, Natalie was a safe zone for me.
"I mean, that many orgasms and your serotonin must've been shooting through the roof," Natalie continued. "You should stay tomorrow night. I feel like it's gonna take a while for your mood to settle. That's one hell of a biochemical trip you just went on."
Boiling my time with Khell down to serotonin and dopamine created a bittersweet ache in my chest. It didn't cover the whole scope of what had happened, what had changed in me, but it was also a simpler version with a hopeful conclusion. My world would tip right side up again. My heartache would ease, and in the wake would be…maybe an amused acceptance for my lightning strike attachment to Khell'ar.
"When's Harry out of the coach house?" Natalie asked.
"Tomorrow morning, if he isn't already. But yeah, I'd like to stay with you a bit." I was wobbly, and tears kept springing to my eyes. And since I'd already been through the shockingly embarrassing experience of letting Theo smell orc cum all over me, the most uncomfortable moment had probably already passed.
"Would you do it again?" Natalie asked.
I opened my mouth to give an immediate yes, but Natalie rushed ahead.
"Not the whole hiring someone thing, but like, the role-play? Getting tied up? Chased?"
And for some reason, the answer stalled now. Without Khell? Was it easier to offer him that trust because I'd signed dozens of documents and received dozens of assurances? Or because he'd looked into my eyes in that dungeon and seen me, known what I needed, what to demand of me?
That was his job, I reminded myself.
