I fall asleep locked to my mate, with his strong heart beating steadily under my ear.
Seventeen
Esme
I wake up to a fucking wall of orc. That’s my first thought. I’m wrapped up in Sven, with my back to his chest, one of his huge arms heavy over my waist, the other one under my head, his enormous body curled around mine like he’s trying to keep the world off me even in his sleep. I’m in a warm cocoon. It’s the best I’ve slept in… ever.
My heat’s gone. I do a careful inventory and realize it’s really gone… no fever, no clawing need, just a deep, well-used ache everywhere, a soreness I’m going to feel for days and absolutely zero regret about any of it. And, of course, the bond. The steady, warm presence that wasn’t there a few hours ago and now feels like it’s always been in me. I press back into my mate, feel his arm tighten, and I smile.
“You’re awake.” His voice is rough with sleep, rumbling against my back.
He drags me closer, buries his face in my hair, and breathes me in. “How do you feel?”
I roll in his arms to face him. He looks deliciously rumpled, hair wild,face relaxed, still unfairly handsome.
“I feel good,” I say, beaming up at him. “Really good. Sore. But good.”
“Good,” he says gruffly, making me roll my eyes. “Because I’m keeping you. Forever.”
I shake my head. “Very romantic.” I’m so stupidly happy I could cry.
* * *
Later, we’re tangled up and lazy. I’m tracing lines on his immense chest.
“Can I ask you something?”
Sven kisses my temple. “Anything.”
“That restaurant you took me to.” I prop my head up on the backs of my hands to look into his gorgeous eyes.
His mouth twitches. “Aldous’s. It’s…” He thinks for a beat. “They have a waitlist. Months, usually. People go there to propose.”
I feel my eyes widen. “Propose?”
“My family’s name is on a lot of things around here, love.” He says it like it’s no big deal. “I don’t usually use it. I used it that night.”
And I’m finally doing the math, all of it lining up… the staff knew him, that lady saidyour table.And the fair, the way the whole town watches us, like they understood something I didn’t.
“Sven.” My heart’s starting to pound. “Whenyouwalk a woman to coffee in this town. Buy her lunch, take her to Aldous’s, bring her to the fair and win her things… and nearly kill a male for touching her arm. In front of the whole county.” I swallow. “What does that… what do people think that means?”
He looks at me, steady, and there’s something soft and a little amused on his handsome face, like he’s been waiting for me to catch up.
“It means I was courting you, little one,” he finally replies. “Everyone in town has known for weeks that Sven Greymark found his mate.” He threads his fingers through my hair. “My family knew the first night after I met you. I think the whole county’s known since the fair.” His thumb strokes my back. “Everyone’s known, Esme. Except you.”
“But we barely had three dates!”
“It was never dates, sweetheart,” he says gently. “Not for me. It was forever since the staff meeting. I was just letting you get there in your own time.”
And I think about all of it… the pastry he bought me because I looked at it, the way his brothers looked at me at the fair like they already loved me… and I realize the entire town has been watching me fall in love in real time, knowing exactly where all of this was going, while all I told my sister on the phone was that I had a crush on my boss…
“Oh my God,” I say. “Everyone knew.”
Sven nods, looking annoyingly, delectably smug. “Everyone knew.”
I cover my face. “I’ve been walking around looking like an idiot.”
Sven chuckles, squeezing me into his warm muscles. “You’ve been walking around like the most beautiful woman in the world, with no idea the grumpy orc was gone for you.” He pulls my hands off my face. And that’s when he says it, “I love you., Esme Williams.” No buildup, no drumroll, just his rough, flat voice into the quiet morning, and I go completely still. “I almost said it on the Ferris wheel.” He cups my face in his huge hand. “And I’m going to spend the rest of my life being very annoying about it.”
