17. Esme
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 said your 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. “When you walk 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. ”
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 fucking looked at 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 a mating 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.”