Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Sylvik
“I love you, Brooke.” The words just sort of slipped out, and I immediately followed it with, “Shit.”
“Shit?” Her chest still shook from laughter. “I love you, Brooke, shit isn’t the most romantic sentiment.”
My wince turned to a wry sort of smile as I admitted I could laugh at myself. Still holding her, I rolled to the side of the bed until my feet hit the floor. “Yeah, well, I hadn’t intended to blurt it out,” I muttered as I stood, her in my arms. “I got distracted.”
“I’ll say!” Brooke curled against my chest. “Where are we going?”
She hadn’t responded to my blurted confession, and now she seemed to be brushing it off. My Kteer whined in confusion, and I swallowed down my fear enough to brush a kiss across her temple. “I’m bathing you. Don’t get me wrong, I love that you smell like me, but I assume you’d rather not…”
When Brooke scraped a fingertip along her left tit, capturing some of my cum and drawing it between her lips thoughtfully, I groaned out loud.
Gods below, this was torture! To love her, to know she was mine…
and to not know how she felt? Just watching her sucking on that finger, her tongue lapping my seed, made my cock hard and throbbing again.
But she hadn’t accepted my words. I suppose it’s a good thing I hadn’t spilled inside her, hadn’t claimed her.
She watched me as I turned on the shower and waited for it to warm. Then I scooped her up against me and brought her inside the glass-enclosed waterfall.
“Mmm,” she sighed, resting her palms against the tiles, tipping her head forward to keep her bun out of the flow of the water. “This is lovely. Relaxing.”
I resisted the urge to grasp my cock and stroke it; that’s how fucking tempting she looked with the water cascading over her. Instead, I grabbed a loofah and my favorite moisturizing soap and began to wash her.
She didn’t say anything as I eased the soap over her skin, but soon enough, the sweet scent of her arousal perfumed the humid air of the shower. When she reached down to stroke my erect cock and gave me a naughty wink, I knew she was as ready for me as I was for her.
“It doesn’t seem fair that I don’t get to wash you,” she said with a pout, her small hands sliding over my ridges. “I think this cock needs a thorough cleaning.” Her grin grew. “With my tongue.”
The thought of her mouth on me wrenched a groan from my lips. The thought of her on her knees before me…
With a growl, I turned her around, grabbed her wrists, and slapped them against the wet tile wall. She peeked at me over her shoulder as she thrust her ass back toward me, and I didn’t hesitate.
I clutched her hips, lifted her rear end…and slid my cock into her weeping, needy cunt.
I felt her orgasm slam into her, and Brooke tossed her head back and screamed, “Sylvik!” as she bucked, the word echoing off the tile.
Then, before her pussy stopped spasming, I pulled my cock from her, turned her back around, and continued washing her. Only this time, I had to use one arm to hold her up, because her knees didn’t seem capable of supporting her.
“Sylvik,” she panted, one hand on my chest, the other pressed against the side of her head. Her eyes were wide as she gazed up at me in confusion.
“Don’t tease me, dkaar,” I growled, “or you’ll get more of that.”
I knew my Mate wasn’t intimidated when she grinned. “I’ll have to remember that. Next time…”
I stiffened at the implication there would be a next time and peered down at her. “Brooke, I…”
Smiling softly, she lifted one hand to cup my cheek. “I love you, Sylvik.”
I jerked, causing her to stumble in the wet shower. But I couldn’t help it, my eyes had gone wide as I stared down at her.
“What?” she asked, pulling her hand back hesitantly.
“You don’t have to say it just because I did,” I whispered harshly.
But my little human just blinked. “I’m not. I do feel that way—wait, why do you think I don’t—?”
“When I said it, you laughed,” I reminded her.
Brooke’s lips had flattened. “I didn’t realize that was my cue. I’m sorry, Sylvik.”
Uncertainty flared between us, and I finished washing us both with quick, efficient movements, then turned off the shower and reached for one of the fluffy bath sheets I’d hung up earlier.
I wrapped Brooke in it firmly, then took the time to dry myself off with the second one before tying it around my waist and reaching for her once more.
I scooped her up into my arms and stalked toward the bedroom. When I settled on the bed, I pulled her down onto my lap, then took a deep breath. She smelled of my shampoo, satiation, and arousal. She smelled of me, and her, and the possibility of forever.
This close, I didn’t need my glasses to see her, but her scent was a part of me, and would be for the rest of my life.
I opened my mouth to tell her I loved her again, but what escaped was, “Don’t go to California!” and I winced. “I’m sorry, Brooke, but…please? Consider staying here on Eastshore? Your business could be successful here, and your family is here, and—”
Her fingertips pressed against my mouth, silencing me. “And you’re here,” she whispered as the pad of her index finger caressed my tusk, sending a shudder through me. “And you love me.”
I held her gaze. “I do,” I whispered around her fingers.
“I love you, Sylvik. There is a knowing.”
This time, I jerked hard enough to almost spill her off my lap, and I had to tighten my hold on her. “What?” I managed to rasp.
Her grin grew. “There is a knowing. That’s what Sami and Riven told me. When you find your Mate, there is a knowing.”
My heart slammed against my ribcage as my Kteer howled in hope. My whispered “Mate?” was strangled.
“Mate,” she repeated. Her fingers moved across my jaw. “You called me that, before. You called me your good Mate.”
My eyes fluttered shut. Gods below, I had said that out loud, hadn’t I? “That’s because…” I swallowed and tried again, although my rasp wasn’t any easier to understand. “That’s because you’re my Mate.”
“And you’re mine.”
Slowly, hardly daring to hope, I opened my eyes to stare down at her.
Brooke’s smile was soft. Hopeful. Her fingertips traced my lower lip. “I love you, Sylvik. I know you. I don’t know how you could love someone like me, someone who seems unable to get her shit together or who thrives on chaos, but—”
I grabbed her hand and pulled her palm to my lips to press a kiss against it, shutting her up.
“Those aren’t your words, dkaar. They’re from your past.” From that asshole of an ex.
“Just because I like spreadsheets doesn’t mean I can’t see how remarkable your way of looking at the world is.
You make my life better—you make everyone’s lives better—with your creativity and energy. ”
“Really?” she breathed.
And I smiled against her palm, scraping my tusks over her skin. “Really, love. Just think about Riven and Abydos’s wedding. It’s been your vision that’s going to make the whole thing beautiful, isn’t it? I’m just here to make sure shit gets delivered on time.”
“And to help with the orc traditions.”
Between our bodies, beneath the towels, I could feel my cock still throbbing with need, and I knew there was one very important orc tradition she hadn’t experienced.
“You’re my Mate, Brooke. If you want to go back to California and live your dream, I won’t stand in your way. But I’m going to spend the rest of my life waiting for you.”
In my lap, she struggled to turn around, until she could hold my cheeks with both hands. “I have a new dream, Mate,” she whispered.
And my heart soared as my Kteer howled with glee. Mate.
Brooke
I could feel his cock throbbing against my hip, and I knew Sylvik must be frustrated. He’d made me come so many times I think I’d lost count, and that one cinnamon-flavored explosion must not have been enough for him. Besides, even after all that, I felt as if…I were missing something.
And so I squirmed around, not caring that the towel fell down around my waist or the fact that my hair—which had been piled on top of my head to keep it dry—now flopped over one ear with wet tendrils. I just knew I needed to be able to face him.
My legs got caught in the towel, but he helped free me, and I managed to straddle his thighs. I cupped his cheeks in both hands and leaned in close. “I have a new dream. Mate.”
The way his smile bloomed? I vowed to never forget that; I wanted to remember this moment, Sylvik’s reaction, for the rest of my life. I wanted to tell my children about that; kids I’d one day have with Sylvik.
Yeah, one day we’d decorate a Christmas tree with our children, and I’d teach them how to roll out sugar cookies and how to frost the snowmen in interesting designs, and I’d make sure that none of our decorations smelled like cinnamon.
That scent was all for me.
And we wouldn’t play that stupid Whammagedon game, because as far as I was concerned, the best Christmas gift I ever received started with hearing that song.
My cheeks hurt from how hard I was smiling. “I’m not going back to California, and I’m not going to go back to work with Ethan.”
“Fuck Ethan,” Sylvik growled, and I had to giggle.
“Never again.” I brushed a kiss on his nose.
“I’m not going back, because I have a new dream.
” One that involved a forever for Sylvik and me and our family.
One where I started an event planning business here on Eastshore, one where the two of us balanced each other perfectly. “Where’d I leave my phone?”
He blinked and straightened, glancing toward the living room. “Uh. With the food? I’ll grab it.”
“Don’t be silly.” I pushed him back down onto the bed, tightened my towel around me, and slid off him. I rushed from the room, grabbed my phone, and was back before Sylvik could do much more than push himself up on his elbows.
I waggled the phone at him. “Got it,” I announced as I shimmied back up beside him and pulled up Ethan’s latest communication. “He sent me a plane ticket this afternoon—leaves tomorrow morning.”