Chapter 12
Dungar
Heat flooded through me at her words, and all I could picture was us lying together, my arms wrapped around her, kissing her soft lips, then pulling her beneath me, worshipping every bit of her skin until she cried out my name.
My cock stiffened further, already half-hard just from having her in my home.
In my bedroom. Soon to be lying in my bed.
Reality crashed through my daydream when she spoke again.
“I mean just sharing the bed,” she said quickly, color rising in her cheeks. “No, um, other expectations.”
“Oh. Yes, of course not.” Disappointment and arousal warred in my chest.
“If that’s alright.” She worried her lower lip between her teeth in a way that made me want to soothe the tender flesh with my tongue. “There’s no need for you to be uncomfortable.”
“Right. We wouldn’t want that.” I cleared my throat, feeling awkward now, unsure what to say next. The careful control I’d maintained all evening was slipping, and I needed the familiar comfort of routine to ground myself. “Thank you. I’ll take you up on your offer.”
I moved to the dresser, opening the top drawer to retrieve my cotton pants I wore to bed, folded with precise creases. From the second drawer, I pulled out a clean undershirt, placing it exactly parallel to the pants I’d laid on the dresser’s surface.
Next came the ritual of checking the room.
I moved to the window, adjusting the blinds until each slat aligned perfectly, then testing the lock twice—turn left, turn right, turn left again.
My hands moved to the bedside table, straightening the lamp until its base sat exactly the span of two hands from the table’s outer edge, then checking that my phone charger cord lay flat on the wood without any loops or tangles, the phone plugged in and lined up parallel to the bed.
Riley watched from where she sat on the edge of the bed, but I didn’t see pity or exasperation in her brown eyes, only quiet interest. The absence of judgment made the knot in my chest begin to loosen. It also made it easier to stop, something that didn’t happen often.
“You can have the bathroom first,” I said, sorting through my neatly aligned uniforms in the closet, trying to decide which I’d wear tomorrow.
Back in the orc kingdom, I’d worn blue on Mondays and green on Tuesdays.
A different or similar color each day of the week, though never the same color two days in a row.
“I won’t take long.”
“No problem.”
She was back in no time, but I was still standing at the closet, trying to decide.
“I borrowed one of your shirts,” she said, pausing in the open doorway. “It was folded on top of the dryer. I hope that’s okay. All of my other stuff is in the dryer, still wet.”
I turned to find her wearing the pale green t-shirt I wore on Saturdays to do gardening. The fabric fell to mid-thigh on her small frame. The sight of her wearing a piece of my clothing sent a possessive thrill through me that I tried to suppress.
“You can use whatever you’d like. It looks better on you than it does on me.” My voice came out strangled.
She smiled. “I doubt that, but thank you.”
After gathering my sleep clothes, I headed for the bathroom. “I’ll be just a few minutes.”
“Take your time.”
My bathroom routine was as ingrained as everything else.
Tusks and teeth brushed for exactly three minutes, face washed with precisely measured amounts of cleanser, then moisturizer applied in small, even circles.
I changed into my sleep clothes, folding the day’s outfit and setting it on the bathroom counter to deal with in the morning.
When I returned to the bedroom, Riley had already claimed the left side of the bed and had the covers pulled up to her chin. She looked impossibly small in the large space, like a fairy princess who’d wandered into a giant’s castle.
I turned off the overhead light, leaving only the soft glow of the bedside lamp, then moved to my side of the bed. The mattress dipped under my weight as I settled beneath the covers, hyperaware of every sound she made, every shift of her body.
Even with the bed’s generous size, I could feel her presence like a warm flame beside me. Her breathing came soft and even, and the faint scent of her shampoo drifted across the space between us. Having her here felt both completely natural and utterly surreal.
“Dungar?” Her voice echoed quietly in the darkness.
“Yes?”
“Thank you for letting me stay here with you.”
“You don’t need to thank me.” I turned onto my side, facing her shadowy form. “I like having you here.”
She was quiet for a moment. “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything.”
“The way you prepare for bed, the checking and organizing. How long have you done that?”
Most people asked that question with barely concealed impatience or concern, as if my routines were something to be fixed or overcome. But Riley’s tone held only curiosity.
“Since I was a youngling,” I said. “Maybe six or seven years old.”
“Did everyone understand it?”
“My family eventually did, but… Others were not as kind. Some younglings used to call me ‘Dungar the Counter’ because I had to touch certain things a specific number of times before I could move on. They’d watch me straighten papers in the learning center and make bets on how long it would take before I was satisfied with their placement. ”
Her hand sought mine beneath the covers, intertwining our fingers together. “Kids can be cruel.”
“They weren’t trying to be mean, I don’t think.
It made them uncomfortable when I couldn’t stop myself from needing everything to be a certain way.
” I squeezed her hand. “My aunt Inla was the first to understand that it wasn’t defiance or stubbornness on my part.
She told my parents it was how my mind worked, and that fighting it would only make it worse. ”
“She’s wise.”
“She is. She helped me see that there were good parts too, not only the parts I wanted to forget. My attention to detail makes me excellent at my job. It helps me notice things others miss. The routines give me peace when everything else feels like a mess.”
Riley shifted closer, her warmth radiating against my side. “I think your precision is one of your most attractive qualities. You make me feel safe in a way I’ve never experienced before.”
The thread of old pain in her voice made my protective instincts flare. “What happened to make safety feel so rare?”
She was quiet for so long I thought she might not answer.
When she finally spoke, her words came out careful.
“I made some mistakes in my old life. Trusted the wrong people, got involved in situations that went badly.” Her fingers tightened around mine.
“Sometimes the people who are supposed to protect you are the ones you need protection from most.”
The neutral way she spoke told me there was so much more to the story, layers of hurt and fear she wasn’t ready to share.
I wanted to press, to demand she tell me everything so I could fix it, eliminate whatever threat still haunted her.
But I’d learned that pushing someone to reveal their wounds before they were ready only drove them further away.
“You can trust me, Riley,” I said. “Whatever you’re running from, whatever you’re afraid of, you’re not alone anymore.”
She was quiet for a long moment, and when she spoke, thick emotion came through in her voice. “I know that. I do. I’m just…not quite ready. Can you be patient with me?”
“As long as you need.”
Her breathing gradually deepened and evened out, telling me she’d fallen asleep. But I stayed awake, listening to the soft sounds she made, the way she murmured something unintelligible in her dreams.
Whatever secrets she carried, whatever danger she was hiding from, I would keep her safe. The thought settled deep in my bones, a truth that would guide every decision I made going forward.
Riley Smith had wandered into my life and turned everything upside down in the best possible way. Now all I had to do was convince her to stay.
I finally drifted off sometime after midnight, listening to the sound of her breathing and savoring the way her hand still held mine beneath the covers.