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“Only for a little while. Then I’ll return to you. I promise.”
Chapter
Seventeen
Two nights later, Lorik returned.
I was doing my nightly chores in the garden, bundled in a thick sweater and fur-lined boots since the frost was coming. My mood was dampened, brooding and somber. I thought it was alarming how quickly I could’ve grown attached to someone, used to their presence in my small, quiet life. I wondered if it was healthy. Logically, I knew I should be wary, but my heart didn’t care.
I wanted Lorik. I missed him. His scent, his mischievous grin, his voice. His kisses, his touches, the way he laid me back on my bed and…
I sighed, ignoring the sudden throb between my thighs. My bed smelled like him, which had led to interesting dreams.
More than that, I worried about him. This mysterious job he had…and who he answered to. He was only just recovered from the poisoned arrow. What if something happened to him? What if he never came back?
As if he’d heard that very last thought as I watered the roots of a wrathweed bundle in the bed, I heard his voice, just as I heard Peek’s warning hiss.
“Thinking of me, little witch?”
I gasped, whirling, half of the water can spilling outside the bed. But when I saw Lorik standing on the boundary of my property line, just beyond the witch’s spell, the can tumbled from my grip and I grinned.
I rushed toward him, and he caught me with a grunt when I accidentally slammed into him a little harder than anticipated.
He felt solid and warm in my arms. I buried my face in his chest, noticing he wore a dark blue vest with subtle silver embroidery and dark pants. In his embrace, I felt a rush of relief so bright that it nearly brought tears springing to my eyes. Then I felt silly, keeping my face pressed to his clothes so he wouldn’t see.
“I missed you too, Marion,” Lorik murmured, his lips brushing the tip of my ear, his breath hot with the words. He ducked his head, tucking me close.
And I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt so happy.
“We should get out of bed,” I whispered to Lorik two mornings later.
“Mmm, no,” he replied, keeping me tucked into his body. His front was pressed to my back in my tiny bed, and the heat of him banished the morning chill. “Let’s stay here all day. I demand it.”
“Demand it?” I asked, smiling, shifting. A small twinge of soreness bloomed between my legs, and there was a fresh bite mark on my neck. Last night—or rather in the early hours of morning—he’d growled that he wouldn’t heal it, that he wanted to see his mark on me the next day, that nothing would make him more delighted.
Ever since he’d returned, we’d been ravenous for each other. One would think we’d been separated for months, not mere days.
“I suppose I could be enticed to rise,” Lorik murmured, his tone slightly suggestive.
I turned in his arms and propped myself up on my elbow, quirking a brow down at him. “Oh yeah?”
“Yes,” he murmured, his eyes strayed down my naked front. My breath hitched when he reached forward to rub a calloused thumb over my pebbled nipple. “What would you entice me with?”
“I know exactly what you want,” I said, tone husky from sleep.
Lorik grinned.
“You want those scones I baked yesterday, don’t you? Fresh and hot with red riverberry jam spread on top.”
“Gods, yes,” Lorik groaned. “See? You know me so well already, my love. Let’s go.”
My laugh was cut off with a brisk kiss, and before I knew it, I was flung up from bed, completely naked. Lorik was up too before I could blink, rummaging through my tiny wardrobe, and I watched as he pulled out a thick sweater and soft green pants.
He had my head through the sweater as the material muffled my giggle.
“Been thinking of those damn scones all night,” he grumbled. “You’ve ruined me, Marion.”
He even stooped in front of me to help me put on my pants, sliding his hands up my legs in a thorough way that had me biting my lip. I finished threading my arms through the sleeves of the sweater just as he stood to lace up the pants.
