Page 70 of Till Orc Do Us Part

His voice, thick with sleep. “You are safe.”

Gods.

Safe.

That’s the problem, isn’t it?

I don’tdosafe. Not with men like him. Not with anyone anymore.

I slip free of the covers with as much grace as I can muster, bare feet hitting the floor. My jeans and sweater are folded neatly on a chair—his doing, I’m sure.

I pull them on in silence, every muscle taut.

The room smells like sea salt and cedar. Like him.

I glance once at the bed—broad frame, dark hair tousled against the pillow, his chest rising and falling in deep, steady rhythm.

Too steady.

Too real.

I make it downstairs before the walls close in.

The kitchen is all sharp lines and cool metal. I clutch a chipped mug beneath the tap, gulping cold water like it might drown the panic rising in my throat.

I slept here.

Jamie is with Liara. I sent that text last night with trembling fingers, knowing even then what I was choosing.

But now? Now the choices crowd too close.

I’m not built for this.

For letting someone in. For soft places I can’t control.

I grip the edge of the counter, head bowed.

“Running already?”

His voice curls low from the doorway.

I force a breath. Straighten. “Just getting water.”

He moves into the room, bare feet silent on the tile, a worn tee stretched across broad shoulders.

“You could have stayed,” he says.

I shrug, throat tight. “Didn’t want to wake you.”

He watches me a moment. “You woke yourself.”

I hate how easily he reads me.

Before I can fire back, he crosses to the counter, taps something on the tablet resting there.

“Lease finalized this morning,” he says. “Coastal lot. Long term.”

My pulse spikes.