Page 15 of Gold & Shadow

He was possessive and high-handed, and he had trapped me neatly in a deal he knew I couldn’t affordto refuse.

And it annoyed me that he didn’thaveto make the deal. He could have banished me the second I told him the truth. Or threatened to eat me. Or delivered me directly to the High King’s Guard.

The little wooden bear was sitting on the window ledge where I had placed it the night before, and I plucked it off to examine it again, the wood smooth beneath my fingers. What made this bear-shifter who had lost his family and kingdom so…kind? What made him take me in and stitch me up and hold me through my fever and give me gifts?

I wassofalling for him.

Based on the light streaming in through the small window, it must be early morning, and I could vaguely see flakes of snow still falling and piling on the ledge outside. I replaced the little carving and tried to move, but Orson had me thoroughly trapped.

To be fair, I didn’t try very hard.

“Why are you awake this early?” a familiar gruff voice said behind me. I tried to shift away, but Orson rolled me to face him. “And where are you squirming off to?”

He was warm, and he smelled like holidays and cozy fires, and everything I used to love about winter.

“Get off,” I complained, pushing at his solid weight.

“I would very much like to if I thought you’d be interested,” he rumbled, pressing his forehead to mine. “You smell like honey and elderflower.”

“I…what?” I asked, too surprised to fully register the compliment or the innuendo. Gods, I had no willpower. How long had it been since I had been properly bedded? A long time. If all it took now was one warm, possessive male to get me going, I was utterly doomed.

“Nothing,” he sighed, wrapping a strand of golden hair around one of his fingers, his eyes pinning mine. My breath caught, but he released my hair and rolled away before I could think what to say. “Breakfast?”

He escaped down the stairs, his trousers wrinkled from sleep and his chest still bare.

“Hey!” I shouted, chasing after him, my ankle almost fully healed, thank the gods. My ribs still burned a little, but it was more of a twinge than real pain. “I’m your employee now. You can’t just flirt with me.”

“Why not?” Orson asked, raising a brow at me as I came careening down the stairs and into the small kitchen. He was pouring what looked to be tea into a cup, thick slices of bread and sausages already smoking over the stove, and his muscular back was turned to me, his tattoos stark in the morning light. “Am I not allowed to find you attractive because I’m paying you?”

“I—what?” The tattoos were a damn distraction, the runes running over hard pectorals and down to chiseled abs.

He chuckled. “You said that already.” Orson turned and handed me a cup of tea as he perused my figure just as brazenly. I wasstill fully clothed, although a little wrinkled, but an edge of hunger flared in his eyes. “I’m not going to hide that I’m drawn to you, Little Thief. Why else would I have come after you when I sent you away?”

“You don’t justsaythat,” I argued, feeling a bit unmoored. “There’s…protocol.”

“Do I seem like a male who cares aboutprotocol?” Orson challenged, his beard twitching slightly. “I don’t live in society, Little Thief. I say and do what I want. And I have no qualms about saying I find you attractive. You have a kind heart, you care for your family, and deep,deepdown, you want to do what’s right.”

“I—thank you?” I said, feeling a little uncertain what to do with this string of compliments.

“It’s the truth,” Orson said with a shrug. “Just like the truth that there are some very specific things I would like to do with you, and to you, if you were willing.”

Orson had turned to flip sausages, so he mercifully didn’t see me blushing crimson.

“But you’re clearly not interested,” he added, dropping sausages on a plate and turning to hand it to me. There was still a slight twitch to his beard that made me think he might be teasing me, but his eyes were still hungry. Devouring.

Maybe Iwantedto be devoured.

“I...” I opened my mouth and closed it again like a fish on land.

“DidI shock you into speechlessness, Little Thief?” Orson laughed, sipping his tea as he watched me fumble for words.

“I don’t really do casual romance,” I admitted, the words coming out in a bit of a jumble. He definitely didn’t need to know that my experience with romance was close to none, casual or otherwise. There wasn’t a lot of time for romance when one spent one’s life stealing and hiding from the law.

“Hmm,” Orson pondered, still studying me as he sipped his tea. “I wasn’t suggestingcasual.”

“Gods, are you always this infuriating?” I hissed, feeling my cheeks flame at the suggestive words. Thetone.“No, I’m not interested.”

Orson shrugged. “I’m honest, Lis. Brutally so. Let me know when you’re ready to be honest in return.”