"Until you toss me out. And then I'll just convince you to let me back in," Khell said. He found my large couch, turning on my vintage lamp that now had a home on a newly refurbished vintage console table. "There. Food's ordered. Close your curtains and undress for me, petal. I want our skin touching, whether we talk or fuck."

I laughed against Khell's neck. "If we're both naked, you know it'll be fucking."

"It can be both," he said, jostling me with a soft shrug.

I leaned back, my arms still looped around his neck, and studied the lovely sharp angles of his face, reaching up to brush his tusks with my fingertips. Khell was patient, smiling, calm. He was the orc who had untangled my hair and washed me in the bath, and something more too, because he was holding my gaze and waiting for me to choose.

"I don't want to be distracted from either of those activities," I said, rising off Khell's lap and reaching behind him to grab my curtains.

He helped himself to handfuls of my breasts, leaning in and resting his chin in my cleavage as I stretched.

"And since we have time…I just want to enjoy being with you again first," I said, mulling over my answer for a moment before looking down at Khell. His eyes were hooded, and I caught him just as his long tongue flicked out to taste me. "We have time?"

Khell purred, rubbing his cheek against the top of my dress above my collar once and then guiding me back, his hands scooping under my skirt to help me undress.

"We have time, mate. And we will make the most of it together."

I bent and Khell stretched at the same moment, our lips meeting, the flavor of the kiss so beautifully familiar. My skirt was up over my waist, Khell distracted from stripping me as his tongue plunged into my mouth, my ass exposed to the cool air of the room. He had my torn panties in his sweatpants pocket, his massive hands circling my waist, his tusks framing our kiss.

This is not a fantasy. This is not a fantasy, I chanted to myself as I settled on Khell's lap.

He managed to finish pulling my dress over my head as he kicked his sweatpants off, my sex and his cock rubbing together briefly before the clothing was tossed away, and we took a moment to breathe.

Khell's braid was already lopsided from my grip on it earlier, his dark gaze warm and avidly studying my face.

"Do you wish I'd told you then?" Khell asked, tipping his head. "That I'd mated you."