Page 13 of One Stolen Night with Her Orc

Chapter 9

Poppy

“I—I wanted to say thankyou. Thank you for bringing Addy to me. For making sure she’s safe. It means the world to me.” I can barely hear my voice over the steady drumming of my heart in my chest. It’s going to leap out of my chest at any moment.

“You’re welcome. It’s the least I could do. You deserve every goodness in this world.” His voice is growly. Music to my heartstrings.

I shake my head no at his statement, my hair flipping left and right. “Your trophy is lost because of me. I owe a lot of people a lot of money. But August is going to help me find a job, and hopefully I can start repaying soon. I don’t know how much a golden stein is worth—”

“It’s worthless compared to you being safe and happy.”

Tears sting my eyes. Outside in the cold, I promised myself I wouldn’t cry. When he left me at Bjorn’s three days ago, I was a puffy, red-eyed mess from all my crying. His gentleness is such a juxtaposition to his size, his growliness, and from anything I’ve experienced from any male in my life. It’s incomprehensible.

“You can’t mean that. Look what I did. I stole from you. Lost it. You had to deal with my awful stepdad. Probably paid him some obscene amount of money to make him go away. And now? You’ve brought my sister from the mainland out of the goodness of your heart? I’ll never repay all of this. I don’t even know how to put a number on any of it.”

There’s a sheet of paper in my pocket with a list of everyone I’ve stolen from for Marcus. Most everyone’s name has a number, but not Koru’s. Just a series of panicked question marks.

Koru sighs, his septum ring blowing in the wind of his breath. It makes me smile. “Come here,” he says, opening his arms to me. I step forward and fall into them, a little too eagerly. He’s so warm. His whole body is like a hot, hard board of muscles for me to get lost in.

“There’s no number,” he whispers into my hair. “No accounting to be kept. It’s water under the bridge. Or, ice in the river.” He chuckles at his own bad joke, his chest bouncing against the side of my face. I love his laugh, his stupid joke, when he smiles, and the scent of him—fire and hops and cinnamon.

“That’s a bad joke,” I whisper.

“I know, thanks. But seriously, you being here makes me so happy. I don’t deserve you or any love you may have, but I want to be deserving of it. Will you please let me be deserving of you?”

At that, I pull away to look into his warm golden eyes. Fire, honesty, desire—his eyes tell me a story I’m not sure I know how to believe. “Say it again.”

“Which part?” The edge of his lips crook up into a half smile. His tusks gleam in the light.

“The part where you say please.” This time, I smile at him and wag my eyebrows.

With a swoosh of air and a thunderous thump that scares me, Koru drops to both knees in front of me. “Poppy, will youpleaseforgive my anger?Pleaselet me love you.Pleaselet me spend every day, and night, trying to bring you joy?”

Every please out of his big, thick lips pulses pleasure through me. I clench my thighs. Him on his knees makes my skin flush with a heat I’m not used to. I nod, trying hard not to smile.

“Now I need you to say the words. Out loud.” Koru’s voice takes on a deeper growl that makes me want to shed all of my clothes right here.

“Yes, Koru. Yes. I forgive you. And I want to love you back. Every day.”

“And night?” He wiggles his bushy eyebrows up and down. I’ve never seen an orc do that before. I laugh before I can catch myself.

“And every night. Preferably, starting with tonight.” The last word almost doesn’t come out of my mouth. I’ve never been this forward before.

I needn’t worry. Koru whoops, stands, and scoops me up into his arms before I can get my senses about me.

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“I’VE WANTED YOU SINCEthe moment you walked through my door,” Koru says with such a fierceness it startles me. His voice vibrates through my bones, making my skin shiver in delight. “That moment changed everything for me. You are my home now.”

The bed is a giant, warm nest with the fire in the fireplace warming us. The first time he put me in this bed, I was half-frozen and unconscious and desperately trying to find a way to freedom. Now, every touch of his is fire to my skin, leaving behind a trail of pebbled flesh. I’m a queen and he’s worshipping every inch of me. I’m safe. With him. He’s peeled up my shirt, pulled down my bra cups, and now, with one finger on my nipple, sends shockwaves of delight through me, all the way down between my legs.

His body is so large, I wrap a leg around him, trying to find friction for myself. The look he gives me is one of pure hunger. “My little flower. This is mine.” He pulls away from me, just inches, but it feels like miles, and rests his hand on my mound. Liquid heat fills me. “You are mine.”

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