Page 21 of Romancing the Orc

I kick and push, plowing through the water.

Lara’s hands tighten on my hair until my scalp burns with the pull. She’s nervous and afraid, and Ihateit.

I swim harder, determined to get this over with as quickly as possible. Yet I also can’t stop and check to see if the water is shallow enough to stand without risking dunking her, so I have to go well past the point where I’d normally stop. By the time I’m only a few yards from the far bank, we’ve been pushed a good way downstream.

My feet touch ground, and I stand slowly, reaching back to palm her ass and pull her back up onto my shoulders. Once I’m standing, my hands glide forward to grip her lush thighs.

Lara gives a little squeak and wiggles, her heels digging into my stomach as she finds her seat.

My mate’s scent surrounds me, intoxicating and lush. It calls to me, and the base of my cock tingles, longing to knot.

Yet I’d be practically helpless if our enemies found us while we’re bound together, and an orc knot lasts for over ten hours the first time with their mate. Such pleasures will have to wait.

But perhaps not all pleasures.

I grin, imagining Lara’s sweet thighs gripping my head as I plunge my tongue into her.

Turning upriver, I walk along the bank. The water is calm and warm here and wading is little hardship.

“Where are we going?” Lara asks. “Why aren’t we getting out of the water?”

“Once they see where we’ve gone into the river, they’ll assume we came out of it downstream, which we’d do if we got out now. So I’m going to take us a good mile or so in the other direction before getting out.”

“Oh, I should use that in one of my books.” Her heels give a little kick against my stomach. “I’m adding it to the list.”

“Your list of things to do today?”

“Not that one. My list of ideas for books.”

“Exactly how many of these lists do you have?” I swivel my head to look up at her.

“Lots. Why?” Her lips purse. “Doesn’t everybody have lists?”

“No. Not everyone.” Though I start my own then and there:

1) Get Lara out of her head and into her body.

2) Eat that pretty pussy until she screams my name.

3) Knot her and claim her fully as mine.

A smirk bares my tusks as I think of how to make the first items happen. Maybe this list idea isn’t so bad after all.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Lara

“Tell me how you became a writer,” Brokk asks as he wades upriver with me swaying on his shoulders.

“Oh, I’ve always loved books,” I say. “I grew up in a small town that always felt a bit magical. Ferndale Falls is located in the middle of old-growth forest, and there’s even a beautiful waterfall, as you might expect from the name. It’s a wonderful town, but my mind always wanted to explore and dream up new places.”

“So you get that in a big city like New York?”

“No.” I shake my head, then realize he can’t see me. “It’s not about size. It’s about…” God, how to explain it? I’m supposed to be good with words, dammit! “It’s about possibility. It’s about wonder.”

My right hand releases its death grip on his hair just long enough to feel the comforting bulge of the journal stretching the fabric covering my stomach. “I grew up hearing the family stories of my ancestor who ran away to have adventures in Faerie. By the time I turned thirteen, I wasobsessed.”

“For good reason. Faerie is a marvel,” he says, his voice carrying not even the tiniest smidge of mockery. Most guys would be humoring me by now, if they wanted to listen to me at all. No one’s ever taken this side of me seriously.

---