Page 30 of Romancing the Orc

I laugh. “What’s wrong with gnomes?”

“They won’t party with us!”

Lara snorts in amusement and sits up, one forearm covering her breasts.

A pulse of magic unfurls from me, and the vines of the hammock unwind even while others lift her catsuit from the ground and bring it to her.

They set us on our feet, and I stand between her and the sprites so she can get dressed with a modicum of privacy. Being naked doesn’t bother me. Orcs don’t have the same nudity taboos as humans, and sprites have even fewer. It’s well known that their love of Faerie Fruit extends to personal use, followed by orgies.

As soon as she’s dressed, I put on my pants and boots, then crouch to make her a new pair of leaf shoes. Her heels go back into my pockets. I have plans for them later.

“We need to eat,” I say. “But I’d rather not take time to hunt.”

“I’m good with fruit,” Lara says.

“We’ll bring you fruit!” the sprite leader calls out, her butterfly wings flapping excitedly.

“I have a better idea,” I counter. “You say you’re bored and don’t have anyone to party with? Why not frolic again with the humans who are following us? They’ve been trekking through the jungle all day. I’m sure they’d enjoy a good party.”

“Uh, is that going to make them have sex with people they don’t want to do it with?” Lara frowns. “’Cause as much as those assholes aren’t my favorite, I’m still team consent over here.”

“It doesn’t work like that,” the sprite says. “Faerie Fruit can make you act on desires you might not admit to otherwise, but they are stillyourdesires.”

“So if they don’t want anyone they’re with, what happens to them?” she asks.

“They dance until they lose consciousness,” I say.

“Sounds like a good way to slow them down.”

I grin, liking how she thinks. “It certainly does.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Lara

The sprites fly off, heading downriver, and I watch the tiny fae until they disappear from sight. If I didn’t believe any of this before, I sure would now. How else do you explain miniature pink people with iridescent butterfly wings? I read about sprites in the research I did on Faerie, but seeing them…

It makes all of this hit home. Fae exist. Faerie is real.

And Brokk’s really an orc.

We set off into the jungle, Brokk leading the way, and this time I can see what he’s doing for what it truly is—he’s not shoving the plants aside with his body. His magic moves them out of the way.

Magic. I just had magically enhanced sex—the most mind-blowing, hottest sex of my life—with an orc! Even better, heseems to like me for who I truly am, hot mess and daydreaming imagination and everything.

All the guys I’ve dated have complained that I didn’t put aside my career for them or clean their apartments or cook or do any of the things “normal girlfriends do.” When I tried to joke that I can’t cook and barely clean my own apartment, it didn’t help. I was funny, could talk about geeky stuff, and enjoyed sex, but it was never enough in the long run.

That’s why I tried to warn off Brokk—if he’s going to be like those other men, I need to know now.

Because Brokk? Brokk can break my heart.

I misjudged him, looking at the surface of all those fan videos and creating a false story that he was vain and shallow. Instead, he’s the best guy I’ve ever known. He freaking rode the landing gear of a plane to save me! Then he came into a camp full of people with guns!

It doesn’t matter that all of this is moving really fast. I want everything he said about us being mates to be real. I mean, who doesn’t want that? The one fated to be your perfect companion? The one who’ll never leave and always be true?

Show me the dotted line—I’m ready to sign up!

Brokk halts beside the trunk of a narrow palm and grins at me. “The first part of lunch.” He points to where a massive cluster of bananas hangs overhead. There are three circular rows of them, each consisting of at least two dozen bananas, and they grow with the ends of the fruit pointing upward instead of down! I never knew that.

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