Page 27 of Claimed By the Orc Lord

There were sweet brown freckles that danced along his shoulders like little maps to entire worlds, universes I’d been waiting to see my entire life.

He truly was perfect.

“Uh…” His fingers snapping pulled me out of the way I was drinking down the sight of his body. “Aren’t you coming in? I know I’ve been the one doing the heavy lifting today…” He actually raised his arm, flexing the muscle with a broad grin. “But you could probably use a bath too.”

“I…” How did I tell him that if I followed him into the water, the small amount of self-restraint I’d somehow summoned through sheer willpower, and perhaps a little magic, would dissolve?

Just looking at him, I could feel the fissures starting to form. I wanted to go into the lake after him.

I wanted—

“Come on. You can’t just sit there. Besides,” he smacked his hand against the water, sending a fan of droplets out to splash against my hot skin. “I have to sleep in the same room as you—not fair if you’re all…” Kai pursed his lips, his eyes glancing up and down my tense frame. “Stinky or something.”

Temptation.

Temptation.

My little human was trying to break all the resolve I had.

“Later.” I said the word through gritted teeth, and watched as Kai’s brow furrowed while he took a few steps back. The water slipped around his body, lapping against his collarbone in a way that made me jealous. He dipped beneath the surface, and I wondered if it would be long enough for me to find some semblance of sanity and resolve before he came back up.

It wasn’t, though, and the sight of his hair slicked back, gone dark with moisture and clinging in curls to his skin was too much.

“Okay. Fine,” he said, submerged to his chin while he watched me watching him. He went through the motions of scrubbing himself clean, using the leaves I directed him to. By the time he’d managed to wash himself, my cock was so painfully hard in my breeches that I thought I might die, and his face was stormy.

He looked…

Angry.

“Are you nearly finished?” I couldn’t figure out the expression, and I didn’t think I could last much longer watching his lean muscles twist this way and that while he got himself clean.

Kai’s eyes darted up to me, pale blue in the moonlight, and he looked me over slowly.

“No. I can’t get my back clean.” He made no move to reach it, though, and my fingers clenched at my sides. This was a test—this was recompense for all the trouble I’d ever given my brothers when we were younger. It was truly punishment from the gods, watching him and not touching him.

“I am sure you’re plenty clean. You can—”

The sudden wave of water from him splashing me cut my words off, and when I wiped my eyes clear of the liquid, he was glaring at me. “Jesus Christ, and people callmedumb. Get in the water and touch me, Nash. Before I change my mind.”

Chapter eleven

Kai

Damnit,thiswasmy idea. I couldn’t even tell Nash I didn’t want it this time, because I was the one who’d told him to come into the water with me.

But… fuck, I’d felt good all day. I spent so much of my life going from job to job, from thing to thing. Everything felt so…

Transitional. My jobs, my friends, the people I slept with. None of it was solid, or real.

The only constant in my life had been Rainn—nothing else had really mattered.

But today, even though it was weird and everyone was green…they all smiled at me while I helped them.

It felt like I was doing something right—like every little thing I’d ever learned to fix, every skill I’d ever picked up, had been for this moment.

That, and I’d felt something weird and ugly twist in my chest when I’d noticed Nash hugging that other man. He was big and broad and…

Yeah.

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