Page 28 of Susie's Orc

“One more, baby. Give me one more.”

Baby. The word is so painfully tender in his gruff voice, and I feel the improbable, impossible stirrings of another climax building deep in my core. Jonah shifts us again so we’re on our sides, facing each other, and hitches one of my legs up over his hip before reaching down to stroke my clit.

His other hand cradles the back of my head, pulling me into him until our foreheads are touching and our lips bump over each other in uncoordinated not-quite-kisses. We’re both panting, straining, bucking and grinding against each other in a deliciously messy, graceless rut.

Jonah’s face is screwed up in an expression I might almost think was pain if I didn’t know better, and his muscles tense and quiver with the strain of holding back his release. It’s hot, so fucking hot to see him undone like this, and it pushes me higher, cracks and fractures me until I fall off that edge again and spasm around him, coming with a strangled scream.

He follows me a moment later, thrusting deep and spilling into me. Burying his face in my shoulder, he bites down lightly, groaning and shuddering with the force of his orgasm.

We stay like that for a few long minutes, breathing hard and coming back down to earth. When he finally pulls back, he’s got a dreamy, dazed expression on his face.

“I’ll be right back,” he whispers, brushing his lips against my forehead as he pulls out of me with an audibly wet slide that makes me whimper in over-stimulated pleasure.

When he returns, he has a warm, damp washcloth he uses to clean me up. Tossing it aside, he climbs back into bed, pulls a soft fur over us both, and tucks me into his side. I nestle into him, press my face into his chest, and his satisfied sigh puts a smile on my lips.

Still, as the silent minutes tick by, a bit of uncertainty creeps in.

Through everything we’ve shared and everything that’s happened over the last week, we haven’t really talked about this, haven’t talked aboutusand what we’re doing. As much as I don’t want to bring it up and spoil the moment, this feels like… a lot. Being here with him like this, cuddled up, hearts beating in sync, basking in the afterglow.

It feels a hell of a lot more intimate than a friends with benefits or hookup situation should be, but what do I know? And even though it might just be me over-thinking it, a sense of certainty settles in my mind with each passing second.

I can’t do casual with Jonah.

Not after what we just shared. Not after this entire week of pining over him and getting to know him and realizing just how wonderful he is. It makes my gut twist to think he might want a no-strings arrangement, but I also know going any further with him and finding that out later would hurt so, so much worse.

I have to rip the bandage off. I have to know.

“Are you…” I say, and almost lose my nerve. Gathering my courage, I press on. “Do you see this… us… going anywhere other than… this? A hookup?”

Jonah props himself up on an elbow and looks at me with a soft smile on his lips. “I want so much more than this, Susie.”

A small, mellow glow spreads from the center of my chest.

“I mean,” he quickly corrects. “This is great. This is so much more than I ever expected. But I’d also like to date you. I’d like to see what this can be.”

All that uncertainty disappears in a sparkle of warm, fizzy joy, and I grin up at him.

“Is that… is that what you want, too?”

“Of course it is,” I tell him, throwing myself into his embrace and kissing the hell out of him.

When we come up for air, we’re both smiling like love-struck fools. Which, fair, maybe that’s what we are, and when I kiss my orc again, it’s with all the promise and hope in the world.

Chapter 11

Jonah

I’ve never tasted anything as sweet as Susie Grove.

If I thought she was delicious before, she’s even sweeter now that we’re both on the same page, now that we’ve agreed that this is going somewhere, really going somewhere.

Any doubts I’d still been holding onto and any reservations lingering in the back of my mind disappear completely. There’s only this. Only her and the impossibly heady sense of triumph at the confirmation that she wants this, too—wants me, wants us.

I deepen the kiss, devouring her breathy moan and answering it with a growl, body roaring back to life after our brief rest.

Our kiss is interrupted, however, by the sound of Susie’s stomach rumbling.

A low, unhappy grumble lodges itself in the back of my throat. “I’m sorry, I should have gotten you something for dinner before we—”

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