Page 35 of The Orc Chief's Baker
Shock struck her. “Really?Never?”
He shook his head. “None outside Rove. Things don’t grow well.”
Oh. She’d forgotten.
She shifted her weight slightly to try to get better traction on the moss and wondered just how bad things really were outside of these woods. Was it true the ground was ashen, and people were starving? Was it true most of the villages had moved behind huge stone walls as the wars raged on?
Brovdir’s hand was looking better by the moment, but the crisp water accentuated the many white, puckered scars on his hands. He’d led such an incredibly hard life, and this forest was like a whole new world.
“Perhaps I should teach you about the plants, so something like this doesn’t happen again,” she said softly, looking around at what was growing here at the water’s edge. “Then you would know what was poisonous or barbed. You’d know what was and wasn’t good to eat too. Take that, for example.” She pointed to the cattail hovering right near his face.
Brovdir’s gaze shifted from her to the brown, sausage-shaped plant and before she could utter one more word, he’d plucked it and taken a bite.
“Wait!”
The plant’s fuzz exploded in his mouth.
Brovdir coughed and sputtered as a massive plume of fuzzy hairs stuck to his lips and tongue. He spat them out, but the spittle only made them stick more. He scrubbed at his mouth with his free hand.
And Trinia couldn’t help it. She burst into laughter.
“I’m sorry!” She barely managed between fits. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t think—I didn’t know you would—” She should haveguessed, though! The plant did look like a sausage on a stick. Of course he’d try to eat it.
The mental picture of him biting down on the fluff, his eyes shooting wide, his brows rising, and his body going rigid with regret—she couldn’t stop laughing. She gripped her stomach as tears streamed down her cheeks.
And then her foot slipped on the moss. Her body tipped toward the icy water as she scrambled to get a good hold.
She was scooped up, right out of the air, and cradled to a hard wall of muscle so warm it felt like jumping into a fire pit.
She could barely catch her breath as Brovdir carried her away from the spring. He held her under her back and knees and didn’t look even the least bit troubled by her weight. His arms were thick with muscle and she had to clench her hands tight to keep from reaching out to see how firm they were.
“Y-you’re really strong, aren’t you?” The words slipped out before she could stop them.
Brovdir blinked wide, and biscuits bake her, he was socute. Why was a warrior orc with all this rippling muscle and massive frame socute?
Her cheeks went so hot she was shocked they didn’t catch fire. “You can put me down. I’m not some dainty flower, you know?”
Brovdir’s fingers brushed against her side, right under the swell of her breasts. Her skin went hot and tingly, and she had to stop herself from squirming.
“I like it.”
She suddenly couldn’t get enough air as she searched his face. Was he mocking her?
“You’re sturdy.” He followed with a nod of determination. “And... soft.”
Sturdy and soft.
Her stomach fluttered and her mind reeled, and her thighs clenched together as if trying to fight her own reaction to such a delightful compliment.
Brovdir set her down on her feet and she continued to stare at him. She couldn’t help herself. His eyes were soft, and his brows were unfurrowed and he wore a light smile that made her giddy.
There was a bit of fluff still sticking out of the corner right next to his tusk.
“You, uh... you’ve got a little...” She tapped her own mouth, and he quickly brushed his mouth on the wrong side. “Oh, no, not there. Here, let me...”
She reached up and brushed the fluff away. His skin was so much softer than she expected. And he was so blasted tall. She had to stretch all the way up to reach.
There was a little more fluff in his hair too. “Lean down a little.”
