Page 37 of The Orc Chief's Baker
Instead, she kissed himfull on the lips.
His heart thundered, and it felt like it would fall out of his chest.
Fades, he couldn’t breathe. His mind scrambled to understand what was happening. His nose flooded with her sweet scent. His mouth felt like it’d caught fire as her soft, plump lips lingered on his own. Her body was so incrediblywarm.
It was over long before he wanted it to be. He’d wanted to relish it. Memorize it. Instead, she pushed back from him, came back to her full height. He lost his balance and plopped down onto his ass in the muck and barely minded.
Her cheeks were bright, but she wassmiling.
She was a beauty. He wanted to wrap his arms around the warmth of her body, press her curves into his frame and drown in her.
Instead, a cry sounded from the woods. One he could not ignore.
The warlord’s call.
Fuck, he wasn’t ready. He wanted more time. Why did Karthoc want himnow?
Just when he was trying to war with his instinctual need to obey the authority of his leader, Karthoc yelled again. A giantroar. Loud enough that Trinia heard it and whipped her curly haired head toward the cry. The strands that had fallen loose from her queue tempted him. He wanted to clench it in his grip and tip her head back and?—
“BROVDIR!”
Trinia jumped, hand over her mouth in shock. “W-who wasthat?”
“My brother,” Brovdir said under his breath. There was no fighting the call. “I must go.”
“Go just for a moment or . . .”
Judging from his brother’s tone. “Go for today.”
Her expression fell to one of disappointment, and that should not have made him so ecstatic. He wanted to keep her.
And then his brother’s roar caused the birds to fly out of their perches in terror and Brovdir inhaled sharply as dismay tightened in his chest.
“You’ll come back, right?”
He grinned. “Yes. I will.”
“All right, then,” she said with a nod. She’d recovered from her shock rather quickly.
She was a brave woman.
Fades, he wanted her.
“BROVDIR!”
Blast it. “I apologize. I must answer the warlord.”
Her eyes went huge, and his stomach dropped as she said, “But you said it was... you’re... the warlord’sbrother?”
Wrench him to the depths, he’d fumbled this. He should have taken the time to explain. “I am. I?—”
“BROVDIR, NOW!”
Fuck, he couldn’t fight it. And really, what more was there to say?
He bowed his head slightly. “I will see you again.”
She swallowed so thickly he heard it, but she nodded. Tension left him in a rush.
