Page 3 of The Orc's Sweetheart
Arching an eyebrow, she shoots me a saucy look. “Is he hot?”
“I don’t—Oh, I see what you did there. Ha ha.”
“Oops. I didn’t even mean it that way. Great work me, though. I hope he is—both ways.”
I shake my head but can’t keep my smile from forming. “Maybe keep the objectifying silent, please. I’d like to make a good first impression.”
Audrey shifts to serious again and places a hand on her chest. “All joking aside, I’ve got your back. Don’t worry. All thoughts will be restricted to my mind—and my panties once I’m home, by myself, away from where I can embarrass you.”
I clutch my heart in return. “Your thoughtfulness is appreciated.”
Chapter 2
Bodin
“Bodin, dear, is that you?” Ma calls the moment the front door closes behind me.
“Yeah, it’s me.” I duck through the bathroom doorway right next to the entrance and bend down to squeeze my hands under the faucet in the tiny sink. Ma’s stone cottage was built with a goblin’s diminutive size in mind and wasn’t really meant to accommodate my six foot eight orc form.
Ma appears in the corridor as I reach for the small towel. Feeling bad for knowing I’d drench the delicate fabric, I look at my shirt and choose to wipe my hands on it instead.
“That towel was made for using, Bodin.It’ll dry again.”
“This just seemed more efficient.”
Ma takes a slow breath in through her nose and gives me a patient smile that I’d like to think is her appreciating my thoughtfulness for not destroying the tiny towel. I note the lines around her eyes that have gotten more pronounced over the last couple of years. Her large, pointed ears remain alert—just as her mind still is—despite the massive jewels she likes to hang from them. I’m glad she is retiring and that she’ll be taking things easier once the new nurse gets here.
“You all moved into your new apartment?”
I exit the bathroom and hunch my way toward the middle of the room where the roof is at its highest and I can stand up straight. “All set. Got a bed, a chair, and a fridge. That’s more than enough.”
“It’s not too late, you know? You can stay in the cottage and the nurse can move into the apartment.” Ma adds in a conspiratorial whisper, “She’d never know.”
I huff a laugh. “Nah. I think she might need it more than I do. Plus, that cottage is pretty enough to make her stay in Starry Hill permanently.”
“You have the sweetest heart, my dear boy.” Besides being thirty-one years old, to my Ma, I’m still her little boy.
“Don’t you dare tell anyone that. It’ll mess with my street cred.”
“With your what?”
“My… never mind. It’s nothing.” I sit down on the large armchair Ma keeps for bigger creatures so I can be at a more accessible height for her.
Ma studies my face like she’s trying to see right through to my soul—a skill she thankfully doesn’t possess—before she narrows her eyes and asks, “I know you’re a capable adult and I don’t need to worry, but you do have plates and bowls and such, right?”
My lips quirk up and I scrub at the back of my neck. “I left a few at the cottage for the nurse. Kept one of each for myself.”
“Bodin!” Ma scolds lightly and swats at my arm. “You need more than one of each. Let me give you some of mine.” She makes to leave for the kitchen but I gently place a hand on her bony shoulder, halting her before she empties her own cupboards.
“Ma, it’s not like I’m having a ton of guests over. It’s just to hold my food for five seconds before I consume it. Besides, I don’t know if the new nurse is the entertaining kind, but at least she’ll be set if she is.”
Ma’s face softens and she takes my hand in both of hers. “Oh, what a kind soul you have. I think Nurse Williams will really appreciate that.” I love how the green of Ma’s skin matches mine, even if we don’t share the same blood. She’s always been more of a mom to my sister and me than our biological mother ever had been. Ma was only supposed to take care of us while our mother sailed off for the summer—we still think she was involved in some illegal sea business—but she never came back. After two seasons, we stopped waiting for her to ever return and Ma officially took us in.
“Is that the nurse’s name? Nurse Williams?”
Lowering herself down opposite me into her favorite armchair, Ma nods. “Yes. It’s about time we stopped calling her ‘the nurse’ and by her actual name. The gods only know I’d hate for all of Starry Hill to refer to me as ‘the doctor.’ Or maybe she’d prefer Nurse Tilly. We’ll have to ask her.”
“I’ll be sure to ask her that when I meet her later. What else do you know about her?”
