Page 45 of The Orc's Sweetheart
“Of course. My ankle is healing much faster than expected. Mostly thanks to your initial insistence on caring for me. I won’t be running for a while yet, but slow walking is good.”
“Breakfast tomorrow?”
Tilly raises her brows and I can already read her expression well enough to anticipate some kind of innuendo. She proves me right when she says, “As long as you’re on the menu for dessert.”
I rub a hand down my face. “Fuuuuck, Matilda. Don’t get me hard in the middle of the street.”
Tilly shrugs. “Why not? You made me come in an alley mere minutes ago.”
“Is this some form of payback?”
“No, payback would be when I tell you that I can’t wait to sit on your cock. To feel each ridge, each piercing, as you slide into my dripping pussy,” Tilly says in a low voice, enunciating each word clearly.
I groan and close my eyes, balling my fists so I don’t reach for her and drag her to the closest bed.
From her shop behind me, Calixta calls out with a suggestive drawl, “My, my. Talk about sexual energy. Yummm.”
I purse my lips to stop my smile from forming. We’re so caught. My chest bounces with suppressed laughter, but my poor Tilly’s face is flaming with embarrassment as she eyes her escape route down to First Street. I don’t want to make her feel more awkward, so I incline my head to show her she can leave if she wants to.
Thefamiliar bell above The Viny Shears’s door rings a couple of seconds later as Beryl pops her head out. “Sexual energy? Who? Oh!”
Tilly gives them an awkward wave and starts walking backward, whispering to me, “See you tomorrow.”
I watch her go for a couple of seconds, making sure she’s careful as she makes her way down the hill, then pivot to my sister and sister-in-law as Tilly turns into First Street.
“Before you give me all the ‘I told you so’ speeches, I’d like to say, ‘you told me so.’”
Beryl strides toward me and wraps me in a hug. “I’m so happy for you. And a Cape Easton girl, eh?”
“Yup,” I say proudly. I’d fall for Tilly no matter where she’s from.
Calixta comes forward and angles her head for a goblin greeting. I lean down to press my temple to hers, then wrap her into a hug too.
Punching me on the arm, Beryl says, “I told you so.”I should get used to this refrain.
I rub at my arm reflexively. “Yeah, I deserved that.” My hand pauses, and I look at my sister and then to her wife. “You two got any tips for a romantic claiming proposal?”
Beryl’s smile grows bigger until it’s a magnificent grin. “Loads.”
Calixta stares at the spot Tilly disappeared from before turning back to me. “Have you guys been fucking since karaoke night?”
“We actually haven’t fucked yet,” I say in a small voice, my cheeks heating at the admission.
Calixta’s jaw almost unhinges itself with the rapid speed it descends. “Bro, how can you jump to talks about proposals? You’re going to freak that female out.”
My shoulders pull up to my ears. “Too soon?”
Beryl nods, worry lines framing her mouth. “Oh yeah. We love Tilly, and we can help you plan a proposal, but give her some time to get used to you and Starry Hill first. And do a bit of loving, if you know what I mean.”
Nodding enthusiastically, Calixta agrees, “Definitely. She needs an appetizer of orc sex before she jumps into a claiming rut. You can’t have an amateur run a marathon on the first try.”
I swallow hard. “You think?”
“We know,” they say in unison.
Perhaps my heart decided before my brain did. I need to take some time to align all three—heart, brain, and cock— before I scare Tilly off.
I offer them a small smile. “That makes sense. I’ll need to have a big chat with Tilly first, though. She needs to understand more of what happened in Cape Easton.”
