Page 12 of Captured By the Orc

I gather up all the cards, feeling weirdly nervous. “It’s called 52-card pickup.” And before I can chicken out, I fling the cards into the air.

For a second, Garoth just stares as the cards rain down around us. Then he throws his head back and laughs, a deep, rich sound that makes my insides melt.

“Whoever picks up the most wins, right?” he chuckles, already bending to snatch up a card.

“You got it, big guy,” I grin, relieved he was playing along.

We dive into it, scrambling around the tiny mess hall like kids. I crawl under the table, reaching for a stray ace, and when I pop back up, I get an eyeful of Garoth stretching to grab a card from a high shelf.

Holy hell. The way his shirt rides up, revealing a strip of green skin and rock-hard abs... I nearly swallow my tongue.

“See something you like?” he teases, catching me staring.

I feel my face heat up. “Just admiring your... card-collecting technique,” I stammer.

We meet in the middle of the room, both clutching handfuls of cards. But as I reach out to compare our piles, Garoth’s body brushes against mine.

Electricity zings through me, and suddenly I can’t breathe.

“Lila,” he murmurs, my name sounding like a caress.

I look up at him, drowning in those fiery eyes. He’s so close that the heat radiating off his skin, smell the faint scent of ozone, and something uniquely him. My heart pounds so hard I’m sure he can hear it.

“Garoth,” I whisper back, not even sure what I’m asking for. His closeness is intoxicating, making my head spin and my knees weak.

The tension between us is a living thing, crackling with potential. His gaze drops to my lips, and I swear the temperature in the room shoots up ten degrees.

Just kiss me already, I think desperately. But before either of us can move, a shrill alarm blares through the ship.

We jump apart like we’ve been shocked. Garoth is gone in an instant, his warrior instincts kicking in as he races to the cockpit.

“False alarm,” he says comes over the intercom a moment later. “Just a small asteroid.”

I slump into a chair, my legs suddenly too wobbly to hold me up. What the hell am I doing? Lusting after an orc isn’t exactly in the diplomat’s handbook.

But as I sit there, trying to calm my racing heart, I can’t deny the truth anymore. I want Garoth. Not just physically, but all of him — his strength, his unexpected gentleness, the way he makes me feel safe even as he sets me on fire.

It’s crazy. It’s probably a terrible idea. But as I think about the way he’d looked at me, like I was the most fascinating thing in the universe, I realize I don’t care.

I’m falling for Garoth, hard and fast.

CHAPTER 6

LILA

The first rays of dawn fracture against the viewport, sluicing the cramped galley with a wash of sepia and grey.

I sit hunched over my bowl, stirring the nutrient paste absentmindedly. It looks like sludge, tastes worse, but it’s food. Or a facsimile thereof. Tension knits the space between us tighter than a cargo net. Yet, I can’t get that near kiss out of my mind from yesterday.

Garoth’s here, opposite me, silent as the void outside. His form is like some ancient tree, broad and unyielding, making the makeshift table seem more toy than furniture under his bulk.

Does he wonder about our almost kiss too? Or is he oblivious?

I poke at the paste, trying not to stare. Trying, and failing. There’s something about him that pulls at me — a gravity well I’m struggling not to get sucked into. Every line of his body screams strength, every glance from those dark eyes sets off alarms in my brain.

Danger, they say, but damn if I don’t want to ignore them.

“Nutrient blocks all right?” he rumbles. It’s a simple question, mundane even, but coming from him it feels like the start of something seismic.

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