Page 17 of His Orc Lady

“What are youdoing?” I snap and turn toward the source of the yelling.

And there is Owen, in a white shirt and brown pants, splashed with water, his hair undone and messy. He’s staring at me with his mouth open, and it hits me suddenly that I’m naked—completely naked and standing in a small pool, with water only reaching the undersides of my breasts.

I shouldn’t be embarrassed.

Orcs aren’t ashamed—or afraid—of their bodies, and I’ve been in the presence of so many of my fellow clansmen and women over the years. Just a few nights ago, I bathed in one of these pools with Willow, and I’d almost pitied her for how she’d hidden herself away, even though her body is just as nice as anyone else’s.

Yet now, with Owen gawping at me like this, a flush of heat rises in my cheeks. I crouch quickly so I dip underwater, submerging myself to my chin.

“Everything all right over there?” a woman calls from the mist, somewhere to my right.

For a mad moment, I want to cry for her help, ask her to come over and chase away this man who’s been haunting my thoughts.

“Aye,” I yell back, “We’re fine.”

Owen twists his head to follow the sound, then looks back at me again, though he keeps his gaze on my face, rather than my submerged body.

“I saw—” he starts, then chokes and tries again, “I saw you underwater and I thought— I only wanted to help, Mara. I didn’t even know it was you.”

Just like that, my anger evaporates, washed away by the water flowing past me. “You thought I was drowning?”

He tugs at the back of his shirt, pulls it over his head, and wipes his face on it, blotting the droplets my thrashing had left there. “Yes. Clearly, I didn’t see how shallow the water was.” He dips his gaze to the stone lip of the pool. “I keep having to apologize to you.”

Despite all the wetness surrounding me, my mouth runs dry at the sight of his skin. My first thought is that he’s trying to present himself in the best light, but perhaps he’s just comfortable being half naked around people? He told me himself that he’d shared accommodations with his men on the road.

I run my fingers through my hair, pushing it back. It’s all tangled now, so I should dip myself again, but Owen follows my movements with interest, as if he’s never seen a woman finger-comb her hair before.

If he’s staring, then I can, too, I decide, and let my gaze travel from his handsome face to his broad shoulders, noting the pink scars on his arms, no doubt the result of years of training and battles.

It hits me then that I’mluckyhe’s here. He’s a soldier, after all, and might have died in any of those skirmishes. The fact that he’s here, alive and disturbing my inner peace, is a blessing.

I’m trying to find the right words to say, but perhaps I’m still too tired from my strange dreams because I blurt, “Whydidyou apologize yesterday?”

Owen shakes his head, a wry smile twisting his lips. “I’ve been trying to think of a good reason, but I can’t find one.”

“You-you can’t?”

A fragile hope blooms in my chest, and I try to squash it down, because it’s premature, unreasonable. But it glows there, a happy little sprout, and I know it’ll hurt all the more when it’s inevitably smothered by reality.

Owen picks up a bundle of cloth that I realize is a bathing sheet he must have dropped earlier when he’d tried tosaveme. He gazes at me, then steps to the left, toward another small pool. He hesitates, then sets his bathing sheet on the lip of the pool.

“Would you mind if I, ah, bathed as well?” he asks. “My men will be waiting for me at breakfast.”

I shake my head, struck speechless at this turn of events. He’d seemed so shocked earlier when he saw me naked, but now, he wants to…level the stakes, perhaps?

He turns his back to me and takes a deep inhale, his shoulders rising, then dropping. Then he quickly toes off his boots, undoes the laces of his pants, and shoves them down his long legs.

I don’t look away.

Why would I? Nakedness is nothing to be embarrassed about, and besides, I’mcurious. I’ve seen human women undressed, but never a man, so I watch avidly as he flashes a pair of tight ass cheeks, strong rider’s thighs and calves, covered in curly golden hair, and between his legs, a hint of…

He splashes into the pool, perhaps a bit gracelessly because he’s in such a hurry to hide himself underwater. I can’t help but grin, though I bite my inner cheek before he faces me again. I don’t want him to feel embarrassed by this—what could be more natural and comfortable than taking a bath?

That tantalizing sight of his manhood has my thoughts running wild. I only saw the shadow, but from where it was in relation to his legs, I think…I might want to see more of it.

It never occurred to me to wonder how we would fit together because I’ve been trying so hardnotto think about him. But orc men and human women can fuck, so surely…

“Mmh.” Owen settles into the pool with a low groan. “This is one of the best things I’ve ever experienced.”

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