Page 31 of The Grinch Who Stole Orcmas

A surge of heat pools in my belly as Grum’s lips brush against mine with a desperate urgency that beckons to something primal inside me. His strong arms wrap more tightly around me.

My palms clutch the broad span of his back, trailing along the taut muscles beneath his shirt. I thrill when I feel him harden against me and hear his low growl vibrating from deep within his throat.

I want more. With every second that passes, my body awakens, sparking to life as electric energy courses through me. My fingers tangle in his hair as I pull off his hair tie and urge him closer.

I want these kisses, but even more than that, I need to tell him things. Thoughts I’ve kept secret but that have been growing bigger and more urgent since the day we met.

Cupping his nape with my palms, I pull away so I can spear him with my most serious gaze.

“Grum. You scared me.”

He stiffens in my arms and I realize that was the wrong way to begin.

“That first day, you were so… gruff, so angry.”

Though I have more to say, I interrupt myself to kiss him. Not one of those desperate kisses like we just shared. This one is soft, barely there, telling him with my touch what my mouth is having such a hard time conveying—that I care for him, that he’s the most special thing in my world.

When he relaxes into my touch, I try to explain. “You didn’t like me—”

“That’s not true.”

I gently press one finger against his lips so I can finish. “You’d been ordered to help. Now that I know you, I realize that a strong male like you doesn’t like to be forced to do anything. I just want you to know that despite how scary you seemed, I was attracted from the start.”

“Ohhh.” The sound is a moan and a prayer and high praise all wrapped up in a gruff rumble from the depths of him. “You’re so much smarter than me, Joy. It took me an hour, maybe even two, before I started to fall for you. And,” he shakes his head, rueful, “it took me days to realize it.”

He strides to his living room wall and presses me against it. After hitching me higher, making sure that between his hands on my ass and my thighs around his waist he can hold me comfortably, he devours me.

Our teeth clack and his tusks gently scrape my cheeks as his tongue delves inside me. He doesn’t hold back. He wants me to know how deeply this kiss is affecting him. He groans with pleasure as he sucks my tongue, laps at the seam of my lips, and explores my depths.

My breath catches as he pulls away just enough to look into my eyes, his amber gaze piercing and searching.

“What do you want?” he asks, voice low and thick as honey, his breath hot against my skin.

I swallow hard, my heart pounding as a hot blush streaks across my cheeks. “You… I want you, Grum.” The words spill out with a dark urgency, igniting his passion as his gaze darkens with desire.

“You want me?”

He uses the point of his black tongue to lick with painstaking languor along my jawline from one ear to the other.

“Allof me?”

His hips thrust in a deliciously slow rhythm as he presses me harder against him. I feel his cock rubbing against my clit even through our layers of clothes. I gasp at how sensual thisfeels, how he’s making me desperate for him before we’ve even undressed.

“All of you. Yes.”

Chapter 18: Finally

Joy

In a swift motion, he carries me to the bedroom, his thick muscles flexing under my touch, my ache of desire intensifying with every step we take.

After he sets me on the bed, I watch, mesmerized, as he yanks off his shirt, revealing the sinewy strength of his torso, green pecs rippling under the soft glow of the lamplight seeping in from the other room. His wound is barely a bruise. My fingers itch to trace the contours of his body, to feel the heat radiate beneath my fingertips.

With a soft gasp, I realize that my own top has become a tangle of fabric. Grum’s eyes follow my movements as I lift it over my head. His pupils expand and he exhales in a dazed huff as helooks at me. Though I’m still in my bra and pants, by the way he’s looking at me, you’d think I’d done a sexy striptease.

The cool night air brushes over my skin, heightening my senses, but nothing compares to the way his gaze burns into me, drinking in every inch of me like I’m a treasure.

Although I’m dying to see what he’s hiding under his jeans, he strides closer and kneels between my knees at the side of the bed.

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