Page 8 of One Night with Her Grumpy Orc

Chapter 5

Betty

Heater—on. All thelights—on. Candles in the bathroom—lit. Hot water—running.

These are a few of my favorite things. The only thing missing is the powerful green orc who kept me alive, warm, and sane last night.

Sinking into the water, the heat is silky smooth on my skin. The soreness between my thighs from last night melts away, and it takes all my willpower not to relive the sensations of his thick cock stretching me, his possessive hands holding me tight, and his whispered words of how good I felt making me smile and blush in the bath.

Get it together, Betty.My helpful brain conjures Jake entering my broken library, seeing Grev and me standing close. Too close. While Jake works with the monsters in town and has a great rapport, neither of my parents does. And if there’s one thing I learned growing up next door to him, it’s that Jake Cowper cannot keep a secret. In fact, once he calls my parents to tell them of my disastrous, delicious night, I’ll know within minutes. Because that’s all it will take for Mom to hang up with him and call me—a shrill panic in her voice. He’s always had an overbearing-protective-older brother thing and felt it necessary to intrude by keeping my parents up to date on my life.

When I got in a car wreck in college, mom knew before I even had the thought to call her. When I got this job, mom called distraught as she was hoping I’d work at our hometown library—with a less diverse population. Oh, and that one time I had emergency dental surgery for a broken tooth. Did she arrive on my doorstep to help with food, or just to check on me? Nope.

But did she call, multiple times, and let me know all her opinions on what I was doing wrong? Yep, every time. My secret theory is that they pay him every time he blathers to them about me. He’s like their own personal spy.

Scrubbing my skin until it’s pink, I feel slightly better and set up my book tray across the tub. Hand toweled off, I open the book.

Then slam it shut.

Reading about the lonely beekeeper and the minotaur who’s about to rock her world with his horns and giant cock is definitelynotwhat I should read right now. Let myself sink down into the water. Close my eyes. Muffle all sound with the water. It appears my mind is giving me two options: sadness over the state of my beloved library and how much work it’s going to take to get it back and open for our community. Or, sadness over the orc I’ve secretly loved for the past year, that I’ve now tasted and want more of, but that I’ll never hear the end of if I actually have a relationship with him.

What would my beekeeper heroine do? Would she let her stuffy family impede her dreams and heart and pulsing pussy? No. She would not. And I am nothing if not a dutiful student of literature.

Sitting up, I look from the flickering candles on the counter to my wrinkled hands in the water. If I want to have a relationship with Grev, I can do that. I’m a grown ass woman. Besides, my parents are on the mainland and would never willingly ferry over to the island to visit. It’s always my job to go visit them.

And eventually, if things work out with Grev—gods, I hope they do, because I could lose myself in his serious eyes and ride his cock every night—then, well, I’ll figure it out. We’ll deal with my folks when the time comes.

Decision made, I pull the plug. Exhausted but now energized with the thought of being with Grev, making every dream I’ve had of him come to fruition, I need to journal, and make hot cocoa and a plan.

The doorbell shakes me out of my excited planning. Hopefully, it’s a pixie here to deliver hot food and then be on their way. A girl can hope.

Robe on, hair in a towel, I tiptoe across the cold floor, leaving a trail of water behind me, and open the door.

And see my mother standing on my doorstep, tears running down her face. My father behind her, hands in his pockets, staring off into the distance like always.

“My girl! We came as soon as we heard! The ferry was awful and the lady at the bakery acted like I was out of line for cutting in front of some green creature. But I’m here, darling. I’m here!” She throws her arms around me.

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