Page 14 of My Orc in Uniform

I wanted to shout, to punch the air, but my brother would make fun of me more than usual for that. My fingers shook as I typed my reply.

Just name the time and place. I’m really looking forward to it.

She immediately began to reply, and I liked the thought of her staring at her phone too, waiting to hear fromme.

Patrick’s big plan for tomorrow is sitting in front of his gaming computer for hours on end. Want to meet in the park? 11ish?

My fingers flew as my grin made my cheeks ache.11am in the park is perfect. Did you have a good day today?

There was a pause, and I told myself not to read into it. Was she uncomfortable with me asking? Was she surprised I asked?

Most Saturdays, I go to the mainland for groceries and errands. Patrick came with metoday so we could check out a few drum sets he was interested in.

I settled on my bed, my ankles crossed, my back against the headboard.Oh yeah? Did you get anything?

No, they were all too expensive. He wants to start a band with his friends, but I hadn’t budgeted for a drum set this month, even with him pitching in his money.

I never did make it back to the movie.

We texted back and forth all evening, and I felt like a teenager, with the way I was basically floating on air.

Well, I mean, the way Iassumeda teenager would respond to his first crush, based on all the after-school specials I’d seen in the last decade. When Memnon and I were teenagers, we were busy learning how to hunt the mightybkarnand tie our ownpordkamps, and the four females we knew were twice our age and Mated.

But the way I felt now was absolutely the way a young male would feel being around the female he loved.

Loved? No, that was stupid. Memnon’s words had just gotten to me. But I’ll admit; I was crushing hard on Rissa Gray, and over the moon that she’d agreed to take a fuckingwalkwith me.

Sunday morning, I left our apartment by ten and was at the park by ten-oh-seven. One of the benefits of living on Main Street, I guess. So I turned around, and I strolled back, stopping in Meli’s Bake Shoppe for a chocolate muffin and to say hello to Cairo, who was nearly as grumpy as Memnon. Then I stuck my head in Giza’s tattoo parlor, but he was bent over Karnak,etching something into the other male’s green skin, so I just waved and moved on.

I stopped to chat with all the human storekeepers too, like Maya in the floral shop and Mr. Wilson at the hardware store. This was something I was used to doing as a cop, and in New York, I’d becomegoodat getting the community to trust me and open up, despite looking so different from them. Or maybe because of it.

But in Eastshore, I didn’t have to work too hard, because the people were friendly and accepting, and genuinely seemed to care for one another. A bit of a culture shock after New York, let me tell you.

That, and sweet tea.

I was waiting for Rissa at the park at eleven, and didn’t bother hiding the way my smile bloomed when she strolled up. I guess she lived in one of the neighborhoods close by, then. “Hi,” I blurted, still sounding ridiculously young. “Are you ready?”

I was this excited about a fuckingwalk.

“I am.” The spring weather was unpredictable; she wore sandals, jeans, and a vest over a long-sleeved sweater, and now did that thing where she tucked some hair behind her ear and ducked her chin shyly. “If you are.”

I had to resist the urge to take her chin in my fingers and tip her head toward mine and claim those lips. Maybe thinking about her while I jerked off yesterday was a bad idea?

“Rissa, I wasbornready,” I announced ridiculously. Then, leaning into it, I bowed gallantly and offered her my arm. “My lady, where shall we stroll?”

She was blushing when she slipped her arm through mine, but I liked that she didn’t shy away. “The beach should be nice this morning, if you’re up for it. A stroll in the sand, I mean.”

Grinning, I waggled my eyebrows at her as we began to walk. “That’s what they called me at the academy.”

I could see her fighting a smile. “Up for it?”

“No,sand stroll,” I joked. “Or sometimesnice in the morning.”

She snorted, and I loved how responsive she was being. Made me wonder what it would be like to touch her skin, to make her moan…

Whoa, slow the fuck down.

And when Ididmanage not to obsess over future possibilities, I had a really nice time right here in the present. Suggesting the walk was a good plan, because it gave us something todo, something to look at, while we talked, just like Friday night.

---