Page 17 of Loved By the Orc

To my delight, Tark let me take the lead. He groaned softly as I explored his mouth—first with soft, closed mouth kisses—and then opened for me when I probed gently at the seam of his lips with my tongue.

I have to say that kissing a full-blooded Orc is probably what kissing a Saber Tooth Tiger would be like. Tark’s teeth were sharp and lethal—I knew at once he could rip out my throat if he wanted to. But he was extra careful to be gentle with me, even when our kissing got deeper and hotter. His mouth tasted sweet and salty, a little like he’d been eating salted caramel before he came to meet me, and I couldn’t get enough of it.

Ireallywanted him to touch my breasts, but again I was afraid of him thinking I was “easy.” I gave him as many hints as I could, though—rubbing my breasts against his broad chest and running my fingers through his hair over and over again. I could tell he liked what I was doing by the low groans I drew from him. Finally, he pulled away.

“Goddess, baby—you’re driving me fuckingcrazy.” His voice was a hoarse growl and his golden eyes were lazy with lust.

“You’re driving me crazytoo,” I admitted. “But I’m not done with you yet.”

Feeling daring, I leaned forward and licked his neck—right under the lobe of his pointed ear. His skin was salty and delicious and his warm scent was even stronger here.

Tark sucked in a breath and groaned more loudly this time.

“Goddess…”

I took that as a sign that I was on the right track. My neck had always been a really sensitive area—apparently that held true for Orcs as well. At least, for Tark.

I licked and nibbled up and down the strong cords of his neck, notneglecting his long, pointed ear. When I ran the tip of my tongue along its graceful curve to the up-tilted tip, I could feel Tark’s big body shivering under me. But just as I was about to nibble the lobe, he took me by the waist and pushed me gently but firmly away from him.

“What happened? Don’t you like it?” I asked, feeling hurt.

Tark was breathing deeply with his eyes closed. He still had his big hands locked around my waist, so I wasn’t going anywhere.

“Yeah, Babygirl—I fucking liked it. I liked ittoomuch,” he growled, opening his eyes at last. “Look, I don’t want to take things too fast with you,” he rumbled softly. “We need to be careful—Ineed to be careful.”

“Careful, why?” I demanded, feeling hurt and alsoextremelysexually unfulfilled. “I won’t break, you know!”

“Yes you will, if I don’t watch out,” he growled. Then he sighed and let go of my waist to cup my cheek in his hand. “Look, I don’t want to be fucking crude, but I didn’t jerk off before you came here.”

“Uh…what?” I gave him a blank look.

“I should have jerked off—so I could take the edge off—before you came. That would have helped me to have more self-control,” he explained. “As it is, I’m right on the edge and I don’t fucking trust myself! You’re too damn tempting with your gorgeous ripe tits and your soft curves rubbing against me…” He shook his head. “Don’t be offended, okay? I just don’t want to hurt you.”

“Well…” I thought of the boulder he’d told me he’d moved and how strong he was and nodded. “Okay, I appreciate you trying to be careful with me.”

“I wouldneverwant to hurt you,” Tark rumbled. His eyes went dark. “That’s another reason I left my Tribe.”

“What—because they like to hurt women?” I asked, frowning.

“You could say that.” He sighed and ran a hand through his shaggy black hair. “The males of my Tribe don’t court a woman before they take her for a wife or a bed partner—they just fucking kidnap her. And then when they take her…well, let’s just say theyaren’tgentle. I can’ttell you the number of nights I lay awake when I was younger, listening to the people in the huts around mine and hearing women crying out, begging to be set free, to be…” He broke off, shaking his head. “I never wanted that. It’s fucking barbaric andwrong.So I left. But not until I set all the women who wanted to go free.That’swhy they kicked me out—I let all of their victims go.”

“I’m so sorry,” I murmured, feeling chastened. “That must have been really hard for you to deal with.”

“It was,” he said shortly. “I just…don’t want to hurt you that way—I don’t want to be like the other males in my Tribe.” He cupped my cheek and stroked it with his thumb. “I want to besweetto you, Babygirl. I want to make you feel good but we have to take things slow.”

“I understand,” I said, nodding. “But really—I’m not afraid.”

“You’re not? Well, yououghtto be—I’m twice your size,” he said grimly. “Besides, you don’t strike me as someone who’s had much experience.”

“I’ve had lovers before—two of them,” I said, lifting my chin defiantly.

“Oh,twoof them, huh? Well aren’t you a woman of the world?” he said dryly. “Look, I don’t care how many lovers you’ve had, I’m assuming they were both human—right?”

“Well, yes. A far as I know,” I admitted.

“Uh-huh.” He nodded. “Well let me tell you, Babygirl—being with a human is a lot different than being with an Orc. We have…different equipment.”

“Really?” My eyes went wide. “Like what kind of equipment? Can I see it?”

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