Page 9 of Orc's Pretend Mate

The sizzling redoubles. I throw some more spice in and keep stirring while it cooks. It’s a comforting action. A normal one. So simple and mundane that I can forget, for the moment, how much danger I am in.

“Hmm,” Vapas rumbles.

“Gah!” I exclaim jumping.

He’s right behind me. I’d been so lost in my cooking and the normality of this that I didn’t hear or sense him approaching. He immediately steps back, raising his hands to show he means no threat.

“Sorry,” he says. His eyes are puffy and bleary. He has a deep frown on his face, turns his head, coughs twice and then looks back at me. “Food smells good.”

“Uh, yeah. Thank you. Sorry, you startled me.”

“Yes. Unintended,” he shakes his head and shrugs his shoulders.

The moment becomes awkward or already was and I only now become aware of it as the surprise fades leaving the two of us a few feet apart staring at each other. The sizzling sound and a hint of burning hits me.

“Shit,” I curse in Common and whirl back to the stove.

I stir the meat and veg medley quickly. A few pieces are darker than I’d like. Though I’d figured out how to use the equipment, my understanding was rudimentary. I have no clue how or if it’s possible to adjust the temperature. I can get it on and I can get it off. That’s the extent of my skill. Realizing the absurdity of the situation I snort.

Get it on but not get it off, like that’s not a metaphor.

“Help?” Vapas asks.

“Could you get some plates? Please?”

He doesn’t say anything but moves to the cabinet while I continue stirring. I pull the skillet off the direct heat, or at least I think I do. It continues to snap and pop as if the heat is still going so I’m not sure I have but I don’t want to put it on the cabinet without protection.

Vapas is at my side with the plates. And I’m suddenly very, very aware of him. His size, presence, and the smell of him fills my nose. It’s a pleasant, smokey, almost musky scent mixed with what I can only identify as hints of sandalwood but it’s not quite that.

He sets the plates onto the counter but doesn’t step away. And gods above help me, but I don’t want him to. Stupid, crazy, and absolutely insane because I don’t know this guy. We literally met last night. Sure, he saved me, or intervened, but one action isn’t enough to know a person.

I’m frozen. Thoughts crashing one into another. I keep stirring the medley but that’s an automatic motion. He rumbles andI blink. That rumble, it’s alien and distinctly an Urr’ki thing. Kintos did it too, though I never understood the why of it.

He reaches towards the handle of the skillet and for the briefest of instances his hand touches mine. That momentary contact ignites a brushfire. My skin flares and the heat of it races up my arm and right into my heart. My heart takes the heat like gasoline on a fire, going from resting rate to racing from one beat to the next.

My stomach flips and then drops, leaving butterflies dancing in its former place. My throat and mouth are dry. So are my eyes. I blink rapidly then he jerks his hand back and away.

“Sorry,” he says as he steps back.

I’m left hanging on the space where he was. Strangely, because this shouldn’t be possible, the emptiness aches. It’s a void that I want filled. Filled with him.

Knock it off.

Shaking myself, I lift the skillet and scrape a large portion of the food onto a plate. I set the skillet down, move the plate off the other one, then repeat the process. I give myself a much smaller portion, assuming he’d want more. He’s a huge guy after all. I grab up the plate and turn.

It’s a stress reaction. I’ve been under too much for too long. Of course I’m latching onto the first person who’s done anything even resembling kindness. It’s nothing.

Yet he’s there. Big. Solid. And yes, dark green with tusks and long, coarse hair bound in bangles. But his eyes. There is kindness in those eyes. Understanding even, that I don’t think I’ve ever seen in any human man’s eyes.

My heart skips. The plates are suddenly heavier. A tremble rushes through my arms, hitting me in the chest. My breath hitches. He blinks. A tremor passes over his lips and then he steps forward taking the plates.

He sets them on the table, putting his on the far side and mine closer. That’s not the normal positions we’ve been doing. He did that for me. So I wouldn’t have to move around him.

Oh Vapas…

5

VAPAS

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