Page 20 of Running from the Orc
“You groaned. Am I too heavy?”
Exasperated, I snapped, “Female, ye’ve been sitting on my lap for days now.” She didn’t suddenly becometoo heavy.I was an orc, for fook’s sake!
“Aye, and last night, I sat on your face.”
For a moment, the only sound was the steady beat of the horse’s hooves as he picked our way along the mountain pass. Her words hung in the air like a challenge.
I thought I couldn’t feel worse.Now I did.
But she was studying my expression, and now scoffed and shook her head. “Stop overthinking it, Varkaan.”
I could not even look at her. I kept my attention locked on the trail ahead and tried not to think of the flavor of her cunny as her juices had spilled across my tongue.
“What?” I scraped out hoarsely. “I am aright.”
She snorted. “You are remembering what we shared last night, aye? You regret your actions, but I do not. We are two consenting adults and we shared something beautiful.”
Beautiful? Incredulous, I dropped my gaze to hers.
“Regret?”
Roxanna’s expression fell slightly, her brows drawing in, as if uncertain. “Aye, regret. I can see it. I have felt it a time or two, but not…” She swallowed and looked toward the horizon. “Not last night,” she finished with a whisper. “But I understand why you might.”
My voice was dangerously low when I asked, “What do you think I regret?”
“Wh-what you did for me. I have never had a man offer me such pleasure. And after, when you washed me…” I felt her shudder in my arms. “You were so gentle. I know you held me all night because you felt guilty, but…”
Thank the gods the path was obvious and there were no predators about,because I think, in that moment, I might’ve been knocked off the horse by a stiff breeze.
Roxanna had managed to surprise me yet again.
The longer I took to answer, the more she seemed to shrink in on herself. My arm around her tightened, but that didn’t help. She needed reassurance, she needed…I don’t know,cuddles. Like last night.
Finally, I cleared my throat. “Ye think I felt guilty? ‘Twas why I treated ye so reverently?”
“Was it not?” she whispered, without looking up from her lap.
My firebrand should not feel this way. ‘Twaswrong.
“Hells Roxanna, ofcourseI felt guilty!” I burst out. She twitched, but didn’t look up, so I lifted my hand to her chin and tipped her head so I could see her downcast eyes. “What I did to ye…” I shuddered in revulsion. “Nae male should ever use a female that way. A vessel for his lust. I should have licked ye a dozen times afore ye evertouchedme, I should’ve driven ye mad with wanting afore my cock was even mentioned. I should’ve made ye—”
“Wait,” she said softly. Then, slowly lifting her confused gaze to mine, she repeated, “Wait. You are saying…you feel regrets for what…Idid foryou?
My fingertips slid along her jaw, and my skin felt…tingly. As if insects crawled over me. “Och, my wee firebrand…I shouldnae have disgraced ye that way,” I murmured. “Everything else, ‘twas my privilege. But ye—”
She knocked my hand away.
I knew I should give up on being surprised by this human, but still, I blinked at her, trying to understand what she wanted from me.
With a snort, she turned back to face the horse’s head, and folded her arms. “You did notdisgraceme, Varkaan.”
Somethingwas bubbling under my skin, and I didn’t like it. The irritation snapped out. “How can ye say that?” I flexed my hips forward, so she could feel how much Istillwanted her. “I chased ye through the woods. I pinned ye to a tree. I threw ye over my shoulder and demanded yeserviceme.”
Her chin rose mulishly and she kept her gaze locked forward when she snapped, “And Ilikedit. So there. I took you into my mouth because Iwantedto, Varkaan. You did not force me, and I do not regret it.”
Her words stunned me. “How can—ye expect me to believe…I am anorc, Roxanna.”
The horse trotted down a hillside toward the creek it had smelled, so I tightened my hold on my passenger to keep her from falling. I think I surprised alittle snort out of her.
