Page 50 of The Orc's Sweetheart
“The comments continued throughout the years and made me doubt if I should even be there. I worried that once I finally graduated with my degree that I wouldn’t be able to find a job in the city. And honestly by that point, I didn’t even want to stay anyway. I began to focus more on bringing my knowledge home to Starry Hill. I could ensure that my community would be safe, and that all the buildings would be up to code.”
Tilly’s eyes fill with tears and she whispers, “I’m so sorry, Bodin. That’s awful. I can’t imagine how hard it must’ve been.”
The corners of my mouth pull down into a bitter grin. “It got harder in my final year. I persisted through all their mocking, but at some point there was a popular female who showed some interest in me. I was flattered, and it had been so long since someone had shown me any interest or kindness. But I was also stupid for trusting her.”
“Bodin, no.” Tilly’s hand covers her mouth and a tear drips down her cheek.
I stare blankly at a spot on the table, unable to look in Tilly’s eyes as I reveal the part that hurt me the most. “She said all the right things. One night we went back to her apartment after what I thought was a very nice date. After we had sex, she reached into her nightstand to pull out a notebook.”
“No,” Tilly sobs.
My voice is thick with emotion as I continue, “She proudly showed it to me and ticked off ‘orc.’ I wasn’t her first conquest. She was a collector of sorts. I saw gargoyle, sylph, minotaur, pixie, and a few others I can’t recall right now. There was a portion next to our species where she wrote down ‘cock features’ and a score out of ten. But no names were added. That wasn’t something she cared about.”
“Bodin.” Tilly’s voice breaks on my name, and I glance up to see tears flowing freely down her face, spilling onto her shirt. “That’s horrible.”
She rounds the desk and slips onto my lap. Reaching up, Tilly brushes her thumbs across my wet cheeks. I’m not sure when I started crying, but feeling her touch grounds me. I wrap my arms around her and pull her closer. Burying my face in the crook of her neck, I breathe her in deeply, my whole being calming in her presence.
“I’m so sorry that happened to you,” she whispers, her entire body shaking as she cries. For me.
I hug her closer and run a hand through her long hair, comforting her as she comforts me. “It was a long time ago. I was stubborn enough to go back to class the next dayand—despite all the stares, whispers, and snickers directed at me—I pretended nothing had happened and she didn’t exist. Not long after, I got my piercings as a means of taking my power back, designing my cock the wayIwant it to look and feel, and not to resemble what she ticked off on that list or most likely described to all her friends. Then, I quietly finished my degree and came straight back to Starry Hill to start my job as the island’s cottage caretaker. I’ve never been back to Cape Easton since.”
Tilly leans back and frames my face in her hands. Her brows furrow in fierce determination over her teary brown eyes as she implores me to hear her. “Any place would be lucky to have you. Fucking lucky,” she enunciates. “I’m sorry that you had to be surrounded by such atrocious creatures, and I’m so sorry for how they treated you. Those Cape Easton students missed out on getting to know one of the most wonderful creatures I’ve ever met, and it’s an unfathomable loss to them.
“Because to knowyou, Bodin, is to love you. It’s impossible not to love you. Where you’re from and what species you are—whether you’re human, orc, goblin, or dragon—it’s never held any sway over my opinion of you. I’m so sorry that you got treated like that, and I understand your distrust toward city creatures. But please know,” she adds in a tender voice, “with me, you are safe.”
I gently brush Tilly’s tears away. “I’m sorry I doubted you in the beginning. You didn’t deserve to be grouped in with those city creatures who hurt me in the past. You are so good, Tilly, so good. I’ll never stop apologizing for how I treatedyou at first.”
Her smile is small as she shakes her head. “No need. You’re all forgiven.”
“Wait.” My head cocks to the side as my brain finally catches up to everything Tilly said. “It almost sounded like you said you love me? Or did I interpret that wrong?”
Tilly pouts adorably and mumbles, “I wasn’t supposed to slip that into my speech while blubbering.”
I place a finger under her chin and tilt her head up. “Sweetheart, you know I love you too, right?”
Eyes rounding with hope, Tilly asks sweetly, “You do?”
I nod easily, my conviction bleeding into my voice. “Of course. When I’m with you, everything just feels… right. Like my heart has found its home.”
Renewed tears leak out of the corners of Tilly’s eyes as she gives me a watery smile. “That’s how I feel too. I don’t know how it happened so quickly, especially after my box of plates fell on you, but I was pretty sure I knew I was going to fall in love with you that night you carried me home.”
Leaning my forehead against Tilly’s, I whisper, “That’s when I knew too. You can throw a thousand plates at me and it wouldn’t change how I feel about you.”
Tilly glides a hand through my hair and smiles up at me with such pure admiration and love that I can viscerally feel it coursing through my body, my own feelings multiplied and reflected back to her.
My soul seeks hers like a flower in her garden seeks the sun, like her warmth is essential to my being.
Our mouths find each other, our lips brushing and tongues meeting, hands reaching for a way to seal our love—our tears already forgotten.
Every touch sears my skin, stoking the fire burning deep in my gut.
Tilly’s hands grow greedy—pulling, pushing, touching every part of me she can. Every needy little moan escaping from the back of her throat is met with a groan from me as I devour her mouth, her neck, every inch of skin I can reach.
“Tilly, I need you,” I growl against her skin, my voice rough with lust.
“Take me,” she pants.
Chapter 23
