Page 32 of The Orc Boss

I turned my entire body towards him, sitting on top of my heels so I was kneeling next to his outstretched legs. “But why don’t you let them do any of the physical work? I’m sure Liam would be a lot nicer if you let him take out his frustration on someone else’s face.”

The corner of his mouth curled into the slightest smirk. “It won’t. Trust me. That elf is the biggest asshole I’ve ever met.” His features softened. “And the most loyal.” He rubbed his hand across his jaw as he considered his next words. “And to be completely honest, I don’t want them getting hurt out on the streets. I’d rather it be me. Actually, I’d rather they just get on with their lives, and I’ve even told them to leave, but they refuse. Stubborn assholes.”

Because they love you and they stick by their family.My throat tightened at the thought. I’ve always been too sentimental but this was ridiculous. I did not care about this makeshift, rag-tag family of criminals. No matter how shitty their lives were, they were still holding me captive, so that very fact negated any sympathy I had.

“My turn for a question,” Ansel said, bringing me out of my thoughts. I was grateful for the distraction from my inner turmoil, but I was not in the mood for more of his games. “Actually, if I think about it,” he paused, making a show of counting off his fingers. “I technically have three questions to ask, if we’re following the rules.”

“What rules?” I asked. “We established no rules. And as someone who loves rules, I would have remembered.”

His grin grew wider so I could see his white teeth perfectly. “Oh, there are rules. And you owe me three questions, probably more. But I will let that go if you answer my one question: who is Carter?”

“I already told you—”

“He has not stopped calling you. If he really is your coworker, I think the poor lad may have an unhealthy obsession with you, because this is bordering on creepy. If you don’t want to talk to him, I’m perfectly happy to take the call for you and tell him to fuck off—”

“No! Please don’t!”I hissed. Ansel's features darkened into someone who had gotten exactly what he wanted. He had backed me into a corner, and I had no choice now but to answer him. I let out a long sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. “If I tell you, do you promise you won’t hurt him?”

“Only if he deserves it.”

“Ansel.” He raised his hands in defense, but finally nodded. I chewed my lip. I can’t believe I was actually doing this . . . I took a deep breath. “He’s the reason I ran into you in the alley Monday night,” I started, taking it slow. I avoided his eyes by chipping off the last of the red nail polish on my fingernail. “We’ve been broken up for four or five months now? We were together for eight years. After beating myself up these past months, I finally accepted the fact that we were really over. Or at least . . . he was over me. And on a whim, I decided to try to hook up with a stranger to get over Carter. It’s stupid, I know. I don’t know what I was thinking.” I hesitated. “I’ve never even had sex with anyone else, and I wanted to dive straight into the sex pool deep end with no floaties. So dumb.” I stared at my fingers for a long moment. My cuticle started to bleed, and I watched the speck of red before wiping it away. “I was just so desperate to get him out of my system, you know? These past months have been hell, and I was just tired of it.” Despite everything, I smiled.

“What's so funny?”

I shook my head. No. I wasn’t going to tell him, but then my smile grew wider. “It’s just . . . I can’t believe I’m so bad at sex that I can’t even have a hook-up with a stranger without being kidnapped.” I buried my face in my hands, suddenly erupting into a mess of laughter and tears. I did feel better though—cleansed, almost. It had been a while since I had been able to talk to my therapist, and it felt really nice to open up. Goddess knows I needed it.

When I removed my palms from my face, wiping away the wetness from my cheeks with the back of my hand, Ansel was watching me intently. Like he was seeing me for the first time. For some reason, my heart sped up a couple beats.

“And how do you feel now?” he asked in a low voice; his accent making his words rough and deep that I felt it all the way to my core. I shivered as my brain slowly caught up to speed.

“I, uh . . .You mean how do I feel about Carter?” My voice sounded hoarse in my ears. I swallowed thickly.Better,the voice immediately replied in my head. Finally, I shrugged a shoulder. “Ask me when I’m not a prisoner in some mafia boss’s bedroom.”

“Ex-mafia,” he said with a wink. “Trying to kick the habit. Though once you’re in, you can never really leave.” He paused, looking thoughtful, and finally turned to me with his lips spread in a wry grin. “Wait just a moment. You dated your ex for eight years and he never made you come?” He let out a long, low whistle. “Sounds like you dodged a bullet, Skye.”

I grabbed the closest pillow and squeezed it to my chest. I’m sure my face and pointy ears were a lovely shade of luminescent red from all the blood that had rushed north.I can’t believe I told him that. I should not be held responsible for what I say when horny.

I cleared my throat. “For your information, a lot of women have difficulty reaching their . . .you-know-what.And each partner should be responsible for their ownpleasure.” Goddess, why did it feel like I was giving this orc a lesson on sex education? If anything, it should be him giving me the lessons because apparently even after thirty-three years of living in this fleshy vessel, I still had no idea what the right buttons to press were. Ansel had figured it out (and more) in under five minutes. If there was a Goddess out there, she definitely owed me an explanation . . . or at the very least, a driver’s manual.

He stuck out his lower lip, looking thoughtful again. “I’ve never had an issue making a woman come,” he said. “I don’t know your ex. Though by the constant calling and texting, he’s not making a great first impression, but—and this is a big but—you were with him eight years, and he never made you come? Not once? Not even by accident? It sounds to me like he wasn’t even trying, and if that’s the case, then you didn’t just dodge a bullet, you dodged a bazooka.”

“Not everyone is a Casanova blessed with magic fingers!” I blurted. I can’t believe I just said that out loud. This was why I could never join the mafia or do anything close to Ansel’s job—aside from the whole killing-people-is-bad morality issue. As soon as someone applied a little pressure, I cracked. All they had to do was threaten me with an interrogation, and I would talk. I buried my face in the pillow and sighed.

“Please forget I said that. What I meant to say was, I know my body. Whatever happened at the club was a fluke. I think all the panic and not being touched by another person in a while just got my wires crossed. Ok? That’s all.” I said all that into the pillow and whether Ansel heard anything or not didn’t really matter. I had to say it out loud to remind myself of the truth. There were studies that had been done that showed if a person repeated something out loud so many times, they would begin to believe it as truth. And I refused to believe that Carter was the issue, and the solution to my problem was a sexy but murderous orc who had been hiding in a warehouse for the past year.

Ansel chuckled. I still refused to remove the pillow. It was juvenile, I know, but the last shred of my dignity was hanging on by a single hair, and I refused to lose anymore to him. “I’m a recovering Casanova,” he said, as if to explainwhyhe was so talented. If he was trying to make me feel better, it definitely wasn’t helping. “That’s why I was able to slip into Nightshade so easily. It was one of my normal haunts. They even cleared out a broom closet to shove me in when I was too drunk for them to handle. But that’s beside the point, fluke or not . . . It’s nothing to be ashamed about, and I’m happy I could help.”

His large hand wrapped around my wrist as he slowly pried the pillow away from my face. I had no choice but to look him in the eye, and to my relief, there was no mocking smile. No twitching lips as he held back his laughter. Just a heady stare that reached all the way to my trembling core.

“And if you need more help, I am more than happy to oblige. I may not be good for a lot of things, but these magic fingers”—he wiggled his fingers in front of my face with a devilish smile— “can make you feel so good, you won’t even remember the bastard’s name.”

Chapter fifteen

Didhereallyjustoffer me sex to help me get over my ex-boyfriend?I stared at him for an eternity-long second slack-jawed, unsure of whether I should be thanking him or acting offended.

That’s what brought you to the alley in the first place.Sex with a stranger to get over Carter, that little nagging voice reminded me. I hated that voice.

“Ummmm.” My voice tightened in my throat. I needed to say something—anything—but my brain suddenly forgot how to send signals to my body to make me speak words. I stared at his big hands; I don’t think I’ve ever seen hands as big as Ansel’s before. I had never been attracted to another person’s hands, but now I couldn’t look at his thick fingers without salivating like an animal.

You know what they say about big hands?It took every ounce of willpower not to drag my gaze from his hands and down his body. Not that I needed to imagine; I had felt his cock that night in the alley. It was thick and long enough to make even the most intelligent girl lose her marbles.

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