Summoning the Orc (The Kingverse Orcs #2)

Chapter Eighteen

Becca

Oh my Gods, he’s stripping for me.

I was overheating and clutching my imaginary pearls at the same time. He was mouth watering from head to toe. Every inch of him was a work of art and perfection, but I didn’t know what I’d done to get him to think I wanted this show.

I mean, I want the show, but not now.

It was too early in the morning to be awake, much less dealing with all of his half-naked perfection.

“Stop!” I shouted, my hand jerking out in front of me to get him to understand that he should not untie his pants.

Even though I really want him to.

After last night, I was more comfortable with him, but I didn’t know if I could handle that much orc nudity this early. My brain might fizzle and die.

He held his palms up in surrender and I bit back a smile as he grinned at me. I think I was falling for this male’s easy going nature. The way he handled situations with humor and acceptance was something that I wished I could emulate. He’d been summoned out of a tome into a whole new world , and he’d embraced it.

He moved forward, knees on the bed, and my eyes widened as he loomed over me.

“N’am’osh,” he purred, tucking my hair behind my ear, distracting me with his gorgeous smile. I was grinning back up at him when I felt the blanket fall from my hands, baring my body to him.

His gaze dropped to my breasts and his smile grew wider.

“Not fair,” I gasped, tugging the blanket back up, transforming his good humor into a scowl.

I snorted out a laugh, reaching out to his face. He went perfectly still, his gaze curious as he watched me. I caressed one tusk, then the shadow of hair on his cheeks and chin. The hair grazed my palm and I shivered.

Next, I ran a finger up his nose and over his strong brow. He didn’t even flinch, his eyes never leaving mine. In fact, his smile grew even wider.

“You’re so handsome,” I whispered and his eyes closed as I cupped his cheek. He turned to press a kiss to my palm and heat swept over me.

I bit my lip, turning to find my phone. He didn’t let me, keeping my palm in his hand and tugging me toward him until I was under him. My eyes went wide with trepidation, but he didn’t try to move the blanket from between us.

Instead, he repeated the same gestures on my face, tracing my features the way I had his. My heart melted, and I returned the kiss to his palm. He groaned in the back of his throat, leaning down to run his tusks against the skin of my neck.

If we stay like this, we’re never going to leave this bed.

With that thought at the forefront of my mind, I sat up, clearing my throat. “We have to go see Dristan and Penelope,” I told him and his eyes sparked with recognition at the names. I pointed to the ceiling and he tilted his head back to look at where I was gesturing to.

I hid my grin as I sidled out from under him while he was distracted. Hurrying to the bathroom, I left him on the bed. I closed the door, pressing my back to it, but yelped as the door opened, moving me with it. Rok stepped inside, looking around with interest and curiosity. I shook my head, gesturing for him to leave, but he quirked an eyebrow at me and crossed his arms over his chest.

Stubborn male.

“I have to get ready,” I told him, with annoyance.

He shrugged, moving to poke around the room, but keeping me in his peripheral view. I rolled my eyes, going to the sink to brush my teeth. He came to stand next to me, watching with interest as I loaded the brush with toothpaste.

When I started brushing my teeth, he made a soft grunt, leaning in to watch me. I hid my smile as he observed what I was doing. I reached into the cabinet, finding a sealed toothbrush, opening it and holding it out to him.

His brow furrowed and his gaze slipped from where the toothbrush was sticking out of my mouth to the one I held in my hand. With careful movements, he took it, put way too much toothpaste on and sniffed it.

I parted my lips so I could show him how I was brushing my teeth and he grunted, starting in on his own teeth with so much enthusiasm I flinched for him. I leaned down to spit the toothpaste from my mouth and he did the same, beaming at me as I handed him the towel to wipe his face, which was covered in bubbles.

He mimicked every single part of my morning ritual and I giggled when he dabbed moisturizer on his face. As I gently rubbed mine in, he scrubbed at his face too hard. I stopped him and showed him how, keeping my hands gentle. His eyes closed and he released a little sigh.

When I was finished, I brushed my hair under his scrutiny. I held the brush out to him afterward, but he turned for me to do it for him. I smothered a laugh, gesturing for him to sit on the closed toilet. He did, and I started in on his silky hair with gentle strokes.

He released a purring noise and I was startled for only a moment before I continued. His head tilted back, his eyes closed as I brushed and I stopped only long enough to grab some oil to add to the long strands.

He was eating up the attention, and I didn’t have a single problem giving it to him.

“Were you alone, then?” I whispered, sadness filling me at the thought. “I was alone, too, until I found Becca and her family,” I told him and I knew he was listening with rapt attention even if he didn’t understand a single word. “Don’t worry,” I added, running my fingers through his scalp and making him purr even louder. “You have me now.”

I was making a promise with my heart that I wasn’t sure I could keep, but one thing was certain.

He’s never going to be alone ever again.

Getting Rok out of our apartment and into the elevator was a feat that was worthy of ten whole chocolate bars. Dressing around him was a hazard of its own, and he’d nearly bowled down the bathroom door when I’d locked him out to use the facilities.

I was not letting this male watch me pee. It’s too weird!

With my shoulder shoved into his back and my feet digging into the flooring, I heaved out a breath and I strained to move him out of the elevator. He was too busy examining all the buttons and I was almost certain that he hadn’t even noticed that I was trying to move him.

I snatched my phone from my pocket as he leaned over to murmur in orcish at the buttons that were lit up on the panel.

“We need to go,” I told it, and it chirped out what I was certain was a terrible translation of Orcish if its Common was anything to go by.

He peered over at me, eyes bright with curiosity and then held his hand out to allow me to walk past him. I sighed, blowing my hair out of the way and striding past him. I turned to glare at him, but his gaze was locked on my ass.

My face went hot and I continued forward to press the button to the side of the door. Rok meandered his way over after tapping at the inset cameras in the ceiling—something I could never even hope to reach, but he was able to get to with ease—and then did the same with the key mechanism on the door.

When it opened to display an excited Pen, I sighed with relief and hugged her. “Thank the Gods. A sane person,” I exclaimed.

“If I’m your basis of sane , I don’t have much hope for you,” she replied, waving at Rok who tilted his head and lifted his hand to replicate the gesture.

It was so cute I had to hide my smile behind my hand.

“Yeah, you love him,” Pen said, and I smacked her shoulder before moving inside.

“Dristan’s in the kitchen,” she called to me, and I nodded, heading over toward him. He looked up from where he was cutting up a dragon fruit.

“Good morning, Becca,” he said, before looking back down at what he was doing. “I see you look well rested.”

The words might not have been meant to be snarky, but I took them that way. I leaned forward, my eyes narrowed at him “What do you know?”

Dristan’s eyebrows went up and he peeked behind him to see if there was someone else there. “What the hell would I know? What did I even say?”

Harrumphing, I turned to look at where Penelope was trying to have a conversation in Orcish. I could tell from the stilted responses that she wasn’t having the easiest time.

“She’s still getting the basics down,” Dristan explained from behind me. “And should I add you to the lesson plan, since your mate’s an orc who can’t speak Common?”

I nibbled on my lower lip before nodding. “Yes, please. Even if he has to go back home, I still want to be able to talk to him while he’s here.”

Dristan eyed me for a moment before leaning forward, his forearms on the marble island. I mirrored him, so we were facing each other.

“You realize that he’s not going to go home without you, right?” he asked, taking a bite of the dragon fruit.

“I can’t go with him,” I explained, shaking my head. “I have Pen and her parents. And you and Rudgar now. Plus, a whole new job that I have to go to this morning after breakfast.”

He harrumphed, leaning back to continue his cutting. “Alright, but he’ll need to go back to settle his affairs before he comes to live here.”

“ Live here ?” I squeaked, and Rok was at my side at once, tilting my face up with his huge, gentle hands to examine me, barking Orcish at Dristan.

The male barked right back at him and they had a silent glaring match for a few moments before Dristan rolled his eyes and went back to cutting.

“Tell him I didn’t say anything to upset you,” he grumbled, “or he’s going to keep making accusations.”

“He didn’t upset me,” I told Rok even though he wouldn’t understand, shaking my head and forcing a smile on my face. “I’m fine.”

Rok examined me, scrutinizing my face for a long moment before he pressed a kiss to my forehead. I squeezed his fingers in mine for a moment.

“Yes, because you obviously have zero feelings for the male,” Dristan scoffed, rolling his eyes.

“Be nice,” Pen told him, stealing dragon fruit from his fingers.

I watched the big, scary male lose his gruffness in a moment, passing the bowl of fruit he had been making to his mate. I swooned on the inside, peeking over at Rok and remembering the breakfast he’d made me that morning.

I knew that orcs loved feeding their mates. I’d seen and read enough about their mating rituals to know the basics, but experiencing it first hand was another thing.

“What would he even do here?” I asked out loud, but Dristan answered with ease.

“He has enough dragon gold that your grandchildren’s children will never have to work a day in their life,” he scoffed. “But he can work with Rudgar if he gets bored. We can always use someone with his battle experience on our team.”

“Battle experience?” I asked, turning to look at Dristan where he was curled around Pen as she poured four mugs of coffee. She passed one to each of us and I watched Rok eye me with curiosity as I took a sip.

“You can tell from the notches on his tusk,” he tipped his chin toward Rok and I saw the neat carved lines around each of his gleaming tusks. Intrigued, I reached up to run my fingers over them and Rok’s eyes went dark with lust.

“There’re so many,” I murmured.

“That means that your male’s the strongest, fiercest male where he’s from,” Dristan called.

I beamed up at Rok, and he smiled back, his eyes moving between Dristan and I, but not interrupting.

“But what if he—” I started, but Dristan cut me off.

“All I’m hearing are excuses, Becca. I’m giving you solutions, but you keep digging.” I heard Pen smack Dristan across his chest and he grunted, but he didn’t retract his words.

“Can you ask him what he’d like to do?” I asked Dristan, not looking away from Rok, as he stood in front of me, tipping my chin back and studying my face as if he was learning it. “If he’d like to go back to his home or stay here?”

Dristan spoke in slow, deliberate words, but Rok shook his head, cutting him off, barking out only a few short sounds before stroking his finger down my cheek.

“He said he’s staying here. With you,” Dristan told me and my heart melted as my breath stilled in my chest.

I swallowed hard, struggling not to cry as I gave him a trembling smile. “Okay,” I whispered, all my hopes colliding into one bundle of happiness. “He can stay.”

“With you,” Dristan emphasized and I nodded, biting my lower lip.

He relayed this to Rok, whose smile got huge and he rumbled out a quick laugh before he took me into his arms and spun me in a circle. I couldn’t stop myself from kissing him and he stilled, deepening it before Penelope cleared her throat behind me.

“You still don’t know anything about him,” she called with a mischievous tone, pushing the mug of coffee toward him.

“We’ll get to know each other,” I told her, not looking away from the male who I’d just accepted as mine—while he took a sip of the strong brew and then spat it out, his face contorting with disgust. “It’ll be our own little trial by fire.”