SNEAK PEEK

From My Orc Rommate with Benefits; ready to find out how these two end up in bed together?

Zoe

Was I really going to do this?

Holy crap, I really was going to do this, wasn't I?

I'd been pacing in the front yard for about ten minutes, arguing with myself. Well, no, not arguing; I'd done that for the last week, before I finally made my proposal to Luxor. But just…I dunno, psyching myself up.

As if I needed it.

I'd basically lived in a state of constant horniness in the weeks since I'd signed the lease for the spare bedroom in Lux's house, and nothing was helping. Not my quiet masturbation sessions when he was only a wall away, not my loud masturbation sessions in the morning when he was at the animal shelter. Nothing.

I hoisted my bag over my shoulder and turned to the front door, taking a deep breath.

Even now, knowing what waited me inside, my panties were damp.

Ready?

Oh yeah. I'd been ready for a month now.

I needed this, if only so I could get my head back in the game and concentrate on something besides my libido for a change. I could feel my classwork sliding, and I hated that. I wanted to be able to focus on my reading and papers, instead of the deliciously distracting way my roommate made me feel.

And what I'd proposed? It should fix all those problems.

Get it, girl.

As I kicked my shoes off in the foyer, I could hear Lux banging around in the kitchen. The guy liked to cook—no objection from me!—and I told him I was only working lunch today, so I'd be home in time for his dinner.

Not that I was thinking about food right now.

"Zoe!" I heard him move toward the dining room to meet me. Didn't matter how quiet I was, Lux always knew where I was in the house. "How was the shift? You're later than I expected."

He was holding a spatula and beaming at me, and Lord help me, I wanted to smile back. This roommate of mine was perpetually cheerful, with a simple worldview some yogis would kill to have. It made him as lovable as a golden retriever, and twice as enthusiastic.

The fact he was well over seven feet tall and built like a Greek god didn't hurt, either.

"The shift was good." Ignoring the question about why I was late, I shrugged my bag over the back of one of the chairs, trying to be nonchalant, trying not to make this weird. "Saturday afternoon is always good for tips." And that still left my evenings free for studying.

Or…other stuff.

Lux gestured back to the kitchen. "I'm doing tacos for dinner. Beef. Although…" He waggled his brows. "I like fish tacos better."

The line was so unexpected, so completely dorky, that it surprised a burst of laughter out of me. I immediately slapped my hand over my mouth and looked away. I could feel myself blushing, although Lux probably couldn't tell.

"Sorry." He peered at me. "Was that inappropriate? Giza says I'm inappropriate."

So…I guess he could see my blush?

"Um…" I side-stepped him to get into the kitchen. "I think… Under normal circumstances, that was probably inappropriate. But…"

"That's what I thought." He was back to his cheerful self as he marched to the stove and turned off the meat. "What with our Big Plans and whatnot."

I could hear the capital letter, which was for some reason adorable. It was as if…Lux had been thinking of my proposal for a while.

Well of course he has. He's a male, isn't he? He likely eats, breathes, and thinks sex all the time!

I watched as he poured off the grease from the beef into an empty can of green beans. It was so domestic, so normal…that the fact it was a huge green orc doing it seemed incongruous.

Lux wore an apron that had a big pair of lips and said Kiss The Cook. Someone, maybe him, had colored in part of the second O so now it looked like it read Kiss the Cock.

This was likely considered high-brow humor.

Okay, well, the guy's an idiot, right? You know that. You've seen the way he looks at the world, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. He's only been here for a decade, he must be innocent as hell.

God, how many times had he been taken advantage of?

The thought popped into my head, and I was surprised at the surge of protective anger I felt toward him. Had he been hurt because of that innocence? How did women normally treat him?

My eyes followed him as he hummed his way around the kitchen, sliding the meat to the back of the stove to stay warm and untying the stupid apron. When he pulled it over his head, the muscles in his arms flexed, and did something interesting down in my lady bits.

He was a beautiful specimen of maleness, wasn't he?

Low-slung sweatpants which seemed to drag my gaze lower lower lower, and a faded t-shirt advertising a beer company outlined his impressive stack of pecs. He kept his dark hair in a sort of shaggy fringe around his forehead and ears, which leant to his air of casualness, instead of the warrior-like look some of his buddies wore.

No, no one would confuse Luxor for a warrior.

Despite those ridiculously sexy tusks and the claws he kept sheathed most of the time.

I never thought I'd be attracted to an orc, or any of the non-humans…until I moved in with one.

And now…

"You smell delicious," Lux suddenly announced, swinging on me with a smile.

I startled. "Uh…thanks?"

"What happened?" His nostrils flared as he stalked toward me, sniffing like…well, like a puppy. "I mean, you always smell yummy—that apricot bodywash should be edible. But now…"

I squeezed my thighs together as he leaned closer, inhaling near my ear, and told myself it was totally not sexy that this dude was sniffing me.

A lie.

It was absolutely sexy. And primal. And it made me want to shove my hands down my pants—no, strike that, down his pants.

"There it is again," he murmured. "Your scent changes sometimes, Zoe."

I closed my eyes on a groan.

It was my arousal.

He was smelling my horniness.

I'd read about this, back when I'd found out my new landlord was going to be an orc. Orcs have a remarkable sense of smell, and the big goofball didn't even realize what he was scenting right now.

What was that about being innocent?

Soooo… Zoe's about to find out that while Lux is a virgin, he's an eager student, and he's desperate to learn anything and everything about her as he can. When a hurricane threatens Eastshore, these two roommates are going to learn plenty about each other! Check out My Orc Roommate with Benefits!