Chapter 5

Luxor

"Zoe!"

Her name was wrenched from me as I came, her inner muscles squeezing me. Dimly, I knew this meant I'd made her orgasm again, and I was proud, yeah. But mostly I was blitzed, unable to think, because of the unmitigated joy coursing through my veins.

Pleasure, of course, but more than that…

I'd thought sex was an incredible feeling, but now that I knew how it felt to spill inside a woman? I was ruined.

No. Not ‘a woman' . Zoe . Zoe is the reason you feel like this, you idiot.

Fuck, it was the truth.

Breathing heavily, I collapsed beside her, pulling her into my arms and squeezing her against my chest, my thoughts ricocheting around my temples like hopped-up bumblebees, and my lungs unable to draw enough oxygen.

Zoe began convulsing and—horrified I'd squashed her to death—I loosened my hold. When she pushed herself up and away from me, I was stunned to see her smile. Her laugh .

"I can hear you thinking," she chuckled, and I could only gape at her.

I rarely heard her laugh, and definitely didn't expect it at a time like this.

"No you can't," I shot back. "Because I'm not thinking at all. I can't think. My mind is completely numb. My brain is a blank—"

"I get it," she laughed, looming over me and jabbing me in my side. "You had a mind-blowing orgasm."

"And I'm an idiot."

Her smile immediately fell into a scowl. "You're not an idiot."

"Sure I am." Feeling was beginning to return to my brain as the pleasure dissipated through my limbs. "Well-known fact."

"Luxor Marie MacDougal, you are not an idiot ."

When she poked me again— ow , her nails were sharp—I wrapped her finger in my hand and brought it to my lips. "That's not my—where'd you get that name?"

She was still glaring. "My mama always used my full name when I was in trouble, and I didn't know your middle name. Do you even have a last name?"

"Not according to my government records," I told her cheerfully. "They assigned us names. For a while, they were considering giving us all the last name Smith —since it's common in the US—but one of the doctors in the lab was from China, and he argued pretty hard for Li being a more common human name, and eventually Sakkara talked them into going without last names—why am I telling you this?"

Apparently, mind-blowing orgasms made me chatty.

Who am I kidding? Everything made me chatty.

"Because I asked." Her expression had softened, and now she propped her chin on her other hand on my chest. "The government named you?"

I hadn't explained that? Whoops.

"After we came to the human world, the military wanted us for testing. Sakkara had been smart enough to arrive in front of enough people, though, that they couldn't hide us away. So the scientists got us instead, for experiments and whatnot."

Zoe winced. "Experiments?"

I wasn't going to tell her about that, not now. "I didn't mind, honest." They'd fixed me, after all. "And none of them could understand orcish, so they assigned us names. Sakkara's name was actually pretty close to that—Sakkara—so they thought it'd be funny to give us ancient Egyptian archaeological sites."

"They assigned you names?" Her eyes were wide. "That seems really…racist?"

"Nah, it's actually normal for orcs to change their names when their life or situations change. Marriage, moving to a new home, big accomplishments, whatever. If your government hadn't assigned us new names, Giza—as the oldest male—would've had to choose something else for us, and then he'd gloat."

"What's your real name?"

I grinned and kissed her hand again. "Luxor is my real name. Realest name that matters, anyhow. I like it."

"It suits you. The temple of Luxor has these amazing statues." She lifted her head and ran her hand along my chest. "Great physique."

Zoe winked.

Was she…was she flirting with me?

I couldn't help my stupid grin.

"Have you ever been there?" I asked.

"To Luxor? No," her answer was a half-laugh, as if I'd surprised her. "But I, like many kids, went through an Ancient Egyptian obsession around fourth grade. Right around the same time I learned all the Greek myths. After the unicorn obsession, and before the memorization of the British royal line."

She'd done that? "Wow," I whispered, pulling her hand toward my lips once more. "You really are smart. You must think I'm an id—"

Zoe pulled her hand from mine and jabbed her long fingernail—painted a sort of lime green today—into my flesh again.

"Ow!"

"Stop it!" She had the cutest menacing scowl on her lips. Lips I wanted to kiss again. "You are not an idiot, Lux!" Another poke.

Wincing theatrically, I squirmed away from her. "If I quit saying I'm an idiot, will you quit poking me?"

She loomed over me and brandished both sets of long nails. "Worse. If you call yourself an idiot again, I'll tickle you."

Gods, she was adorable when she was trying to be threatening, wasn't she?

"But I am an idiot," I announced, just to see what she would do.

She growled, that's what she would do.

The sound that came from her throat made me burst into chuckles, which was entirely the wrong response, judging from the way she launched herself at me with a shriek.

What followed was a wrestling match.

Well, as much as it was possible to wrestle under the following conditions:

One member of the party, while fierce, has zero hand-to-hand combat experience.

The other member of the party is three times her size and considerably stronger, trying his hardest not to actually defend himself too hard.

He doesn't actually want to defend himself, because she's just so soft and smooth and squishy and fun to touch.

Boobs.

Anyhow, long story short, we ended up with her sprawled atop me, her head down around my midriff and me holding both her ankles—originally to keep her from kicking me in the face, but then I realized how easily I could stroke her calves, and…well, you could say I got distracted.

"Lux?"

I'd just kissed the inside of her ankle. I mean, it was impossible to miss, considering I had to drag her half across my chest to do so. I froze, mouth a hairsbreadth from her skin. "Hmm?"

"Lux, are you enjoying this?" Her tone wasn't accusatory, but more teasing.

"Um…" I kissed her skin again. "What makes you say that?"

She sounded close to laughter when she announced, "Oh, I'm getting an eyeful of evidence."

And then her hand closed around my cock.

My already erect cock because yes, I'd been enjoying this quite a bit, okay?

"Zoe," I groaned happily, and heard her giggle. Giggle ! My normally quiet roommate was giggling ? Well, she'd been tickling me a minute—

When her tongue swiped along my cock, I lost my train of thought.

"Holy…" she murmured, pushing herself up. " What is that?"

I managed a strangled, "What is what?"

"That flavor." She hummed, then bent again to lick me. "Spicy…"

My grip on her ankles had tightened, but it was more to keep me locked onto the bed and stop me from floating away. I probably made some kind of incoherent noise similar to "Guurghur?"

Come to think of it, pretty sure I once knew a male named Guurghur. Huh.

"Lux, why is your cock flavored?"

"It's not," I gasped, because now she was stroking me. "Tastes like…you."

She chuckled. "Oh, I taste myself, which should not be sexy, but it's surprisingly hot. No, this is…" She licked again. "Cinnamon?"

Oh.

Yeah.

"Luxor, your cock tastes like cinnamon?"

"My cum," I groaned, dropping my head back to the pillow, eyes squeezed shut, desperate to keep her from stopping what she was doing. "That's what you're tasting."

With a hum, she closed her lips around the tip of my cock.

Oh .

By the gods of the ancestors, Oh .

Zoe's mouth was…well, it wasn't any better than her pussy, which was frankly amazing. But her mouth had a tongue in it, which I had to admit was new and exciting.

She couldn't get more than a few inches of me between her lips, no matter how wide she stretched, but her tongue made up for that. She caressed, she stroked, and meanwhile, she'd wrapped her fingers around the base and was pumping slowly.

Fascinated by the sensation, I pushed myself up on my elbows to watch. In doing so, however, I pulled her ankles further apart, spreading her across my chest. So there I was, staring down my chest at her pussy, presented to me, her bobbing head just visible over the curve of her ass.

Well, really, who am I to ignore such a hint from the universe?

When I lifted myself up and crunched my stomach, I was able to align my mouth exactly where I wanted it. When my tongue snaked up her cleft, Zoe gasped around my cock, causing her to cough.

She lifted her head and twisted around to glare at me.

"We're really doing this?" Her tone sounded fierce, but I noticed she pushed her ass back toward my face, even as she tried to peer over her shoulder at me. "Really? I've never sixty-nined before. Is that a verb?"

"You don't mind if we experiment, do you?" I asked innocently before licking her again.

This time, I made certain to end at her puckered hole, which caused her gasp to turn into a moan, and she flexed even closer to my mouth. I took that as a positive sign.

As my hands stroked up her legs, her thighs tightened around me, and her mouth lowered to my cock again. "Cinnamon," she whispered, right before her lips closed around me.

And I swore she hummed in satisfaction.

It was a good thing I had experience licking her, because with her enthusiastic attack, I could barely concentrate. And if you'd told me yesterday I could be distracted while tasting Zoe's pussy, I would've called you a liar.

She was sublime .

It was times like these I wished I believed in the old gods—or any gods—just so I'd have something to blaspheme against. Because the way she wriggled and moaned, the way her juices exploded across my tongue, the way she rocked on top of my mouth, as if urging me onward?

Yeah, it was worth a bit of blasphemy.

Meanwhile, her mouth was…well her mouth was fucking existential . She was making me believe in shit I'd never believed in, just to have something to thank.

"Gods, Zoe," I found myself growling against her wetness.

She merely hummed, and I swear I felt it clear up my spine. I couldn't help the way my hips arched off the bed, my bare feet flat against the mattress. It didn't alarm her though, and she continued to suck.

And stroke.

And lick.

My tusks scraped against her sensitive skin, and I knew she liked it. I wanted my tongue inside her, but from this angle, it was better to use my fingers. She was shorter than me, after all, and I was already straining to reach what I could reach.

While I pushed two fingers inside her channel, I stretched my long tongue forward, cupping upward around her mound, teasing that little bit of flesh that always made her go wild.

It worked.

"Lux!" she gasped, popping free of my cock. "Oh my God again !"

She was even more enthusiastic with the way she attacked me, and I was more than happy to egg her on. All the while, I could feel my release building, which shouldn't have been possible so soon after my last orgasm.

But if anything, Zoe had taught me that sex with her was way better than using my hand.

She was phenomenal.

I felt my pace falter as her lips urged me closer, and as much as I wanted to make her come first, I was afraid my concentration was blown to shit. But she surprised me again.

With my fingers deep in her and my tongue working her clitoris, Zoe came. A flood of liquid drenched my face—my mouth, my chin, even my nose—and fingers. I could taste her, the most sublime taste, as she squeezed me hard.

But honestly, I didn't even have time to appreciate it, because her release triggered my own. I growled against her skin as I erupted into Zoe's mouth, at once mortified and ecstatic. I could feel my seed flowing into her mouth, feel it spilling out the sides. I imagined it was too much for her to capture, although she was still milking me with her hands.

And the mental image of her trying her best to drink down my cum?

Yeah, I came even harder.

It was a long while later that we both collapsed—mostly clean and nearly breathless—into the bed. She was in my arms once more, and I didn't want to let her go.

Ever .

Huh. This roommates-with-benefits thing was turning complicated. Apparently, all I needed was a blowjob to start screwing with my brain.

"So, cinnamon?" she finally asked in a teasing tone, and I opened my eyes to see her smiling softly at me.

"What?" I pretended to be defensive. "It's not my fault."

"Is this a superpower of yours, Lux? Do all orcs have flavored cum? Should I ask Meli what flavor Cairo is?"

"You can if you want, but she's going to tell you cinnamon too. We're all cinnamon. But for the love of everything, please ask her when Cairo's around." I brightened. "And when I'm around! I want to see what that cousin of mine does."

"Cairo is your cousin?"

"Since we're all from the same clan, most of us are distantly related. But yeah, Cairo is my mother's brother's son. We didn't grow up together, though, since he's my older brothers' ages."

"Well, I might not be related to him, but the dude fixed my car." Zoe poked me in the side, although she was smiling when she did it. "So I can guess what he'd do if I asked him such an intimate question. He'd growl at me, and stomp around, and eventually steal Meli away from the bakery so we couldn't have any cupcakes."

She was right. "You do know him pretty well." I pretended to sigh. "I guess you'll just have to take my word about the flavored cum."

" Trust but verify ," she quipped, pushing herself up to sit cross-legged beside me. "But you'll do as a preliminary source."

"Hey, don't go tasting a bunch of other orcs," I protested, pushing myself up on my elbows, suddenly alarmed.

"This is an informal arrangement, remember?" Zoe reached up and booped my nose. "But no, I'm not going around sucking other guys' cocks. I just want to know about yours ."

I wasn't really mollified, so I captured her hand in mine. "I'll tell you anything and everything you want, Zo, to keep you here in bed."

In my bed. With me .

Hm. I was beginning to sound like I wanted something more than an informal arrangement.

But she grinned and leaned closer. "Cinnamon?" she whispered, then began to giggle.

And man, it made my heart happy to hear that giggle. I found myself grinning ruefully.

"None of us knew what cinnamon was until we came to your world, remember?" I settled back against the pillows and tucked my free hand behind my head. "Imagine what it was like to suddenly discover that pumpkin spice smelled like cum."

She burst into laughter and fell forward towards me. I was happy to gather her in my arms.

"That is disgusting!" she chortled.

"Or delicious, depending on who you ask," I pointed out. "It took some getting used to."

She was still giggling as she curled up on top of me. "What else?" she yawned.

I dragged my blanket up over our legs and hips, and my hand settled into the small of her back. "What else what?" I kept my voice low, because I could see her eyes already fluttering closed.

"Tell me more about what it was like to come—" Another yawn interrupted her. She snuggled against my chest. "To come here."

There was a strange feeling in my chest. A feeling like…I mean, it was definitely satiety, I'd just had wild sex. But it was more than that. Contentment, maybe. Peace?

Having her in my arms felt like home .

"Well, it was pretty crazy," I began. "I was young, and broken, and scared, but the humans had all this neat stuff, and we could do amazing things together…"

I trailed off when I realized she'd fallen asleep. To be honest, I didn't want to talk about that time, not right now. Not when I could be focused on Zoe instead.

So, smiling, I closed my eyes, snuggled down, and held her closer.