Fake Dating an Orc Cowboy (Sweet Monster Treats)

8. Rosey

Chapter 8

Rosey

I felt bad that he was uncomfortable with the situation. Maybe he hadn’t brought much money with him, and he was worried about how he’d pay for a suit. I mean . . . gold?

He couldn’t hand over precious nuggets like that everywhere we went.

I’d handle this. He’d mentioned not bringing any “slices” of money with him.

Later, I’d assure him again that this was an expense-free vacation for him. Paying for what he needed was the least I could do when he’d come all this way just to pretend I was his girlfriend.

As for swimming, I reminded myself that his people lived underground and in what was basically a completely different world.

He said his people wore what sounded like full bodysuits to swim. Now he’d wear what might feel like almost nothing.

Ostor. Wet. Wearing almost nothing.

My mind spiraled at the image, and I was startled at the direction my thoughts were taking. Pictures of him in the water, his bare green skin glistening, fluttered through me. A flush burned its way up my neck, and I hurried toward a rack marked, “Orc Sizes”.

“Oh-kay, let’s see what they’ve got, shall we?” I sorted through the rack. At least they had plenty of options. “No worries about which one. Whatever you like, it’s yours.” Would that reassure him that he wouldn’t have to pay? If not, he’d see when I insisted at the register. I tugged an orange pair dotted with pink hibiscus flowers and bright green palm trees from the rack and held it up in front of him.

Kinda cute. The green would look good with his skin.

Ostor stared at the fabric like I’d offered him a gown made out of seaweed. He frowned, his brow ridge scrunching in confusion, and his tusks shifted as he slowly spoke. “Is this what human males wear to swim? It's . . . unusual. You’re sure males wear pants without the lower halves and in colors that might draw predators?”

Predators?

“Um, yes,” I said. “They wear suits like this.”

He continued to frown as he stared at the swim trunks. “And they are able to hold onto their lower legs?”

“Why wouldn’t they?” I wasn’t sure where he was going with this, but his uncertainty was sweetly endearing. “We can skip this one that would be better for a beachside luau.” After returning it to the others, I spotted one possibility and held up a plain black pair. “Maybe you’re not a flaming orange and pink flowers kind of guy. How about this one?”

“Perhaps.” His brow wedging further, Ostor slid the suits along the metal bar, finally tilting his head, his eyes lighting up at another option. He tugged out a pair in a bright blue with thin, wavy yellow stripes running across the fabric. His eyes met mine and he grinned. “How about this? It’s calming, like water, and it may blend in enough that predators won’t notice. Is this something a human male might wear despite his ever-present fear of sacrificing his lower legs?”

I blinked, trying not to laugh because I had no idea what he meant. But with a clerk hovering nearby, listening in on everything we said, I would hold my questions for later. I would do and say nothing that might make this guy feel uncomfortable.

This suit would look good on him. Actually, with his size and build, the suit was going to look unfairly great on him.

“Yup,” I said. “That’ll work.”

I couldn’t wait to see him in this suit. We headed to the checkout, and after I’d insisted on purchasing it, Ostor grabbed the bag like he was handling precious cargo.

Back at the room, I entered the bathroom to change first. I shimmied into my floral two-piece bathing suit, leaning forward to wiggle my boobs into the cups. I tugged up the thankfully high waistband shorts. After, I stared in the mirror, turning this way and that, sucking in my gut and thrusting my boobs forward.

I looked . . . okay. No, no, that wasn’t right. I looked fantastic. Mindset, and all that. No one would point at me and say I shouldn’t be wearing a bikini. They’d better not or I’d snarl at them, because the best bikini was the one the woman chose to wear.

Why, then, did I feel exposed?

The seven-foot-tall reason waited in the bedroom. Knowing I was about to walk out in front of Ostor wearing very little clothing made me feel like I was fifteen again, dressing up for the school dance and fretting that the cute guy wouldn’t look my way. Maybe I should've brought a one-piece, because my belly . . .

“You look awesome,” I told my mirrored image. “He won't be looking at you that way.”

The thought made me sad, but I shored it up with the reminder that this was supposed to be fake. He wasn’t going to stare at me like he wanted to eat me.

My heart flickering with nerves, I opened the bathroom door and eased out into the room. “You’re next.”

He’d been sitting on the edge of the bed, but he rose when I appeared wearing only my bathing suit and slappity-slap flip-flops.

There wasn’t anything more confidence-boosting than seeing a hot guy’s jaw drop and his pupils dilate—unless he was so horrified he was going to back out of our fake dating agreement.

“Rosey,” he breathed. “You . . .” His gulp took a very long time to make its way down his throat. “Orc females do not wear clothing like this.”

Oh, no. Was I too exposed?

My spine quivered with dismay. “Are you telling me that because you think I’m not wearing enough?”

He stalked toward me.

My skin tingling in a delicious way, I backed until my butt squished against the long table holding the TV.

Sadly, he stopped before our bodies brushed together. Except, wait. I didn’t want our bodies or anything else brushing together.

Did I?

My overheated body said maybe it did.

“Everyone should wear suits like this.” His gaze scorched a path down my frame, and heat swirled low in my belly. “You’re beautiful.”

“Thank you. Some women wear one-piece suits while others choose bikinis like this. They come in all sorts of colors and patterns and—” My mouth had taken control of my brain. I clamped my lips shut to halt the flow.

“It’s lovely.” The words rumbled in his throat. “ You’re lovely.”

“I appreciate that, Ostor.” Liking his words too much, I eased to the side and busied myself with grabbing the sundress I'd use as a beach cover-up off the bed and dragging it over my head, trying to distract myself from his heated gaze.

“I will . . .” He blinked a moment before he held up his bathing suit. “I will also don my bikini.” A frown crinkled his thick brow. “No, I’m missing a top.” His wry smile rose. “And breasts that will be covered by a top. Should we have purchased something similar to cover that part of my body?”

“Nope. Guys don’t wear bathing suit tops. Sometimes, they wear shirts that block UV rays, but not bikini tops.” Did I mention he was adorable?

“Orc females do not have round blobs of flesh on their chests,” he stated.

How curious. “They don’t?”

“When our young are born, soft tubes project from their chests to feed the orcling. No round blobs that I assume must do the same thing.”

“We have nipples in the center of the . . .” I refused to call them blobs. “Our breasts. Our young suck on our nipples and the milk comes out. Somehow. I’m not exactly sure about the biology of all that.”

He stared at my breasts with what I hoped was utter fascination but could actually be distaste. Did his look mean he didn’t find them sexy? In some ways, this was refreshing. In others, a total bummer. I’d never been a bounce-my-boobs-around-to-attract-a-guy kind of woman but mine were some of my best physical features. Good-sized but not too big that I couldn’t run without them smashing around. Large enough to give an average guy a handful to hold onto.

An orc? They must seem strange to Ostor.

Not that my blob-boobs mattered in this equation.

“Do you find the soft tubes sexy?” I asked as he passed me, aiming for the bathroom.

He turned, his frown deepening. “No. Why would I?”

Ah, interesting.

Ostor entered the bathroom, and I sat at the edge of the bed, unable to keep myself from imagining what would happen when we reached the pool. How could I act natural the first time I saw Jacob?

A few minutes later, the door creaked open, and Ostor stepped into the bedroom. I had to remind myself to blink. My eyes traced over him as he strode farther into the room like there wasn't anything awkward about him walking around half-naked.

The suit fit him well— very well. The blue and yellow could be considered bold, but the colors made his green skin pop in a way that was unfair. His broad chest was made up of hard planes and endless muscles, and the fabric stretched against his thighs in a way that made me forget for a brief, silly second that this wasn’t actually real. And his abs? Let’s just say, if abs were a competition, Ostor would win gold, hands down.

He continued toward me while I stared at him like I’d never seen a half-naked guy before. His deep, dark eyes flicked over me nervously. “Is it . . . wrong? Should I wear something else?” His huff rang out. “I know it must be wrong to expose my lower legs in the water. Something is going to gnaw them off and I’ll be left with stubs.”

“No, no! Nothing will eat your legs.” Well, we might need to avoid the ocean. “The pool is a manmade body of water. No creatures are allowed.”

He raked his upper teeth across his tusks. “You’re sure?”

“Completely. Your lower legs will be perfectly safe.” As I studied his gorgeous frame, my heart did funny things in my chest. “As for the suit, you look great.”

More than great. Astronomical. Like runway model gorgeous.

I was so out of my league.

“It’s perfect,” I added. “You’ll stun everyone. They’re going to think you’re . . .” I needed to stop talking. Seriously. Whatever coolness I had left was dissolving into a mess at the sight of him.

Ostor’s cheeks darkened, and his posture softened, almost awkwardly. He sent me a tusk-filled grin, a mischievous, satisfied expression that did things to my already weak knees. “Thank you, tiny one. Now, let’s put on the show for your family, shall we?”

Ah, yes. This wasn't real. It was a show.

I didn't like how pitiful that made me feel. This was what I wanted, right? He wasn’t going to offer me anything else.

With a sigh, I rose. My hands trembled already, and my belly kept flipping around in an unpleasant way.

His smile faded. “What is it? Again, is the problem me?”

“Nope. It’s me. Only me.” My swallow refused to go down. “I . . .” How could I explain?

He remained quiet. Waiting. Looming, but not in a threatening way. More like he was a solid presence in a storm I wasn’t sure I’d survive.

“I’m just . . .”

He brushed my hair back, sweeping it away from my face with rough fingers. They stilled on my nape, warm and steady, and I forgot how to breathe.

“They're only people.” His thumb grazed along my jaw to the front, where he tilted my chin up to make me meet his gaze. His black eyes shimmered with something I couldn’t quite define, a sweetness I hadn’t expected from a huge warrior-like guy wearing a cowboy hat. “You control everything, Rosey. Not them and not what they’ve done to you.”

His words slid through me as if he already knew the shape of the pain I carried. Real or not, this moment felt unsettling. And something about that thought terrified me. But it helped too. His calm, his strength, it was seeping into me.

“Ostor.” I couldn't find the words. Not for this. Not for the way his gaze clung to mine and refused to let go, like he’d made it his mission to protect me, even from myself. Even from the ghost of pain twisting its way through my insides.

“It’ll be alright.” His deep voice coasted across my skin like a caress. “You'll face them, but I'll be beside you.”

It was too much and not enough all at once.

Before I could talk myself out of it, I stepped forward, wrapping my arms around him. I sunk into his chest, seeking the steadiness only this male could provide.

It was a hug. A harmless hug.

Except nothing about us felt simple.

His heart thrummed through his chest, infinitely soothing, and it hit me like a gust of wind, how amazing it felt to be this close to him. His arms drew me in, and my anxiety melted away.

How was it possible for someone I barely knew to make me feel like this? He was comfort wrapped in sinew and heat and strength.

“Never forget. You don’t need to carry this alone.” His breath warmed the top of my head.

I stiffened, my chest pulling tight. This isn’t real, I tried to tell myself over and over. He was my fake wedding date. A pretend solution for a painful problem. But now I stood in his arms, feeling like I’d crossed an invisible line I wasn’t supposed to get near.

Holding him felt like letting go, at least for a few seconds.

Maybe that’s all I needed, just a few seconds of not thinking, not worrying, not picturing how I'd have to put on a bright, forced smile when I saw Jacob and Macy wrapped up in their love bubble a few feet away.

I pulled back, letting my hands drop to my sides.

“Thank you,” I said. Odd, but I felt more awkward about whatever this was between him and I than about what I was about to face at the pool.

“Any time. You’re ready?”

“Yup. You?”

His lips curled up on one side. “For you? Always.” After stuffing his cowboy hat back on his head and his sunglasses on his face, he held out his hand.

I reminded myself that this was part of the show. He didn’t truly want to hold my hand.

We linked fingers and left our room, taking the stairs down and walking out into the sweltering sunshine. We followed a path weaving through the lush vegetation, exiting out into the pool area. My heartbeat thudded harder than before, and the tropical-scented air felt too warm. It was one thing to imagine seeing Jacob again after all these months, but doing it while playing pretend with a male like Ostor towering beside me? A whole different ball game.

Reaching the front pool where Macy said they’d be waiting, I spotted them sitting on stools under a large stone awning at the swim-up bar.

My sister’s voice broke through the throbbing music like a loudspeaker, her curly blonde hair bouncing as she spotted us from across the pool. “Rosey. Rosey. Over here!” She flopped her arm in the air as if we hadn’t seen each other in years, her excitement a tidal wave about to bowl me over. “Come join us. Oh, Ostor. Nice to meet you! Bring him too.”

The bulge in my stomach flipped over, and I gulped, tightening my grip on Ostor’s hand as we took the steps down into the pool.

This was it. Showtime. All the fabricated confidence and fake smiles I’d been storing up had to work. Nothing would keep me from drowning in the moment unless I let it.

The water shimmered around us.

Ostor plucked his way down the stairs, leaning forward to study the teal tiles and the clear water, before he straightened and sent me a sweet smile. “You’re right. No creatures to eat my lower legs. Amazing.”

I couldn’t imagine where he’d been swimming, but that must be why orcs wore full clothing when entering the water.

“No worries,” I said, though I meant the words for myself as much as for him.

His fingers tightened on mine. “No worries.”

When we reached the base of the pool, I stopped, and Ostor waited beside me.

“Ready?” I whispered.

His eyes meeting mine with genuine understanding. And for the first time, with this tall, green-skinned orc cowboy in a striped bathing suit by my side, I felt the bulge that had been building in my belly finally giving way. Maybe, just maybe, this was going to be okay. Or as good as pretending could be.

With a deep breath, I waded toward them along with Ostor, his cowboy hat slightly askew and his massive hand never letting go of mine.

I wasn't walking into the dragon’s lair alone.

I had Ostor by my side.