My Orc (Secret) Boss (Eastshore Isle #7)

Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Maya

I struggled to keep up with Memnon, which surprised me, because with his limp and my long legs, we were usually evenly matched. But right now, as he stalked out of the park, across the street, and headed for the beach access, he was moving as if he was full of anger and needed to burn off some of it.

Pinning my skirt around my legs so it wouldn’t kick up as I ran, I hurried to keep up. “Memnon!” I panted. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” he snarled, whirling on me.

I reared back, surprised by the way his eyes were glowing green. I’d become used to their gentle spark, but this was something fierce, something possessive.

Maybe he saw how hard I was breathing, or how nervous I was after that horrible bidding experience with disgusting Geoffrey A. Harrison leering lewdly at me. Or maybe he was just tired of waiting.

Whatever the reason, Memnon bent down and lifted me, tossing me over his shoulder as if he were a caveman and I was his prize.

“Memnon!” I squeaked, pushing myself away from his back and kicking up my heels, trying to lock down my bright yellow skirt. I guess I should’ve worn my trousers after all. If I had, I wouldn’t be worried about flashing all of Eastshore right now, and Geoffrey likely wouldn’t have been so interested in me.

I was pretty sure Memnon knew what the issue was, but he merely grunted and clapped his hand over my ass to hold my skirt in place. The heavy weight, however, reminded me of the way he’d touched me last night.

A familiar warmth flooded my core, and I immediately pressed my thighs together to capture the sensation.

Memnon made a noise that might have been a strangled groan, but he slowed his headlong rush. His fingers dug into my butt cheek as he stomped down the beach access toward the waves. Still, he was moving slower, more deliberately now.

Thank goodness.

I lifted my head. “Um, Memnon? Where are you taking me?”

“Someplace I can have you to myself,” he grumbled.

Oh. Well, I knew he wasn’t a fan of crowds, so that might explain that. On the other hand, he’d lived in New York City for a decade. So was this reclusiveness only an issue since moving to Eastshore? If so, then something else must have set him off.

That blonde fitness coach who’d been clinging to his arm for some reason when I went up on stage? Something his brother had said to him? Or…

Was he angry about something I did?

When we reached the beach, he turned and began to tromp along the base of the dunes, just out of reach of where the sea grasses anchored them. He wasn’t in a hurry anymore.

In fact, his hand—his touch on my butt—had turned almost leisurely. He squeezed slightly, then loosened, then squeezed again.

I dropped my head, pressing my face into the back of his t-shirt to muffle my groan. I mean, surely he wasn’t trying to turn me on? We were walking down the beach! Anyone could see us!

Um, he’s walking. You’re just along for the ride, aren’t you ?

The thought of riding Memnon had me groaning again.

“Maya.” His voice was raspy, rough. “I think there’s something you ought to know.”

Oh thank goodness, he was finally going to explain what all this was about. “What?” I asked, just as he made an abrupt right turn to climb a little cut through between the dunes.

I felt him stop, then he shifted his hold on me, his fingers sliding under my skirt to brush against my undies.

Oh God, I was already wet, wasn’t I?

I lifted my head, trying to see where we were. Memnon had found a little empty lot, one of the beachfront properties someone owned but hadn’t developed yet. The scrub oaks and kudzu hid us from the street, and the dunes hid us from anyone on the beach.

Mostly.

I squirmed. “Memnon?” I prompted before.

My response was his other hand, joining the first. This one cupped my ass cheek as the first slid between my thighs, along the soaked gusset of my underwear. He inhaled, long and deep.

“I just thought I ought to tell you that orc senses are more attuned than humans. For the last week, I’ve known when you’re turned on.”

Oh God .

With a humiliated groan, I dropped my forehead to his back once more.

I felt him chuckle—Memnon wouldn’t do anything as emotive as laugh out loud—as he pushed my legs a little farther apart. Last night, he’d had his fingers in me, and then he’d licked them.

Now he slid his fingers along my cleft, and I felt my pussy clench in desperation.

“I can smell you, Maya.” He stroked me again. “I can smell your need.”

I groaned again, trying to agree without words.

“I can make you feel good again, dkaar .” There was that word Giza called his Mate. Vaguely, I wondered what it meant, but I think my brain was too hung up on the whole make you feel good thing.

Memnon shifted, settling his weight, and his voice turned silky. “Would you like that? You want me to make you feel good?”

My fingers clenched the cotton of his t-shirt, and I found myself nodding furiously against his back.

He might have chuckled again, even as he caressed me. “You have to say it, Blossom. I don’t want to confuse this. I have to hear you say you want me to make you feel good.”

That’s right: I was his boss . We were treading a fine line here, despite both being adults. I needed to make my consent clear.

I had to swallow to make my throat work. “Please, Memnon,” I rasped. “Please make me feel good.”

Almost before the words were out of my mouth, I felt his fingertip digging against my skin. No, not his fingertip, his claw ! I sucked in a breath, but before I could react further, he sliced through the gusset of my panties.

When cool spring air hit my wet pussy, I arched my back in surprise and outrage and a hell of a lot of arousal. “Memn—” I managed, before he lifted me off his shoulder, and I bit down on a squeak of surprise.

I expected him to put me and my now-half-naked-ass down, but instead, he just swung me over his head, looping one of my legs over his shoulder until I was…until I was sitting on his face ! While he was standing upright.

It was outrageous. It was ridiculous.

When he held my ass in place, and dragged his tongue along my cleft?

It was oh so right .

I curled forward, wrapped around his face and head, my fingers desperately digging into that glorious hair, although I knew he wouldn’t let me fall. And Memnon…

He worshipped me. With his mouth.

His tongue, dear God, his tongue! Ridged and thick, just like my dildo, but so much better! He slid it inside me, pressing his mouth to my opening, and when he hummed, I jolted against him, certain I could feel it through my entire body.

He moved his hands lower, so I was practically sitting on them, which allowed his littlest fingers to hold my folds apart so he could lavish attention on all parts of me. He even lifted me higher so he could slide his tongue along my entire cleft to my clitoris.

And before I could be embarrassed by that , he closed his lips around my clit and sucked , and I nearly erupted right then.

“Memnon ,” I groaned. “Oh God.”

I felt his lips curl, but he made no response, except an obscene sort of slurp as he went back to work on me. I curled my legs around his shoulders and held on tightly as he showed me what a male with his tongue and his strength could do.

In no time, I was practically humping his face, crying out whenever his thick tongue filled me. I knew I was dripping all over him, but from the slurping noises he was making, it wasn’t a bad thing. I wanted to come so badly…I needed to come.

And then he slid his tongue as deep as it would go and nuzzled my clit with his nose. His tusks scraped my folds, and that was all I needed. My pleasure burst over me and despite my efforts to keep quiet, I could only muffle my cries against his hair.

My inner muscles were still spasming as he slowly withdrew and licked me again, causing me to lurch against him, the touch startling on my too-sensitive skin. I felt him grin again, then he was gently untangling me, lowering me…

His hands were on my waist, and he lowered me until we were eye-to-eye. I assumed I was staring, shocked, overwhelmed…but his lips twitched upward on one side, and that gray ridged tongue darted out to collect all of my spend.

I shuddered, then threw my arms around him and kissed him.

He gathered me close, and I felt him stumble. Now he stumbled?

Good thing he didn’t do it, oh, about three minutes ago .

We ended up sitting on the dune, me practically in his lap. I wasn’t done with him, but I think I was still too awed by what had just happened. That display of strength, of caring…and he’d done it for me .

Why?

My cheek was pressed to his chest, listening to his heart beating, and his arms were holding me tightly.

“Memnon?” I whispered. He hummed. I swallowed, then pressed on… “Why would you…” No, that wasn’t what I wanted to ask. “You seemed so angry.”

A pause, then he shuddered just once. I pulled away to stare up at his profile, his hard jaw.

“That asshole bid on you,” he finally growled. “Not on your landscaping talents, but on you . I didn’t want him to have you.”

So he’d bid on me? My lips curled gently. “I didn’t want him to win either. Thank you for bidding on me—or rather, on my landscaping services.”

His gaze suddenly pierced me very seriously. The green was still there, but not as vivid as before. “I won you , Maya. For that moment, you were mine . I…reacted poorly.”

Was he apologizing for what he just did? I allowed my smile to grow and stroked his arm. “I enjoyed your reaction. You can get possessive again anytime you want.”

It was a poor joke and judging from the way his intense gaze didn’t waver, he hadn’t gotten it.

So I tried for something lighter, shrugging and tucking myself up against him again. “You spent a thousand dollars on landscaping services, but you live in an apartment. What do you want me to do for you?” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I heard how they could be misconstrued, but I pushed on. “Five hundred dollars’ worth, at least.”

The thought of what I would do for this male for free ran through my head, and judging from the way he growled under his breath, Memnon had sensed it too.

So I nudged him. “Landscaping, of course.”

He huffed, as close to a laugh as he got, and repeated, “Of course.”

We sat in silence for a while, listening to the distant sounds of the Festival as the sun painted the western sky. And I contemplated how damn lucky I’d been to be able to hire my grumpy upstairs neighbor.

He was strong, yes, and willing to work hard. But more than that, he was thoughtful, considerate, and had a wellspring of knowledge about the land and plants. I loved that he respected nature and my beliefs the way I respected his, and that we could sit in silence like this, just contemplating the trees around us and the peace within us.

But it was starting to get cold.

“So?” I finally prompted. “What kind of landscaping do you want me to do?

Memnon blew out a breath and turned dark eyes toward me. In the growing twilight, he flashed his tusks, his smile there and gone in a moment. “I want you to build my new home—Eastshore Isle—a community garden. Where we can all gather and grow whatever we want and share it. As communities are supposed to do.”

It was perfect.

He was perfect.

I sucked in a breath as the truth hit me.

Holy crap, I loved him.

I loved Memnon. I loved my employee, and that was a human resources nightmare waiting to happen, wasn’t it?

Worth it.