Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45901 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45901 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
“I might surprise you,” I said, putting a hand on my hip. “Can I just try a sip?”
I didn’t know what had gotten into me. I shouldn’t be offering to drink alcohol at a strange Orc’s house! If I was with a human man, it would be like asking to get date-raped.
Tark seemed to consider, but then he shook his head.
“I don’t think so, Babygirl. It wouldn’t be safe—not with you having the other magic potion in your system.”
“What did you call me?” I frowned up at him. It occurred to me that I halfway remembered him calling me that when I had first run into him, but I had been too upset to protest.
“Oh, sorry,” he apologized. “It’s just a nickname for a little one and you know you’re just so tiny.”
I really did feel like a kid, standing there in his massive kitchen where all the countertops came up past my breasts and the oven looked big enough to roast and entire pig in at once. But I didn’t like to admit it.
“I’m not little,” I protested. “I’m really tall for a woman—I’m almost five foot eleven. And I’m not skinny either.”
“Thank goodness you’re not,” he rumbled. “So many of the human women I see look like they might get blown away in a storm.”
“The point is, I’m not little,” I repeated.
He gave that rumbling laughter again.
“Maybe not to a human male. For me you’re the size of a…well, a babygirl. But I won’t call you that if you don’t want me to.”
“I’m…not exactly sure how I feel about it,” I admitted. “How about that water, since you won’t let me try the Pixie Punch?”
“I’ll let you have some next time you come—if you visit again,” he offered. “I just want to be sure you’re all right with that potion you took.”
I was touched by his concern for me. I wondered if all Orcs were this nice to women. If so, they were getting a bad rap in the Lord of the Rings movies.
He poured me a glass of water which was so big I had to wrap both my hands around it. Luckily he only filled it half full but it was still much more than I could drink. It was cold and refreshing, though. I told him so as I reached to put the glass in his sink.
“Here—let me—the sink is deep and your arms aren’t that long, Babygirl,” he murmured, taking it from me.
This time I didn’t say anything about the nickname—I think I had already decided I kind of liked it.
We walked back to sit on the couch together but when I started to scramble up onto it, Tark lifted me again, without asking.
“Thank you.” I settled and he sat beside me, closer this time. “So tell me about the magical world,” I said to him. “This town, er—”
“Hidden Hollow,” he supplied.
“Oh, right. Hidden Hollow. Are you sure it doesn’t let non-magical people in?” I asked. “Because I’m pretty positive there’s nothing special or magical about me.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t bet on that,” he rumbled and I noticed that his golden eyes were glowing as he looked me swiftly up and down before his gaze came back to my face. “I think you’re very special.”
I could feel myself blushing again at his frank appraisal and praise. I wasn’t used to men looking at me that way. Honestly, I was more or less used to being invisible.
Whenever I went out with my friends—who were all thin—I was always the wingman. Always the one the guys ignored. It was like they didn’t see me. Or if they did bother to talk to me, it was always asking for advice on how to get one of my skinny friends to date them. I was sick of it, but that’s the existence of a curvy girl—it sucks to date when you’re bigger.
But Tark was looking at me like I was one of my skinny friends—like I was the beautiful one, not just someone to ignore and pass over. It made me blush but I have to admit, I also liked it—I liked it a lot.
“Well, thank you,” I said, putting a hand to my cheek—it was hot. “But I mean, I don’t think there’s anything magical about me.”
“Just because you haven’t discovered your magic yet doesn’t mean you don’t have it,” he pointed out. “We have people showing up here all the time who don’t know what their magic is. But they always find it—I’m sure you will too. If you come back,” he added.
“I think I’d like to come back,” I said, which was true. “But, er, I don’t know how I got here in the first place.”
“You said something about trying to get into a room full of ladies?” he said, frowning. “But I don’t know—that was after you bumped your head.”