Carol’s eyebrows tried to reach her hairline. “Lucky? You’re kidding.”
“You could have become a troll,” Keenan snorted.
She blinked. “I didn’t mean...”
“Nah,” Keenan said. “I’m sorry. It’s…just…you know, the Becoming wasn’t the best thing to happen toeveryone.”
She smiled at him wryly. “It seems like everyone else got awesome upgrades. Suddenly telekinetic, or super strong or something.”
“Well, I got the super strong part,” Keenan said, spreading his hands helplessly. “I just also got the part where I’m super ugly and too big to fit in a compact car or standard office chair.”
“You aren’t super ugly,” Carol blurted, and Keenan was surprised to see her blush. “You aren’t ugly at all.”
Being a troll came with a number of advantages, and one of them was a keen sense of smell. Keenan could smell her and he realized that what he’d assumed was just his own animal attraction to her lush curves was equal parts the intoxicating scent of her. She was deeply aroused and it fanned the fire of Keenan’s desire.
But what was a troll supposed to do with desire? She couldn’t possibly want to kiss him, or let him do the things he was suddenly dying to do with her.
The air between them sizzled and Keenan struggled to find something to say to break the growing tension.
3
CAROL
Carol had never seen anything like Keenan.
He was a foot taller than her and twice as broad, and Carol was neither short nor slight. His shoulder-length hair was thick and slightly curly, and his eyes sparkled with an intensity that she had never seen in a human face. He had human-looking skin, not leathery like the orcs Carol knew, and Carol was dying to see how it felt under her fingers. It was hard not to stare at his monstrous jaw, or resist reaching out to feel the muscular shoulder that strained beneath his fitted suit jacket. Curved tusks jutted out above his expressive mouth and Carol found herself imagining how it would feel to have his sharp teeth drag over her skin.
He had huge hands and Carol wondered how true the hand and cock comparison actually was.
“So…mychair,” she said breathlessly, wishing she was brave enough to ask him if he’d be interested insharingit. Was it strong enough to support them both? It was a sturdy chair, but he washuge, and she didn’t particularly want him to be gentle with her.
He made a tiny move towards her and Carol wasn’t sure what possessed her to reach up and grasp his tie.
He didn’t resist when she pulled him down and she brushed her mouth over his gingerly.
It was an electric shock when skin touched skin and they both scrambled apart. Keenan crashed back into her chair and the wall of the cubicle behind Carol rattled.
“What was that?” she demanded.
“I thought you said you weren’t magic,” Keenan exclaimed, touching his mouth.
“That wasn’t me!”Was it?
“Are you sure? I’ve kissed people before and they never did that.”
“I’ve kissed people,” Carol protested. But …not since the Becoming, actually. It had been years before that since her last boyfriend; she was usually slow to trust and happy enough to lean into her Crazy Cat Lady personality and satisfy her urges with a book and her bedside table friend.
Now she’d kissed a guy she just met, and she wanted to do a whole dirty lot more.
Keenan was still staring at her, backed up against her chair. “Do you want to try that again?”
“Really?” Carol let out the breath she was holding. “No regrets?”
“Regrets?” Keenan sounded shocked. “Fuck, that was the hottest kiss I’ve ever had and you are…well, look at you!”
Carol glanced down at herself, trying to resolve their brief brush with Keenan’s words and her own body’s hot reaction.
He wanted her? Carol tried to wrap her mind around the lust in his eyes. She knew that there were men who liked generously-built women but she’d never met one who looked at her likethat.
