He’d be great onMasterChef. Or should that beMonsterChef?
We watch a lot of TV shows about cooking in Sparkle. It’s a big thing, watching others cook, though few of us actually get round to trying the recipes, we just leave it to the celeb chefs. I can’t help wondering what would happen if Otis did a bake-off wearing nothing but his apron.
Sparkle residents would probably die of shock.
I hop onto the stool next to the bench and he puts an arm around me. We both stare at the perfect golden sponge cake.
“Seems like we timed it perfectly,” I laugh.
“Yeah.” He smiles down at me. “Are you sure you’re happy to come visit my mom?”
“Of course. Why? Are you having second thoughts about introducing us?” I ask, frowning.
“Gods, no. No. It’s just… Leanna used to come under sufferance, and not often. She said seeing my mom dragged her mood down.”
I stop myself from saying something rude about his ex. He hasn’t said in so many words that he’s over her. Maybe he still harbors some feelings. It hurts a little thinking about it.
Actually, quite a lot.
It’s probably silly to let myself feel this way after such a short time.
Then I remind myself that we’ve just knotted, an intimate beautiful act he never shared with his ex.
I just can’t shake the sense that Otis and I are meant to be together.
OTIS.
Trying to work after the most amazing fuck of your life is not easy.
And not just any fuck either. The first knotting of my life.
Even though it was wild and fun, and I managed to crack the mirror in the process, knotting is a deep bonding experience for orcs, which is probably why I’ve never done it before with a partner. It’s hard to ignore the deeper implications of this. Ineed time to process what knotting Clem meant. But time is not a luxury I have right now.
I’m sitting in my office, scratching my head when I should be writing equations. I can’t concentrate, knowing that Clem is sleeping in my bed right now. That I could just give up on the coding and go lie with her.
After we’d eaten together, I told her I needed to get on with my workload, but then dared to rumble gruffly, “You can sleep in my bed if you like.”
“Oh, yes,” she purred. “I’d like that. Join me later.”
“You bet I will.” The grin almost split my face as she blew me a kiss and I watched her sashay off down the corridor, that little ass waggling like the biggest invitation.
I shake my head with a low laugh, then looking back at my desk, I yawn, then re-focus on the job at hand. I add the final lines of coding, press the sequence of keys and the program lights up the computer screen.
I throw myself back in my chair with relief. The bugging devices work. Next Jax will have to plant them in Sparkle.
It’s not an easy task. He’ll be operating alone, under cover of darkness. He’ll need to go via the portal cape, to ensure he’s invisible and can get there and back at the speed of light. If they see one hair of his head, his cover will be blown,
He nearly blew it heading up there to get Clem, and yet how can I regret that he did that.
My whole body suffuses with warmth.
Mine.
She’s mine.
The word dances around inside my skull. I never even thought this with Leanna. Never had the desire to possess, but as I rode Clem to completion, knotted her and lay with her in the aftermath, I knew this was special between us.
She’s your mate.
