Page 18 of Bread with the Orc (Harmony Glen #6)
His lips twitched again, more obvious because of the tusks. “Fair.”
Was that supposed to be an apology?
Look, if there’s anything you should know about Southern girls, it’s that we’ve been raised to apologize.
For everything. You bump into me at the grocery store, causing me to spill my coffee?
I’m going to apologize to you. A meteorite slams through the roof of your car? I’m going to run over and apologize.
It was something I’d been working on.
As the only person under the age of fifty on the Eastshore Town Council, I couldn’t afford to do anything that made shit sound like it was my fault.
Still, I think I could be forgiven for forgetting my recent attempts at standing up for myself. “Sorry,” I sighed, allowing my hands to drop by my sides and rolling my shoulders. “I’m just…”
“Worried?” he supplied. “About your Muffin.”
“About all sorts of things,” I muttered. “I have a big meeting.”
He nodded, but said nothing.
I said nothing .
Crickets chirped in the spring dusk, and a whole lotta nothing happened.
This would’ve been awkward, had I not been actively engaged in staring at his forearms. Did I mention the forearms?
You idiot. You need to say goodnight and go inside. Forget the hot tub! Pour yourself a glass of wine and have a lie down!
Which was, of course, code for masturbate furiously.
To my surprise, he was the one who broke the silence. “What kind of meeting?”
“What?” I blurted, jerking my gaze up to his.
“What kind of meeting?” he calmly repeated, his dark eyes glinting in the dim light.
He…honestly wanted to know?
I struggled to form a coherent explanation. “I’m the Community Development Coordinator for Eastshore, and the day after tomorrow the town council wants me to pitch ideas to save the town.”
His brow twitched. “What’s wrong with the town?”
He hadn’t noticed? “We’re the only beach town on this coast experiencing negative population growth, thanks to the ferry situation.
With the yarn shop closing, we have three empty storefronts on Main Street.
The Public Works Coordinator is pitching that we allow a developer to build one of those high-rise hotels, which would probably solve the problem, but… ”
I shrugged, not sure why I was complaining to my hot next-door neighbor .
“But you don’t think that’s a good idea?” he finished.
“I think…it would completely change the island. We’re not that far from the mainland, and the ferry runs regularly. It’s part of Eastshore’s charm , dammit. I want to—” I took a deep breath. “Sorry. I just want to preserve it.”
He nodded. “I wouldn’t want to live here if a million people started flocking here. Vacation houses. Tourist traps.”
“Exactly!” I agreed gratefully. “It wouldn’t be the same island, would it?”
“I like to be left alone.”
Oh. Damn. Well, that hadn’t exactly been my point. “Sorry.” Dammit, I have to get better about the apologizing thing! “I just meant…I want to find a way to save Eastshore without overrunning it with people.”
He grunted. “Sounds good to me.”
Right. I suppose it would , wouldn’t it?
In the four years I’d lived in Eastshore, in the four years I’d worked for the council, I hadn’t heard any gossip about Karnak. No one saw him in town, he didn’t interact with anyone on the island—not even Cairo, the grumpy orc who’d opened a mechanic’s shop over on Conch Street.
My next-door neighbor was a true recluse.
A hot, mostly naked recluse . Who must work from home, because his old junker of a Jeep had grass growing around it .
In the four years I’d lived beside him, this was the longest conversation I’d ever had with him!
Even when he’d cut up that tree for me—thank God, because I had no idea how to tackle it—and I’d offered him a hundred bucks to say thank you, he’d done little more than grunt a no and shut the door in my face.
Karnak would probably like Eastshore to die, so he could be alone.
Well, screw that. Screw him!
Yes please .
Wait, no, no, I was mixing metaphors again. I’d burn that bridge when I came to it. “Well, okay, I’d better go!” I announced far too brightly, even while knowing I wasn’t fooling him. “Time for bed. Inside. My house.”
“You sure you don’t want to use your hot tub?” He did that thing again where he tipped his head so one tusk pointed at my porch.
“Nope! Not at all!” He didn’t know I’d planned to climb into the hot water and allow the glorious heat to cradle my naked skin and the jets to caress…other bits. “Definitely going inside now. For a—a shower. And a nice crossword!”
Crossword? Jeez, I hadn’t done a crossword in years!
His lips twitched again, and he dropped his hands to his hips, his palms resting atop the towel. “Alright then. Enjoy your crossword.”
His tone was carefully bland, but I suspected he didn’t believe me .
Not that it mattered, because I was already shuffling backward, wincing slightly when my bare heel came down on a pinecone. “Okay! Good chatting, Karnak!”
I’d reached my porch when I heard him softly say, “Sleep well, Jess.”
I slammed my back door and pressed my forehead against it.
He knew my name?
Feel free to keep cringing.
Oh yeah, Jess has it bad for Karnak! And what’s going to happen when she realizes he can hear everything she’s been doing in that outdoor hot tub of hers? Deliciousness, that’s what! You’re going to have fun with My Orc Next Door , promise !