Page 4 of Bread with the Orc (Harmony Glen #6)

Chapter Four

Dorvak

When an orc male is properly motivated, he could move mountains.

And I was very motivated to have Laney Wong sharing my space.

One day, by the gods below, she would share my bed, and maybe my life. But for now, I would content myself with watching her light up the room with her smile each time she danced her way through the bakery, checking on customers.

Her smiles for me were shyer, more subtle, but I dared to hope they, combined with her body’s response to my nearness, meant one day I could claim her as my own. My Kteer howled with glee at the thought.

For now, though, I would try to be content with her thinking of me as a business partner. And maybe, considering the way she teased me…a friend?

In the week following the glorious just-between-business-partners hug in her now-empty tea shop, my life changed significantly.

For one thing, I went from a calm, empty place of business with only a few customers in line during the lunchtime rush, to just a ridiculous amount of chaos. It went from a nice, open front room to… this .

Together, Laney and I moved her tea-brewing station, her mother’s teacup collection, her tables, her chairs, her display cases…

until everything was crammed into my space in haphazard confusion.

I stood in the center, hands on my hips, scowling at everything until she’d bustled over with a broom in her hands and a kerchief tied around her head.

“Go make some bread,” she commanded. “I’ll arrange everything out here.”

“I don’t want to make bread.” I glowered down at her. “I make the dough in the evening for the morning baking.”

“Then go make me some bearclaws,” she commanded imperiously, shooing me—actually sweeping me with the broom!—toward the kitchen. “I’ll call you when I need my big strong male.”

I should have been sullen as I stomped toward the back, but the fact she’d called me her male mollified me somewhat. I made her bearclaws—with almonds—and by the end of that day, we’d sold out of those as well as my typical loaves .

Yes, my space was more chaotic now, and my hours were more full.

I not only prepped the bread dough in the morning, but now I made batches of pastries.

And as word got around about our new joint business, more and more customers stopped by during the day.

I was having to bake in the middle of the day now too.

“You need a new sign out front,” she announced one day as she arranged the jelly donuts in the display case. “ Dorvak’s Breads isn’t comprehensive enough.”

I was bent over the sink, scrubbing down after the cooking oil attacked me. “I make bread. People like bread.”

“You make delicious bread.” I liked the way she emphasized it without looking up, as if it was completely natural. “But now you make a bunch of other stuff.”

“And you make tea.”

She shot a smile at me. “ Dorvak’s Bakery and Tea Shop ?”

Gods below, I loved to hear the sound of my name on her lips. Flustered, I tucked my lips into a frown and turned away. “The tea shop isn’t mine.”

“ Dorvak’s Bakery and Laney’s Tea Shop seems like a mouthful.”

A mouthful? The thought of what I could do with my mouth when it came to Laney made me groan, although I swallowed it down and closed my eyes.

“You okay, Dorvak?” She passed the now-empty tray through the window to the kitchen. “Want me to get some medicine for those burns? ”

“Paltry burns,” I muttered. “I am fine. Go make some tea.”

“Two oolongs, coming up!”

She was so cheerful all the time, and I couldn’t help but love it, despite the chaos she’d brought to my life.

The next day, she started painting the east wall of the open room, and by the end of the day, had even recruited some neighbors to help. She knew everyone—I suppose a benefit of living here her whole life, and I liked how she didn’t seem to see the difference between monsters and humans.

There was Sebastian and Aspen and their kitling, who had begun to beg for a cinnamon roll after his first visit. Now I snuck him one while his parents helped Laney sketch out plans for a kids’ corner near the big window.

Ogram and Hope, who now ran the Harmony Market together, had a lot of opinions about color combinations, and Laney got into a lively debate about something called eggplant luster , which sounded ridiculous.

Liana and Rourke actually helped paint, which I appreciated so I didn’t have to leave the kitchen. I’d always liked the big lionmale, and when he finished, I nodded in gratitude and handed him two wrapped loaves of milk bread, which I knew he liked.

And of course, Feydin and Dazy, who had become our most devoted customers—or rather, I suspect Dazy was just addicted to my cheese Danishes—came by each morning with fresh flowers for the tables.

In no time, my austere bakery had turned into a gathering place for the community, and I only had to look at Laney’s pride to see this was what she’d hoped for.

After years of people just coming into my shop, buying bread, and leaving, it was strange to hear so many voices echoing around the place.

Thank the gods that Laney was willing and able to handle the front of the bakery, and could somehow tell when I became overwhelmed with all the people.

If I were dragged into conversation with the customers, more often than not, she’d ask for something that gave me an excuse to escape to the kitchen.

She was really learning my habits, and although I hadn’t thought it possible that my Kteer could grow smugger…it did.

And then, two weeks after our lives had merged—successfully, it seemed—Laney asked me to meet her at the park on Wednesday afternoon.

My bakery had always been closed on Wednesdays, and I thought she also appreciated having a day off.

I did not, however, appreciate having a day when I couldn’t inhale her scent, and thus I was grateful for the opportunity to see her, to touch her.

Maybe I arrived an hour early, just to wait for her. And maybe, when she arrived and saw me and her smile bloomed, turning the crisp fall day into something magnificent, it was all worth it.

“Thanks for coming Dorvak—heh, that’s what she said .”

From the way Laney winked and nudged me with her elbow, I could tell this was a joke I was supposed to understand. However, all I could focus on was her warmth next to mine .

“Hello.” I resisted the urge to scoop up her hand and cradle it. “Why am I here?”

“Because you’re nice and you wanted to humor me.” She smiled and slipped her arm through mine, pulling me toward the fountain. “But I’m here because I wanted to talk to you about the Harvest Festival.”

To be honest, a meteor could have hurtled toward us at that moment, or Feydin could have started singing, or something equally horrible, and I wouldn’t have noticed. Because Laney was touching me, her curves pressed up against my side as we strolled and all I could think was mine mine mine .

I wanted to sink into her in all ways. I wanted to bring her more pleasure than she could imagine. I wanted to make her scream my name loud enough for everyone to know. I wanted to place my mark on her. I wanted the world to know Laney Wong was mine . I wanted her to bear my kitling?—

What ?

But as suddenly as the thought appeared, I couldn’t get rid of it.

I wanted to see Laney’s stomach swollen with our child. I wanted to blend the two of us until it was impossible to tell us apart. I wanted our kitling to be the sign to the world that we were one.

What the actual fuck, idiot? You’re business partners . You can’t breed her just because you think she’s supremely fuckable. Get your cock under control !

No, I didn’t want to breed her because I desired her. I wanted to breed her because she was mine .

In that moment, I knew the truth I couldn’t deny: Laney was my Mate, and from the way my Kteer thrummed, there was no doubt.

“Dorvak?”

When I blinked and glanced down at her, I realized Laney was chewing on her lip, looking up at me in worry. “We don’t have to, if you don’t want to.”

“Oh, I want to.” My lips tugged down as I realized she was most certainly talking about something different than I’d been thinking. “Do what?”

“The Harvest Festival.”

Each year since monsters had joined humans in Harmony Glen, the town had marked an autumnal celebration of the surrounding farms with a Harvest Festival. It was a time for coziness and crafts and contests. Was it any wonder I’d avoided it?

“What about it?”

From her huff of laughter, which caused the already-crisp air to cloud about her face, and the roll of her eyes, I supposed she’d already explained it. “The dessert competition . You’re a shoo-in to win. I asked around, and you’ve never won.”

“I’ve never entered,” I countered. “I make breads.”

She tugged me around the fountain once more.

“And now you make amazing pastries. I was thinking…if you could figure out a way to flavor a pastry with some tea, the entry would serve as a sort of…” Her dark eyes peeked up at me uncertainly.

“An advertisement, maybe? I’ve already signed us up for a booth at the festival. ”

I frowned. “I’ve never been to the festival.”

“You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.” She pulled me to a stop. “Our booth is going to be about here. I thought being on the main thoroughfare of the festival would get good foot traffic. I was thinking warm chai tea, and you could make a selection of pastries for me to sell…”

It was difficult to imagine the park filled with booths and people on an overcast Wednesday like today. Still, I looked around, trying to guess what it would be like. “And many people come to this event?”

“Oh, yes!” She squeezed my arm, and I didn’t think she even realized what she’d done.

“That whole section will be kids’ events to raise money for the town’s various projects.

It’s so cute to see the little ones running around.

Sometimes I watch them and daydream about if my kids would be any good with a baseball or crafts or whatever.

Anyhow. ” She pointed toward the lake. “Down there will be the art fair, and after dark, someone lights up a few of the bonfires on the beach and we roast marshmallows. Everyone comes out for it, it’s one of my favorite Harmony Glen traditions. ”

Harmony . There was that word again.

In an effort to drag my attention away from the image of Laney and me watching our kitlings play, I forced myself to follow her pointing finger. “And all these people will want to eat my pastries and drink your tea? And you’ll convince them to come to the shop after?”

Laney laughed again, her head falling back and her breath puffing around her head, wreathing her in delight.

“Dorvak, they’ll pay for your treats! Maybe we could bag up some popcorn for the kids?

I promise you, this festival is going to be the perfect way to let the town know about our new venture, and if you place in the dessert competition, people from nearby towns will even hear about it! ”

In the last few weeks, I’d gone from having regular customers who popped in, grabbed a loaf of bread, paid, then left to having dozens of members of the community who lingered .

They came for Laney’s tea, they chatted at the tables while their kids played.

They kept returning to try my Pastry of the Day—another Laney idea.

They voted over which was best and stopped by to ask me to remake their favorites.

My bakery had gone from making simple breads to being an important part of Harmony Glen.

And it was all thanks to this small female.

“You really are a brilliant marketer,” I murmured, studying her.

She was already blushing, and now she ducked her chin. “Aw, thanks, but it’s not that big a deal.”

My finger caught her chin, lifting it back so she could meet my eyes. “Don’t make yourself smaller, Laney Wong. Not for me, not for anyone. You have done remarkable things in a short time. Not just for my shop, but for this town. And for me.”

Her tongue darted out across her plump bottom lip, and I knew I wanted it. Wanted her.

“Thank you,” she whispered, eyes wide.

“I want to kiss you,” I murmured .

There was a moment when the world froze; her, me, the geese overhead, the wind. Everything ceased, as if the world had to shift to fit into my statement. I watched as her eyes widened further, then closed, and I steeled myself to step back, to put distance between us.

She was my business partner , for fuck’s sake. We ran a shop together. I couldn’t risk fucking this up.

Could I?

And then, before I could wonder if there was any way she could ever see me as something more than just a partner, Laney surged up on her toes, throwing her arms around my neck, pulling my head down to hers…

And then we were kissing.

There in the middle of the park, where anyone could see, I wrapped my arms around Laney and lifted her against me, reveling in the way her curves fit against my body so perfectly. I wanted this so badly, and in my chest, my Kteer sang in victory.

It wasn’t a deep kiss, but it was enough.

When she pulled away, her breaths heavy, clouding the air around our faces, giving us an illusion of privacy, we were nose-to-nose. And I held her gaze, my lips slowly curling upward.

“We’re going to win this, Dorvak,” she whispered.

I had no idea what she was talking about. As far as I was concerned, I’d already won.

“Yes,” I solemnly agreed. “We are.”