The Orc's Word

Tess
I’ve heard enough pretty words to know how little they can mean.

Then I meet Orvek.

Seven feet of HammerFall clan muscle, ivory tusks, maddening restraint, and a personal code that won’t let him reveal what isn’t his to tell.

He won’t give me the answers I want. He won’t tell me what I want to hear. And somehow, his silence feels safer than other people’s promises.

Then he looks me straight in the eye and makes me a promise of his own.

You have my word.

As a reporter, I spend my life listening for lies, but for some reason, I believe him.

So I tell him his word is good enough for me.

I have no idea what I’ve just accepted.

Orvek

Tess Avery has a voice made to be heard.

I’ve spent years learning when not to use mine.

That should make us a terrible match.

It doesn’t.

She’s sharp, fearless, and impossible to ignore. When she tells me she trusts my word, I believe she understands exactly what it means.

It’s only later that I find out she had no idea she’d accepted my bid to court her.

By then, I’m already far past wanting to take it back.

And every time another sharp question comes out of that clever mouth, I have to work a little harder to remember why restraint ever seemed like a virtue.

Some vows are meant to be kept. Some come with a seven-foot orc who believes you’ve agreed to his courtship... and plans to make sure you never regret saying yes.

Principled adversaries to lovers • Accidental orc courtship • He falls first • Size difference • Cultural miscommunication • Small-town romance • Explicit heat • Guaranteed HEA