It surprised her, how much she enjoyed seeing him on his knees.

Bronn was massive, an immovable mountain of an orc, and she loved nothing better than curling against his well-muscled side, feeling utterly secure in his strong arms. Leida adored her boyfriend’s deep, booming voice; his air of dominance and control, the way he commanded a room simply by walking into it.

Therefore, she wasn’t sure if the sight of him on knees—prostrate, the firm swell of his moss-green ass presented to her, the slight quiver in his heavy sac as brushed the tip of a nail over it—should have been as enormously arousing as it was.

“Are you ready, baby?” she asked, rubbing the slickened head of her cock against his well-prepped pucker. The first push was always the most fraught moment. Leida still couldn’t get over the fear that she was hurting him, and Bronn’s deep groan never helped; at the same time, the act of breaching him, of being the one to fuck, rather than being fucked…the thrill of power always made her tremble.

Inch by inch, feeling him tighten and clench until she’d slid home, seated within him fully, gratified by his grunt of pleasure as she did so.

The first time he’d asked her to do this, she’d thought he was joking. They had been together for nearly three years at that point, significant years of ups and downs, and Leida was unable to imagine her future without the big orc at her side.

Bronn had been there, his strong presence a comfort when Granny Fitz—the only mother she’d ever known, having been taken in by the wizened old woman when she was just a child—had succumbed after a long illness; had held her when she’d cried, forging an ornate bench for her in his workshop that had been placed next to Granny’s grave, planting flowers with her all around the shining legs.

She had been there when one of his sisters had married and when another had given birth for the first time. His family was large and close-knit, accepting of her despite the cultural differences, despite not knowing exactly what she was. Bronn insisted it didn’t matter, that his siblings were churning out more than enough kids for his parents to be satisfied that their Orcish bloodline would be fine in the future.

It only bothered her sometimes, the not knowing. He thought it was exciting, the way the lights would sometimes pop when she walked into the room, her occasional telekinesis. His big hazel eyes would light up, and his smile would resemble that of a child’s on Solstice morning, bouncing lightly in his seat, urging her to try and lift him, his smile seeming to glow against his moss-colored skin.

They’d been curled in bed, on a Friday night after he’d returned from a business trip when he’d stroked her hair, catching her attention.

“Baby…would you be willing to…try something? Something new?”

Leida had turned sleepily at the sound of his voice, looking up to his handsome face. Bronn’s profile appeared to be carved in granite—a strong, square jaw and hawkish nose, eyes deep-set beneath his brow. He kept his black hair pulled back from his face, and she tugged the ponytail behind his head before tapping the tip of one of his thick tusks as she waited expectantly.

He was the strongest man she knew, the most handsome orc she’d ever seen, but his request had completely thrown her for a loop.

She’d been nervous the first time. She’d quickly discovered that she was deficient in the coordination required, a man’s instinct to thrust rhythmically not hard-wired into her DNA. It had been awkward and they’d laughed; Bronn’s deep, rolling chuckle cutting off on a strangled gasp when she at last managed to hit his prostate in a way that pleasured him. Pleasure she quickly became addicted to, hearing him grunt and groan, feeling his breath quicken and his body pulse beneath her.

The second and third times had gone easier, and now Leida felt confident in her abilities: knew exactly how her boyfriend liked to be fucked, knew the way to prolong his pleasure and keep him panting, knew how to keep her hips positioned in a way that made him moan.

Once she was seated within him fully, she began to move—a slow, undulating wave, grazing his prostate with only the briefest pressure, more of a tease than anything. She knew what he liked, knew how to please him…therefore she was able to withhold that pleasure, dangling the promise of it in front of him without fully delivering. Bronn groaned, rolling his hips back, seeking fuller contact and Leida pulled back as well, withdrawing from him to the tip, just enough to stay connected, but not enough to give him any relief.

“I don’t think I said you could mo-ove” she singsonged above him, giving the rounded swell of his green ass a light slap before pushing back in, smiling as he groaned once more.

Settling into a rhythm of small rolls, she bumped into the spot he liked repeatedly, smiling at the moans that burst from his lips, interspersed with promises of what he would do to her later.

“I am going to pound you into the mattress, Leida,” he panted, cutting off on another groan. “I promise you’re not going to be able to walk right til morning. Fuck that’s good…I love you so fucking much.”

Dropping her head back, Leida let long tendrils of her cinnamon brown hair skim over her back. She loved him. She loved the way he brought her tea in bed whenever she had a headache, loved the off-key singing that emanated from her shower in his deep baritone. She loved how good he was with his numerous nieces and nephews—tumbling, squalling little green balls of energy who loved nothing more than climbing on their uncle as though he really were a mountain, the way he got right on the ground to play with them, his ease with their endless questions and flights of fancy.

He would be a good father. It wasn’t the first time she’d had such thoughts, but they’d never discussed the future, not really. She loved Bronn and wanted to be with him until her last breath, and knew he loved her as well…but she didn’t know if his feelings shared her depth.

They’d met in the middle of a late summer storm. She’d thought the old pickup had appeared to be listing in Granny’s driveway as she’d left that night, and made a mental note to put air in the tires in the morning when it wasn’t raining sideways. She’d never made it home.

Car after car had passed her as she shivered on the side of the road, mud splattering up her legs, bared in the tiny denim cutoffs she’d worn. Bronn had been the only one to stop, had grunted at the news she didn’t have a spare. When he’d turned back to his truck, tears had filled her eyes, made invisible by the driving rain, thinking he was leaving her there, stupid and alone.

Instead, he’d turned back to her, carrying a large quilt, which he’d wrapped around her shoulders before opening the passenger door on his truck. She’d initially been terrified, she remembered. The orc was huge, towering above her with massive shoulders and intimidating tusks, working silently as she shivered in the cab of the outsized truck. He was soaked to the skin once he climbed behind the wheel, her own small pickup hitched to his. When they’d arrived back at her dingy apartment, she’d insisted he come inside to dry off a bit, had made him sit, searching through her refrigerator for something decent to feed him.

She’d woken the next morning with his heavy arm draped across her, crowded in her small double bed, and sore from his giant cock.

The sound of a motor pulling up to her door the following night had startled her, and she’d pulled back the curtains, surprised to see the big orc again, a plaid shirt tucked into worn jeans that hugged in all the right spots and a wrap of flowers in his hand. His dark hair was pulled back from his face, and as she watched surreptitiously from the corner of the window, he smoothed it back before taking a deep breath and knocking on the door.

Her life hadn’t been the same since.

She didn’t know if he saw her as a potential partner for the long haul, didn’t know if having a human-ish woman at his side was a bigger issue than he let on. She wondered what their children would look like, if they’d be tall and strapping like an orc or awkward and gangling, like her. Would his parents be able to love a grandchild without green skin and pointed ears? Or was such a social obstacle too great to bear in their community, one he wasn’t willing to take on?

Bronn groaned, low and long, snapping her out of her spiraling thoughts. She’d leaned forward, she realized, braced against his thighs, as sturdy as tree trunks, pressed to his prostate but barely moving.

Time to make up for that. Leida gripped his hips, pulling back slowly before slamming forward, smiling when he cried out. Over and over, she gave him what he craved, pounding into his prostate, leaving marks in the shape of her fingers at the smooth green skin of his hips. Bronn’s grunts of appreciation kept time with her snapping hips until she reached around his body, past his weeping cock.

“Are you doing okay, baby? Do you like this?”

His strangled response made her laugh as she gripped his sac, already tightening. He was close then, she thought musingly. Leida always gave special care to his heavy balls, loved mouthing them and sucking them slowly, licking the seam that kept them separated. Now she kneaded the twin bulges, rubbing them in her palm before tugging gently, ignoring his cock for the moment. Bronn always liked the looking after, would spread his legs happily, laying back in their giant orc-sized bed with a dazed smile as she licked and sucked him, but now…now it was a punishment, when his cock was in such desperate need of attention, bobbing in time to the way she fucked him.

“Please…”

His deep voice was rough with need and Leida had never been able to deny him, not when he took such good care of her; always made sure to see to her needs before his own in bed, always made sure she felt safe and cherished and wanted. It didn’t matter that she didn’t know what their future held, not when she loved him so much and he begged her so sweetly.

“P-please, baby…”

His cock was swollen with need, thick as a club as it bounced in time to her thrusts, and Leida was able to see the shiver move up his spine as she gripped it tightly, stroking over the weeping head. His deep pants told her he was close. She felt Bronn’s entire body tremble beneath her as she tightened her grip, pumping his shaft in time to her hips, adding a twist over his head, continually drooling now. His hips moved back to meet hers and his moaning pants carried a note of desperation.

“More”

Leida grazed her teeth against his shoulder, giving into his request. Fucking into him in earnest, the angle of Bronn’s ass abruptly changed before her as he dropped to lean on his forearms, letting her drive into him deeply.

“Fuck…right there, Leida…I love you, baby, I love you so much…fuck, I’m going to come, right there, don’t stop…I’m going to marry you just for doing that…Fuck!”

Her eyes went wide at his words, just as his cock erupted beneath her. Leida continued to pump into him, knowing he liked her to keep up the pressure until he told her to stop, reaching around to grip his cock once more, wanting to feel it pulse in her hand. She’d never been with an orc before Bronn, and wondered if they all came as long and hard as he did.

Her hips stilled when he reached back to grip her thigh, signaling her to cease the assault on his prostate as his cock spit up the last vestiges of his orgasm. Leida continued to pump his length, milking him through his climax until his shoulders tipped forward, hitting the mattress, utterly spent.

She’d learned to put a towel down after the second time, had begun to double it by the fourth.

“I love you so much.” Bronn’s voice was deep rumble above her, and she pressed her nose to the side of his thick neck in response. Clean-up was always designated a “later” priority after they played this way—the ruined towels were dropped in the hamper and the strap-on dropped in the tub, and then they bundled into bed, professional snugglers both.

“You’ve never said that before,” Leida mumbled into his skin, breathing in the clean smell of his skin and sweat, feeling the warmth radiate through him. Bronn was always hot, but after sex he was an inferno.

“I tell you I love you a hundred times a day,” he scoffed into her hair. Leida was able to feel the graze of one of his big tusks gently move against her scalp as his kissed her head.

“You’ve never said…the other thing.”

At this, he pulled back. His broad forehead creased, his hazel eyes narrowed in confusion as he looked down at her. Don’t make me say it…”You-you’ve never said anything about getting married,” she laughed awkwardly, swallowing her tongue when his brow creased further.

“Of course I’m going to marry you.” His deep voice was a confused mumble as he stared down. “Why would you think otherwise?”

Leida felt herself heat. “Because we’ve never once talked about it, Bronn. Why would you think I’d just assume that?!”

“Leida, you’ve met my whole clan, you’ve been around for every major…baby, everybody loves you. They all know we’re together.”

She wasn’t sure how such a nice night had taken such a turn, she thought, forcing herself to sit up. Because you just couldn’t leave well enough alone, stupid. “Bronn, what does that mean? I love your family too, babe, but what does that have to do with—”

“Baby…orc marriages,” he pushed himself to sit as well, gripping her shoulders to face him, “Leida, when we take a mate, it’s for life. My clan has already accepted you. I guess I haven’t brought up making it official because…I was giving you a chance to change your mind. I’m not going anywhere.”

Leaning over the bed, he pulled open a small drawer on the bedside table. The small black box was unobtrusive, the rings inside just as simple. Leida recognized the shimmer of color on the gold band, realizing he’d forged it himself. Beside it, on the small bed of satin, sat two smaller half-circles of the same rippling gold, bands that would be fitted on his tusks.

“Baby…will you marry me?”

She loved him. She loved him more than she’d ever loved anyone, knew that she’d never love anyone else ever again. Together forever.

In that moment, Leida had a thought.

“You waited, Bronn,” she said slowly, waiting until he’d slipped the ring onto her finger and secured away the smaller rings back in the drawer, “you waited all this time to tell me…” She ensured her grip on the edge of the pillow was firm, that it would lift easily. “And you finally tell me…when I was pegging you?!”

The pillow flew through the air, but he saw it coming easily, ducking before pinning her to the mattress with a shriek.

“I believe,” he rumbled against her neck, pulling her legs apart before moving between her thighs, “that there were some other promises I made tonight, babydoll…and I intend to keep them.”

Leida gasped and the lights flickered, and Bronn cheered, encouraging her to levitate the bed.

I love him, I love him, I love him