Uthar was the one to wipe his hands on a towel, place them on the table, and look her in the eyes, giving her his entire attention as he started speaking.
“What can I do, Beth? Tell me, and I’ll do it, to the best of my ability.”
“What?” She stopped chewing and looked at him with concern. He sounded serious and grave. Like he was talking about a matter of life and death. “What do you mean?”
“What can I do so you’d want me?
He was talking in a low voice, possibly trying to avoid being overheard by the cooks.
She finished chewing, swallowed, and took a sip of water. She was deliberately slow in her movements, taking her time to think about his question.
Okay, so another thing about Uthar was that he was disarmingly direct. She wondered if all orcs were like that. Kinna had also been quite direct earlier. Beth wasn’t used to people wearing their hearts on their sleeves like that.
“I... I don’t know. This is a strange situation.” She said it with a smile, to show him that she wasn’t upset. Only a bit confused.
He nodded. “In your world, what do the males do to win the females?”
All right. So, now she was something to be won? She didn’t know how to feel about that.
He kept staring at her, his dark eyes intense, his brows furrowed in concentration. And Beth realized... she liked it. She liked the attention he was giving her, so full and direct, so unapologetic. Warmth spread in her belly, traveling to her core. She discreetly rubbed her legs together.
His being so disarming worked for her.
“I guess... men seduce women?”
“Seduce.” He nodded again, but it was clear to Beth that he didn’t know the meaning of the word. “Seduce how?”
“Umm... there are ways. Not all of them work. It depends on the woman. On what she likes.”
“What do you like?”
She blushed. It suddenly felt like the temperature had risen in the diner, and it wasn’t because the two orc cooks were grilling yet more meat in the back.
“I’ll have to think about it.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and looked at him over the rim of her glasses. No one had ever asked her what she liked when it came to seduction. No one had asked what she liked in bed either, and now she wondered if Uthar was going to do exactly that when they finally... got to it. The thought alone turned her on. “I’ll make you a list, how about that?”
His shoulders relaxed, and the crease between his eyebrows disappeared.
“All right. I will wait for your list.”
He sounded relieved. Like, if he had a list of exactly what she wanted, there was no way he could mess up.
“Okay, but if I make you a list, you’ll still have to surprise me.”
“Oh?”
“By doing the things on the list out of order, maybe. Or by getting creative. It’s not an exact science, you know. If you do exactly what I say and how I say it, it won’t be exciting. I will know what to expect.”
“I see. I can do that.”
She smiled, and he smiled, too. Though it wasn’t a full smile. Not yet. Beth realized he was just as lost as she was. Well, at least they were on the same page. Lost together.
* * *
Uthar went back to his captain duties, whatever those were, and Beth returned to their house. She rummaged through her things until she found pen and paper, then sat at the kitchen table to write the list.
“Seduce, seduce,” she murmured to herself. “What would seduce me?”
Why had she thought this was going to be easy? It wasn’t easy at all!