Page 74 of The Troll’s Summer Flame

“Good boy, indeed. And what does that deserve?”

“Fucking,” I gulp as she unzips my pants and drops to her knees.

“How many notes are in an octave?”

“Eight.”

“Good! You’re such a fast learner.” Andrea looks up at me, opens her mouth, and sighs as she wraps her mouth over my cock’s leaking tip. “Mmm. You count to eight for me, please.”

By some miracle, I count out eight long, glorious sucks, taking a long time between numbers as Andrea’s mouth continues to work its magic, slowly sliding down until my crown touches the back of her throat.

“Can we do this?” I ask.

“Not if you were my actual student,” Andrea giggles and sits up higher on her knees so that my cock is sandwiched between her small, perfect breasts. “This is only for very special students, as in one very special student. Only a boyfriend or husband of mine is ever going to get this sort of coaching.”

“I meant, are we allowed to do this because everything is so bad and scary right now inside my head,” I confess.

Andrea looks up at me, and instead of pulling away, she grips my knees and pulls closer, kissing the top of my cock as it slides up and down between her breasts, her hands kneading my skin wherever they can reach.

“I don’t know all the rules of being a couple,” she confesses. “I don’t know all the rules of being in love. But I know we have a choice between sitting and wallowing in sadness and all the bad possibilities, or supporting each other however we can. Right now, the best way I know to support my awesome boyfriend is to give him love and comfort, and to absolutely blow his mind. If I help him remember some of the new piano skills that he learned, I’m also okay with that.”

My girlfriend is brilliant. My lover. My mate. Bride.

“Okay. Now say the C scale for me.” Andrea runs her talented tongue across the slit, a wicked smile on her face.

“C...”

A long, luxurious lick.

“D.”

And another.

For a while, I forget everything but Andrea’s mouth, and the sight of her tight brown nipples under my teasing thumbs, everything except how she looks straddling my lap, feeding my cock slowly into her pink pussy while my breathing speeds up to match the wild pace of her hips.

“God, you’re amazing,” I rasp.

“And don’t you forget it,” Andrea moans before she unravels on me, coating me with her juice, engulfing me deeper than ever.

I stare at the sight of her, head crashing down to my chest, her arms clinging to me. I cling to her, my much larger, stronger hand, a hand that could crush her bones, cradling her head over my heart. “I will always, always remember this, my Andrea.”

Chapter Seventeen: Gordon and Andrea

The call comes at midnight. Chopin bolts across my chest and over Andrea’s sleeping form.

“I traced him over to the woods behind Blue Moon Lake. You said to call before approaching. Do you... Do you want some of us to stand by?” Alban says, voice tired.

My brother has been found. My brother, who could be here alone, injured, or here for blood, with a pack of trolls, maybe a family of his own, eager to make an example of the “human-lover.” Or eager to learn from him?

I shake my head. “I’ll be there in a few minutes. Jakob Minegold and Gloria are out that way. Have them look for a flare if things go wrong.”

“Got it.”

“And if anything happens—”

“If you think something might happen, then Duncan and Genesis are going to stay up in the air over the woods to have your back,” Alban says sternly, naming the two gargoyles who by default help out at night since they’re stone in sunlight. Unlike trolls, that’s just temporary, and they become flesh and blood each night.

I think about the burden and risk others might face—and then I think about Andrea’s smoke-stained, tearful face when she thought I was dead. If I were really, truly dead, she would be in so much pain. “Yes. They could watch the woods from the sky. Thank you.”