Skipping through the Mirkwood on her way to buy cupcakes, Billie finds her way across a bridge barred by a gruff, if gorgeous, troll demanding a toll. Worse, there's a strong hint the herculean hermit will be happy to take a pound of flesh as her tribute.
Lonely troll Granita may be more bluster than bite, but if Billie can't persuade the comely colossus of the copse to accept another form of currency, her sweet treat could cost her an arm and a leg -- literally! She'll have to hope she can find something even sweeter with which to tempt her Titan.
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Nita's lips were softer than they looked, and less hesitant than Billie had feared. Her breath was sweet as tree blossom, and Billie began to suspect that Nita's earlier talk of eating sparrows -- not to mention trespassers -- had been all bluster. Now, Billie was a firm believer in taking people as they come and extending the hand of forgiveness toward any odd little peccadilloes such as, say, eating people (although perhaps not, in the case of cannibalism, extending a literal hand), but this was nonetheless reassuring.
After the first, brief brush of their lips, Billie sank back onto her heels with a smile. "There. That wasn't so hard, was it?"
Nita's brow furrowed, and her eyes developed something of the roaming habits of deer foraging for acorns. "Not sure I got it right," she said with a faux-casual air that would have failed to fool someone far less astute than Billie. "Maybe you could show me again?"
"With pleasure," Billie replied truthfully. Once again, she stood up on tiptoes, but this time, she slung one arm low around Nita's waist so that it just rested on her ample hips and with the other hand, cupped Nita's strong, smooth jaw. Nita's pulse beat beneath her fingertips like a hummingbird's wings as Billie pressed their lips together, and muscles flexed under Nita's skin as the kiss deepened. Billie shivered deep in her core, and if Nita's moan and the way she pressed their bodies together was any guide, she was just as affected.
