Page 27 of Buck Wild Orc Cowboy (Brides of the Lonesome Creek Orcs #3)

Sel

I felt pretty proud of myself. When I asked her to waltz, I never dreamed it could end up like this. She. Tasted. Amazing. I couldn’t wait to stick my fingers and tongue inside her again, to tease her pretty little clit until it was throbbing and engorged and she came from my touch alone.

I couldn’t stop grinning. I’d made her come. Twice. From my fingers and my mouth.

My chest felt so full it might split open.

I wanted to lift her up and spin her around again, show her off to the whole town.

Instead, I settled for watching the way she smoothed her hair and straightened her clothes.

It was all I could do not to stroke her flushed cheeks.

As we finished closing the bakery for the night, she kept sending me sideways glances and smiling in a way that made my heart pound harder than any battle in the orc kingdom ever had.

The sky outside the bakery was deepening into twilight, the first stars starting to prick through. I scratched the back of my neck, trying not to gush. “We should head home.”

Home. She and her boy had been staying at my place, but it suddenly felt different.

Better. Like they really belonged there for always.

Did I dare hope she’d one day feel the same?

I still hadn’t claimed her in the orc way, and I wouldn’t until she told me it was what she wanted. May the fates send me that day soon.

I held the back door open for her, and we slipped into the alley that ran behind Main Street. The warm evening air smelled of wood smoke, sorhoxes, and the sweet, lingering scent of baked goods. I brushed my hand across hers as we walked to the end of the alley, itching to touch her again already.

We paused, and I called Zist. His thundering hooves echoed around us as he streaked in from our right, coming to a halt in front of us.

Holly shot me a grin, and I loved that she still seemed comfortable with me.

I lifted her up onto my sorhox’s back and leaped onto his spine behind her, wrapping my arm around her waist, tugging her against me. The gesture felt natural. Perfect. A nudge of my heels, and he started trotting away from town, heading for my ranch house.

The sun hung low behind the mountains, sending golden light across the valley. Sorhoxes in the pastures on either side of the road watched us pass with lazy eyes, their spiked tails swaying through the tall grass.

Holly leaned back against me and tipped her head toward a sorhox standing near the fence, its green fur ruffling in the breeze.

“You know,” she said, her voice teasing, “for a creature with fangs and a spiked tail, that one is pretty cuddly.”

I chuckled, squeezing her waist. “You’d think that until you tried to cuddle one and it rolled over on you. They’re heavy.”

She laughed, the sound lighting up the cooling evening air. “Good thing I have you to keep me safe, then.”

“Always.” I meant it.

She shifted a little, her hips pressing into me in a way that made my control fray on the edges. “You’re kind of like a sorhox yourself.”

“How so?” Curling forward, I nuzzled my chin on the top of her head, breathing her in. “Big, dangerous, and cuddly?”

“Exactly.” She twisted to look at me over her shoulder, her eyes bright with mischief. “All muscle and scary on the outside. All soft and sweet underneath.”

I grinned, feeling cockier by the second. “Soft?” I lowered my voice as I pressed against her lower back. “You sure about that, little lady?”

She flushed but didn’t look away. “Totally.”

My palms went damp. I hadn’t thought I could get flustered anymore, not after everything I’d been through since coming to the surface. But she made me come undone, and I only wanted her to put me back together again.

Her voice dropped into a wicked whisper. “Maybe you’re not soft everywhere .”

I groaned under my breath, tightening my hold on her, aching for everything. “You keep talking like that, and we might not make it all the way home.” Eat her out again? Yes, please.

She laughed. “Better pick up the pace, then, cowboy.”

Challenge accepted.

I urged Zist into a faster trot, the ranch house rising in the distance as the sun finally dipped below the edge of the world.

After bringing him to a stop in my side yard, I helped her off and tapped Zist’s side, urging him to follow me over to the gate.

Once opened, he strolled inside, joining the others.

Rather than go inside like usual, Holly followed me, leaning against the rail to watch the creatures sniff Zist as if he wasn’t the same old sorhox they pastured with each night.

“It’s so pretty here,” she said, gazing around. “I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of it.”

“You don’t miss the city?”

“Not at all. I mean, there are good things to say about cities. Libraries. Exhibits open free to the public. But I don’t find I miss that here. I like the quiet feel of Lonesome Creek.”

I couldn’t imagine living in a city. “Even in the orc kingdom, I lived at my family ranch some distance from where the majority of my people live. I like wide spaces around me, being able to see something coming long before it reaches me.”

“Totally agree.”

She’d see that as a safety factor, and I did too. But it was more than that. “I’ve come to appreciate the feel of the sun on my face. The sound of rain pattering on the ground. Even the wind feels and smells different here.”

I settled my arms on the rail beside her, close enough that we brushed every so often.

Holly smiled up at me. “You notice everything.”

“It helps when you don’t have a lot of noise around to drown it out. City life… You can’t turn it off. Out here, you can actually hear yourself think.”

She nodded, her gaze sliding back to the wide, open valley. “I think I spent so long using all that noise to hide that I forgot what it felt like to actually live.”

I studied the side of her face, the way the last rays of the sun caught the lighter strands of her hair. “You’re doing more than hiding now.”

Her throat bobbed as she swallowed, and when she looked at me again, her eyes were shining in a way that made my chest ache.

“You make it easy,” she whispered. “I feel free here in a way I never have.”

I couldn’t speak for a second. I just watched her, wanting to soak in every bit of this moment.

Something about her being fully herself made me feel reckless.

I wanted to hand her my heart and say here, keep this.

Keep me . Everything about her, from her laugh, to her stubborn lift of her chin, to her big heart, felt like something rare.

Something a male might spend a whole lifetime searching for and still die without finding.

“I want you to feel safe and happy all the time,” I said, meaning it with everything I had.

The screen door banged behind us.

“Mom. Sel.” Max barreled down the steps and ran toward us, his hair sticking up like he’d woken from a nap.

Holly turned and opened her arms wide. He crashed into her for a hug, and she laughed, ruffling his hair. “When did you get taller than me?”

He shrugged, grinning. “I’m eating like a sorhox.”

“That you are. I think you’ve grown at least two inches since we got here, though I can’t imagine how.”

“Good food.”

Her smile fell but only a fraction, and I knew she was thinking about times when they didn’t have enough. She was careful with everything she ate, and she put even a few leftover bites away for another meal. An orc like me didn’t miss things like that.

I wanted to press everything I had and all I'd ever be into her hands. Wanted her to open the fridge without worrying about eating something we might need later. Wanted to rip every worry from her shoulders. But I didn’t know how to do that without making her feel small. She was anything but.

Strugging to smile, I rested a hand on Max’s shoulder, giving it a warm squeeze.

Max grinned up at me. “Can we have dinner soon? I’m starving.”

“Of course we can.” Holly shook her head. The indulgence, the fierce love in her eyes, nearly undid me. It was hard not to wonder what it’d feel like if she reached for me with that same all-in kind of love.

I wanted to be someone she needed. Chose.

I told myself I could wait without wanting too much. Some days, I even believed it.

We all leaned on the fence, the golden twilight wrapping around us, and for now, everything felt like it was going to be alright.