Page 21 of Wrangling the Orc Cowboy

With a soft growl rumbling in my chest, I rolled us over, my hands sliding up to cradle her shoulders so I wouldn’t crush her beneath me. Even in this haze of desire and wonder, I was aware of how breakable she was and each delicate curve of her form beneath mine. Balanced on my elbows, I kept our lips connected, tilting my head to explore her mouth in ways I hadn’t even realized I knew how. My tusks brushed against her cheeks, and I pulled back for the briefest of instants, panic flaring hot and sharp within me.

“Gracie,” I breathed her name, a question and an apology stacked into one word. The last thing I wanted was to hurt her, to scare her, to?—

Her hands slid from my hair, her warm palms cupping my face as she pulled me back down to her waiting mouth. Whatever hesitation I’d felt melted away under her kiss, under the way her body arched against mine as though she couldn’t stand the space between us. Her fingers traced across my face, brushing my tusks with curiosity instead of fear or revulsion. That simple touch undid me. She wasn’t afraid. She wasn’t hesitant. She wanted me.Me.

I deepened the kiss, pressing my lips against hers, and my world spun with something I could only describe as wonder. Gracie tasted sweet, like nothing in the world I’d ever known,and everything I’d never realized I longed for. It wasn’t only her lips, but the way her scent wrapped around me. She was the hint of flowers blooming in a dark forest that might guide a lost wanderer like me home.

My every instinct cried out to hold her tighter, to claim her in any way I could. But I didn’t know how, only that she belonged to me as much as I belonged to her. Probably more. But I pushed those instincts down, because I would never forgive myself if I went too far.

Instead, I focused on her hands as she slid them from my face to my shoulders, where they lingered. The way she touched me wasn’t rushed or clumsy, but on purpose, like she wanted to learn me, piece by piece. My breath caught when her fingertips slid over the rounded muscles of my arms, past my elbows, where they rested at my sides. Every place she touched burned with fire. She was branding me in ways nothing ever had before.

I tilted my head, my lips leaving hers to trail along the curve of her jaw, the soft line of her throat. I couldn’t resist. The feel of her pulse fluttering beneath my lips made my heart ache and swell but also stagger like it carried an enormous weight. She trusted me. She trustedme, and in that moment, I told myself I’d never betray that faith.

“Tark,” she whispered in a breathless way, her fingers sliding back up to my nape, where she stroked, bringing out my shivers. The sound of her saying my name, her voice filled with yearning, nearly undid me. I had to take a steadying breath, to pause long enough to remind myself that this was real, that she was here with me.

My world spun as I braced myself above her, every fiber of my being focused on the woman—the way her lips curved when she said my name, the soft rise and fall of her chest as she caught her breath, the way she didn’t shrink away from me.

She was here, not flinching, but opening herself up to me in a way I hadn’t dared hope for. Gracie was sunlight in the dim caves of my soul, filling spaces I hadn’t realized were full of darkness. Her fingers tangled in my hair again, tugging gently, playfully, as if she was testing how much she could drive me to the edge. She didn’t have to test. I’d already fallen.

I leaned down, pressing my forehead against hers. I took a shaky breath. The curve of her smile brushed against my skin, and her scent, a heady mix of sweetness and warmth, surrounded me.

“Gracie,” I said. I wanted to repeat her name forever. My voice cracked, betraying parts of me I usually kept locked away. “You're precious.”

The words escaped before I could even think to stop them. Would she understand? The weight that word carried among my people? The way it encompassed beauty, soul, light—all the things we clung to when the world turned cold and unforgiving?

Her lips stretched into a wider smile, and her hands slid down the sides of my face, lightly tracing over my cheeks. She even touched right near the base of my tusks. It woke something primal inside me, a thing both tender and fierce. I wanted to touch her back, to feel every bit of her under my fingertips, but I held myself still, solidifying this moment into my memory instead.

This might be my only kiss, and I accepted that. I tucked it away like a shard of starlight stolen through a crack in stone, something impossible held only long enough to prove it had existed. Some part of me, the part that had always known I wasn’t made for gentle things, prepared itself for the loss of it even as my lips still buzzed with her taste.

Gracie didn’t speak right away, but her actions said more than words ever could. She surged up, bridging the tiny distance between us, and captured my lips again with a passion that sentheat coursing through me like wildfire. Her eagerness left me breathless, but I matched her rhythm, guided by her. I even let my instincts slip in and opened my mouth, tentatively touching my tongue against hers.

She moaned and clung. Actually clung to me.

I didn’t know what to do about that. It was as if the script carved beneath my skin cracked open and rewrote itself under her fingertips. I’d been built expecting distance, but her closeness erased every bit of it.

And I didn’t know what to do about that.

The streaming images didn’t share this sort of information.

Finally, I knew I must stop. I lifted my head and watched her.

She gave me a sweet smile and kept her hands on my shoulders. That felt good. Maybe even more than good.

As much as I wanted to touch and kiss every part of this new mate of mine, we'd only recently met. When an orc met their fated one, they fell in love almost right away. Humans were different. I'd learned that already from looking online and from speaking with Jessi and Rosey. They loved my brothers deeply, but they hadn't fallen right away like an orc.

I needed to be patient with my Gracie and give her time to catch up to my heart. Maybe then, she might even want to kiss me again.

So I made myself get up off her, though I scooped her up in my arms.

“Tark,” she said, her voice a touch shriller than before.

That made me lower her feet onto the floor. I wanted to lift her up and kiss her again, but I had no idea if that would be permitted.

“Sleep well.” With a stroke of my fingertips down her cheek, I turned to leave, striding to the door.

“Sleep well, Tark,” she called after me.

After shutting her door, I strode out into the hall, somehow not losing control of my feet. With a smile stretching my face apart, I took the stairs to the open room below—not even tripping then, either. Sharga soared off a chair where he must’ve decided to wait and landed on my shoulder, fluffing his wings to smack my head—his favorite thing to do.

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