Page 11 of Buck Wild Orc Cowboy
“You.” Inla nudged his arm, her ears darkening. She beamed my way. “You can call me Inla or Aunt Inla. Your choice.”
“Holly’s the new baker I hired,” Sel said.
Aunt Inla’s eyes narrowed but not in an unkind way. “She’s the human one you were messaging with.”
“That’s me.” My smile slipped somewhere between polite and please-don’t-look-too-closely.
Grannie Lil tipped her head, her gaze bouncing between me and Sel. “Cookie chef, huh?”
“Holly can cook almost anything, actually.” Sel rubbed the back of his neck. “She’s amazing.”
My face overheated at the compliment.
“Is she single?” The question popped like a firework, aimed straight at Sel. “Please tell me she’s single. I knew you looked sprucier than normal yesterday, and now I know why.”
I sputtered. “Sorry—what?”
Sel coughed. “Lil.”
“Don’t ‘Lil’ me.” Grannie Lil waved her cane toward me, then tapped it twice on the floor. “I don’t mean to speak of you as if you’re not here, but males sometimes need considerable guidance. Don’t you agree?” She didn’t wait for me to reply or even sputter. “Sel, you can’t deny she’s got kind eyes. And hips perfect for handholding.”
Sel nearly dropped the towel he was holding. I nearly dropped on the floor. “That's not… She just started today.”
“Ignore Lil. She’s just eager to match everyone up.” Aunt Inla leaned closer to the case, studying the coffee cake I’d finished and put on display. She studied one of the chalkboardsigns propped behind the counter and nodded. “Who made the dartling cake?”
“Me,” I said bravely. Please tell me I didn't mess anything up. It looked fine. Smelled great when it came out of the oven. But maybe there was an orcish thing I was supposed to do with it before putting it up for sale.
“It looks fantastic,” she said with a subtle smile. She also couldn't stop glancing between me and Sel.
“I’m quite good at what I do.” I wasn’t one to brag. Never. But I found it easy to say this morning.
Grannie swung her free hand in a circle. “Good instincts. Good hands. Good eyes. Sel, darling, if you don’t put a ring on her by the end of month, I’m going to do it for you.”
“That’s not—Grannie,” he said with a groan, swiping a hand down his face, leaving a smudge of flour.
My face got even hotter.
Grannie Lil winked. “She blushed. Told you she likes you.”
“I didn’t say that.” My voice cracked, because, strangely enough, it was kind of true.
I liked him in a good way. Not a…sexual way. Not too much, that is.
Sel muttered something and retreated into the kitchen, working fast to rinse out a bowl, even though the bowl didn’t need to be rinsed.
Aunt Inla trotted after him, speaking quieter now, almost like I wasn’t supposed to hear. “She’s skittish.”
“Yeah,” Sel said. Just one word, but soft, and spoken in a way that pulled at places I didn’t know could still ache.
“You like her.”
“She’s a good baker.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I do.”
I nearly dropped the slices of cake I was placing in a paper bag for her.
