Page 21 of Buck Wild Orc Cowboy
“Yup.”
Before I could think about how this would go, Sel's big hands spanned my waist. A quick, effortless lift, and I was sitting on Zist's warm, clean hide. I settled my legs along his sides, gripped the spike jutting up between his shoulders, and took in the world from this viewpoint with amazement.
No saddle. No stirrups. Nothing but me on top of a horned beast that could swallow three tourists in a single bite.
Max clapped. “Looking good, Mom. Looking good!”
“Yeah, sure,” I said with a smile.
Sel looped our bags over Brelar’s spine spike before coming around to Zist's left side. He leaped up behind me in one fluid motion, all quiet muscle and too-warm presence. His thighs bracketed mine. One arm came around my middle, his palm resting lightly above my right hip.
“Just to steady you,” he said, his voice low and rough in my ear.
He smelled like vanilla, but I suppose he would. I probably did too.
But no one should smell that nice. Not while touching my hip and breathing over my shoulder.
I sat straighter. Too straight. My spine forgot how to bend.
“Remain loose and let Brelar set his own pace,” he told Max, who nodded, his hand tightening on the saddle horn.
Sel nudged Zist with his heels, and the beast moved forward with a slow, plodding gait with Brelar right behind.
We passed the barn where I'd read they held weddings and community functions and entered the back alley behind Main Street. Two tourists sat on the hotel's back steps eating ice cream cones. They waved as we passed, and I was grateful they didn't take pictures.
A breeze picked up dirt and sent it swirling in a mini dust devil in front of us.
As we exited the alley, the Main Street sounds faded. No buzz of conversation. No clustered groups dressed in cowboy hats and prairie dresses. Only the rustle of the wind through grass that stretched far in every direction, broken only by fences and wild brush. Hills rolled beyond the open plain, then a vast forest marched up the bigger hills leading to the white-capped mountains.
Lonesome Creek was the perfect place to disappear.
Max’s laugh cut through the quiet. “Forward, mighty steed. To the edge of the kingdom.”
My heart cracked wide open. When had he last laughed about anything? Also too long ago. My boy was settling in here already. He liked it.
Lonesome Creek appeared to be the perfect place to raise a son.
As he rode at Zist's side, Max pretended to lasso something and spoke to Brelar in fake Orcish. Brelar didn’t seem to mind.
I shifted with Zist’s movement, and that nudged me back against Sel’s chest. He was incredibly warm. Comforting to rest against.
When was the last time I'd laughed or felt at ease with a guy?
Too long ago.
I didn’t imagine the faint twitch behind my butt. He wasn't getting a hard-on, was he? I dismissed the idea as soon as it sprang up in my mind. Of course he wasn't. I was his employee. He didn't see me as dating material. My senses were lying. Traitors, all of them. Firing alarms because I hadn’t been this close to someone in years.
Sel pointed things out as we rode along the dirt road without passing a single car or other sorhox. “See that fence post with a painted white tip? That marks the start of our ranch lands. Part of the welcome introduction to Lonesome Creek indicates this part is private property, that no one's supposed to ride or walk in this direction unless they’re specifically on a guided tour. So far, everyone's respected that, which we appreciate. When we leave work for the day, we want to truly leave it, not have it follow.”
“Everything’s beautiful,” I said, though the word wasn’t enough.
He sounded proud, though his answer was gruff. “We love it here.”
Wind picked up, sifting through the tall scrub and whipping strands of hair across my face. My eyes watered, but I smiled anyway.
After three more bends in the path later, a white house came into view. Black shutters. A small porch on the right side. A red barn with a curved roof stood behind it, and a pasture extended beyond where sorhoxes grazed or lay in the grass, their tails flicking at flies.
“Is that where we'll live?” Max asked.
