Page 29 of Buck Wild Orc Cowboy
Chapter 9
Sel
Sleeping in a hayloft might be fun for a youngling, but a mature orc? Let's just say that I might need to buy a bed when I went into town.
I joined Max and Holly for breakfast inside. She’d made pancakes. I’d had them once at Greel’s place. His mate, Jessi, had made them, and she was an amazing cook.
After we’d finished consuming them all, we explained our plan for Max.
“I get to stay here alone while you’re at work?” he breathed, his gaze shooting to meet his mother’s. “Really?”
“Really.” She smiled, though the twitch of her hand on the table told me she was still a little nervous about this.
“I’m sure my brothers will stop by during the day,” I said. “They’ll show you how to work with the youngling sorhoxes.” And make sure Max was comfortable and safe. That should help reassure her.
Her brow knit. “They’re…”
“Like me,” I said. “We’re all basically the same.”
“You’re not the same, Sel, even if it feels like you are. You’re…” She looked down at her empty plate. “Special.”
My heart flipped over, and I didn’t know what to say to that, so I said nothing. Just nodded as if I was used to women telling me I was special. But, wow, did my blood roar.
Max looked between us, and I swore he smirked, though he leaped to his feet and took his plate to the sink so fast that I wasn’t sure. “You two are riding into town together, right?”
He sure sounded happy about that, though his back was turned and, again, I couldn’t tell.
“Yes,” I said. It might be torture to hold my mate in my arms even for a short time, but I’d willingly do it. Being close to her would feel wonderful.
Once we’d gotten things going at the bakery, I was going to seek out Jessi, Beth, Gracie, and Rosey, my brother’s mates. They often visited together in the morning before digging into their plans for the day.
I needed their advice.
Leaving Max with strict instructions for what he was allowed to do and what he wasn’t, Holly and I rode on Zist into town, dismounting behind the bakery. While he ambled over to the open plain to graze, we went inside and got to work. An hour or so later, I turned to Holly.
“I’m going to check on Max and take care of a couple things,” I said, washing my hands at the sink and drying them with a towel.
Holly looked up from the dough she was kneading but didn’t pause. “Alright.” Her gaze shot to the open doorway. “I'll take care of any customers.”
I needed to hire someone to work out front, but it took time to hire Holly. I did have a few applicants, however, and I'd reach out to them soon for interviews.
When I slipped outside, the warmth of late morning wrapped around me. The air smelled of sugar, baking bread, and sun-warmed wood. Town noises clattered in the background. Bootson the boardwalk, someone shouting for a youngling to stop running. Back here behind the bakery it was quiet.
“Whoop, whoop, whoop,” I called to Zist.
A thudding gallop answered me, and moments later, my sorhox rushed from the pasture. He skidded to a halt a short distance away.
“Good boy,” I said with a smile, leaping up onto his broad back. A nudge of my heels sent him down the alley. The buildings of Main Street faded behind us, giving way to wide green fields and the road back to mine and my brother's homes.
My thoughts jumbled together.
Max’s eyes had shone at breakfast. That joy stuck with me. Then there was the kiss, the way Holly had moved toward me like I was wanted. And that word she’d used to describe me. Special. Like maybe I was everything she might ever need.
A grin tugged at my mouth, though I had no clue what I was doing. Wooing a woman? No idea. Especially one who’d been hurt. But I wanted to learn. No, I had to.
I stopped at my house, finding Max standing at the fence, offering a sorhox a handful of grass. He beamed up at me when I brought Zist to a halt.
“Everything alright?” I asked.
