Page 31 of Buck Wild Orc Cowboy
My brother grunted again.
“I’m worried, Hail.” My chest felt too tight. “I think I could love her. She looks at me but also holds back. She's scared, even when she smiles.”
Hail said nothing, only listened.
“I want her to feel safe,” I said. “Like I could protect her in a way no one else ever has. And when she said I was special…”
“That word meant something,” he said softly.
I nodded. “It made me feel like maybe I have a real chance with her. But only if I don’t mess this up.” Heat climbed into my face and across to my ears. I huffed out a laugh, then blurted out before I lost my nerve. “Do you, uh, do you have any suggestions for how I can win her heart?”
Hail blinked. Then chuckled, a rare sound from him. “Me? Sel, I’ve never even wooed someone before.”
“I…yeah.” My poor brother was so shy and worried he’d say something with a stutter that I wasn’t sure he’d ever spoken with a female, not more than a few words.
He leaned on the post beside him, crossing his arms on his chest. “I listen, and I watch. I've even taken notes.”
My brother, Dungar, had O of the CD, per our Aunt Inla. She said that was why he was so meticulous about everything. Hail admired him greatly and used to mimic him when we were small. If Dungar was taking notes and had lists, so would Hail.
“I don't know a lot, but I do know a few things that might help,” he said.
I waited, hands on my hips, hope blooming in my heart.
Hail’s gaze drifted over the pasture, assessing the sorhoxes grazing there. “She’s not from here. Everything’s different for her. The bakery is yours, not hers. And Lonesome Creek is run by orcs she doesn’t know. The place is filled with tourists who are strangers. You want to win her?” He spoke carefully, but fast, and I’d swear this was the most my brother had said at one time, but he must be enthused by this topic. “Do small things that show you care.”
“Like what?”
“Ask about her day. Really listen when she answers. Make her food when she’s too tired to stand. Fix something broken without her needing to ask.”
My brow furrowed. “That’s it?”
He shrugged. “Many think it’s supposed to be grand gestures and pretty words. Real love’s quiet. Honest.” He was putting his whole heart in this, and that crushed me. “Does she know you see her, Sel? That you actually see her and not just what’s on the outside?”
Silence stretched between us, the wind sweeping across the long grasses on the plain.
“I don’t know,” I said. “But I want her to. More than I’ve wanted anything in a long time.”
Hail’s voice softened. “Then don’t only protect her from the outside. Show her she can rest, too, that you're there to support her in any way you can. Show her the real Sel, the one we all love.”
I hugged him, and he hugged me back. I loved my brothers. They were the best.
“You're wise to hold off marking her,” he said. “I'd do the same thing.”
That was reassuring.
“From what you said, you'll need to let her show you that she's interested before you do anything like that. No pressure. Let her come to you.”
I let the words settle. Searched them for meaning and found truth in them.
“Don’t chase her. Let her walk the fence line, but make sure she knows you're waiting at the end.”
I clutched the top rail and stared out at the horizon. “It’d be easier if this was a regular mating, not one sanctioned by the fates. But it’s not. She feels right. If I lost her, I wouldn’t ever feel right in my soul.”
Hail paused, clearly thinking, forming his words with care. “I understand. You loved Challa. No one will ever think anything else.”
“I did.” It still hurt to think of her and our youngling. It always would.
Hail stood beside me, quiet for a bit. The silence settled my bones.
