Page 49 of Buck Wild Orc Cowboy
Gracie’s lips pursed like she was deciding if she should ask more or not. The smile she eventually gave didn’t quite reach her eyes. Something I couldn't define flickered behind them.
Maybe she wanted to be sure the event had participants. She was counting on people showing up, baskets in hand, with money ready to spend. I could help with that. Just not from the bidding side.
“I like to organize more than participate,” I said.
“Sounds good. I appreciate the help.” Gracie took another sip of her tea, placing the cup back on the table. “Have you met Jessi’s Grannie Lil yet?”
“I have. She and Aunt Inla stopped into the bakery my first day here. She's rather intimidating, isn't she? Yesterday, she poked her head into the front room of the bakery to say hi, but she didn't come inside. She was wearing a hat with tiny fake squirrels stuck all over it.”
“She's something else,” Gracie said with a grin. “She and Aunt Inla are building a dating app.”
“They mentioned that, but I thought it was a joke.” An odd one, but something they thought would be funny. My eyes widened. “Wait, are they doing it for real?”
“Yep. At first, they hoped to rope in Tark and his brothers, but most have mates now. So they shifted gears. Their test group is now exclusively orc widows eager to move to the surface and human divorcees, all over sixty. They’re calling it ‘Second Round.’”
“That's actually kind of brilliant.”
Gracie beamed. “They say it’s for the community, but I’m ninety-nine percent sure they want to snoop into everyone’s love lives.”
That made me laugh, a real one I felt in my chest.
She leaned in, propping her elbow on the table. “Before Lonesome Creek opened for tourism, it was just me, Jessi, and Rosey plus Sel's orc brothers.”
“Six moved to the surface to start this venture, right?”
She nodded. “There are more back in the orc kingdom. Orcs have huge families. Maybe me and Tark will too.”
“Are you pregnant?”
She shrugged. “Not that I know of. I wouldn't mind having an orcling, but I'm in no hurry.” She shared a bit of her own past, how she'd grown up a reality star, that her parents were horrible, forcing her to perform all the time and even suggesting she marry some guy they'd picked out to improve ratings. They'deven followed her here to try to make her return to the reality show, but Tark scared them off.
“Wow,” I said when she'd finished.
“They were incredibly manipulative. I'm glad they're no longer a part of my life.”
I could see why. “And now you and Tark are happily married.”
“Mated. That's what orcs call it. I suppose we could do the human thing and say I do, but so far, we haven't decided if we want to. We love each other. The fates blessed our mating, and who needs anything more than that?” She turned her wrist palm-up and pushed her sleeve back. “My mark came through the first time we touched. Well, he claimed me at the same time.”
“What does that entail?” I pictured him flinging her over his shoulder and running all the way to the foothills where they'd…
Okay, so I needed to slow my imagination down because I was picturing Sel flinging me over his shoulder and running all the way to the foothills instead.
“I love it.” Gracie tapped the circular mark on her inner wrist.
I stared with recognition tickling through the back of my mind.
I’d seen one like it before. Not exactly the same, but similar, and on Sel’s forearm. The other day when he rolled up his sleeves in the bakery.
Now I knew what it meant.
I studied what some might call a tattoo on her wrist, its shape still echoing inside my thoughts.
It was silly to feel anything at all about a mark on someone’s skin, but my thoughts had wandered to him more often than I'd ever admit. And now I knew it wasn’t some vague mystery why he kept some distance between us. It was grief. A permanent one. He’d been mated before, and she and their child had died.No wonder he wouldn’t move on. Losing someone like that would carve deep.
The idea of him carrying that pain made my chest ache, though not with pity. Respect, for sure. He kept going. He worked. He showed up. He treated people with care, including me and Max
Gracie finally looked back up at me, eyebrows raised, waiting, though I wasn’t sure what she was waiting for.
