The papers lay untouched between them, a neat stack of breeding records and stud fees neither of them had looked at since sitting down. The kitchen held the quiet of late evening, the last of the day’s heat pressing against the windows like something waiting to be let in.
Elara sat at the cedar table with her hands wrapped around a mug of tea that had gone cold, her fingers tracing the grain of the wood in slow, absent circles.
Her body still hummed with the memory of the cross. The marks the belt had left across her back were fading to a warm, pleasant ache, and every time she shifted in her chair she felt the tenderness of skin that had been pushed to its edge and brought back.
Bryce sat across from her, his chair tipped back on two legs, watching the movement of her fingers.
“You’re thinking,” he said.
She looked up at him. “I am.”
“Want to share, or are you still chewing on it?”
The floorboards creaked as he shifted forward, his chair landing flat. Elara felt the words gathering in her throat, thick and unfamiliar. She had been circling them since the night in the barn, through chores and meals and the ordinary rhythm of the ranch.
“It’s about the barn,” she started. “And what we do there.”
Bryce didn’t interrupt.
“I keep thinking about the other night. On the cross. You know, when I—” She stopped, searching for it. “When I went somewhere I’d never been.”
His eyes stayed on hers.
“I keep thinking about how it felt. Not just the belt or the cross. The moment when I wasn’t really here anymore. Everything went quiet and all I could do was feel.”
She picked up the cold tea, then put it down again.
“You were there. I knew you were there. But everything else disappeared. I couldn’t hold onto anything except what was happening to me.”
Bryce leaned forward, his forearms resting on his thighs.
“Did it scare you?”
“No.”
The answer came quickly.
Elara frowned slightly, considering it.
“No. That’s the strange part.”
Bryce waited.
“I liked it.”
She traced the edge of the mug with one finger.
“And I want someone to see it.”
Bryce was still.
“See what?”
“Me. Like that. When you take me that far.” Her voice wavered, but she kept going. “I want someone to see what happens to me. How my body responds. How I fall apart. How I come back.”
The kitchen seemed quieter after she said it.
“Not as a demonstration,” she added. “That’s not what I mean.”
“What do you mean?”
Elara swallowed.
“I mean I want to be watched.”
Bryce’s eyes stayed on hers.
“I want someone to see me the way you see me. Not when I’m running the horses or working or dealing with whatever needs doing. That version of me in the barn. When there’s nothing left to hide behind.”
“You want an audience.”
Hearing him say it plainly sent heat into her face.
“One person.”
“For now.”
She gave him a look.
Bryce’s mouth shifted.
“Sorry.”
Despite herself, she smiled.
“I don’t want strangers staring at me. I want someone I trust.”
“Who?”
The name had been there before she started the conversation.
“Holly.”
Bryce’s expression changed only slightly.
“Holly.”
“Yes.”
“Why her?”
Elara looked down at her hands.
“Because she knew me before everything changed. She knew Grant. She knew Ironstone. She knew you before you were my husband.” She looked back at him. “And she never made me feel like I had to perform for her.”
“You trust her.”
“Yes.”
Bryce sat back.
“She and I have history.”
“I know.”
“She was important to me.”
“I know that too.”
Elara’s gaze flicked briefly toward the hallway.
“The brown leather set.”
Bryce looked at her.
“Holly first. Then Tessa. Then me.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m not asking because I’ve forgotten any of that.”
“I know.”
Elara reached across the table and covered his hand.
“I’m not asking you to go backwards.”
“I know.”
“I’m asking Holly because I trust her.”
Bryce turned his hand beneath hers, his fingers closing around hers.
“Would it bother you?” she asked.
“Having Holly there?”
“Yes.”
He considered it properly before answering.
“No.”
Elara watched him.
“And if it brings things back?”
“It probably will.”
That answer caught her.
Bryce rubbed his thumb over her knuckles.
“I cared about her. Seeing her again isn’t going to erase that.”
“I don’t want it to.”
“I know.”
Elara let out a breath.
“If she comes, I don’t want you changing what we do because she’s watching.”
“I wouldn’t.”
“And I don’t want this turning into some performance for her.”
“It won’t.”
She nodded.
Bryce squeezed her hand.
“If you want her gone at any point, she goes.”
“I know.”
“If you decide you hate being watched—”
“I know, Bryce.”
He stopped.
Elara smiled faintly.
“That’s why I want you there.”
His expression softened.
For a moment neither spoke.
Then Bryce glanced toward his phone.
“When?”
Elara followed his gaze.
“You could call her tomorrow.”
“Could call her now.”
Her stomach lurched.
“Absolutely not.”
Bryce laughed.
“Tomorrow, then.”
“Tomorrow.”
They finally looked down at the breeding records.
Neither absorbed a word.
The next morning Bryce was already at the kitchen table when Elara came in.
His coffee sat beside his phone.
She stopped.
“You haven’t called.”
“I was waiting for you.”
“Why?”
“In case daylight changed your mind.”
Elara crossed to the bench and poured herself coffee.
“It didn’t.”
Bryce picked up the phone.
“You want to stay?”
She thought about Holly’s voice coming through the speaker, the pause after Bryce told her why he was calling, and suddenly found the stables desperately appealing.
“No.”
Bryce raised an eyebrow.
“I’ve got work.”
“Coward.”
“Absolutely.”
She leaned down and kissed him on the way past.
“Call her.”
The stables were cool and quiet when she reached them. Elara moved through the familiar routine, letting the horses and the work occupy her hands even when they failed to occupy her mind.
Hay. Water. Feed.
She checked the mare in the end stall, then checked her again twenty minutes later for no reason she was willing to admit.
By the time she heard Bryce’s footsteps behind her, she had almost convinced herself she wasn’t waiting.
She turned immediately.
“Well?”
Bryce stopped beside the stall.
“She answered.”
“That’s generally how phone calls work.”
“She laughed at me.”
Elara stared at him.
“That’s not an answer.”
Bryce smiled.
“She’s interested.”
Something tightened low in Elara’s stomach.
“Holly is?”
“Yes.”
His smile faded a little.
“But there’s something you need to know.”
Elara rested both hands on the top rail.
“Alright.”
“She’s not on her own anymore.”
Elara waited.
“She’s with a married couple. Luke and Erin.”
“Both of them?”
“Yeah.”
It took Elara a moment to rearrange the picture she had been carrying in her head.
“How long?”
“About a year.”
“And she’s happy?”
Bryce nodded. “Sounds like it. Very.”
“Good.”
He watched her.
“That’s it?”
“What else am I supposed to say?”
“I don’t know.”
“She’s happy. Good.”
Bryce leaned against the stall front.
“She said it’s serious. They’re a throuple. Not something casual they do occasionally.”
Elara nodded slowly.
“That matters.”
“Yeah.”
“So what did she say when you asked her?”
“She wants to come.”
Elara’s pulse jumped.
“But?”
“She won’t answer for Luke and Erin.”
The tension in Elara’s shoulders eased rather than tightened.
“Good.”
Bryce smiled faintly.
“That was my reaction.”
“She shouldn’t answer for them.”
“No.”
“She told you about them before agreeing?”
“Pretty much. Said if she’s going to do anything like this, she talks to them first.”
Elara looked down the stable aisle, then back at him.
“She told them about us?”
“Enough that they know who we are. She said she’d explain properly and see how they feel.”
“And then?”
“Then she’ll call.”
Elara let out a slow breath.
She had spent half the night imagining yes or no. She hadn’t imagined an answer that stopped halfway.
Not because there was anything wrong with it. Because Holly wasn’t simply the woman Elara remembered from Ironstone anymore. She had a life Elara knew nothing about. Two people who mattered enough that Holly wouldn’t make the decision without them.
“You okay?” Bryce asked.
“Yes.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.” Elara looked at him. “Actually, I think I like that she didn’t just say yes.”
Bryce nodded.
“So do I.”
“If they’re part of her life, they get a say.”
“Exactly.”
Elara picked up what she had abandoned when he arrived.
“How long will she take?”
“No idea.”
“That’s annoying.”
“You wanted Holly.”
“I still want Holly.”
Bryce pushed away from the stall.
“Then we wait.”