The morning light came through the kitchen windows in long shafts, catching the steam rising off the coffee mugs. Elara sat with her bare feet tucked under her on the chair. Across the table, Bryce hunched over his plate, fork working through the last of his eggs, his hair still damp from the shower.
For a while neither of them said much.
“It was good,” Elara said finally. “Last night.”
Bryce looked up.
“It was.”
She wrapped both hands around her mug.
“I keep going back to Holly in the stockade. The first time Erin kissed her.”
“You didn’t expect Holly to like it?”
“I expected Holly to like it.” Elara smiled. “I didn’t expect to like watching her like it.”
Bryce set his fork down.
“I thought I’d be nervous. Having someone else in the barn like that. Especially Holly.” She took a drink. “But I wasn’t.”
“No?”
“No.”
Her fingers drifted briefly to the old collar at her throat.
“It was better than I expected.”
Bryce leaned back in his chair.
“Better how?”
Elara considered it.
“The way they were together. Nobody was hovering. Nobody was competing. Luke and Erin weren’t waiting for their turn with Holly. Holly wasn’t worried about giving one of them too much attention. They just moved.”
Bryce nodded.
“And when I touched her, they made room. Nobody stopped to negotiate every fucking hand.”
“They knew each other.”
“Yes. But they trusted us too.”
Elara looked down at her plate, tracing the last smear of egg with the edge of her fork.
“And I liked watching.”
Bryce smiled slightly.
“You’ve mentioned that.”
“It surprised me.”
“You stood there for long enough.”
“I know.”
“You made me wait.”
“I told you I wanted to watch.”
“And I listened.”
“Good boy.”
Bryce gave her a look.
Elara laughed.
The kitchen fell quiet again.
Outside, a horse called from the paddock.
Elara’s smile faded slowly.
“And then it was my turn.”
Bryce watched her.
She rubbed one thumb against the mug.
“That was different.”
“The harness?”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“Them.”
Bryce waited.
“I knew they were watching. I could feel it at first. Holly. Erin. Luke. Every time one of them touched me, I knew exactly who it was.”
“And later?”
Elara shook her head.
“Later I stopped caring.”
Bryce’s expression changed slightly.
“Not about them being there. I just stopped being able to keep track of everything.”
She set the mug down.
“I remember Holly’s hand. Erin touching my waist. Luke holding my leg. Then you.”
Bryce stayed quiet.
“And then it all started going away again.”
“Like before.”
“Yeah.”
She looked at him.
“Except this time they saw it.”
Bryce nodded.
Elara’s mouth curved.
“Holly understood.”
“She said she did.”
“When she said, ‘Now I understand’…”
Elara let out a breath.
“That was what I wanted.”
Bryce reached across the table and covered her hand.
Elara turned hers beneath his.
“I spent all that time trying to explain it to her. Then she watched, and I didn’t have to.”
His thumb moved over her knuckles.
“No.”
“She just knew.”
They sat with that for a while.
Then Elara smiled.
“Luke looked terrified when my legs stopped working.”
Bryce laughed.
“He did.”
“I saw his face.”
“He started forward before I even lowered you.”
“And Erin had the water before I sat down.”
“Holly moved before either of them.”
Elara nodded.
“That part was good too.”
“The sex?”
“The stopping.”
Bryce looked at her.
“Nobody tried to keep it going because we had five people and an entire barn full of equipment.”
“No.”
“Holly had come. I’d had enough. Everyone just stopped.”
Bryce squeezed her hand.
“That matters.”
“Yes.”
Elara released him and reached for her coffee.
It had already gone lukewarm.
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“You spent half the night watching everyone else. What worked?”
Bryce thought about it.
“Holly volunteering first helped.”
“Obviously.”
“It gave Luke and Erin something familiar.”
“Their person.”
“Yeah.”
“And me something to watch.”
Bryce smiled.
“That too.”
Elara took another drink.
“What didn’t work?”
“Nothing went badly.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
“No.”
Bryce looked toward the table for a moment.
“Five people changes the space.”
“How?”
“Where everyone stands. Where clothes end up. Water. Towels. Someone always needs somewhere to sit.”
“We have seats.”
“Not where we needed them.”
Elara nodded slowly.
Holly had ended up on one of the fold-down benches after the stockade. Later Elara had sat there between Bryce and Holly while Erin brought water and Luke gathered clothes from the floor.
“The bench worked.”
“It did.”
“More towels.”
“Yes.”
“Water closer.”
“Probably.”
Elara smiled.
“Look at you. First morning after our first group night and you’re already making a list.”
“I’m answering your question.”
“Same thing.”
Bryce reached for his coffee.
Elara watched him.
“What?”
“You’re thinking about the barn.”
“I’m eating breakfast.”
“You can do both.”
“That sounds dangerous.”
“You taught me.”
He laughed.
“Holly mentioned something before they left,” Elara said.
Bryce’s mug paused halfway to his mouth.
“What?”
“She said next time maybe we could come to them.”
Bryce lowered it.
“She said that?”
“While Erin was helping her find her shirt.”
“That explains why I missed it.”
“She meant it.”
He sat back.
“What do you think?”
Elara watched him.
“I think I’d like to.”
Bryce nodded slowly.
“That’s different.”
“Because it isn’t ours?”
“Yeah.”
“The barn is easy for us.”
“It is now.”
“We know everything in there. Where everything is. What holds. What moves. What doesn’t.”
Bryce nodded.
“And if we go to their place, we don’t.”
“That’s the point.”
Elara raised an eyebrow.
“You want to?”
“I think so.”
“That sounded confident.”
Bryce smiled.
“I want to see them on their ground.”
“Me too.”
She thought about the three of them during the property tour. The easy touches. Holly moving naturally between Luke and Erin. The way that had continued in the barn without any of them seeming to stop and decide how they were supposed to behave.
“I want to see their place,” Elara said. “How they are when they aren’t visitors.”
Bryce nodded.
“When?”
She laughed.
“Now you sound like Holly.”
“I asked a question.”
“When the timing works.”
“With the cattle.”
“And the horses.”
“And everything else.”
“There’s always everything else.”
Bryce reached across the table again.
“We’ll make it work.”
Elara laced her fingers through his.
“Okay.”
They finished breakfast slowly.
Elara gathered the plates while Bryce carried the mugs to the bench.
“You’re still thinking,” she said.
“So are you.”
“I’m allowed.”
Bryce rinsed his mug.
Elara leaned against the counter beside him.
“What are you thinking about?”
“The first five minutes.”
“In the barn?”
“Yeah.”
“When nobody knew what to do?”
“That.”
Elara smiled.
“Holly solved it.”
“She usually does.”
“She volunteered.”
“And then everyone had something to respond to.”
Elara nodded.
“Next time we shouldn’t plan too much.”
Bryce looked at her.
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“I know you.”
“That’s concerning.”
“It should be.”
She picked up the dish towel.
“The best part was that nobody knew where it was going.”
Bryce dried his hands.
“Holly in the stockade wasn’t planned.”
“No.”
“Me watching wasn’t planned.”
“No.”
“Me joining her definitely wasn’t planned.”
Bryce’s mouth shifted.
“I noticed.”
“And then putting me in the harness…”
“That was.”
Elara laughed.
“Of course it was.”
“Only that part.”
She shook her head.
Bryce leaned against the counter beside her.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Bullshit.”
“I’m thinking you enjoyed showing off.”
“I built a good harness.”
“There he is.”
He smiled.
Elara folded the towel.
“What else?”
“Nothing.”
“That’s a lie.”
Bryce was quiet for a moment.
Then he reached for a napkin from the holder on the table.
Elara groaned.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”
“What?”
“You are making a list.”
“I told you I forget things.”
“You remember serial numbers from equipment you bought six years ago.”
“That’s useful information.”
“And this isn’t?”
Bryce pulled a pen from the drawer.
Elara came back to the table.
“What are you writing?”
He bent over the napkin.
“Water closer.”
She laughed.
“Very profound.”
“Towels.”
“We had towels.”
“Not close enough.”
“Fine.”
He wrote again.
“Seats?”
“Near where they’re actually needed.”
Elara leaned over his shoulder.
“What else?”
Bryce tapped the pen against the napkin.
“Don’t plan too much.”
She looked at him.
“That’s yours?”
“Apparently.”
“Write it down twice.”
He ignored her and added another line.
Elara read over his shoulder.
Give people time to watch.
Her smile faded.
“That one’s good.”
Bryce nodded.
She thought about standing beside him while Holly, Luke and Erin found their rhythm. About the strange pleasure of not being involved yet. About Holly later watching Elara in return.
“Keep that.”
“I’m writing it down.”
“I mean keep it.”
Bryce looked at her.
“I know.”
He wrote one last line.
Elara read it.
Nobody regretted it.
She stayed quiet for a moment.
Then she rested her chin against his shoulder.
“No.”
Bryce folded the napkin once and slipped it into his pocket.
“Nobody did.”
Elara picked up the forgotten coffee from the table, took one sip and grimaced.
“Cold.”
“You’ve been talking too much.”
“Your fault.”
Bryce took the mug from her hand.
“I’ll make another.”
Elara let him.
Outside, the ranch had properly woken around them.
She watched Bryce reach for the coffee.
“More towels,” she said.
He glanced back.
“Already on the list.”
“And water.”
“On the list.”
“Don’t plan too much.”
Bryce looked at her.
Elara smiled.
“That one you’ll forget.”