Elara set her glass down. The whiskey inside had gone warm, barely touched. She'd been holding it for the same reason Bryce had been holding his — something to do with their hands while the weight of the evening settled between them.
Bryce shifted in his chair. His shoulders had finally dropped, the tension leaving them a little at a time. He picked up his glass, turned it once in his hand, then put it back on the table without drinking.
For a while neither of them spoke.
“She liked it,” Elara said.
“Tonight.”
“I know.”
“She was nervous going in.”
“She was nervous about a lot of things.”
Elara traced the condensation ring her glass had left on the worn timber. The circle was already drying at the edges.
“She isn’t now.”
Bryce’s mouth moved slightly.
“No.”
A door opened down the hallway.
Saige appeared a moment later, barefoot, hair loose around her shoulders. She crossed to the sink, filled a glass and drank half of it before turning towards them.
Both of them were looking at her.
“What?”
Elara smiled. “Nothing.”
“You’re both staring.”
Bryce reached for his whiskey.
Saige looked between them, then pulled out a chair.
“I liked tonight.”
“I gathered that,” Bryce said.
Saige smiled into her water.
“There are still things I want to try.”
Elara raised an eyebrow.
“I’m not giving you a list.”
“I didn’t ask for one.”
“You were thinking about it.”
Bryce gave a quiet laugh.
Saige finished her water and set the glass down.
“I’ve got university tomorrow.”
“What time are you leaving?” Elara asked.
“Early.”
“Staying with your friend tomorrow night?”
“Maybe. Depends how late I finish.”
Elara nodded.
Saige stayed where she was for another minute, looking from one to the other.
Then she stood.
“Night.”
She bent and kissed Elara’s cheek before crossing behind Bryce. Her hand rested briefly on his shoulder.
His covered it for a second.
“Night, Saige.”
She disappeared down the hallway.
Elara picked up her glass again.
This time she drank.
The next few days settled back into work.
Saige came and went around university. Sometimes she stayed with her friend when it suited her. Sometimes Elara heard the ute come up the drive after dark and found Saige’s bedroom door closed the next morning.
One afternoon Elara found her at the stables.
Her bag had been dropped out of the way and her hair was tied back while she worked.
“I thought you had lectures.”
“Finished early.”
Elara joined her.
They worked side by side. Saige complained about an assignment she was behind on, then ignored Elara when she suggested she might be better off working on it.
“I am working on it.”
“You’re here.”
“I’ll work on it later.”
“That sounds more accurate.”
Saige smiled and kept going.
Bryce appeared from the direction of the cattle yards sometime later.
“You two coming in for lunch?”
“In a minute,” Elara said.
Bryce looked at Saige. “You eating?”
“Yes.”
He waited.
“At lunch, Bryce.”
He nodded and headed back towards the house.
Saige watched him go.
“He still does that.”
“Yes.”
“I thought marriage might improve him.”
Elara laughed.
“No.”
By the time they reached the kitchen, Bryce had already started lunch.
Saige sat down and reached towards his plate.
He moved it out of reach without looking at her.
“Get your own.”
“You made enough.”
“For you. Over there.”
Saige glanced at Elara.
Elara sat opposite them and kept out of it.
Saige got her own plate.
A few minutes later Bryce looked down and found half of what he had been protecting gone anyway.
He looked at Saige.
She kept chewing.
Elara lowered her eyes to hide her smile.
Some evenings Saige’s books covered one end of the kitchen table.
Sometimes Elara came in from the stables to find Bryce sitting opposite her while Saige read, neither of them speaking.
Another night Saige called to say she was staying with her friend.
Two nights later headlights crossed the yard well after Elara and Bryce had gone to bed.
The front door opened.
A cupboard opened in the kitchen, then closed.
Footsteps moved through the house.
Bryce stirred beside Elara but didn’t get up.
By morning Saige was already dressed, eating at the kitchen table with her university bag beside the chair.
“I thought you were staying away,” Elara said.
“So did I.”
“What happened?”
Saige shrugged. “Wanted my own bed.”
Bryce came in behind Elara and reached for a mug.
Saige glanced at him.
“And before you ask, yes, I’m eating.”
“I wasn’t going to ask.”
“Sure.”
She went back to breakfast.
Elara poured herself coffee.
A few minutes passed.
“Are we using the barn tonight?” Saige asked.
Elara looked across at her.
“Do you want to?”
“Yeah.”
Bryce leaned against the bench. “Something particular?”
Saige considered it.
“I’ll tell you tonight.”
He nodded.
Saige checked the time, put her plate in the sink and picked up her bag.
“I’ve got to go.”
She kissed Elara on her way past, then Bryce.
“See you tonight.”
The door shut behind her.
Bryce took a drink of coffee.
Elara looked at him.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
She smiled and carried her mug outside.
That evening, Saige came into the barn after Bryce and Elara.
The overhead lights were already on. One of the bay curtains stood open, the saddle stand inside where it had been left.
Saige stopped just inside the doors and looked around.
Bryce was beside the workbench. Elara had been talking to him, but Saige’s arrival cut through the conversation without either of them needing to say so.
“You decided?” Elara asked.
Saige nodded.
“I want to try the crop.”
Elara looked at her. “Alright.”
Saige glanced towards the open bay. “I don’t really know what I’m asking for.”
“You don’t have to.”
Elara took the crop and stepped into the bay with her.
Saige rested her hands on the padded stand and looked back over her shoulder.
“Like this?”
“That’ll do.”
Bryce stayed near the bay opening.
The first strike was light.
Saige startled, then laughed.
“I barely felt that.”
Elara gave her another, firmer this time.
Saige’s fingers tightened around the padding.
“Oh.”
Elara waited until her shoulders loosened, then struck again.
The sound was sharper than the first two. Saige drew a breath through her teeth but stayed where she was.
Another followed across the other side, then one lower. The crop began to leave a heat that lingered after each strike instead of disappearing with it.
Saige shifted her weight and looked back over her shoulder.
Elara paused.
“Why’d you stop?”
“Seeing what you do with it.”
Saige faced forward again.
Elara resumed, changing the pace enough that Saige stopped trying to anticipate the next one. Some made her tense; others drew a short laugh or a muttered curse. When Elara finally lowered the crop, Saige stayed leaning over the stand for a moment before straightening.
“Well?” Elara asked.
Saige rubbed one palm over the padded edge.
“I don’t hate it.”
She glanced back at the crop.
“But it might take some getting used to.”
Bryce pushed away from the wall.
Saige stepped towards him before he reached her, one hand catching the front of his shirt.
He stopped.
She kissed him.
The kiss lasted longer than the one she had given him in the kitchen that morning. When she pulled back, she looked at Elara.
“You too.”
Elara crossed the space between them.
Saige kissed her with the same lingering curiosity, then drew Bryce back in when he came close again. The crop ended up on the edge of the workbench while the three of them stayed in the bay a while longer, the experiment giving way to something warmer and less organised.
By the time Saige stepped back, her cheeks were flushed for reasons that had little to do with the crop.
A few nights later, Saige followed them out again.
She wandered through the open bays while Bryce and Elara finished what they were doing, stopping at the restraint chair.
Elara came up beside her. “That one?”
Saige ran her fingers over one of the leather restraints.
“I’ve been looking at it since the first night.”
Bryce joined them.
“Want to try it?” he asked.
Saige looked at the chair again, then sat.
The leather creaked beneath her.
Bryce fastened the restraints at her wrists while Elara stayed in front of her.
Saige pulled once against them.
Then harder.
The chair held.
Elara bent and kissed her.
Saige lifted into it, the restraints stopping her before she could follow. She pulled against them again, testing the limit while Elara kissed her a second time.
When Elara drew back, Saige looked down at her wrists.
“That’s different.”
Bryce’s hand rested briefly on the back of the chair.
Elara reached for the wand.
Saige’s eyes followed it.
“Oh.”
Elara smiled.
Saige settled back against the padding.
The first touch made her jerk against the restraints.
Bryce stayed beside the chair while Elara kept the wand in place. Saige’s breathing changed, her wrists pulling against the leather again as the sensation built.
She tried to shift away from it and found the chair gave her nowhere to go.
Elara waited until Saige settled, then continued.
Saige’s head tipped back against the padded rest.
The climax caught her hard enough to pull both restraints tight.
Then Elara switched the wand off.
For several seconds Saige stayed where she was, breathing hard.
Neither of them released her.
Bryce glanced at Elara.
“Could leave her there.”
Elara’s mouth curved. “Could.”
“Give her a minute.”
“Then start again.”
Saige looked from one to the other.
Bryce was trying not to smile.
Elara wasn’t trying very hard.
Saige pulled once against the restraints.
“You two are enjoying this far too much.”
“Maybe,” Elara said.
They let her sit with that for another moment before Bryce released one wrist and Elara the other.
Saige rubbed her wrists, then looked at the chair.
“I can see how that would be appealing.”
Saige was still in the kitchen when Elara came in the next afternoon.
Her books had spread across one end of the table. A mug sat near her elbow, forgotten.
“You’re still on that assignment?”
Saige didn’t look up.
“Different one.”
“That sounds worse.”
“It is.”
Elara opened the fridge.
“Want anything?”
“Whatever you’re having.”
“I wasn’t having anything.”
“Then make something.”
Elara looked over her shoulder.
Saige finally looked up.
“Please.”
“That’s better.”
Elara put together something simple and set half beside Saige.
Saige took a bite without moving the papers.
“Thanks.”
Elara sat opposite her.
For a while the only sound was pages shifting and Saige occasionally muttering at something she had written.
Bryce came in later, dusty from outside.
He stopped beside the table.
“There anywhere left to sit?”
Saige moved two books and a folder.
Bryce sat.
“What’s all this?”
“University.”
“That specific, is it?”
Saige gave him a flat look.
Elara smiled into her drink.
Bryce reached for one of the loose pages.
Saige slapped her hand over it.
“No.”
“I was only looking.”
“You were reading.”
“That generally happens when you look at words.”
She pulled the page closer.
Bryce let it go.
A few minutes later Saige pushed the whole pile away and leaned back in her chair.
“I’m done.”
“With the assignment?”
“With thinking.”
“That’ll save time,” Bryce said.
Saige kicked him lightly under the table.
Elara heard the contact.
Bryce looked at Saige.
She looked back.
Neither said anything.
Elara laughed before she could stop herself.
Saige looked at her.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re both impossible.”
Bryce leaned back.
“You came home.”
Saige’s expression changed for half a second.
Then she reached for her mug.
“Yes.”
By then, Saige’s boots were beside the back door more often than not, and books had a habit of turning up wherever she had last been reading.
Once, Elara found her stretched along the couch with a book open on her chest and one sock missing.
She was still there when Bryce walked through.
He looked at Saige.
Then at Elara.
“What happened?”
“University, apparently.”
Saige opened one eye.
“I’m awake.”
Bryce glanced at the book.
“You weren’t.”
“I was thinking.”
“With your mouth open?”
Saige pulled the book over her face.
“Go away.”
Bryce kept walking.
Elara sat at the other end of the couch and lifted Saige’s feet into her lap.
Saige lowered the book.
“You’re nicer than he is.”
“Sometimes.”
Saige let the book fall onto her stomach.
Elara rested a hand around one of her ankles.
Neither spoke for a while.
When Bryce came back through, he put three drinks on the table without asking.
Saige reached for hers.
“See?” Elara said.
Saige took a sip.
“Still annoying.”
Bryce sat in the chair opposite them.
Saige’s feet stayed where they were.
A gathering night came and went without Saige joining them.
She ate with everyone at the house, laughed with Holly, listened to Luke and Erin arguing about something inconsequential, then picked up her books when the others headed towards the barn.
“You coming?” Holly asked.
Saige shook her head.
“Not tonight.”
Holly nodded once.
“Night, then.”
“Have fun.”
No one tried to change her mind.
When Elara came back to the house later, one light was still on in the kitchen.
Saige sat at the table in the same place she had been earlier.
“You actually studied?”
Saige looked up.
“Mostly.”
Elara sat beside her.
“How was it?”
“The gathering?”
Saige nodded.
“Good.”
Saige closed the book.
“I thought about coming out.”
“You could have.”
“I know.”
Elara waited.
Saige rubbed her thumb along the edge of the cover.
“I didn’t want to tonight.”
“Then you made the right choice.”
Saige looked at her.
After a moment Saige smiled and opened the book again.
Elara stayed beside her.
A few minutes later Bryce came in.
He stopped when he saw them at the table.
Saige glanced up.
“You’re staring again.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
Bryce pulled out the chair on her other side and sat down.
Saige moved her papers enough to make room.
The first grey light of morning was creeping through the curtains when Elara felt the mattress dip.
She opened her eyes.
Saige was easing beneath the covers beside her.
“Can I come in?” she whispered.
“You already have.”
Saige smiled and pulled the blanket over herself.
Bryce stirred on the other side.
Elara shifted enough to make room.
Saige settled against her, hair tangled from sleep, one arm folding across Elara’s waist.
“Everything alright?”
“Yeah.”
Elara waited.
Saige tucked herself closer.
“Just wanted a cuddle.”
Elara put an arm around her.
Bryce opened his eyes and looked across at them.
Saige smiled.
“Morning.”
He rubbed a hand over his face.
“Morning.”
For a while nobody moved.
Then Saige stretched one arm across Elara until her fingers found Bryce’s wrist.
He looked down at her hand.
Saige closed her eyes again.
Bryce turned his hand beneath hers and linked their fingers loosely.
Elara rested her cheek against Saige’s hair.
Outside, the first sounds of the ranch carried through the morning.
Eventually Bryce shifted.
“I have to get up.”
Saige tightened her fingers around his.
“No.”
He looked at Elara.
She smiled.
“You heard her.”
“I have cattle.”
“They’ll survive five minutes.”
Saige opened one eye.
“Ten.”
Bryce sighed and settled back against the pillow.
Saige closed her eyes again.
Elara could feel her smile.