Page 151 of Saddle and Scent
"I know. And I promise I’ll never give you a reason to regret it again. I learnd my lesson."
She went still for a beat, then let out a long, shaky laugh. "You sound like a damn romance novel."
"Only if you’re the heroine," I said, deadpan, just to make her snort and roll her eyes.
She craned her neck to look at me, and there was a new softness in her gaze that made me feel like I’d been hit in the solar plexus. "I think I could get used to this," she admitted. "You being all… steady and reliable and soft on me."
I grinned, unable to help it.
"Don’t tell anyone. I’ve got a reputation to maintain."
Her scent is changing, sweetening with satisfaction, though the underlying heat remains.
It wraps around us both, creating a bubble separate from the outside world. From the ranch, from our roles, from all the reasons this is complicated.
“Rest, Bell,” I murmured, voice as soft as I could make it with the weight of what we’d just done pressing down on my chest. She needed time to float back to herself, to let the aftershocks mellow out before the next round tried to take her under again. The Omega in her might be calling out for more, but I wasn’t about to let her burn out in a single afternoon. Even if the sight of her spent and glowing made my own skin feel too tight, my own need strung out and insistent, I wanted her recharged and ready.
She hummed, limp but alive in my arms, her cheek mashed against my collarbone. I smoothed a thumb along her shoulder, running little circles over the new constellation of goosebumps there. The urge to kiss every inch of her, to map her out with lips and tongue and teeth, would have to wait. I made a mental note of it: Juniper Bell, completely fucked out and purring in the crook of my arm, was the most perfect thing I’d ever seen.
I glanced down and caught her staring at my hand where it rested on her hip. She traced the veins with her fingertip as if she was memorizing the pattern for later sabotage. Her eyelids drooped, but she fought the urge to drift off, stubborn even in exhaustion.
“If another flare hits, you’re gonna need energy,” I told her, hoping my logic would win out over her bullheaded need to push herself past every known limit. “You can nap here as long as you want. I’ll stand guard.”
She scoffed, but the sound was lazy and fond. “You’re gonna what, stand at the end of the bed with a shotgun in case any stray alphas wander by?”
“Don’t tempt me,” I replied, deadpan. “It’s not a bad look for me.”
She snorted and finally let her head loll onto my chest. Her hair smelled like fresh hay and sweat and the faintest tang of ozone, as if summer lightning had set her alight from the inside. I wanted to bottle the scent and keep it on my workbench, open it whenever I needed a reminder that good things still happened in this world.
I felt her body start to relax, breath evening out, but her hands never went still. She toyed with the seam of my shirt, then with the hem, and then—when she must have thought I wouldn’t notice—she let her hand graze lower, a silent dare that I didn’t mind accepting.
“Bell,” I warned, “if you’re looking for a round two, you’re outta luck. I’m under strict orders from your doctor to keep you hydrated and horizontal for at least an hour.”
She laughed, a lazy, satisfied sound. “The only thing horizontal here is you, Callum Hayes.”
I grinned, letting my own tension slip away. “It’s a good look on me.”
She rolled her eyes, but the fondness in her gaze made my heart thump a little harder. There, in the quiet aftermath, I realized I could get used to this—to her teasing, to her warmth, to her stubborn refusal to ever let things get too serious for more than a minute.
Even with my own need gnawing at my ribs, I was content to just hold her and be held in return. If this was what being an Omega’s Alpha was supposed to feel like, I’d been starving for it a long time. I’d let her rest, and when she woke, I’d be right where she left me: her guardian, her punching bag, her idiot in shining armor.
But for now, I held her tighter. Because Juniper Bell had finally let herself rest, and I was determined to keep her safe while she did.
She let herself go boneless, her weight sinking into me like she finally believed she didn’t have to keep fighting gravity. Even when her breathing slowed and I could tell she was just on the edge of sleep, her hand never stopped its gentle explorations.
Finally, she peeked up at me with a smirk. “You know,” she said, “for all that talk about standing guard, you’re the one who looks like he’s about to fall asleep.”
I grunted, resisting the urge to shut my eyes right then and there. “Gotta stay sharp. Could be another wave, or a barn fire, or you making another run for it.”
She snickered, then pushed herself upright with a groan, only to settle back against my shoulder with even greater determination. “You’re such a dork. You know that, right?”
“Absolutely,” I replied, pressing a kiss to her temple. “But I’m your dork. At least for today.”
She was quiet a minute, digesting that, before she tilted her chin up and pinned me with a look that was pure Juniper: fearless, playful, and already plotting her next move.
“Callum?” she said, voice lower and thicker now that some of her energy was coming back.
“Yeah?”
