Page 66 of Duty Preserved

The boma seemed to be holding well enough. The cattle continued to surge in fear inside it, but the walls didn’t give. Yet.

We kept up the noise until the herd settled, which indicated that the threat had probably wandered off in search of something easier.

Nobody was hurt. The herd was rattled but contained, every patch and repair we’d made that evening proving to be well-placed.

I stood in the firelight with a branch in my hand and my pulse still hammering. Sarah stood next to me, breathing hard from shouting and swinging viciously as well.

It was close enough to dawn that nobody was going back to sleep. The sky to the east had the faintest suggestion of gray, still an hour from useful, but enough to tell you the night was finished.

Adrenaline drained out of the group in stages. The rangers on watch kept their posts. The rest of us stood or sat and let our bodies come down from the spike, one system at a time.

Someone started making coffee. Camp coffee, over the fires that were already going. Grounds measured with still-shaky hands and overeager eyeballs.

Sarah wandered off to find Alyson as Andrew showed up with two tin mugs. He handed me one without a word. I took a sip. Strong and bitter, as if we weren’t awake enough already. I drank and watched the eastern sky lighten by several shades. Around us, the camp slowly reorganized itself.

Day two was starting whether anyone was ready for it or not.

Chapter 18

Sarah

It had been a week since our first night sleeping side by side on the cattle drive. Now, we were in my cabin. His mouth was on my neck and his arm around my waist.

“I’m going,” he said against my skin.

“You’re not going.”

“I’m literally walking out the door right now.”

“Oh yeah,” I said. “Impressive you can be all the way out the door while still in bed.”

He pulled back enough to look at me. The cabin was dark except for the first shafts of morning light coming through the blinds. I could barely see his face, but I could sense that he was grinning just as much as I was.

I tried to stifle a laugh. The walls in these cabins were thin. A week of this and I still hadn’t figured out how to be quiet when he made me laugh.

He kissed me again. Then he pulled away and actually got one foot on the floor.

“Okay,” he said. “Going.”

“Allegedly.”

He didn’t move a muscle toward the door, but he did move his hands toward the ticklish spots near my ribs.

I pressed my face into the pillow and shook with laughter. He leaned over and kissed the back of my shoulder, and I grabbed his wrist and pulled him back down.

“One more minute.”

“You said that four minutes ago.”

“And you’re still here, so clearly, you agreed.”

He slid his arm around my waist. He pulled me back against him, my spine flush to his chest, and I could feel his heart through both our ribs.

One more minute.

He shifted behind me. His hand moved from my waist to my hip, his thumb tracing the ridge of bone through the thin cotton of my underwear. A slow, deliberate drag. I pressed back against him and felt him hard against me.

“If you start this,” I whispered, “you can’t leave halfway through.”