Challenging Saber by S. E. Smith Page B

shutting the door behind him.
    Taylor nodded and flashed him another smile. She walked down the wide hallway into the living area. She loved this room now that it was finished. It was huge with curved walls that rose up to reveal a series of clear panels that on command could go from clear to shade to complete darkness. The back wall was actually a series of doors that opened all the way and disappeared into the walls on each side so the room became part of the outer garden. In some ways it was similar to Hunter and Jesse’s house, but this one was brighter, more open and gave her a sense of peace.
    “I really love this room,” she said with a sigh, turning to face him.
    “I know,” Saber replied, moving to relieve the pressure on his bad leg.
    Taylor’s eyes immediately noticed the move. “Have you been doing your exercises?” She asked, dropping her backpack next to the couch and kicking off her shoes.
    Saber scowled at her. “Yes,” he bit out in a rough tone. “It’s just a little stiff today.”
    “Let me take a look,” she ordered, waving to the couch.
    The scowl on Saber’s face turned even darker. Taylor could tell he was going to argue, he always did. It had become a routine for them. What he didn’t know was tonight was going to be different if she had any say in the matter – which she always did.
    “I said I was alright,” Saber growled even as he walked toward the couch.
    “Lie down and let me take a look at it,” she said, noticing that his short hair was still a little damp from his shower. “Did you take a hot shower or a cold one?”
    “A cold one,” Saber grumbled, sitting down on the edge of the couch and turning to lie down on it. “I knew you were coming.”
    Taylor chuckled and raised an eyebrow at him. “Is that because I make you all hot and bothered, old man?” She asked as she knelt on the floor next to him.
    She carefully removed the thigh to calf brace he wore and set it on the floor next to her. She studied the long scars that zigzagged down his leg. Most wounds could be healed with minimum scarring; only the worst ones could not. Saber’s leg reflected the devastation of damage done to the bone, muscle, and nerves. Two newly healed incisions caught her attention. They hadn’t been there this morning.
    “I’m not that old,” Saber defended with a reluctant curve of his lips. “Yes, you make me hot. I want to wring your neck for not listening to me.”
    Taylor ran her hands tenderly over the scarred skin of his right leg. She could feel the knots in the muscles. Using a combination of her weight and pressure, she worked on each one. A low hiss escaped Saber when a particularly tight one released. Almost immediately, she could feel his body melt back into the couch. Her magic touch, as he liked to call it, was working.
    “Leila has another tooth,” Taylor said, knowing that talking often took Saber’s mind off of what she was doing.
    “She already had a mouthful,” Saber said in a tight voice.
    “Jesse said it is her two-year-old molars, I think,” she said, rubbing his hot skin. “Lyon is learning to climb. Jesse and Hunter have to watch him like a hawk.”
    Saber frowned and glanced down at Taylor. “A hawk?” He asked in a husky voice.
    “Yes,” she murmured, getting lost in the feelings she got whenever she touched him. “It’s a type of bird of prey back home. They have incredible eyesight.”
    Taylor glanced at Saber when she felt him stiffen. “You still think of Earth as your home?” He asked with a frown.
    Taylor looked down at where her hands were working the muscle of his calf and shook her head. She would always think of Earth as her home, but it wasn’t where she wanted to live any more. No, her place was here, in this house, beside Saber. That is where home was now.
    “No. It will always be ‘home’ as in the place I came from, but it isn’t my home anymore,” she reflected, pausing to look up at him. “This is my home now.”
    Her