Page 77 of Second Chance with the Rancher

“No. They’re feral barn cats. Why do they need names?”

“Because!”

“That’s not a reason. What do you call them then?”

“Barn Cat Number One, Barn Cat Number Two and so on and so forth.”

“That’s terrible. They need names. How would you like it if when you were born your mother just called you Child Number Two?”

“Would Asher be Child Number One or Asher?”

“Does it matter?”

“A little.”

Growling, she rolled her eyes. “Those cats need names.”

Nate laughed, reached over and squeezed her thigh. “You can name them if it will make you happy. But first you’ve got to find them.”

Resting her hand on his that was still on her thigh, she grinned. “I’ll find them.”

“Bruno was pretty put out that you left without him,” he said chuckling. “You have a new number one fan, I think.”

“He’s a good dog, but it’s too warm to leave him in the truck. I’m sure he’s fine back at the house.”

The first night after the fire, Bruno had put up quite a stink being excluded from the bedroom where Nate and Mieka were sleeping. He scratched and howled at the door until Mieka took pity on the manipulative little bugger and let him in—after they had sex—then Bruno curled up in the crook of her legs, his head on her thigh and snored like a bull elephant with a head cold. And since they let him into their room once, the dog figured that was the status quo now and wouldn’t have it any other way. Nate was pretty sure Bruno was more infatuated with Mieka than he was. Not that he could blame the dog, she was pretty spectacular.

The sign for Harris Brothers Ranch came into view and he turned off the road and onto the laneway.

“You have dance lessons with Hank today?” he asked, checking out the horses that were grazing in the field. The three foals—Daria, Chance and Skipper—were out with their mothers along with Macklin and Umber who were in the far corner in the shade by themselves.

“Yeah, he’s getting a lot better.”

Since they returned from the cabins, Mieka and Hank had been practicing every day in the indoor corral.

He parked the truck in the gravel in front of the house and Mieka hopped out. “Thanks for driving me,” she said, coming around the grill and lifting up on her toes to kiss him on the lips. “And thanks for lunch. I’m glad I went with a smaller order, otherwise I’d be waddling into dance lessons.”

Nate wrapped his arms around her to hold her there for a moment, not ready to let her go. “Let’s go on a date tonight,” he said.

Her brows lifted. “Was that not what today was?”

“No. It was me giving you a ride to the doctor and buying you lunch. Let’s go on a proper date. I told you before that I wanted to take you out and it hasn’t happened. Let’s make it happen.”

Her smile made his insides turn to warm goo and his dick twitch in his jeans. “Okay. A date.”

“I’ll pick you up at seven.”

“I’ll be ready.” Then she kissed him one more time, but even though she meant for it to be chaste, he clung to her and deepened it, wedging his tongue between her lips and savoring the lingering flavor of her strawberry milkshake.

Eventually, though, he had to let her go. She skipped a little as she made her way across the yard to the front porch of the house to go wash her arm before she met Hank, blowing him a kiss just before she disappeared into the house, taking a piece of his heart with her.

“You’re doing so well, Hank,” Mieka praised as Hank led her around the corral in time to the music on her phone. “I can’t get over how you’ve improved in such a short time.”

“It’s the teacher,” he said, spinning her out, then back in at just the right time. “You’re also a doctor, apparently, because you managed to fix my two left feet.” At his joke and compliment, the big ginger ranch hand turned red in the cheeks and averted his eyes as Mieka chuckled.

“I think it’s the student. You’ve got to want to learn and improve. And you have such a great reason to want to learn how to dance. Your sister is going to be so surprised.”

“I hope so,” he said, continuing to move her perfectly around the corral.

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