Page 16 of His Tenth Dance

Did he dare hold her hand on the way into the restaurant? In the end, he simply put his hand on the small of her back as he guided her around the tailgate. He moved to her side, but a large group approached them, and he fell back behind Kristie as they flowed by.

She reached the door and opened it, and she moved through the foyer to the second set of doors. Someone else opened them, and Kristie ducked inside. Mission followed just as another man said, “Kristie?”

Both she and Mission turned toward him, and oh, Mission did not like the way he smiled so suggestively at Kristie.

“Bradford.” She edged back into him as well, and Mission rested his hand on her waist in a show of solidarity.

“You never did text me back,” Bradford said, and Mission knew him. Most cowboys around Ivory Peaks at least knew of one another, and Mission had been in town for years now.

But Bradford didn’t even look at Mission, and he’d never felt so invisible. He took a micro-step in front of Kristie, gently guiding her to the left. “Hey, Bradford.” He turned his shoulder toward the man, effectively boxing him out.

“Let’s go, kitten,” he said in a softer voice, the term of endearment sending a shockwave through him. “We have a reservation we don’t want to miss.”

His message conveyed, he kept Kristie pressed against his side as they moved away from Bradford and toward the hostess station. “Mission Redbay,” he said. “I had a reservation at seven-fifteen.”

“Howdy, Mission,” the woman there said. She looked over to Kristie and back to him, and while Mission hadn’t gone out with her, he had dated a friend of hers.

“Hey there, Heidi.” He crowded in closer. “Is Bradford coming or going?”

She looked past him, but Mission didn’t do the same. “I think he just got here.” She met Mission’s eyes and then flicked her gaze over to Kristie. “I’ll make sure you’re not near him.”

“I’d appreciate that,” Mission said, the whole right side of his body surely smoking for how hot it was, touching Kristie’s the way he did.

He settled back and did what all serious, protective boyfriends would do when their girlfriend encountered another man they clearly weren’t interested in—he leaned over and pressed his lips to her forehead.

“You’re really playing this up,” she murmured.

“Am I?” He pulled back and looked at her, the brim of his cowboy hat creating a private bubble for just the two of them. “I don’t even want him looking at you, and if he does, I want him to know you’re not available.”

“Mish, this way.”

He looked up at Heidi, then guided Kristie in front of him, keeping himself as a barrier between her and Bradford. He didn’t care if he’d acted a little overprotective, especially since he got to touch Kristie, and whisper with Kristie, and show Kristie a little bit of how he felt about her.

You’re really playing this up.

Hopefully, he hadn’t pressed his luck too far, too early. Then he remembered what he’d said, and Mission cursed his runaway tongue as he sat down opposite of Kristie and waited for Heidi to give them their menus and walk away.

six

Kristie enjoyed the stillness and silence of the summer night as she dropped out of Mission’s truck for a second time that evening. “Dinner was great,” she said. “I’ve only done a dessert fondue; I didn’t know you could do all those meats in different broths.”

He reached over and secured her hand in his. “I’m glad you liked it.”

The conversation had been easy during dinner, and they’d talked about her cats, the food, her favorite desserts to eat, the ones she liked to bake, and how long they’d each been in Ivory Peaks.

She’d skirted questions about where she’d moved from, and she’d noticed Mission hadn’t spent any time on his childhood either. She had asked him about his grandfather, and Mission didn’t seem to have a problem talking about him—but nothing about any siblings, his parents, or even his grandmother.

Kristie hadn’t pushed the issue, because she didn’t feel like opening that can of worms for herself, at least on the first date.

“So,” she said as he led her through the dirt parking area and toward the Summer Stroll. Twilight had started to blanket the town, and Kristie felt twenty years younger, reverting to herteenage self who’d gone to the fair to meet boys and ride the Ferris wheel with the cutest one.

She already had the most handsome man holding her hand, the lights of the food trucks on the parallel line to the booths, and the cooling evening air. All of it combined brought pure happiness to her heart.

“So…what?” Mission asked.

“That woman at the restaurant,” she said. “She called you Mish.”

“Yeah,” he said. “A lot of people do.”

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