Page 26 of His Tenth Dance

“Or the second,” she muttered, wondering if sharing three-day-old cheesecake could be considered a date.

She hurried into the men’s room and started cleaning. Then she and Mission could go through the chapel to reset the hymnals, collect the trash, and wipe windows together.

“Kristie?” Mission’s voice came before she’d finished in the bathroom, and she wasn’t sure why she was so nervous.

“In the bathroom,” she called. Several moments later, the sound of his footsteps clacked on the tile.

She exited the final stall, that work done. Her hands bore bright yellow gloves that went to her elbow, but Mission didn’t seem to notice. He didn’t look anywhere but straight into her eyes.

“Hey.” She’d never been in the men’s restroom with a man before, but Mission grinned at her like this was nothing to him.

“Hey, kitten.”

Her smile sprang to her face unbidden. Him and thatkittenendearment. She’d almost forgotten about it.

He looked over to the dual sinks and mirror. “Have you done this?”

“Not yet,” she said.

“I saw the trash bag in the hall.”

“Yeah,” she said. “We have to get them out of all the classrooms too.”

Mission bent and plucked the sponge out of the bucket. “I didn’t know you cleaned the church,” he said as he got to work wiping down counters.

“Yeah,” she said, reaching for the glass cleaner. “I’ve been doing it since I moved to town.”

He looked over to her, pure curiosity in his expression. So much so, that he didn’t have to ask anything more.

“It…It makes me feel connected to something bigger than myself,” she said. “And I really needed that when I came to Ivory Peaks.”

“And that was what? Five years ago?”

“Five in January, yes,” she said. “Helping out at the church gives me—I don’t know. It helps me feel like I belong here.” She swallowed and focused on going round and round to clean the glass.

“I think there’s more to this story,” he said quietly.

“You’d be right.”

He gave her a slow, gorgeous smile. “So you’ll tell me when you’re ready.”

“Yeah,” she said fondly. “Like you’ll tell me about your parents and what brought you to Ivory Peaks when you’re ready.”

A swallow moved down his neck too, and he nodded without saying anything. They finished in the men’s room, and Kristie picked up the bucket. “We still need to dust the altar and pulpit, collect the hymnals, and take out the trash.”

“I’ll get the trash from the classrooms and meet you in the chapel.” He leaned closer and brushed his lips along her cheek. “It’s great to see you, Kris.” With that, he left her standing in the men’s room, pure heat stinging in her skin where he’d touched her.

And how did he speak in that tender, husky voice that made all the cells in her body tingle?

Kristie pulled herself together and went to the altar to begin dusting. She ran her cloth carefully over the wooden cross, the podium where the pastor stood to speak, and the table where the sacrament got administered.

This part of her cleaning routine always felt more like worship than chore. There was something sacred about caring for these symbols of faith, making sure they were ready to serve their purpose for the next service.

“You come here every Sunday?” Mission’s voice startled her from her thoughts. He’d returned with a roll of trash bags and currently emptied a small bin near the entrance.

She shook her head. “I only clean once a month.”

“I didn’t know patrons did it,” he said, clearly asking for more information.

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