Page 28 of His Tenth Dance

“Thank you.” Kristie sat in her favorite flowered chair, tucking her feet underneath her. “I hope they taste as good as they look.”

Mission took a bite and closed his eyes as he moaned. “Even better,” he said after swallowing. “The passionfruit is perfect—it’s like the tart answer to the sweet cheesecake.”

He took another bite—a big one—and pride bloomed in Kristie’s chest at his genuine enjoyment. “I’m glad you like it.”

They ate in comfortable silence for a few moments, the only sounds the occasional purr from one of the cats and the clink of forks against plates.

Kristie finished after Mission, and she stood to take his dessert plate back into the kitchen. She didn’t care about the dishes, and when she returned to the living room, she didn’t want to sit all alone in the recliner, even if it was her favorite chair.

Instead, she sank onto the couch next to Mission, who lifted his arm and settled it around her shoulders. She leaned into him, a happy little sigh escaping her mouth. It felt natural for her to lay her arm across his stomach, so she did, and Kristie settled into his side like she belonged there.

They still had plenty to talk about, but Kristie was really enjoying the silence, and it seemed like Mission was too.

She didn’t want to destroy this peace, and she told herself she’d have plenty of time to tell him all the things he needed to know to truly know her as they continued to date. Assuming he asked her out again, of course.

“When can I see you again?” Mission whispered as if he could see right into Kristie’s mind.

She let a smile inch across her face. “Barring any more emergency calls, I’m almost always free in the evenings.”

“So I could order pizza tomorrow night, and we could find a good place to watch the sunset,” he said.

“Yeah,” Kristie said, surprised at how perfect Mission’s dates were. In fact, everything about him surprised her, and everything about him reminded her that she couldn’t make lasting judgments about someone from a single encounter.

“A pizza-sunset night sounds heavenly.”

“Mm, okay.” Mission pressed his lips to the top of her head. “Do you want to just come out to my cabin when you’re done tomorrow?”

“Maybe about six-thirty?” she asked.

“Six-thirty is just fine, kitten.” He really drawled outjust fine, reminding Kristie how much she liked cowboys.

Kristie smiled, knowing she’d have to wait hours until sunset if she showed up at Mission’s house at six-thirty.

And since she’d get to spend all that time with Mission, that wasjust finewith her.

ten

Mission didn’t normally mind working from sunup to sundown. It made for long hours in the summer, to be certain, but he enjoyed being outside, spending his time with animals, breathing in the fresh air, and enjoying all of God’s creations.

He’d been at the Hammond family farm so long that he had plenty of friends, and thankfully, none of them had started treating him differently now that he was the foreman. Of course, it had only been a week, and nothing major had happened on the farm yet. He hadn’t had to reprimand anyone, do any interviews, try to settle any disagreements, or otherwise be the boss.

In fact, in many ways, Mission acted the exact same way he had when he hadn’t been foreman. He normally had no problem staying after the horseback riding lessons to help put all the equines away, answer questions, and wait with kids whose parents were late coming to get them.

Today, he walked with a couple of ten-year-olds down the side of the red barn toward the parking lot, his eye on the clock on his phone. Kristie would be at his house in only ten more minutes, and it would take Mission that long to walk home if he left right now.

He hadn’t ordered pizza yet, because he wanted to ask her for her favorite kind, and they had plenty of time before the sun would go behind the Rocky Mountains in the west.

Part of him worried that there wastoomuch time—how could he possibly find anything for the two of them to talk about for hours?

He told himself that Kristie knew at least a little bit about him, and if she hadn’t worked out that he wasn’t the most talkative cowboy in the state yet, that said more about her than him.

“My momma said she just pulled up,” Trevor, one of the boys, said.

“Oh, great.” Mission smiled over to the child. “You got your certificate from Molly?”

The boy lifted it up, pride beaming from his face. “I can’t believe I’m moving up to the next level so fast.”

Trevor had been riding at Pony Power for a few years now, so Mission wasn’t that surprised. The other boy, Zach, had not moved up to the next class, but he’d only been at Pony Power for a year.

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