Page 82 of Second Chance with the Rancher
His brow scrunched. “Why don’t you want me to have made it?”
“Because knowing you can make my favorite meal probably better than I can is going to make it even harder for me to eventually leave. Did you make the khobz, too?”
Now THAT made him smile. “All part of the plan, Minx. All part of the plan.”
He laid out the rest of their meal. Fresh sliced figs, nutty crackers, hard cheeses and sliced vegetables. There was plenty of khobz bread, and yogurt if she wanted to put a dollop on top of the stew, but when he went to offer her a scoop, Mieka was already using a second slice of bread to wipe the last bits of sauce from her empty bowl.
“Jesus, woman,” he said with a laugh. “I didn’t know you were that hungry.”
“I have no bottom to my stomach when it comes to this dish.” She scraped her teeth over her bottom lip. “These are all my favorites. Did Triss help you?”
“She’s shipping us pretty hard, not gonna lie,” Nate said.
“Oh, I know she is.” She reached for a cracker, fig slice and piece of cheese, popping them all into her mouth at once and humming in delight.
Bruno had wormed his way between them and was slowly inching forward toward the food. His nose touched a cube of cheese and his tongue swept out and he licked his chops.
“Not for you,” Nate said, scratching behind Bruno’s ears and gently nudging the dog backward away from the food. “You can have some cheese if there’s any leftover.”
“There probably won’t be,” Mieka mumbled through a mouth full of more cheese and crackers.
Nate chuckled. “Oh fine.” He grabbed the cube that Bruno’s nose had touched and gave it to the dog. “That’s it for you, mister. We don’t feed dogs from the table in this house.”
“Well …” Mieka said, reaching for another piece of khobz bread, “we’re technically not at a table, or in a house. And Bruno is smart, I bet he knows all of these things and that’s why he’s trying to sneak some food.” She glanced at Nate, held eye contact with him and bobbed her brows seductively, all the while slowly moving her hand toward the pile of cheese cubes. She grabbed a couple and still, while maintaining eye contact with Nate, fed the cheese to Bruno.
“I saw that,” he said with a laugh.
“Saw what?” She was the face of pure innocence. The Virgin Mary had nothing on Mieka Young right now.
“I’m going to stay your favorite if I have to give you all the yummy cheese,” she said, adopting a baby-talk voice and bending down to kiss Bruno’s head.
“He’ll be fat and have gout if you do.”
She snorted a laugh, lifted her hand and gripped his chin between her thumb and finger, pulling him close. “Thank you for tonight. This is perfect.” She pressed her lips to his and he was tempted to deepen the kiss, but Bruno—the infiltrator—sat up and started to whimper.
“You’re still my number one guy,” she said, pulling away from Nate and petting Bruno. “Nobody could ever take your place.”
“Don’t let Macklin hear you say that,” Nate said, leaning back against the hay bales as the movie started on the DIY screen in front of them. “And also, should I be offended that the dog is ahead of me on that list? Am I at least second? Or am I behind a dog and a needy attention-whore horse?”
She crammed more khobz bread and stew into her mouth, shrugged, shook her head and pointed at her mouth to say that she couldn’t answer because her mouth was full.
“How very convenient,” he said slowly, smiling as he scooped up stew onto his own piece of bread. “I guess third place isn’t so bad.”
They nibbled on dinner while watching Julia Stiles learn to channel all of her pain into her dancing.
By the time the movie was over, the stars were out completely, the air was cooler and Mieka had had three helpings of stew and couscous. The figs, crackers and cheese were pretty much gone, as well, and they were into their second bottle of rosé. Nate was feeling good, and judging by the way Mieka’s thumb was resting on the front of his jeans and sliding back and forth over his hardening cock, she was feeling pretty good, too.
“This has been the absolute best date of my entire life,” she said, covering her mouth with a yawn as she leaned her head against his shoulder. Bruno was nestled between her legs which were spread out in front of her. He had flipped over to his back and all four of his paws were in the air as he snored.
“I’m glad I could deliver. Though, I find that a little hard to believe given how much you’ve traveled. Surely you’ve had some epic dates in epic places. Dinner on the beach in Australia at sunset? A gondola ride in Venice? Ice hotel and the northern lights in Norway?”
She shrugged and nodded. “I’ve done all of those things, and they were great, but honestly, this is still the best date. It beats all the others, no comparison. Because you listened to me and you gave me all the things I love. My favorite movie, my favorite food, and seriously, this set up, the night and being with you, I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else right now.”
Was now the time to tell her how he really felt? Tell her that he loved her and ask her to stay? She knew he was trying to convince her that she was made for ranch life, but he’d never come out and actually asked her to stay. A lot of it had been witty banter lobbed back and forth between them like a beach ball. But he was dead serious. He wanted her. He loved her and he wanted a life with her. Kids or no kids, he wanted Mieka.
They were facing each other now and he lifted his head to cup her cheek.
Her smile was small, almost sad as she leaned into his touch. “I’ve been offered a job,” she said softly.
