Page 19 of Second Chance with the Rancher

The front door opened and a sweaty and rosy-faced Triss came in. She ditched her running shoes and pulled her earbuds out as she wandered over to them in the kitchen and kissed Asher on the top of his head. “Good morning.” She was still slightly out of breath.

“Running is okay for the baby?” Mieka asked.

“I asked my doctor and Google and both said it was fine,” she said with a smile, her chest still heaving slightly.

Asher wrapped his arm around his wife’s butt, but then made a face and pulled his hand away.

“I’m sweaty, what do you expect?” Triss asked, laughing.

Asher got up from the table and took his empty bowl with him. “You showering before breakfast or after?”

“I’m going to shower first.” She took off upstairs and the squeal and groan of the pipes echoed through the house a moment later.

Nate finished his breakfast, too, and took the dishes to the dishwasher. He finished his coffee, then turned to Mieka. “Leave in half an hour?”

She nearly choked on the coffee in her mouth. “For the cabins?”

He lifted a broad shoulder in his sexy flannel shirt. “Lots to do today, need to tick that off the list sooner rather than later. We’ll bring out a couple of pack horses, too, since they can use the exercise and I need to take out some supplies.”

Mieka could only nod. Her mouth was full of delicious oatmeal and egg and her mind was racing. Nate was dead-set on showing her how great life on a ranch could be and it appeared he wasn’t wasting any time making good on that promise.

“I uh … I’ll meet you in the barn in half an hour.”

His nod was quick and curt but his smile made her insides do some serious Olympic gymnast worthy flips. “See you out there.” Then he was gone with Asher in his wake.

Mieka finished her breakfast in quiet, but her brain wouldn’t allow her any peace. After the way her panties flooded and her heart raced last night when Nate was right there, tugging her hair and giving her a look that promised a kiss. How was she supposed to think of anything else today on their ride?

The shower upstairs turned off, so she went to the sink, rinsed her dishes and put them in the dishwasher.

Triss had clients today, so Mieka needed to keep herself busy. She stupidly figured that since her sister ran her own practice, she could make her own hours and take some time off while Mieka was here. But she couldn’t.

Triss was a speech and language pathologist, and after moving to Colorado to be with Asher, she opened up a private practice on the ranch. Asher and Nate built her a beautiful building where she met with clients of all ages and circumstances. She then hired a couple of occupational therapists, clinical counselors and behavior therapists, and the clinic operated with a holistic approach, using all of their resources and providing their clients with everything they needed in one safe space.

They were also planning to open up the ranch for therapeutic horseback riding, but as far as Mieka knew they hadn’t hired a trainer yet, and only had one horse that was certified. But from what Nate said, Daria—Dare and Greenleigh’s filly—would become one, as well as Mercy and Hula-Hoop’s filly, Skipper.

In a pair of dark jegging capris and a billowy black top with cap sleeves, Mieka dug around in her bag for her Skechers slip-ons, then twisted her hair up into two elaborate braids, starting at her temples and moving toward the back of her head. She did them Dutch-style, folding the strands under each other as she went rather than over in the traditional French way, which made the braid sit on top of her hair. She pinned them and twisted them until they formed a delicate bun at the back. This was a style that a lot of the dancers had to wear for one of their performances and she’d perfected it. Executing the entire thing in under five minutes. However, with one arm in a heavy cast, it took closer to fifteen minutes for her to finish. But she did it, and that was all that mattered.

Grabbing a cardigan in case it got chilly, and slathering some SPF on her face, she was just leaving her bedroom when Triss came bouncing down the stairs. “How’d you sleep?” she asked.

“Shitty,” Mieka replied, fastening some small pearl studs in her ears. “Arm was throbbing and I couldn’t get comfortable. I ended up coming out here and grabbing more lemonade.”

“And it helped?” Triss asked, making her way into the kitchen. “Before you judge, the doctor said I could have one cup of coffee a day. I’m not doing anything wrong. This is what keeps me from murdering people.”

Mieka snorted and watched as her sister poured herself a cup of coffee then added a generous amount of half and half to it. “No judgment. And yes, the weed helped. I finally passed out around one, I think. You guys are freaking loud, by the way. Nate and I had to go out to the barn to get away from all of Asher’s grunts and all of your, Oh God’s. Seriously, get that house built and leave Nate in peace.”

Triss clenched her teeth and frowned. “Shit, you heard us?”

“Uh, yeah. I think the coyotes in the fields heard you.”

“Sorry. Nate’s usually at the other side of the house and he puts in his earbuds to listen to podcasts before bed so he doesn’t hear us. We totally forgot that you two were still probably downstairs when we started. Asher said he was tired, but he started giving me a foot massage, then his hands traveled up my legs and then between my legs and—”

“I got it!” Mieka put her fingers in her ears. “Don’t need the details. You’re saving a horse and riding a cowboy and I couldn’t be happier. But I’m in a bit of a dry spell, trying to figure out what to do with my life and coming to terms with the fact that I’m a dried up, crusty loaf of bread in the dancing world, so hearing my sister get her rocks off with her hunky husband isn’t high up there on my list of fun things to do at the moment.”

Triss’s mouth twitched like she was trying to hold back a smile. “Doesn’t have to be a dry spell. I’m sure Hank would be more than happy to dampen your—”

Mieka cut her sister off with a stern headshake. “That metaphor is not going to work so I’m going to stop you now.”

Triss laughed and took a careful sip of her coffee. “You know what I mean.”

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