Page 34 of Cheyenne

Micah

Micah didn’t know exactly what was happening between him and Cheyenne. All he knew was that both hunting for this gold and being with this woman were exhilarating.

Just as they were about to head up the stairs to the library, the doorbell rang and a notification popped up on Micah’s phone from his Ring camera. The pizza had arrived.

He opened the door and gave a tip to the guy in exchange for the pizzas. “Thanks.”

As he shut the door, Cheyenne pointed back toward the kitchen. “I’m starving and I bet you are too. Should we eat in here? I don’t want to get pizza all over that nice library.”

Micah nodded. “That’s another reason it would be a deal breaker between us.”

She grinned and followed him into the kitchen. “What?”

He opened the pizza box and grabbed some paper plates and napkins. “Too tidy. I mean, you’d always be hounding me about keeping things clean.”

“Do you not keep things clean?”

He gave her a mock grin. “I do, but it would be annoying if you hounded me about it. That’s all I’m saying.”

“That one makes no sense.”

He laughed. “And you ‘feeling too safe’ around me makes sense?”

She laughed too, and he stared into her beautiful aqua eyes. He wanted to tuck that stray hair behind her ears, but he restrained himself.

Seeming to sense the shift in his thoughts, she blushed. “Should we eat?”

It was mostly out of habit, especially when he was home, but he reached for her hand. “We always say grace in this house. Are you okay with that?”

She looked dumbfounded but took his hand and bowed her head. “Of course.”

“Dear Lord, we thank you for this day. We thank you for this pizza. We thank you for the good time we had together, and please bless this food. Please also bless our families. Please bless us to be safe and smart in all that we do. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.”

“Amen,” Cheyenne echoed, and then they were both diving into the pizza. She took a slice of the pineapple half, and he took a slice of the anchovy half. Of course, he downed two pieces in the time it took her to eat one. But after two, he finally remembered that she might be thirsty. He grabbed two water bottles out of the fridge.

She took hers. “Thank you. But that’s another reason things would never work between us.”

“What’s that?”

“Too polite. I couldn’t handle all this politeness all the time.”

“Yeah, I can see it being a real drag. You probably like your guys to be jerks.”

She shrugged. “Keeps it interesting.”

She was teasing, of course, but two could play at the annoyance game. He took the lid off his bottle and flicked a bit of water at her.

She jerked her gaze to him, stunned. “What the?—”

He laughed. “Still too polite?”

She surprised him by flicking water back at him. It was a lot more than he’d flicked at her. “Sorry,” she said, laughing and backing up.

He couldn’t help but flick her again.

She started to return the favor but froze and looked down. “Oh gosh.”

Micah followed her gaze. They’d flicked water on the frame of the pirate ship painting, which they’d left on the table. Quickly, he grabbed a kitchen towel and dried it off. “No harm, no foul.” He picked it up and then went to the wall, placing it back up.

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