through it one by one, carefully heading to their ponies.
Jess sidled closer to him. “Are you the kid-whisperer or something?”
“If I am, it’s purely by accident.”
“Right. You’re really good with them.”
“It’s just practice.” He rolled his eyes. “They love to be tortured. No idea why.”
“It works.” She took a deep breath. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you had your own kids.”
“Someday.” He laughed. “Hopefully a whole stable full of them. The more hands to help out here, the better, right?” Then he pointed to Sky Dancer. “You ready to saddle up, cowgirl?”
Jess smiled to cover up the gnawing pit that had just erupted in her stomach. “Sure. Better believe it.”
Yes, the one place she wanted to be today was on horseback, clip-clopping gently through the trails that crisscrossed Whisper Creek property. She wanted to breathe great gulps of mountain air, wanted to feast her eyes on the delicate palette of greens and purples in the meadows, and wanted mostly to disappear into the shadows of the pines.
“Just don’t get too tired. We’ve got that dance-off this afternoon.” Cole waggled his eyebrows. “Wouldn’t want you to lose.”
“Oh, we’ll see who loses, cowboy.” Jess hopped lightly into the saddle, clucking to Sky Dancer to get her moving. “I’m pretty sure it won’t be me.”
Chapter 12
“I’m totally losing.” Jess mopped her face with a towel four hours later, guzzling from a water bottle as Kyla laughed. “Where did he learn to dance like that?”
“He’s spent a lot of involuntary Friday nights downtown at Salty’s. Must be he’s picked up some dance moves along the way.”
Moves was one way to put it. The guy could teach a class at her studio, for goodness sake. The kids had actually started the dance-off with them, but one by one, they’d dropped out until just Cole and Jess were left. At first she hadn’t suspected a thing, but after the fifth kid had fake-tripped and sat down, she’d known there was a plan afoot.
The self-appointed judging panel of Britney and her two friends had made quick work of dismissing the rest of the kids, so now she had to go head-to-head with Cole in the finals. Yes, there were finals. These kids apparently took their dance-offs seriously.
“Does he dance at Salty’s?” Watching Cole goof around with the kids on the lawn behind the stable, Jess couldn’t imagine him out in the middle of a tourist-packed dance floor, turning and dipping to the latest country line dance.
Kyla shook her head. “Nope. Just watches.”
“Great.” Jess narrowed her eyes. “He doesn’t even practice, and he’s this good? I am sunk.”
“Oh, come on. You know how to dance. Look! You’re a finalist!”
“Stop laughing. You saw how this went down. They’ve rigged the whole thing. I’m destined to lose.” Jess pointed. “The five-year-old is doing it better than I can.” She watched as Cole picked up Ella and spun her around, making her pigtails fly out behind her.
What would that feel like, she wondered? Had anyone besides Grampy ever bothered to pick her up when she was little?
What would it feel like if Cole did it?
Cole put Ella down, then pointed at Jess. “I think it’s your turn to dance, cowgirl.”
“I’m on break, cowboy.”
“You take a break, you forfeit the prize.”
“That could work. What’s the prize?”
Cole looked at the kids sprawled all over the lawn. “Hey. Good question. What am I going to win after I dance this girl out of the competition?”
Britney laughed—sort of nervously, Jess noticed—and pointed at Cole. “If you win, you get to kiss Jess.”
Jess felt her face go scarlet as Cole’s jaw dropped open.
“And if she wins, she gets to kiss you!”
The kids all melted into hysterics, but neither Cole nor Jess was laughing. She saw him watching her carefully, so she tried her best to mask her distress with a fake smile.
Cole shook his head. “We don’t do kissing prizes here at Whisper Creek.”
“You said we got to make the rules, though.” Britney pouted.
Cole raised his eyebrows. “New rule: adults make the rules from now on.” He put his hand out for Jess. “Come on, Jess. Let’s show these little cowpokes how it’s done.”
She cringed as she put her hand in his, even as she loved the feel of his fingers closing around hers. “I don’t know how it’s done.”
Still holding onto her hand, he turned to the kids. “Okay, guys. You get one vote. What dance move should we do?”
“Spin her!” Ella called. “Spin her like you spin me!”
Jess pulled her hand back.