10. Dean
Dean
I blink at the woman standing in front of me, a bucket and mop in her hands, and defiance glowing hotly in her penetrating gaze.
Desire slams into me instantly, my cock unexpectedly hardening for the first time in months. I clench my jaw against this highly unanticipated and almost invasive feeling, even as I try to tear my gaze away from her captivating eyes.
I can't. I fucking can't. It's not often that I find a woman with enough spunk to challenge me and not back down when I use my 'hardass voice', as Reed likes to call it.
It's basically impossible to expect such strength of character and such mesmerizing beauty to come in one delectable package, and yet here she is.
Her combination of looks and attitude is making my body go haywire, giving rise to urges that I've not felt in months.
.. well okay, in years, in fact. How long has it been since I was last with a woman?
I don't care to think. For that matter, how much longer has it been since I was last with a woman I actually loved and cared about?
Now that's a calculation I don't even want to do in my head, let alone out loud.
Damn it, I knew this would happen. I knew from the second she climbed into my truck that she'd be Trouble with a capital T.
Damn Reed and his promiscuous ways.
"Just hear me out," she says. "I have an offer for you and it's a good deal.
I want you to teach me how to run my farm, and I'll pay you a couple of thousand dollars for your time and trouble.
If I succeed then you'll have the pleasure of knowing you started me off as a small farmer.
On the other hand, if I fail, I'll sell the farm to you at the price you offered me before, and I'll move on. How about it?"
Well… that wasn’t what I had expected. I cross my arms over my chest, rubbing my chin. I mull her offer over, running the idea through my mind, giving each detail due consideration. "Would you be willing to put that in writing?"
She nods, her expression serious.
On the face of it, it's a good deal, because it's one that benefits me either way.
If she does decide to stay I get a friendly and co-operative neighbor with a huge source of water and not much use for it, given the small amount of actual land she's got.
If she doesn't, I can buy her land off her and then I get to own that water source itself, lock, stock and barrel.
Whatever happens, I'll still get paid for my time and effort teaching her.
I glance down at her. She looks like she has soft hands that have never worked a day of hard labor a day in her life.
Seems she's some kind of an heiress, inheriting the land from her long dead parents.
A traveler who's no doubt used to staying in comfortable hotels whilst visiting tons of glamorous cities around the world, dining in fancy restaurants, visiting swanky art galleries, drinking in pretentious wine bars, getting manicures from underpaid beauty specialists.
This is probably merely the latest 'next thing' in a long list of adventures.
It's only a matter of time until she gets bored and moves on.
There's no way she'll last. How can she?
The deal is so lopsided in my favor that I almost feel reluctant to take it. Call it the last remnant of a conscience left in me or whatever. I don't want to take candy from a baby.
I give her my most serious look and say, "It's not as easy as that.
Whatever I tell you, you won't understand the true difficulties unless you're in it.
You're going to have to do it, not just learn about it.
And that means hard work. A lot of it. And I'm not the type of guy to mollycoddle you because you're a woman.
If you do it, I'll be giving it to you straight.
I reckon it's going to be a lot more brutal than you're expecting. "
"Reed told me you trained him and Lennon."
A spike of jealousy shoots through my chest. So, she's been talking to Reed. How nice. I wonder what else they've been doing... though on reflection perhaps I don't want to think about it.
"I did," I say. "I did it by having them start with all the grunt work.
Pulling weeds, milking cows, cleaning stalls, digging ditches, chopping firewood, spreading fertilizer.
A lot of the dirty, thankless work in the sun, rain, wind and snow, in the heat and in the cold, from dawn till dusk.
You'll also have to do a lot of things you'll think are useless, but it's necessary for you to know what it entails if you're going to survive out here in the wilds.
It's not all about farming. You have to maintain buildings and equipment.
You have to store your harvests and make sure they're water and windproof.
You have to find distributors to take your excess product, and wholesalers to sell you seed, fertilizer and pesticides. The list is pretty much endless."
"I'm down for that. Try me."
I pause and raise an eyebrow. "Are you willing to muck out a dirty stable? Shovel horseshit all day?"
"If that's what it takes." She smirks at my astounded expression.
"I know you think I'm some sort of a princess who's lived a privileged life and had everything handed to me.
You think I've never had to struggle, or live rough, but I assure you that's not the case.
In the last five years I've slept in tents, sheds, reed shacks, and mud huts.
I've skinned and boned animals for the pot, and I've made bread out of wild oats and barley.
I've lived on a raft for a month and half in Colombia, I've navigated down the Amazon in Brazil with the Yanomami.
I've trekked over two hundred miles by horse across the Gobi Desert, carrying all our food and water rations with us.
I've helped build a freshwater irrigation system in Kenya, and I’ve taught at an elementary school in the Sudan, and that's only what springs to mind right now.
There was a whole lot else besides. So yes, I might not know what you know, but I'm very good at getting my hands dirty.
So, if that's the deal you're offering, I'm in. "
I frown. As much as I want to turn her down, it's difficult, now that she's called my bluff.
I honestly didn't think she would go for the deal.
I thought she would back down once I made it clear how unglamorous it was going to be.
Honestly, that résumé is actually impressive, and what's more, there's something in her eyes.
Something that gleams with cold, steady determination.
Something I cannot ignore. Maybe it wouldn't be a complete waste of my time…
Okay then. Time to take it up a notch.
"You'll have to stay here with us. You're going to have to get up at the ass crack of dawn each day and you'll be going to sleep late at night exhausted.
You'll be eating what we eat, when we eat it.
Not to mention, there'll be random errands that me, or Reed or Lennon send you on as your bosses, and whatever we ask of you, you'll have to do it with no questions asked.
Once we say jump, you ask how high. Got it? "
Her eyebrows twitch a little at that, but she still doesn't back down. "That's fine too. I'm ready. When can we start?"
Shit. What have I gotten myself into?
I'm tempted to tell her that I was just joking, that I didn't mean it, and she should forget about the whole deal.
She must sense the words that are already half forming on the tip of my tongue though, because her face falls, her eyes anticipating devastation.
Her expression becomes that of a kicked puppy.
She looks up at me, mournful. Expecting the worst.
God damn it!
"Fine, you can start Monday. Seven o’clock."
The smile on her face is bright enough to power a summer morning
"Thanks, Dean," she says, like I gave her the moon and not a job that she’s paying me for. "You won't regret it."
"I already do."
"I’ll see you Monday, then." The conversation over, she gives me a smile and a nod, and heads down the steps and back to her cabin.
I sigh. I'll need to talk to Reed and Lennon about this.
Reed will be delighted, of course, but God only knows how Lennon will take it.
He's already awkward enough around her, and he'll probably blow a gasket knowing that she's going to not only be working with us but staying with us too.
She can sleep in the guest cabin though, not the main house.
I press my fingers against the bridge of my nose, a dull throb is forming at the base of my skull. Why do I get myself into these messes in the first place? Why couldn't I have politely apologized, stuck to saying ‘no’ and closed the door on her?
This is going to be a disaster, I can already feel it.
I break the news at dinner, since there had been enough things to occupy the three of us throughout the day, and there'd been no good opportunity for us all to stop and chat.
We're together now, sitting at the kitchen table with plates of steak in front of us, except Grace who is in her booster seat, eating soft mashed potatoes and meatballs that her father brings up to her lips.
She's very nearly five now and old enough to eat on her own, but she almost always insists that her daddy feeds her.
"So," I start as the mild clatter of forks against ceramic continues. "I our new neighbor may be staying with us for some time."
All the clatter ceases except mine as I continue eating my steak. I wait for them to collect their thoughts. It's Lennon who speaks first. Well… I say 'speaks'. It's more of a grunt than anything else.
"What?"
I meet his gaze and explain. "She came to me earlier today and said she wanted me to teach her how to run her farm.
I told her that the only effective way for her to learn would be for her to come and work on the ranch with us, and she agreed.
So now she's going to be living and working here.
Kind of like an apprentice—except she's paying me for it. "
There it is. A moment of silence punctuates their shock, after which two things happen simultaneously.
Reed whoops and pumps his fist in the air.
Lennon on the other hand, grips his fork and says, "Are you fucking insane?"
"Language, Daddy."
"Sorry, sweetheart." He throws her an apologetic look before facing me with an angry look once more. "Why on God's good Earth would you offer her that?"
I shrug. "Well, to be honest, I didn't think she would take me up on my offer when I first said it, but then I thought about the deal and it's too good to pass up. She says that if I teach her and she can't hack it then she's going to sell me the ranch at my offer price."
"How is that a good deal?"
"Have you seen her? There's no way she's going to last here."
Lennon nods his head like he agrees but Reed raises an eyebrow and smirks, like he knows something Lennon and I don't know.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that if I were you," he says." Last I spoke to her, she was pretty determined to make this work."
"Determination isn't everything," I say. "Also, in case it needs spelling out, you're staying away from her while she's here. She doesn't need your nonsense."
Reed merely smiles. "We'll see."
"You're saying it like it's a given," Lennon complains. "You agreed to this without consulting us. We live here too."
"I'm consulting you now," I tell him, and I smile because he's walked right into my trap. "But okay big boy, if you don't want her to come here, you just have to go tell her."
"Me?"
"Yup." I smile. "I already told her yes, so you can tell her you vetoed my decision."
"Don't you dare." Reed glares at him and Lennon gives him a look.
"Grow up."
"You grow up."
"Enough!" I slam my palm on the table for emphasis, my voice slicing through the tension like a whip. The kind of tone that used to silence the entire platoon, back in the day. "It's decided. Now let's move on. We've got more important things to worry about."