Chapter 7
SHELBY
Life on the farm was simple, but that didn’t mean it was easy. I was literally up every morning with the chickens. They needed food, things needed to be cleaned, and eggs needed to be collected.
At the moment, I was with the ducks, which I’d only had for about six months. A nearby farm had closed down and they asked me if I would take the ducks in. How could I say no to these quacking cuties?
It was a sunny spring day. The sun actually felt warm for a change. The weather was finally shifting and I couldn’t wait to shed some of these clothes in the coming months. I swore I was part plant, needing sunlight to fuel me.
Some ducklings waddled up to my feet and I scooped one up into my palm, giving it a gentle hug. The duckling probably didn’t get anything out of it, but I sure did. Just because they were farm animals didn’t mean I couldn’t love them.
As much as I had been preparing to take over Whitaker Farms one day, growing up, I had spent a lot of time on this property, where my grandmother ran her smaller hobby farm.
She had raised the animals with love as well, and I was happy to follow in her footsteps.
I just wanted to make a living and give the animals in my care a good life.
It was a lot of work but it was better than sitting in an office all day staring at a screen.
I needed open sky and dirt under my feet. I needed to smell the rain on the wind, to hear birdsong from the trees, and to feel the sun on my face. I could do without all the bird shit, but you got used to it.
I was heading back to the small farmhouse my grandparents had left me with the rest of their little farm. It was almost like they knew I would need a safe place to land, years before my parents fell to the dark side and sold out.
If only they had trusted me enough to talk to me about the sale before they agreed to it.
Maybe I wouldn’t have been able to change their minds, but at least I should have had a say in the matter.
They knew damn well I had studied agriculture to work on the family farm.
They sold my future out from under me anyway.
Shane wanted me to forgive them and move on, but there was no moving on from their betrayal. Not yet. Maybe not ever.
On the way to the house, I heard a truck pulling up the dirt drive, shattering my solitude. I had a sneaking suspicion I knew exactly who was coming to my property uninvited. My shotgun was in the house, but I didn’t grab it. Yet.
I walked to meet Carter where he parked the beat-up truck he had been driving around in. It was Tyler’s, who worked with Shane at the shop. I would recognize it anywhere. I would also never ride in it. That thing was a death trap that could fall apart at any time. No thank you.
Carter got out of the truck. Good thing I had put on a bra this morning. My hair was a mess, but I refused to fuss with it. I didn’t want him to think I cared what he thought about my appearance. If he didn’t like how I looked, he should have fucking called first.
One comment about my lack of makeup and I was getting the shotgun.
Carter reached into the truck and came out with my yellow rain hat, shining bright in the sun. “I brought your hat back.”
“Thanks,” I said begrudgingly, taking it from him. “I’ll have to delouse it of course.”
Carter shook his head at me, his cool demeanor faltering. “You are unbelievable.”
“And no one asked you to be here,” I said. “I mean, thanks for the hat, but I know that’s not why you’re here.”
“You’ve got me there,” he said, nodding. “Let me be straight with you. Allory has been getting some bad press lately. Something went viral online, and people think we’re monsters.”
“Have you tried not running your company like a monster then? Just an idea.”
Carter growled in frustration. “That’s what I’m trying to do.
I know my father didn’t care who he hurt as long as he made money for himself and the shareholders.
But I’m doing things differently, and I want a chance to prove that to people.
I can’t do that when everyone online is calling me the bad Easter bunny bastard. ”
I froze. That had come from one of the posts I’d made about what they’d done here in Ferris. I knew people were passing it around, but I had no idea it had gotten enough traction that the CEO of Allory was down here trying to do damage control.
Pride filled me, but it was quickly followed by fear. Did Carter know I was behind the negative buzz? Was that why he kept trying to talk to me?
I decided to feel him out. “So you’re the bad bunny everyone is talking about?”
He nodded, then paused, then shook his head. “Well, Bad Bunny is a famous singer. Technically, I’m the bad bunny bastard.”
“Of course,” I said, suppressing a smile. “How could I leave out the bastard part?”
He chuckled. “That’s the part I’m out here trying to work on. I’m not a bastard, and I would love if you gave me a chance to prove myself. Tell me how I can fix this.”
“Give me Whitaker Farms back,” I said. “It’s as simple as that.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Well, then, I don’t have any answers for you,” I said, shrugging.
Carter seemed sincere enough, but I didn’t owe him a damn thing. He didn’t know I was behind the social media stuff, but even if he knew, it didn’t matter. Allory deserved all the bad press they were getting and more.
“I swear I’m not the man you think I am,” he said.
“Then prove it.”
“Tell me what to do”
I grinned at him. “How good are you with a shovel?”
“I don’t see how that’s relevant to anything,” Carter said, looking at me with suspicion in his eyes.
“Look, if you want to tell me how great you are and how you’re not a soulless ghoul looking to take advantage of another small farmer, you have to talk while we work.” I gestured around generally at the farm. “I’m a one-woman operation and chicken shit won’t shovel itself.”
“Now wait a minute,” he said.
“Backing out so soon?” I shook my head. “Pathetic.”
Carter’s brow furrowed and fire lit his green eyes. “Hey, no one’s backing out. But I’m not wearing the right clothes for farm work. I finally got myself some work boots, but everything else is delicate. If I get mud on it, it’s not coming out.”
“I can lend you some gloves,” I said, enjoying myself more than I should have, but screw him. I was a firm believer that every CEO needed to get their hands dirty every once in a while to remind them what regular folks have to do to get by.
It was Carter’s turn, if he didn’t run away.
“Fine,” he finally said. “Give me those gloves and let’s go.”
With the gloves on and a shovel in hand, I led him to the worst of the chicken pens. I had moved the ladies out earlier so I could muck the stall, which it desperately needed. “There you go, CEO,” I told him. “It’s all yours.”
“What am I supposed to do?” he asked, frowning at the soiled hay, filled with crap, feathers, feed, and general filth.
“Put all that into this wheelbarrow, and once it’s filled, I’ll show you where to dump it. Then we’ll scrub the floor down, refresh the hay and bedding, and we’ll move to the next one.”
“There’s more?” he asked, eyes wide.
“How the hell are you in charge of buying farms when you have no idea how any of this works?” I asked, shaking my head. “That’s the problem with CEOs. They have more money than sense. All you see is numbers on a page, with no clue what the guys who do the real work actually go through.”
Carter’s hands tightened on the shovel so hard, the wood creaked. I could tell he wasn’t used to anyone talking to him the way I did, but that wasn’t going to stop me. If he didn’t want to hear my opinion, he could fly his ass back to LA and go choke on an avocado.
To his credit, he kept his temper in check. “I’m here and I’m admitting I don’t know how this works. Now can I get to work already?”
“Sure,” I said. “If the smell makes you throw up, you have to clean that up too.”
Carter took a whiff of the pen and shrugged. “Compared to Tyler’s truck, this smells like potpourri.”
I smiled at that. “Then get shoveling, Allory.”
He set to work and I leaned against a post to watch.
Carter was built like a Greek statue, but I couldn’t imagine how long it had been since he’d worked like this.
He seemed the type who hired people for everything, considering his time too valuable to be wasted on normal things like tidying up the kitchen or scrubbing the toilet.
His technique wasn’t great and he missed the wheelbarrow half the time, but damn did he look amazing doing it.
Sweat made his white shirt cling to his muscles, which flexed hypnotically with every movement.
I didn’t know whether to get popcorn or start taking pictures.
I could sell tickets to this and retire young.
He paused to roll his sleeves up his corded forearms and my knees nearly gave out. Those strong hands might suck at farmwork but I had a feeling they were very talented in the bedroom. I was certain the rest of him was just as skilled.
I had done some research on him since he came to town, and Carter had a reputation in LA as a partying playboy, making the rounds with the ladies, never getting serious with any of them.
He was not the kind of man you settled down with, but he would probably be a hell of a fun ride for a night or two.
I took a deep, shuddering breath to get my rampaging sex drive under control. Dating options in Ferris were slim pickings. People paired off early, and while I had been in Oklahoma learning how to run a successful farm, all the regular people got hitched.
Casual hookups weren’t really a thing either, since it was inevitable you would run into each other again. Which meant my bedroom had been empty and my needs had been going unfulfilled for a long time. It was making me a little crazy.
To stop myself from drooling over him, I figured I should get to the bottom of why he was here. “So what’s your plan here?” I asked. “You say Allory wants to fix its reputation. How are you planning on doing that?”
Carter talked as he worked. “We’ve got a media coordinator coming out here in a few days. I’m looking to feature some local farmers in some social media stuff. Show the world we’re moving in a new direction.”
“And you want me to be one of those farmers?” I asked. “After everything your company has put my family through?”
Carter sighed and nodded. “Why do you think I’m here shoveling shit for you?”
“It’s going to take a lot more work than that if you want me to help you,” I said, my tone serious. “I respect that you aren’t your father and that Allory is changing, but there’s no changing the past, so you’re going to have to really prove you deserve my help to clear your name.”
“Tell me what to do and I’ll try my best,” he said and dropped another shovel load in the wheelbarrow, which was full.
“Let me show you where to dump that,” I said. “If those glamour muscles of yours can handle it.”
I caught sight of his outraged expression before I walked away with a grin. Teasing Carter was surprisingly fun. I might almost enjoy having him around if I could forget his company had blown up my entire life.
I made him work for a couple more hours before I told him to call it a day. Carter was sweaty and tired, but he hadn’t complained once, and somehow, he still looked hot as hell.
At the end of the day, he got in Tyler’s truck, groaning slightly when he sat down.
“You survived,” I said. “So far.”
He groaned and chuckled. “You are a tough boss. If you ever want a corporate job, just ask. You’d be a beast at the home office.”
“I’d rather die.”
“So can we meet up tomorrow to discuss my media coordinator coming out to your farm?”
“For your big ‘I’m sorry’ show?”
“That’s not what we’re calling it,” he said defensively.
“Whatever. We’ll talk about it. After you put in some more work.”
He shut the door to Tyler’s truck, started the engine, and rolled down the window. He turned to look at me and asked, “Why has everyone been telling me you’re a terrible shot but they won’t explain what that’s all about?”
I just shrugged. “Shows what they know. I’ve been practicing. Stay on my good side and you’ll never have to find out.”