Fulfilling His Quota (Good With His Hands: Season 2)

Chapter 1

1

L una was trying to drown out the sounds of the running feed mill. She had on noise cancelling headphones, but she could still hear the drone of the equipment. It never really bothered her before, but then she got too used to working in an office in the city, and now, back at the mill, she found the machines extremely annoying.

Being back on the floor and working out in the field was proving to be a bigger transition than she thought. Why did she think it would be easy?

When her company Meadowland Milling asked her to come back to her small, rural Ontario hometown and work at one of their big mills, she jumped at the chance. Her father had died six months ago, around the same time as her marriage ended, and this was the perfect chance to reset, as well as help her mother out.

It was a little humbling to move back home, but she reminded herself that this was temporary. It was only for the summer. And she was trying to put a positive spin on this by telling people that she was away for the summer on Ontario’s west coast.

A relaxing summer away in the country.

There was shouting and some cursing. She spun around and laughed to herself, because there was nothing relaxing about this at all.

She glanced up at the glass windows and saw the receptionist waving to her to come up. Making her way up the stairwell off the production floor and into the quiet of the office, she pulled off her headphones and hard hat, breathing an inward sigh of relief.

“What’s up, Deb?” she asked, catching her breath after her sprint in steel-toed boots, which were way heavier than the high heels that she usually wore in Toronto.

“Head office on line one. They need to speak to you ASAP.” Deb headed back to her desk at the front.

“Thanks!” She grabbed the phone in the empty break room and hit the hold button. “Luna MacKenzie speaking.”

“Luna, it’s Roger.”

“Hey, Roger. How is the Big Smoke today?” she teased.

“Toronto is the same. As always,” Roger chuckled. “I need your help with something.”

“Of course.”

“One of the biggest dairy operations in Huron County is having issues. Our previous nutritionist worked closely with him, but the feed they assigned is not allowing the cattle to hit their quota. They’re Holstein Friesians and our client says there’s mastitis and production is down. This is a huge dairy operation and we would hate to lose them as a client.”

“So you want me to go out there and take a look?”

“You’ve got it,” Roger confirmed. “You’re the best nutritionist we’ve got in midwestern and southwestern Ontario.”

She laughed softly. “You don’t need to butter me up, Roger.”

“Is that a dairy pun?”

“It wasn’t intended, but yes I guess it is.”

Roger chuckled on the end of the line. “So, I’ll text you the address. I need you to head out there today.”

“I’ll grab the dairy farmers file and see what the mix the cows are currently consuming. Tell the farmer I’ll be out there at four and I’ll make sure that I’m there for the evening milking so I can really understand what’s going on.”

“You’re the best, Luna.”

“Thanks, Roger.” She hung up the phone and waited for Roger to email her the information. Working in an office was what she was used to, but she had missed this part of the job of being an animal science nutritionist. Not so much the mill, but she loved working with animals. However, her ex-husband Michael didn’t want to live in rural Ontario.

He was a lawyer and he wanted to be in the city where the big bucks were. His words, not hers.

There was a part of her that wanted that too. When she was a kid she couldn’t wait to get out of Clinborough. There was nothing to keep her here. Going off to university was something she had always looked forward to, and it’s where she met Michael. It had been an exciting time in her life. It was everything she dreamed she wanted.

Until it wasn’t.

Being back was a bit surreal, but it wasn’t permanent. It was just to help in the interim until they could get another nutritionist to work here.

The email popped up and she saw the name Van der Berg and realized that was the operation that rented the land from her parents. Van der Berg used her late father’s land to grow crops and another fifty acres the cattle grazed. The actual base of operations was about two kilometers down the road from her mother’s place so, even though she’d be working late, she wouldn’t have far to go.

She was pretty positive she could figure it all out.

She grabbed what she needed and headed to her truck.

It was about a thirty-minute drive from the main mill to the Van der Berg farm and where the herd was milked. She had Deb call the client and let him know that she was on her way. She was curious to meet the client because she knew a few Van der Bergs growing up. It was a common name around Huron County, as there were a lot of Dutch settlers, but it was one particular one Van der Berg that made her wistful.

Roan.

A flush of heat washed through her as she thought of him. It had been fifteen years since she last saw him. Roan had been one of her good friends and he’d ended up being her first.

Her first love, her first boyfriend, her first time, and the boy who let her go.

The quiet boy from the wrong side of the tracks.

He’d stayed in Clinborough when she went off to university. They’d talked a few times, but she got carried away with new friends and experiences and Michael. Roan and her had lost touch. The last she heard he was working at the grain elevators and the salt mine, but that was ages ago.

There was part of her that always was angry at herself for walking away, but they both wanted different things in life. Their time together had been special and she missed him.

The truth was, Michael had never compared to Roan.

Ever.

Roan never cheated on her or made her give up things she wanted so that they could be together.

Unlike Michel.

And there were times, during the divorce, where she’d remember, in intricate details, the way Roan had made her burn with pleasure. The nights in the back of his pickup truck, staring at the stars down by the creek. He had always made her feel safe.

She hoped wherever he was, he was happy, because he’d had a hard childhood. He was a bit of an introvert, but he was so kind, with a huge heart. Roan had always deserved better and she should’ve tried harder in their friendship, but she couldn’t change the past.

If she could, she would’ve never made the mistake of falling for Michael or allowing him to talk her out of staying in the country.

Toronto was good for her though. She had a great job. There’s not much she regretted, but Michael was one of them.

And losing Roan was the other.

She pulled into the long gravel drive of the client’s dairy operation. It was new, and the barns were massive and bright green. Everything about the property was pristine, and the small yellow brick house, with a manicured flower bed and sheltered by towering spruce trees, screamed that this place was professional and well loved. Just like her parents’ place.

Her father always said you could tell a good operation by the way they kept their land.

She parked her truck by the farm’s main office and headed inside.

An elderly gentleman was leaning back in an office chair, his arms folded across his chest and the brim of his hat pulled down over his eyes. He was faintly snoring and she laughed softly to herself.

It reminded her of her father. Especially after harvest, when he’d relax in his easy chair.

“Uh, Mr. Van der Berg?” she asked gently, trying not to startle him. Obviously she shouldn’t have even tried, because there was a snort, the hat slipped off the elderly man’s bald head and he bolted upright.

“Who are you?” he asked, stunned.

“I’m Luna MacKenzie from Meadowland Milling. The nutritionist. You called for me?”

“No. I didn’t,” he mumbled, rubbing a hand over his face.

“You are Mr. Van der Berg aren’t you?”

“No, no. Dan Jenkins. Neighbor and part time hand.” Dan stood up. “I’ll get the boss. He’s in with a sick heifer.”

She watched as Dan waddled to the door against the wall, opened it up, and stuck his head in. “Roan! Hey Roan! The nutritionist is here.”

Butterflies in her stomach did a flip, as she heard Dan shout out his name.

There was only one Roan Van der Berg in Huron County that she was aware of.

Her Roan.

He’s not yours. Remember?

Her pulse began to race, as Dan walked away from the door and she heard footsteps approach. Her breath caught in her throat as he ducked in through the doorway. All six foot two of him, broad shouldered in green work coveralls. He was wiping his hands with a cloth; they were large and calloused and, for one brief moment, she could remember the way those hands had tenderly touched her face.

Roan had filled out in all the right places. He was not that gawky, lanky teen she remembered.

His body froze when their gazes locked across the room. Heat rushed up her neck and blooming in her cheeks, as she awkwardly raised her hand and waved.

“Hey,” she said, her voice catching.

“Luna?” he asked, in disbelief.

She nodded. “Yep.”

“She’s the nutritionist from Meadowland Milling,” Dan interjected. He groaned as he eased himself back down into the office chair. “You call for one?”

He tore his dark brown eyes off her and glanced at Dan. “I did.”

“Well, she’s here now,” Dan stated.

“Thanks for the heads up,” Roan muttered. He looked back at her and took a tentative step forward. “Nutritionist?”

“Yep,” she answered, groaning inwardly at how awkward this all felt. Why was this so weird? Since she had moved back into town last week, she’d run into a lot of people who knew her and it had been nothing. But this…this was stirring up something quite unexpected and she was having a hard time finding the right words to say to him.

To say he was shocked was an understatement. When he walked through the door and saw that his nutritionist was Luna MacKenzie, he couldn’t believe it. He wasn’t a man of many words—cuss words yes, but more eloquent forms of speech no—but seeing Luna standing there in his farm office literally took the words right out of his mouth.

She was exactly how he remembered her.

How he always remembered her.

Tall, curvy, dressed in denim. Her auburn hair pulled back in a braid and a ball cap with the Meadowland Milling log embroidered on the front jammed on her head. The smattering of freckles he loved still adorned her creamy skin and he achingly knew that those freckles weren’t just across her delicate nose. He recalled kissing those freckles down her neck, across her collarbone and lower.

He never forgot her or how he regretted letting her go. Luna had been the only one kind to him when he was growing up.

Not many people had thought highly of him, and he had his father to thank for that. At least he didn’t have his criminal father’s last name, since taking on his beloved grandfather’s surname instead. Still, Roan was the son of two drug addicts. His grandparents didn’t have a whole lot of money, but they tried to give him the best they could.

It wasn’t enough for some people in this town though, but look who was laughing now. Now, his dairy farm employed a lot of those who used to look down on him. Those who thought he would never amount to anything.

The only one who hadn’t treated him like dirt had been Luna.

He’d been so in love with her, but what was not to love? Everybody adored Luna. She was personable and friendly.

What she saw in him, he never knew. He wished he could’ve convinced her to stay, that they could’ve made a life together, but he knew that she wanted to go to university, to work with animals, and he wasn’t going to hold her back like his father had held back his mother and ruined her life.

He never wanted Luna to resent him, so he urged her to go to school, because it was the right thing to do, but he never stopped thinking about her. No one ever held a candle to Luna.

She was staring at him, those big green eyes boring into him.

Come one, dude. Think of something. Anything to say to her.

“Well. I’ll show you the herd, but I have to finish up with my heifer,” he stated.

“Can I help?” she asked.

“You want to help?” Usually women he dated in the past didn’t like spending too much time in the barn, especially when he was working with one of his sick animals. Sure, they didn’t mind a good roll in the hay, but they were useless when it came to dealing with his cattle and he was very particular about who handled his cattle.

She’s a nutritionist.

And he cringed inwardly at asking her a foolish question. He had called the mill, of course she wanted to see the herd.

“Sure. I took animal science, I mean I’m not a vet, but I can help you and I’m dressed to examine your herd and their feed anyways.”

“Right. Sorry.” He inclined his head, motioning. “Follow me.”

Luna fell into step behind him.

Roan didn’t know what to say.

There were so many things he wanted to ask her. He heard she got married, which was disappointing, but he still wanted to know her again, even if she couldn’t be his. And he so wanted her to be his.

There was a plaintive bellow as they got close to the pen where his heifer was.

“What do you need me to do?” Luna asked.

“Well, I was about to take her temperature,” Roan said, climbing through the pen. “If you can help me get her in the chute I have set up over there, I can do that and give her a dose of antibiotics I got from the vet this morning.”

“Sure. I can help with that.”

He watched as she moved gates, without him having to instruct her what to do. She knew exactly how the cattle chute worked. Once that was set, they both worked to drive the ill heifer down and into the chute. The heifer bellowed a few times and tried to back out of the chute, but eventually they got her down there.

Luna came up along the side and helped as the cattle’s head came out the opposite end. She was standing so close to him.

She smelled like sunshine.

Like summer.

All he wanted to do was drink in the scent of her hair.

Every time he spent countless hours in the hay field, he’d think of her and how they’d sneak into her father’s hay loft. He remembered the taste of her on his lips, the way her breasts felt under his hands. How she moved against him. How tight she felt wrapped around his dick.

“She’s gorgeous,” Luna remarked gently, interrupting his thoughts. “Friesian?”

“She is. I invested in the best.”

“And what does the vet say?”

“Mastitis.” He administered the medication. “She’s not the first heifer to have mastitis.”

“Is that affecting the quota?” she asked.

“Yes. Her milk is full of blood, and watery. I’ve had to flush the milk lines.” He cleaned up what he needed to, then said, “We can let her back out.”

“Mastitis definitely would affect the yield.”

“I think it’s the feed,” he stated firmly.

“Well, that’s why I’m here.” They released the heifer from the chute and led her out of the barn, back into the paddock at the open end. Luna trailed after him, and he was very aware she was so close. It was like no time had passed between them, yet so much had slipped by.

She wasn’t his anymore.

She was someone else’s

Was she ever really mine?

Right now, he hated that fucking old adage of loving something and setting it free. He’d done that with Luna and she didn’t come back to him. Which was usual for him. So many people had walked away from his life. It’s why he learned to forge his own way.

He bled for this farm.

Every inch of him was here and embedded into the soil.

“You have a beautiful property,” Luna remarked. “I had no idea that you were renting from my father.”

“When he retired, he offered it to me and I needed a place to grow hay. He had beautiful fields. I’m sorry to hear of his passing. I was calving when he died, or I would’ve gone.”

“It’s okay. I don’t even remember much from that day.”

“Grief. It plays a number on you.”

She glanced at him, her hands jammed into the pockets of her jeans. She was rocking back on her heels and it reminded him of when they were in high school and her father would hire him on for odd jobs during the summer.

Luna would help him out and then they’d take off in his truck. They had been the best, carefree summers of his life.

“So, you going to show me where the feed is so I can take a sample? Also, I’d like to stick around for your last milking and take a look at your logbook if I could?”

Roan nodded stiffly, dispelling that memory. It was a long time ago, and this was his farm. It was his life and he had to be serious with her, like any other service person.

“Come on, I’ll show you around.”

Luna fell into step behind him again and he was once again aware of how close she was. Usually, he could handle the nutritionists or anyone from the feed mill. He was a dairy farmer that no one messed with, but he was having a hard time telling her how he felt about the last herd nutritionist that worked for Meadowland Milling. Because he was pretty sure it was the poor quality of feed that had caused so many of his cows to get mastitis, which sent his regular production down to a grinding halt.

They made their way to the far bulk feed bins, where he stored the specialty premixed feed. The one the last nutritionist claimed was the best for his herd and production.

“Here.” He pointed. “Although, I have stopped feeding the cows with it. Especially, after more than half my herd has come down with mastitis in the last month.”

Luna’s eyes widened. “More than half?”

“Something is not right with that feed.”

She pulled out a sample bag. “I’ll take a sample and get it back to the lab to find out what’s going on.”

“I wasn’t too impressed with the last nutritionist.”

She snorted. “I don’t blame you. I’m still trying to clean up their mess.”

He cocked his head to the side. “Is that a fact? So, they bring in the big city nutritionist then to clean up their messes?”

“I’m here for the summer. My mom needs help and…yeah, so I’m here.” There was some hesitation in her voice.

“Your husband is staying in the city then, or is commuting to Huron County while you’re here?”

Luna worried her bottom lip and sealed up the sample feed bag. “My husband decided to cheat on me and we’re divorced. It became final just before my Dad died.”