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“OK. I have to go. You better call your mother. I think she’s worried,” he grumbles.

“Yes, sir,” I reply before he hangs up.

“Your dad is so fucking scary,” Katia says.

I roll my eyes because as scary as he is, he can also be a giant teddy bear. I remember bedtime stories and days fishing on his yacht. He means well. He’s just…stressed.

“Let me go. I should call my mom,” I say as I click on an app I use to call overseas.

“Good luck there,” Katia says as we disconnect.

I hit call and my brother picks up.

“You are so fucking busted,” he says.

“Sam, shut up. Is Mom there?” I ask.

“No, but she’s pissed that your dad called,” he says, and I can tell he’s playing video games from the background noise.

“Can you let her know that I’m fine and I talked to Dad?”

“Sure. You owe me though. I hope whatever you and Katia are up to is worth it,” he quips. He’s a brilliant little shit.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll talk to you later,” I add as I hang up and head back to the farm with lunch. I manage to make it back without stalling Sheila and I’m pretty proud of myself. I need to get this all figured out before I tell my parents. They won’t like it, so I need a plan and some time to prove that I can do things on my own. Just a little more time.

I look up at the house and see Eric in the window. It must be his bedroom. He’s shirtless and my mouth falls open. Holy shit! That man is fucking ripped. It looks like he hits the gym daily. I’ve never had a thing for older guys, hell, I’ve barely had time to think about guys my own age. But right now, all of Katia’s Daddy-vibe comments about older men come tumbling into my brain as I watch the way his abs flex as he pulls a shirt over his head and then covers those perfect muscles I was just ogling.

“Focus!” I whisper to myself. “Do not under any circumstances fall for your older, hot-as-fuck boss.”

Yeah, I can do this, I think to myself. But deep down, I’m not so sure I believe myself about being able to do this job, tell my family, or not fall for Eric. Shit, I’m in so over my head here.

CHAPTEREIGHT

Eric

“Coolio, buddy, you got to move,” I say with a sigh as I try to get my Shetland pony to move.

Mooman, my mini Highland cow trots over and shoves his giant head against my thigh.

“Mooman!” I growl.

He turns and starts running and I see he’s heading straight for Ariana.

“Ariana!” I yell in a warning.

She steps behind a trough and Mooman stops in confusion. Her eyes are wide. I haven’t really shown her all the ropes yet on how to handle the animals.

“Get away from that trough or you’ll have all the animals coming over there,” Buck yells. Ariana jumps out of the way.

Earl grumbles under his breath. “Someone needs to teach her about the animals. She’s just getting in the way out here if she doesn’t understand.”

I glare at him. Ariana has been here for almost two weeks now. She’s still learning about the farm, but she’s redone the website and expanded our social media presence. We even had a few new customers come to the farmstand after finding us online.

She rode in the tractor a few days ago with Earl. She said she wants to spend some time with Kingsley and learn about our farmstand. And she wants to talk business plans with me. She seemingly has begun fitting right into our awkward little farm family. Earl even praised her for remembering stuff he was teaching her on the tractor. And Earl does not hand out praise easily. Of course, he’s still a big, old grump and sometimes that drives me crazy.

“Enough. She’s come a long way. Give her some slack,” I warn as I pull off my gloves and head over to see what she needs.

“What’s up?” I ask as I open the fence gate and step in front of her.