Eric was always very protective of me and the kids. On the very few dates I ever went on, Eric always got to know the guy first, and I am pretty sure he had a discussion with him before and after our date. Maybe even during on a couple of occasions.
Once, I had gone on a date with a guy we had gone to high school with, and this guy tried to get more than a little fresh with me. Eric never mentioned it, but the next day, I received a huge bouquet of flowers from the guy with an apology and a promise to never to call again. When I saw him a few days later, he was sporting one hell of a black eye. I didn’t have to ask and he didn’t have to tell me, I knew Eric had handled it for me. He was like the big brother I never had.
After my night out with Emma, I was really feeling old. I did have a good time though, and my parent’s loved watching the twins. I knew that I needed to get out more, and I needed to meet someone. If not for me, for my kids. They needed a dad, and they needed me to be happy. I don’t know who I was trying to kid, but I knew that I would never be happy with any other man besides Declan. He was it for me, and now, I had two great kids to remind me of him.
I rubbed my fingers over the charms on the bracelet Declan gave me. It now included two baby carriage charms, one with a pink stone and one with a blue stone. I never took it off, even when I was working out on the farm.
Chapter 2
I hopped on a four-wheeler and headed out to the back edge of the property to check on Jake who was mending fence. The ride out there was invigorating. I always loved riding across the property and surveying our land. It brought me great joy.
Our property was huge. This time of year it was always so pretty and green with the rolling hills and the beautiful red maple trees decorating the property. Autumn on the farm was my favorite time of the year. When the leaves started to change colors, it made our property look like a picture perfect postcard.
When I got closer to where Jake was working, I noticed there was another man out there working with him. I was still pretty far away, but I could already tell he was built, and when I say “built” I mean, he was huge. He had muscles on his muscles. As I got closer, I also noticed his ass, his gorgeous “you could bounce a quarter off of that” ass.
When he heard me riding up, he turned toward me. My lady parts did a little dance they hadn’t done in ten long years. This man was gorgeous, really beautiful. He had kinda shaggy dark brown hair, huge deep brown eyes. He was wearing skin tight blue jeans, not Wranglers, but “fancy pants”, which is what my dad called any jeans that weren’t Wranglers, and a black Metallica t-shirt. His arms were covered in tattoos and his eyebrow was pierced. I had to chuckle, because he looked so out of place standing out there in the middle of the herd mending fence with Jake.
I climbed off of the four-wheeler and walked up to Jake and this sexy stranger. He couldn’t take his eyes off of me. He just kept staring. I mean what the hell, I knew I looked a little rough after my night out with Emma, but it wasn’t like I was gross or anything. His eyes seemed to be glued to me. It actually weirded me out a little bit.
“Loralei, come here. I want to introduce you to my nephew, Jaxon Daniels. He just got into town from California.” Jake said. Jaxon made a grunting sound and then turned around and walked back toward the fence. “He’s having a hard time right now kid, sorry, about that.”
I wasn’t sure what to think of this guy, so I asked curiously, “What’s he doing here, Jake? Is he staying with you?”
“It’s a long story hon, but he’s gonna be working with me for a bit. Your dad said it was okay as long as he stayed out of trouble.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “If it’s fine with ya’ll, I guess it’s fine with me too.”
Jaxon
Shoveling shit at six o’clock in the morning had not been my idea of getting away from everything, but apparently, Uncle Jake had other ideas.
“I got no problem with ya staying here, son. But you gotta earn your keep.”
“Sorry, sir. I shouldn’t be complaining. I really appreciate you letting me stay here. I needed to get my ass out of Richmond.”
“You can stay as long as you need. But we’ll work some of that city right outta ya.” He laughed, and then threw me a pair of gloves. “These will help with the blisters.”
I sure never thought my life would come to this. Living in podunk Missouri on a fucking farm. This wasn’t part of my plan. But my plan had been totally screwed.
I had just finished my shoveling when Uncle Jake yelled at me from outside. I walked out and he threw me the keys to a four-wheeler. “Let’s go. I’ll take ya on a tour.”
We started riding out through the field. Harper Farms was huge. I didn’t realize how big twenty-thousand acres really was. I mean it sounded big, but this was crazy. And, so many cows. I had never seen this many
