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Shep slowly moved, unable to look away from her. There was a sparkle in her eyes, sucking him right in. “Okay,” he said, once he dropped down next to Nash, crossing an ankle over his knee. “I’m sitting.”
“All right, so I got to thinking about Blackshaw Cattle.” She glanced between the brothers. “It hadn’t really all come together until a little bit ago.” To Shep, she said, “I found a way to breathe some new life into the company.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Is that so?”
She nodded and gave a proud smile, handing a piece of paper to Shep first, then delivered one to Chase and Nash. “Okay, well, you see . . . this is kinda what I do. I come up with ways to make things . . . better. Which got me thinking about what else you could do with the company, with the skills you guys possess.”
Shep studied the paper in his hand. Along with a photo of his father’s logo, the wording read: BLACKSHAW CATTLE CO. & GUEST RANCH. Become a real cowboy at the largest working cattle farm in Colorado.
She moved back to her spot by the fireplace. “You need to recoup the finances you’ve lost, and yet you all don’t want to give up you
r dreams either, which I think is what your dad would have wanted anyway.”
Shep studied her, seeing the New York City side of Emma for the very first time. She was confident and insightful, and he wanted to fuck her. Badly.
She obviously didn’t see that in his expression and carried on. “Here’s what I’m thinking. You said that Colin runs Blackshaw Cattle from the inside and will continue to do so, so that’s good. You can keep that part of your father’s company going and continue to keep on the employees. But what you need is to bring in more income, so . . .” To Chase, she said, “You want to open a construction company, but you need to build something on a larger scale first to showcase your talent. Well, here’s your way to do that.” She handed them all another piece of paper.
Shep saw that it was a Google map of his parents’ farm.
Emma added, “I’m no builder, but you’ll see that I’ve kinda mapped things out. You’ll need to build a dining hall, places to sleep, washrooms, and things like that. Plus, your parents have the land to make this happen.” She paused, then shrugged. “It’s a win-win, really. You get to showcase your talent in building a commercial log property, and to get this done you won’t have to hire a builder, since that’s you, only workers.”
Chase’s eyes were wide when he glanced from Shep to Nash to Emma.
Shep chuckled. She’d rendered his brother speechless.
Emma smirked, quite proud of herself, then handed out another piece of paper, stopping with Nash and saying directly to him, “All right, now for you.”
Nash’s brows shot up when he glanced down at the paper in his hand. “What about me?”
Shep studied the paper too, and in big bold letters, it read: Become a real cowboy with River Rock’s very own PBR champion, Nash Blackshaw.
He glanced up when Emma asked Nash, “What do people like more than a real cattle ranch?” Before he could reply, she added, “Real-life cowboys. You were in the PBR. People are going to love the hell out of that. Your fame will draw them in. You said that you didn’t want to run the cattle ranch, but you seem to enjoy the whole cowboy thing, so what would you say about being the face of the guest ranch?”
Nash cocked his head. “What would that entail?”
“Honestly, that’s for you to decide.” She shrugged. “In my mind, after the Blackshaw cowboys take the guests out to do the cattle work for the day, and then before dinner, you’d give the guests a ‘cowboy lesson,’ if they wanted one. Whether that would be roping, riding, or whatever else you can think up, I don’t know, since I’m not a cowboy and don’t really know what else you do exactly.”
Nash folded his arms, brows drawn, pondering.
Shep sat there dumbfound. She was brilliant. She was a fucking big deal.
With no more papers in her hands, she turned to Shep. “And you,” she said softly, her eyes warm and intent on him. “You have two parts to play here.”
“Go on,” he said.
“Since you have the business experience, you’ll need to oversee that. Chase, of course, will head up construction, and his side of things, and I can help with getting a website, social media, and that kind of stuff to get the buzz out there, but you have the experience in how to run a business, so I think it only makes sense for you to hire the guest ranch employees once it’s up and running.”
He was stuck on her including herself in the plans. But he wanted to hear her out fully. “All right, and what’s the second part?”
“Well . . . you see . . .” She hesitated, her cheeks flushing pink. “We need someone to finance all this. It doesn’t make sense to take out a loan and go further into debt. Which means someone has to fork out the money to make this happen.”
Shep arched a brow. “I take it that someone is me?”
“Yup, and I kinda have that part figured out too.”
Chase and Nash laughed. Shep smiled too. “All right, let’s hear it.”
“You’re going to sell your house and an acre of land.”
