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“Eat what you want, and we can just stick the rest in the fridge.”
She takes the first bite and makes one of those little moans that makes my dick come to life in my jeans.
Worried I might lose control and fuck her right here on top of this pizza, I turn the subject back to any questions she might have for me.
She finishes chewing her bite before she answers. “Okay, well, I've been going over financials for the ranch, and it looks like you’re doing pretty well. Everything is in the black, which is a good sign.”
When she pauses for a bite, I say, “Yeah, I mean cattle ranching isn’t exactly lucrative. I’m never going to make the Forbes 500 list, but I do alright for myself.”
“I guess one of my main questions is what are your plans for the ranch? Are you looking to make more profit? Or are you wanting to keep expanding?”
“Good question,” I say, taking a moment to think about my answer. “Right now, the ranch is on track to keep expanding every year, not a huge expansion, but a little something. The meetings I’ve been taking lately are with restaurant chains and grocery stores. My goal is to shift the ranch into selling direct to businesses instead of going to auction.”
“What do you mean?” She asks.
“So, when cattle are raised to the proper age, usually, ranchers take them to auction, and suppliers buy them from there. The trouble is that it’s hard to make a business plan when you don’t know exactly what you’re going to be getting from the auction sales. When I sell directly, we have a contract in place. They pay so much for each head of cattle.”
“What’s the advantage in them buying direct instead of at auction?” She asks.
Smart woman.
“To start with, they know what they are paying for too, so it’s easier for them to account for the money they’re spending. Also, since I’m more of a small operation, I guarantee a better stock of cattle. Here, we individually check each cow multiple times a week to see how they’re growing. They’re fed top-of-the-line feed, and they are free-roaming. All of that combined makes for a better breed of cow. People are willing to pay more for that.”
“Makes sense, I guess. Do you have a master list somewhere of the businesses you sell to now?” She asks.
“Yeah, it should be on the computer, but I’ll have to find what it’s saved under. Why?”
“It’ll be good to have a list of what’s already established before I reach out to new potential clients.”
“New clients, huh?” I ask with a smile.
Her face turns bright red. “Sorry. I just thought that was something you wanted me to do. Of course, I would never do anything without talking to you first.”
She’s rambling, so I lean across the table and press my lips against hers to quiet her. It’s a short kiss, but it gets the job done.
When I pull back, she still looks embarrassed, so I say, “Hey, you run with this and just show me what you come up with. I trust you.”
She lets out a little scoff. “Jonas, you barely know me, and you’re trusting me with your business. Why? Why are you so trusting of people?”
“Andi, I’m not all that trusting of people, but in getting to know you, I can see that you’re one of the most real people I know. Besides, you’ve seen my finances. You know I’m not exactly flush in cash. Almost every spare cent I have goes back into the business. I seriously doubt you’re with me for the money.” I wink, and it gets her to smile.
“Fair enough,” she giggles.
“I like the fact that you want to be a part of it.”
“Why’s that?”
I shove another bite of pizza into my mouth and chew it down before answering. “Because let’s just say that being a rancher isn’t always an easy job. It’s not nine to five. There are some long hours and often other things that are out of my control. It doesn’t make it easy to have a lasting relationship. It makes it a little bit easier, though, to have that if a woman is right there in the trenches with me. A lot of women don’t understand. And that’s fine. A woman is entitled to a man who will give her as much attention as he can. Unfortunately, the amount I have isn’t usually enough.”
“How did Nicole feel about all of this?” She gestures around her as though she’s talking about everything.
“Well, when Nicole and I were together, I was just getting the ranch started, so I was working a ton and had very little to show for it. But Nicole was…Nicole. She was born to be the sweet southern woman who stays home with dinner on the table when her man gets home, so she never complained. But trust me, the ranch was the least of our problems.”
Andi takes a moment to think about my answer. I figure she’d press more, but she leaves it alone. Whenever she mentions Nicole’s name, she gets a look on her face that looks like she just tasted something gross. And when I talk about Nicole, there’s a vein in her forehead that pops out. I want to kiss it away and tell her she has nothing to worry about, but I have to admit that it makes my chest puff out a little, knowing she’s jealous.
She shifts the topic back to the ranch and asks a few more questions to understand her new role better.
When we are done, she combines our leftovers into just one pizza box, and I give her shit about how her pizza will give mine “pineapple cooties.”
