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But I just can’t ask my men to do something like this! It’s crazy! There’s no way in hell we can make enough to take care of all the ranch’s debts and get it running in the black with such a strange idea. I mean, really. Would any woman pay to come out here and spend the day roughing it and taking care of the ranch with the man of her choice? Just for a day?
Women can’t possibly be that crazy, can they?
I sit down and go online, searching for anything that might possibly make sense right now.
And while I’m searching I see the male revues that are sold out. And the auctions for a date. Online dating. Charity calendars with good-looking men and cute animals.
All of it super-popular and very well-reviewed.
I sit back in my seat and chuckle. “Huh. I guess maybe she really does know what she’s talking about.”
I grimace. Ugh! I’m gonna have to do some major groveling because I know that I hurt Heather’s feelings. Very badly. I can still see the anger and hurt in her eyes when I blew her off. Her pretty grey eyes had tears shimmering in them when I yelled at her and my heart jerks in my chest when I think about that.
I definitely could have said it a bit nicer. Even if I did think it was the nuttiest thing I ever heard of.
Now, I’m gonna have to eat crow with her and I need to go talk to the guys. Because if this works, which it might, it’s worth a shot. But if they don’t go along with it, it’s not gonna work.
Which means they need to know how bad things are with the ranch. I don’t like to put my shit out there but if I’m gonna get support from them, I need them to realize this might be our only shot.
I stand up and stalk out the door. On the front porch, I hit the huge, old-fashioned bell to call the guys back. This won’t wait.
When they start walking up on the porch, I stand and holler, “Can y’all have a seat? I need to talk to y’all about something.”
There’s a mad shuffle to find seats here, there and everywhere and then all of them turn to face me, curiosity on most of their faces.
“Okay. I’ve got some good news, bad news and really weird news. I’m gonna do my best to get this all laid out for you as well as I can.” I take a deep breath while they stare at me like they know what’s coming. They haven’t got a clue.
“Okay. I know that some of you might have picked up on the fact that I’ve been a little crabby lately.”
Wylder shoots me a look and grunts. “I thought that was just your normal persona, boss.”
There’s laughter all around and it strengthens me. Gives me the courage to get this over with. We can do this. I need to keep my ranch and I need my family. These men are my family. Way more than my idiot father ever was.
“Good one, man. But this is serious. If you remember my father, you remember how he was. He didn’t take the ranch seriously. He was always looking for the next easy fix to get out of the hard work of a ranch. That’s not me and y’all know it,” I drawl.
“Of course we do.” One of the men answers back. I can’t tell which one it is. But it doesn’t matter. All of the men are nodding.
“Anyway, he was always a little reckless financially and towards the end…he took out another loan so he could get involved in another get rich scheme. He put up the ranch as collateral. And since his credit was shit…it had some requirements. Including a huge balloon payment that’s due a few months from now.” I draw in a deep breath. “A balloon payment that I can’t possibly meet. The ranch is barely making ends meet. You know I’ve always wanted to make this ranch into a haven for abused horses. Horses that we can show a good life to, get them built back up and turned back into good horses again. Well….Heather talked to the bank and they like the idea.”
All of the men turn their heads back and forth, smiling at each other. There are excited mutterings all around and I can’t stop the grin from breaking across my face. “Yeah. I was shocked I wasn’t going to be telling y’all bye too!”
Deep chuckles are my only answer and then they all relax. Apparently I wasn’t as good at hiding my desperation as I thought I was.
“Anyway…like life. There’s always a catch.”
Now comes the hard part. The part where they think I’m nuts. Which I do too. But I also think it will work. And right now it’s all I’ve got left. Except for Heather. My face hardens. I need to fix this and go find her, apologize for yelling and hug her as hard as I can for giving me this chance.
My dick hardens and I suck in a breath.Not now, fucker!
“Heather came up with this after exhaustive research and I have looked into it. I think it will work. It’s all we’ve got right now.” One more deep, harsh breath and I blurt it out. “We’re going to auction you boys off.”
There are shocked faces and mutters all around me.
“What the hell!” Steel’s shocked shout makes me chuckle.
“It’s not as bad as you’re thinking. We’re gonna have online bidding for a day with a cowboy and y’all will all get your turn. You don’t have to do anything but work and show these ladies what it’s like to live our life on a ranch. Nothing else.” I warn.
All of the men look shell-shocked and there is some relief on a few faces. But Steel doesn’t seem as happy as the rest of them. “Do wereallyneed to do this? I mean, there’s no other way?”
