Billionaire's Second Chance (Billionaires #16) - Jennifer Hartley Page 0,21

slow drag I felt. It was unusual for me; normally, I was quick to get going at the start of the day. The coffee filter was in the same drawer that I had jammed all the past due bills in, and I immediately regretted opening it. I didn’t shove them back in there this time, though. As much as I didn’t want to contend with them, I had to. While the coffee was percolating, I opened the envelopes and was dismayed to see that most of them were going on not one but two months behind. I had so much shit on my mind that needed my attention, but when I looked out the window and saw DeShawn helping Scott in the field, I was immediately distracted again.

All of the stuff that he was helping us harvest would be used to help bring some money in. I was going to take the vegetables, some eggs, and some stuff that I had canned into the farmer’s market in town to pick up a bit of pocket change. It wasn’t much, but we needed every last dollar of it. We needed money so bad. More than I wanted to admit and more than I think my brother knew. We’d spoken about it time and time again, but he was in hardcore denial of just how bad the financial situation was. Either that, or he was just trying not to stress me out more. I really wished that he would just take the damn job that DeShawn kept offering him and siphon some of that cash back into the farm. We weren’t going to be able to keep things up like this for much longer. The bill collectors would only wait so long before they started to shut things off, and the farm wasn’t going to be able to run at all without water and electricity. Plus, we had animals to feed and equipment to repair. There was going to come a time very soon at which things were going to stop running altogether if we didn’t find a way to get some cash flow. If we didn’t get money in time, then we’d be forced to sell the farm.

I knew that Scott had no love for working here and keeping the farm up and running. But I also knew that he didn’t want to see it lost. It was our parents’ legacy, and that was important to him. He wanted our parents to be proud of him, and he wanted me to be happy. Scott knew that if we lost the farm, I would be heartbroken. I knew that was why he worked so hard, even though I could tell he didn’t want to. I just wished that he would listen to reason before it was too late. We still had time now to save it if he would go to work in the city with DeShawn.

Scott was afraid that I couldn’t run the farm by myself if he left, and I think he was just overall worried about leaving me alone. I had tried to tell him that I would be fine, but he didn’t listen. In his mind, he thought he was doing the best thing for the farm and for me. There was no way to talk him out of it. Even DeShawn couldn’t seem to convince him with a sweet new offer every time he asked Scott to consider it. At some point, Scott wouldn’t have a choice in keeping the farm, and that point was getting closer by the day. I drank my coffee and left the bills on the counter to deal with later. Then I went out to work in the field with the guys.

It was the time of year that the days were hot, and the nights were cool, and whatever wasn’t harvested before the first frost would be lost. We worked hard all day, trying to make as much headway as possible and getting everything ready to either be sold or preserved for the upcoming winter. Even with the cooling temperatures, though, the sun beat down on us relentlessly, and it wasn’t long before we were all getting sweaty.

I couldn’t take my eyes off the way the sun glinted off DeShawn’s skin. He was working hard, and the sweatier he became, the more he seemed to sparkle in the daylight. When we stopped to rest, he took his shirt off again and sat down to drink some water. I watched the way that