Regan

Theirs to Keep

Two Days Prior

R egan Starr sat at the rest stop where she waited for her beat up phone to finish charging. She had been sitting in that same spot for over four hours now, wishing that she could will her ancient technology to hurry the hell up. Finally, her phone was at sixty percent, and she felt confident that using it wouldn’t slow down the charging process-too much. Besides, she was bored out of her fucking mind and she needed to find a job. She had forty-three dollars and twenty-nine cents to her name, and that wasn’t going to last her too much longer, even if she continued to sleep in her truck and eat sparingly, she was going to end up in a shelter or dead on the side of the highway.

Since leaving home, a little over a week ago, she had a few close run-ins, primarily with dirty old men who propositioned her with an offer of good sex and a few dollars to help her get by. When a local sheriff found her pickup truck parked under an overpass, so she could catch a few hours of sleep, he offered to look past her being double parked on a highway, if she was willing to give him a blowjob. She opted for the fine and told him that she was going to report him. He just laughed and threw the wadded-up ticket at her and told her she had ten minutes to be gone, or he would be bringing a buddy back; even going as far as saying that his friend didn’t like to take no for an answer.

To say that her faith in humanity had been shaken, was an understatement-it had been downright destroyed. If her home life hadn’t been a nightmare, she would have been second guessing her decision to leave, right about now.

sifted through some advertisements that popped up on Craig’s list, most offering exactly what she had found on the road for employment opportunities. She typed in the keyword “cooks” and found two positions open. One was for a little diner, about two hours north of where she was, but she wasn’t going back. Her only option was to run as far south as she possibly could and pray to God that her stepfather was too stupid to find her.

The second listing was for a rather large farm that was hiring someone who could cook. They hadn’t put down a preference for experience, but she decided to embellish a little, just to make sure she’d get the position. No one seemed to want to hire a twenty-two-year-old with minor experience, and who was on the run from her stepdad. Not that she shared that information with anyone else, but that was her guess.

She filled out the attached file on her phone, which was no easy feat considering that half of her buttons didn’t work, and added her profile picture from social media. She knew that it was a long shot, but she said a little prayer and sent the file back to the hiring manager’s attention.

Within minutes, her phone rang, someone named Ashton Travers wanted to meet with her in person about the job that she just applied for. Keeping her calm, she agreed to be there in a couple of days, explaining that she was traveling and would be in that area in about two days. He gave her the address, which she wrote in marker on her arm, and told her that he was looking forward to meeting her. All in all, he sounded nice. And, at this point, she could use a little nice. But, if not, she also knew how to take care of herself, she had been doing it most of her life.

Present Day

pulled her old Chevy pickup up to the main farmhouse. The sign at the front gate told her to take the path to the very end of the road. She just hadn’t guessed that the end of the road was over eight miles down a gravel path and that the term ‘road’ was being used figuratively. looked out her back window to check on her bike that she had chained down in the rusted bed of her pickup. When she started on her little trip south, she didn’t know if her truck would make the entire journey, plus there was no fucking way she was leaving her bike at her stepfather’s. She was lucky to have escaped him once, if she had to go back to retrieve her motorcycle, she had a feeling that she wouldn’t be so lucky again.

When she high tailed it out of that run-down trailer park, her stepdad, Mike, threatened to beat her within an inch of her life if she ever thought of returning, and she believed him. It seemed that since her mom died, her dear old stepfather’s favorite pastime was slapping her around. The day before she left, made the mistake of telling him her plans. It was an honest oversight, she thought that he was in a good mood. Unfortunately for her, his happy disposition quickly soured. When she finally woke up, her head felt like someone took a sledgehammer to it, and her raven hair was matted to her face with dried blood. After she realized that Mike had probably made a beer run, she grabbed her backpack which contained all her worldly possessions besides her truck and bike, and ran. When he got back to the trailer and realized that she had taken off, he sent her a nasty text, telling her to stay gone, or else. That was just fine by her, she was done with that shit trailer park and done with her asshole stepfather.

Her mom, Sarah, was her only family and when she died, had no one. She had gotten used to being self-reliant from an early age. Before her mother married Mike, it was just the two of them. Her mom got by waitressing tables at the local dive diner and would have to let herself into their little one-bedroom apartment after school. Her mom usually ended up working doubles and staying until closing, not getting home until long after was asleep in the bed that they shared. She learned how to make herself dinner and finish her homework, not wanting to be a bother to her mom. She hated watching her mother work so hard for nothing and when her mom met Mike, thought that their luck had changed. At first, he seemed like a decent guy. He would take Sarah out to dinner and even let tag along as long as she took the hint and got lost after they returned home for the evening. She would pretend to be asleep, but she heard everything that went on out in the small living room of their apartment.

Her mom married Mike, and he moved them into his trailer, and back then, it was like moving into the Ritz Carlton for . Her mom didn’t have to work as much, and things were good for a few months until Mike lost his job. He had trouble finding anything and ended up spending most of his time and money at the local bar. Sarah had to go back to work full-time at the diner, but this time, wasn’t left alone. Her mother made sure that Mike made it home, most nights before she went to work the graveyard shift at the diner. Good old Mike made sure that followed the rules or there would be hell to pay and that usually came in the form of his belt or his fists. She was grateful in a way; it could have been much worse. She knew plenty of girls who were in the same situation, but instead of having a stepdad or stepbrother beat on them, they used them for sex. cringed at the thought of having Mike climb on top of her and decided to leave the past back at that run-down trailer park. She was determined to move on to a better life and forget her old ghosts.

had traveled over six hundred miles to find a fresh start and she was going to make the best of it. She was lucky to have found the ad in a local paper for an estate hiring a cook. had picked up shifts at the diner to help her mom when Sarah got sick. The cancer spread fast and after her mom was gone, didn’t have the heart to quit working at the diner, so she stuck around. The owner, Pete, took pity on her and offered to teach her how to cook, telling her that she could write her own ticket if she learned to cook a few dishes. He made her promise not to go across town to his competition, and she agreed to work for him until she was ready to head out on her own. In just two years, Pete taught her everything that he knew about running a kitchen. She would never be able to repay him, but she promised to let him know where she landed when she got settled.

got out of her ancient truck and stretched her muscles, aching from their long trip. She looked at the farmhouse and wondered just how many people lived in there. The house was the largest she had ever seen, and she had been to The White House when she was eleven on a school field trip. This house looked a lot like that, with its big white columns and the staircase leading up to the double glass front doors. She didn’t know much about the job, other than the ad said that she would be doing the cooking and some light housework. She could handle that, hell—she had been doing those things her whole life.

She pulled her backpack from the cab of her truck and slammed the old door shut. craned her neck to take in the massive house as she made her way up the front steps. She suddenly felt completely out of place and thought about running back down to her truck before the two big doors swung open to reveal two of the sexiest men she had ever seen. She tried, really tried, to keep her mouth closed, but knew that she failed and stood there gawking at the two men with her tongue hanging out. Hell, she probably even drooled a little—very classy, ! She knew that she was staring, but she didn’t care. The man on her right smiled and stepped toward her and she leaned into him, extending her hand.

“Hello, I’m Starr,” she stuttered.

His smile broadened, and she was mesmerized by how blue his eyes were. They were like the sky above the ocean on a clear summer day and she couldn’t stop looking into them. Actually, she was gazing, and dammit, she had never gazed into any man’s eyes, ever. She blinked, trying to pull herself back to reality.

“I’m Ashton Travers, but please call me Ash and this is Jamison Black, my partner. Welcome to Travers Black Farm, Miss Starr.” He took her hand into his and shivered. His warm, calloused skin rubbed against the palm of her hand, and she could have sworn that she felt sparks. Ash took off his baseball hat and shook her hand, gently. She noticed how his overly long blond hair fell over one eye, and she suddenly found herself wanting to run her fingers through it.

“Please call me .” She retracted her hand from Ash and then offered it to Jamison. “Mr. Black, it’s nice to meet you.” He didn’t reach out to take her hand, just tipped his cowboy hat at her and turned to walk back into the house. She worried that she had done something wrong, or even offended him in some way until he called her into their home.

“We don’t have all day, Miss Starr. Please follow me into the kitchen and we will go over our expectations,” he barked. His voice was very different from Ash’s. Jamison’s voice sounded growly and angry like he walked around in a perpetual state of pissed off. She liked the way he seemed to be a take charge, no nonsense, kind of guy. Ash seemed to be friendlier and even winked and smiled at her as she made her way past him to follow Jamison into the kitchen. He stopped in front of her, so abruptly, that she ran into the back of him with a yelp. Jamison turned to catch her by her elbow, keeping her upright and there were those same damn sparks that she felt when Ash touched her. What was that? It was probably just the long drive and being overly tired. She hadn’t slept much in the past few days. She had barely eaten and now that she was finally here, she felt bone tired and hungry.

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Black. It’s been a long trip and I’m feeling a bit woozy from skipping lunch today.” She kept the part about missing breakfast this morning and dinner last night, to herself. No need to advertise that she rolled into town without two nickels to rub together. The last bit of her money went to buying a tank of gas and she was pretty sure that she made it down their very long, gravel road on fumes.

Jamison looked her over as if making sure that she was all right. “You need to eat, Miss Starr. You’ll need to be able to keep up with all the cooking for the two of us and occasionally, some of our farm hands.” He eyed her suspiciously as if he didn’t believe that she was up for the task. His brown eyes didn’t seem to miss much, and when he turned to grab her a glass of water, she caught a glimpse of his brown curly hair, peeking out from under his hat.

“I need to know that we are not making a mistake, Miss Starr,” he growled. She jumped, startled by his question. She took a sip of water and placed her glass back on the kitchen counter.

“I’m up for the job, Mr. Black.”

Ash chuckled behind her, taking in the whole scene and she turned to face him.

“Sorry about him, . He can be somewhat grumpy at times, and a whole lot bossy. What he means to say is that we weren’t completely honest in our advertisement.” knew that ad was too good to be true.

She groaned out loud and Ash gifted her with another smile. “What part were you not exactly honest about, Ash?” Jamison grabbed ’s arm and spun her around so fast that she lost her balance again, this time, she couldn’t seem to stay on her feet. Ash caught her and pulled her up his body before she hit the floor.

“What the fuck, Jamison? You heard her say that she was feeling a little lightheaded from skipping lunch. You can’t just go around grabbing her and taking what you want.” had allowed herself to fall back into Ash’s hold and God it felt good to be touched like that. He had one arm wrapped around her middle and was holding her against his body. She could feel every inch of muscle through his shirt, and she suddenly felt a little overheated. wasn’t sure if she was going to pass out or be sick; neither seemed like an appealing trait in a cook. She tried to keep it together but knew that she was failing miserably when she heard Jamison’s curse.

“Fuck Ash, she’s looking a little green.” Ash turned her in his arms and that was the last thing she remembered before her world went completely black.