216 Rancher Way Read online

  216 Rancher Way

  A Cherry Falls Romance

  Olivia T. Turner

  Contents

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Epilogue

  Epilogue

  Epilogue

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  Copyright© 2021 by Olivia T. Turner.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including emailing, photocopying, printing, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author. For permission requests, email [email protected]

  Please respect the author’s hard work and purchase a copy. Thanks!

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events, businesses, companies, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  www.OliviaTTurner.com

  Edited by Karen Collins Editing

  Cover Design by Cormar Covers

  To Hope and Frankie.

  Thank you for letting me be a part of your wonderful world.

  Chapter One

  Daisy

  “Give it to me straight, Sheriff Larson,” I say in a firm voice as I whip open my notepad and glare at him from across his desk. “I want the truth about this town.”

  He cracks a smile, looking amused as he pulls out a huge donut from a brown paper bag with Bela’s Bakery written on it. My stomach starts to groan with envy when I see the pink icing and colorful sprinkles. They make the best donuts at Bela’s Bakery. Light and fluffy like sugary crack.

  The Sheriff is a total sucker for them but he still manages to have abs. Maybe I should do a story on that…

  “Are you on another deadline again?” he asks before taking a big bite of the donut.

  “Yes,” I say with a sigh. “Do you have anything for me?”

  “What do you want?”

  “A story,” I say as I perk up in the chair. “A big one that will blow the corruption off this town.”

  He laughs. “Corruption? Have you met Mayor McCoy? Everyone loves him.”

  “What about the police force?” I ask as I narrow my eyes on him, putting on the pressure. “Any shady dealings going on behind the scenes that the people need to know about?”

  “Shady dealings?” He’s trying not to laugh at me.

  “Drugs? Arms dealing?” I lean in with my eyebrow up. “Murder?”

  “You’ve lost your mind, Daisy.”

  “Come on,” I beg. “There must be one crooked cop on your force?”

  The door opens and the police captain, Connor O’Henry, walks in carrying a huge vase of colorful flowers. He has a huge smile on his face as he practically skips across the room with it.

  “Look at what my daughter Poppy dropped off!” he says as he admires the beautiful flowers. “She’s working at the flower shop now. Hi, Daisy! I haven’t seen you in a while.”

  “Hi, Mr. O’Henry,” I say with a smile. “Tell Poppy I said hello when you see her.” We went to school together.

  He takes a daisy out of the vase and slides it behind my ear with a smile. “A daisy for Daisy.”

  I watch, slumped in my chair, as he places the beautiful vase on a table and admires it. “Nothing like some gorgeous flowers to brighten up a room. Have a great day everyone!”

  He leaves with a bounce in his step.

  I turn back to the Sheriff with a sigh. “You were about to tell me about all of the bad, corrupt cops on your force?”

  He laughs. “Oh yeah, it’s a real crime racket we got going on here as you can tell by the flowers.”

  My stomach drops as I look down at my blank pad of paper. This town never has anything exciting going on, which makes my job as a reporter for the local paper really freaking hard.

  “Any murders?” I’m swinging at wild pitches now.

  “Murders?” Sheriff Larson repeats in disbelief before taking another bite of his donut.

  “Yeah. Any families slaughtered recently or young women abducted off the street? Any suspected serial killers in the area? Something good like that?”

  Now he just looks like he feels sorry for me.

  “Do you know what town you’re in?”

  I let out a frustrated huff of breath. “This is the most boring town on the planet!”

  “Yeah, and it’s my job to keep it that way.”

  I’m desperate now.

  “There’s got to be something…”

  Something clicks in his mind and I perk up, waiting for it.

  “There’s a broken manhole cover on First Avenue.”

  “Really?” I ask, intrigued. “Did someone fall in? Oh! Did someone die?”

  He shakes his head as he finishes his donut.

  “It’s just cracked down the middle. We’re getting a replacement tomorrow.”

  I can feel a headache coming on.

  “I’m competing with Netflix, Sheriff Larson. The internet, video games, books, other newspapers. I can’t put a broken manhole cover on the front page of the Cherry Falls Gazette!”

  He shrugs as he licks his fingers. “No news is good news according to me and my officers.”

  “We should switch jobs because it sucks for me.”

  He laughs as he pulls out a delicious looking danish.

  “How are you not three hundred pounds?” I ask as I get up.

  “I don’t know, but it might catch up with me one day. Want a bite?”

  He offers it to me, but I shake my head. “I’m heading over there now. Was Annabeth working today?”

  “Yeah, she was there.”

  Maybe Annabeth has something good for me. That girl knows all the town gossip. She’s my last hope, but if she has nothing, at least I’ll be able to drown my sorrows in fresh baked goods.

  I thank the Sheriff for his time even though he gave me nothing to work with as usual and head over to Bela’s Bakery.

  It’s a gorgeous summer day and the birds are singing in the trees along Main Street. This town is boring, but I do love it. How could I not? It’s like a Hallmark Christmas movie come to life.

  My stomach is growling in anticipation by the time I get to Bela’s Bakery. The fresh scent of baked goods wafts out of the open door, inviting me in and making my mouth water. It’s a cute place with some couples at the tables along the wall, falling deeper in love over their coffees and treats.

  I check out the rack where we drop off the Cherry Falls Gazette every week and grimace when I see that it’s still two thirds full.

  Of course no one is taking it. The front page story is about a raccoon that looks like Samuel L. Jackson. I was even more desperate for a story last week.

  I shake my head as I look at the picture. I had to crawl under the stoop at the Cherry Bomb Tattoo Parlor to snap it and the motherfucker almost bit me.

  I’m not going to win the Pulitzer Prize for that one.

  I suck in a breath and head in. The usual faces are behind the counter and I go straight to the cute girl with the red hair and freckles. “Annabeth,” I say with a smile. “Give me the dirt. All of the dirt. And one of those danishes. The big one.”

  She takes her break and talks my ear off at one of the tables in the corner. I’m trying not to moan inappropriately as I eat the danish and listen to her going on about how Grant Blake met a woman from out of to
wn. After fifteen minutes, she’s given me all the town news, but it’s nothing I can use in the paper.

  “I have to get back to work,” she says as she gets up with her empty coffee cup. “Are you going to use any of that?”

  “I can’t print gossip.” Her face drops. She loves it when she’s the source of a story we print. “We can be liable for slander. I need a real story.”

  Cassidy Watts, the daughter of the veterinarian in town, is waiting in line and apparently eavesdropping on us.

  “If you’re really desperate,” she says, “there was an albino calf born on our ranch a few days ago.”

  My journalist senses start tingling. That could work…

  It’s not great, but it’s better than an empty page with a big gray square that says Insert Picture Here on the cover of the paper.

  “Where is this albino calf?” I ask as I pull out my notepad.

  Annabeth frowns as she disappears behind the counter. “All the stuff I told her and she’s going with an albino calf!” she mutters in bitter disbelief.

  “At the Cherry Blossom Ranch,” Cassidy says. Oh, right. I forgot she worked there.

  Unless aliens land on Main Street in the next six minutes, I’ll have to go with the cow. My story is due soon.

  “Are you going back there now?” I ask, hoping she can show me around.

  She shakes her head. “I’m off today,” she says as Casey hands over her order. “But you can just head over there and find Butch. He takes care of the animals.”

  “Butch?” I ask with a gulp. “Butch Steele?”

  Annabeth and Casey are both giggling behind the counter.

  “Yeah, just go over there and talk to Butch,” Annabeth says with an amused grin on her face. “Now do you want to go with one of my stories?”

  We’ve all heard the rumors about Butch.

  He’s unapproachable, mean, rude, ill-tempered—in short, he’s a total dick.

  Apparently. I’ve never met him.

  And I’d like to keep it that way.

  “You want me to go ask for… Butch? Seriously?”

  Cassidy laughs as she looks in her bag. “Don’t believe everything you hear, Daisy.”

  “What I heard is that he’s not very nice.”

  She shrugs. “That’s just his way. Deep down he’s a total sweetheart.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, totally. Just don’t tell him I sent you.”

  “What?!”

  She tucks the bag under her arm and quickly leaves with a wave. “Good luck. Bye!”

  I gulp as I watch her flee out the door.

  The only way I can get a story is to approach Butch Steele…

  Maybe there will be a murder in Cherry Falls after all.

  I just won’t be the one to report on it.

  Chapter Two

  Daisy

  I take my beat-up old car to the Rosewood Ranch Lands while listening to the Goo Goo Dolls with the windows rolled down. I bought the car last summer for eight hundred bucks and it came with one cassette in the player. I had never heard of the Goo Goo Dolls before, but now I know every word to every song on this album.

  Not just because it’s awesome, but because the radio is broken and it’s the only cassette I can find anywhere.

  I don’t make it over to this part of town very often and I’m always shocked by the beauty of it whenever I return. I pass Millstream Farm and Hickory Homestead. It’s all wide open pastures and long dirt roads around here. The trees have been here forever, their ancient roots digging deep into the fertile earth. The air smells fresh and the quiet sounds of birds chirping and horses’ hooves clopping almost makes me forget that I have a deadline looming over my head.

  I start to get a bit nervous when I see the large sign for the Cherry Blossom Ranch approaching in the distance.

  “It won’t be so bad,” I mutter to myself. I’m sure all of the rumors about Butch Steele are just that, rumors. Probably exaggerated and falsified by the town’s gossips like Annabeth. “It’s going to be fine.”

  I pull onto the large property and park next to the old rusty pickup truck by the barn. The Cherry Blossom Ranch is a gorgeous place with lots of room for the cattle to graze and roam around. Horses are looking happy in the distance as they wander around the giant paddock next to the beautiful stables.

  On the left are several small cabins spread around amongst the trees that I guess the staff live in. My pulse starts to race when I wonder which one Butch lives in. Maybe he doesn’t live in a house. Maybe he’s a cruel monster who lives in a cave that he drags poor innocent virgins into to devour them whole.

  I wipe my sweaty palms on my jeans and take a deep breath. “You’re a journalist. You have to be brave.”

  With butterflies in my stomach, I grab my pen and notepad through the open window and head off to find the monster and his albino calf.

  I head over to where the cattle are, walking through the high grass with the wildflowers. A butterfly lands on a flower near me as I go. I snap a picture and keep going.

  A few dozen cows are hanging out in the pasture, looking bored as they chew the long grass. Some watch me as I approach, most don’t care.

  I nearly freeze when I see a man walk out of the barn and head toward them.

  Panic hits me and I sink down low, hiding in the tall grass as I watch him.

  He’s… not what I was expecting.

  This man is beautiful. He’s insanely hot.

  His t-shirt is off and hanging from his pocket. I forget how to blink as I stare at his huge muscular torso. His chest is massive, his arms are pure porn, and his stomach is shredded with hard abs. There’s not a lick of fat on him. Just beautifully carved muscles that clench and ripple and tighten with every move that he makes.

  He’s wearing ripped up faded blue jeans and I can see glimpses of his muscular thighs through the holes. A paperback book is tucked into his back pocket. I’ve never been a girl who’s checked out asses on a guy, but I can’t stop staring at his. It should be in a Levis commercial. It should be on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Just paint over Michelangelo’s work and replace it with a picture of his gorgeous ass. Believe me, no one would complain.

  I watch with my heart pounding in my chest as he winds around the cows, running his hands over their backs and talking to them softly as if they’re old friends. Each of the cows responds to him with a dip of their head or a soft mooing sound. It’s clear they all like him.

  He’s wearing an old baseball cap that’s curved beyond belief. It’s hung low over his eyes like he’s shutting out the world. There’s stubble along the sharp angular slope of his jaw, which I can’t help but wonder what would feel like if I touched it.

  My hand automatically lifts up my phone to snap some pictures of him and I have to yank it back down as I come to my senses. I’m here for the albino calf. Not for him.

  Everything I’ve heard about this man has been negative. I’ve heard that he’s short-tempered and mean. And I’ve heard that he’s rebuffed any of the advances the girls from town made on him.

  But as I watch him take care of his animals so tenderly, with such love and warmth, I think that they must have gotten him all wrong.

  I start to get warm all over as I watch him pick up the albino calf as easily as if it was made of straw. The mother watches him with her baby, but I can tell that she trusts him completely.

  He brings him near the barn and strokes his head.

  There’s a fluttering in my chest as I start to get jealous over a freaking cow.

  Uh oh.

  There’s a big curious cow who’s headed my way to check me out.

  “Go away!” I whisper-shout at her as she lumbers over about to break my cover.

  It catches Butch’s eye and he tilts his head a little when he spots me.

  “Hello!” I say, waving awkwardly with my cheeks burning a hot red as I pop out of the tall grass like an unwelcome eavesdropping gopher.

  He just stares ba
ck at me.

  I swallow hard, feeling a rush of nerves as I start to walk over to him.

  I can feel his eyes on me even though I can’t see them under the bill of his hat. They’re hidden in the shadow, but they still manage to send tingles all over my skin.

  “I’m Daisy Daniels,” I say, trying to hide the nervousness by keeping my voice upbeat and friendly. “I’m a reporter at the Cherry Falls Gazette. Do you read the Cherry Falls Gazette?”

  He doesn’t answer.

  My heart starts pounding on overdrive as I get closer. This was a bad idea. I’m definitely going to get murdered. Those eyes are enough to kill me.

  I can see them now, shining a fierce blue as he stares at me from under the curved bill of his hat. It’s an old hat, all frayed on the edges, that molds to his head perfectly.

  “You must be Butch,” I go on, feeling my voice start to race. “I saw Cassidy in town and she told me all about the albino calf. She recommended that I come meet you to do a story on it for the local paper. Sounds like a great idea, right?”

  “Cassidy told you to come?” he asks in a deep voice.

  “Yeah! She said you wouldn’t mind.”

  I’m kind of throwing her under the bus here, but this guy is intimidating as fuck and I need him to stop glaring at me like that. I figure throwing out a cute girl like Cassidy’s name might lighten him up a little.

  Nope. It does not.

  “Is this the calf?” I ask, pretending like everything is normal and he’s not looking like he wants to bury me somewhere behind the barn.

  I walk over and kneel down in front of them. The all-white calf is in his big arms and I try to keep my focus on it and not on this gorgeous rancher’s sun-bronzed skin.