AU- Darcy somehow ends up answering an ad for an assistant for Barton Farms, an independent farm which produces artisan food specializing in honey and merino wool, because of college loans. What the ad didn't day was how gorgeous and funny the owner was. Plus he keeps telling her "as you wish."
Darcy’s not sure how to take this job interview. It seems to be going decently well, considering the girl interviewing her is maybe a year out of high school, and keeps looking off into the distance at her friends out working with the livestock. She’d introduced herself as Kate and that she was the community outreach specialist for Barton Farms, a trussed up title if Darcy ever heard of one. All Darcy wants is a job that gives her a couple of hours after she’s done with classes and on the weekends. Beer and iTunes money, and getting outside seems like a grand idea as well. It’s just supposed to be working the farmers markets. Darcy can make change and smile and she is a good cook when she has access to such things as a kitchen.Anyways, Kate’s practically a child and yet when she says, “Yeah, sure you’ll work. Come one, you should meet Barton.”Okay, every time she’s heard people talking about Barton Farms in town, they made it sound like it was one of those small looking farms that’s secretly owned by Con-Agra. But there’s actually a Barton. And what a Barton he is. Darcy’s never had the hots for her boss before, but her boss has never had arms quite like his either. “Darcy, I’m glad you’re around,” He tells her one Saturday morning as she’s stacking up jars of their honey for the fifth time, “It’s good for bees-ness.”God help her, she finds his sense of humor endearing. Her crush has been building on ridiculous since the day she started.She’s been around about two months when she blows off a gen ed required class, one of many that she’s put off until her senior year, to ride next to him in a pickup truck traveling to a Healthy Living Fair put on by one of the local community colleges. “I’m glad you were able to come, Darce,” He started shortening her name a couple of weeks ago and it still makes her heart skip. Clint says her name differently than how he teases Kate with a multitude of nicknames, she thinks, and he smiles at her crookedly.“It seems like it could be a good time,” Darcy doesn’t add that she had to bribe Kate with letting her know where the super secret hideout that the farmhands use when they are trying to get away was so that she could spend time alone with her boss. Because she’s a hopeless case, “Even if it’s a long ride.”“It’s nice to have the company, especially if it’s you. I like you” Clint says, and then pales. It’s almost funny how he tries to backtrack, “Shit, I mean, shit. I was gonna…”“Well, I am a good employee,” Darcy decides to give him some grace, at least because he’s amusing her.“No, I mean. Fuck, Kate said I should just…I should have waited until after we were done today so this wouldn’t be so awkward,” he babbles before he clears his throat, “I like you, Darce. In a way that a boss shouldn’t like an employee. And if this is a problem, I won’t do anything to act on it. It’ll pass.”“What if I want you to act on it?” Darcy says quietly.Clint veers the pickup onto the shoulder of the country road and puts the truck into park, “What did you say?”“I’d be okay if you wanted to act on it,” she bites her lip, “And not in a skeevy way?”“I totally respect you as an equal,” Clint says. Darcy unbuckles her seat belt and kisses him. They don’t miss the fair, but it’s a very near thing.
