AN: Thank you so much for the follows and favorites and reviews. I am so happy that you guys like this. So keep reading and leaving reviews. We are back to Emma's POV and we will probably stay that way for a while. Not my song not my characters.

Chapter Four (Emma's POV)

Holy shit! I couldn't believe I took my shirt off in front of my boss! My incredibly sexy boss, who I may or may not have dreamed about the night before.
Oh and I had no clue what I was thinking with that comment about her shirt distracting me. I just knew that I was screwed. If she didn't fire me, I would have to quit. There was no way I could face her.
I began to saddle Rocinante, hoping I could remember all of the buckles and loops. Ten minutes later I was finished, and Ms. Mills still had not returned. So there I stood gently petting the horse and replaying the situation over in my mind.
Had she blushed? Surely not. I told her to take my shirt, she turned her head, and she blushed! How could I have over looked that? Maybe I was making it up, just as I had the idea that something could ever happen between us.
"Miss Swan." I was pulled out of my own mind by her husky voice.
"He's ready. What would you like me to start on first?" I asked.
"You can just cleanup a little bit around the barn, then when the dew dries away you should mow the lawn before it gets too hot. Then just follow the list I gave you yesterday. Dinner will be ready at five, you are still more than welcome to come." She grinned at me, and I could've sworn I really did see a blush that time.
"Okay thank you. Do you think that after your ride you could explain to me how to patch the roof? I wouldn't want to make it worse." I requested.
"Absolutely, I will be about an hour on my ride. Get to work and when I return I will explain it to you." She promised.
I nodded at her and walked to get some supplies to clean up the barn. I cleaned up as well as I could manage with a dirt floor and shot a look at the clock to confirm my suspicions; only fifteen minutes had past since my boss had left for her ride.
So I made my way to the door, trying to catch a glimpse of the beautiful woman riding her beastly horse. I looked out over the field and although we were actually very close it felt as if there were miles between us. She looked so happy, so at ease. She was free and I found myself wishing I could experience that sense of freedom with her. She was truly mesmerizing and I couldn't look away. Forty minutes passes as if they were five and when she rode up beside me I gave her a lopsided grin.
"Did you enjoy the show?" She smirked and jumped off Ro's back to stand directly in front of me. She almost sounded flirty and I blushed immediately.
"Yes ma'am." I answered after much deliberation.
"Brave answer Dear," she smirked, "now about that roof..." She began to explain. So started my first official work day.
It was safe to say I was pretty tired by dinner time. The mowing wasn't so bad, and once I had figure it out, the roof didn't take very much time at all. The wood was what got me. I had expected a small tree, and considering one of the homes I was in the longest was heated by a woodstove, chopping and splitting wood was nothing new to me. This was not as simple as a small sapling though, this was a fucking tree. I was determined to prove myself and had only stopped when I became fearful that my stomach was about to feed on my backbone.
"I believed you when you said you were a hard worker Miss Swan, you don't have to kill yourself trying to prove it." She told me as soon as I was let into her kitchen door.
"I know Ms. Mills, I just wanted to get as much done as I could." I informed her as I took a seat at the table. Even though I really was trying to prove myself, she didn't need to know that.
"Well thank you for working so diligently, but don't wear yourself down. I have a lot planned for you this summer." She told me, and I instantly was filled with thought of all the plans I had for her.
"Of course ma'am." I answered.
She placed my food in front of me and quickly took the seat directly in front of me.
"It's just a simple beef roast with potatoes and carrots, but it's one of my favorites." She informed me just before we began to eat.
We were silent while we ate, I finished rather quickly. Really it was nothing new, I ate every meal like it was my last. My boss apparently found it amusing though because I heard her give a chuckle.
"Do you always eat like you're in a race or are you just in a hurry to get away from me?" She interrogated.
"No I'm sorry. I guess I learned to eat before the other kids could take it away from me, and I haven't broken the habit yet." I explained to her. I truly had learned early on that if you wanted to eat, you did it fast so that the biggest kids couldn't have your helping.
"Did you come from a large family?" She questioned. I felt somewhat at ease that she was attempting conversation with me, but I was a little leery to speak about the subject matter.
"Several." I answered cryptically which caused her to raise an inquiring eyebrow at me. "I was in foster care." I explained myself flatly.
"Oh I'm sorry, what was the reason if you don't mind me asking?" She asked.
"No one wanted me. I was abandoned, found on the side of the road when I was just a few hours old. After that I was sent from home to home, bounced around a lot." I told her with no emotion in my voice. I had stopped letting it get to me long before then.
"I'm truly sorry Miss Swan." She gave me the typically response in that situation. "I do applaud you though." She said then, shocking me.
"Excuse me?" I asked wondering why she would ever applaud me.
"It's just that you seem to be a well rounded and strong woman. You certainly are a hard worker, just as you said, and despite you're sometimes vulgar vocabulary you speak as if you are very intelligent. So Emma, I applaud you because even though you believe no one else wanted you, you still wanted yourself to be happy. That is a very hard thing to do, to believe in yourself when no one else ever has." She elaborated, and I couldn't tell if I was flattered or embarrassed. All I knew was that she called me Emma and I would do anything to hear her do it again.
"Thank you Ms. Mills. I want to make a life for myself and if I'm the only one who is willing to believe I can do it then so be it, but I'm not going to end up like some of the other kids I grew up with." I said to her, feeling more comfortable opening up after we had conversed for a while.
"Did you not hear me Dear? I believe in you, and unless you give me a reason not to I will continue to do so." She assured me sternly. Her eyes never left mine and there was a second where I thought she would reach across the table and touch my hand.
I smiled and thanked her again and then we were silent again until she finished her meal.
"I'm sorry if I overstepped any boundaries by asking about your personal life." She apologized quietly after she had made her way to place our dishes in the sink.
"No, I mean if we're going to be friends we're going to have to talk about stuff like this." I said and she looked shock by the very notion that we could be friends.
"You think we are going to become friends?" She asked. Maybe I wished she would not have sounded so shocked, but she wasn't disgusted and that was a good start.
"Well yeah. I mean it would seem kind of silly not to, considering we are the only ones around for miles." I laughed a bit.
She smiled at me. Really smiled this time, her teeth showed and her eyes crinkled. "Yes I suppose it does," she said then.
"I'm glad you agree. It would suck to spend all summer struggling to make conversation and blushing everytime you say something." I told her smiling at the smile that was still on her face.
"Well just because we're going to be friends doesn't mean I won't still make you blush." She winked and I blushed darker. "My point exactly. Tell me Emma why is it that you blush so much around me?" She asked with a laugh.
She fucking said my name again and all reasonable thought had left my mind. She was so flirting with me. "I have no clue ma'am, but I do hope to discover the reason before the summer is over."
"As do I." She told me.
I could only hope we would discover it together.

AN: So sorry didn't get this up this morning. Holidays are crazy at my house and it just did not happen, but there you have it. I hope you enjoyed. Review and let me know!