Wanted (52 page)

I was pretty sure I heard both of our hearts beating like crazy. I leaned down and grabbed his face an
d kissed him.

“I love you Ellie.”

“I love you to
o. And can I just say since we’
re speaking out the truth here….It really turns me on when you call me baby.”

Gunner threw his head back and laughed! He stood up and pulled me up along with him.

“THA
T
I
’
m going to have to remember! Come on, I need to get up early to help out Drake.”

Gunner put his arm around my shoulder and led me into the house. When we walked in there was a small light on in the living room.
Gunner
and I walked in and Ari was sleeping in a chair with her bo
ok
open. She lo
ok
ed so peaceful and so at home. If I had not known any better I would say she was meant to be a rancher’s wife! Not some country club ass holes eye candy on his arm.

“Should we wake her up or leave her?” Gunner asked. After the night I just had her ass was getting up so we could talk!

“I think we should wake her up. She would be comfortable in bed.”
Just then
Jeff
erson
came downstairs.

“I thought I heard y’all. Did y
ou have fun lo
ok
ing at the star
s Ells?”

“YES! It was
amazing
. The whole night has been
amazing.
” I said with a little bit too much enthusiasm.

Jefferson just lo
ok
ed at me and then over at Gunner and raised his eyebrow. “Just how
amaaaazing
was it?”

I slapped him on the arm. “Jefferson Johnson! It was nothing like that and
stop
thinking that
way! Gunner is too
much of a
gentl
eman to do anything like that!”

Gunner let out a laugh. “Jesus dude….g
ive me a little bit more credit
than that.”

Jefferson lo
ok
ed over at Ari sleeping on the chair. “Has she been there the whole time? Her neck is going to kill
her in the morning and then I’
m going to have to listen to her bitch about all day.”

“I was just going to wake her up but sometimes she is hard to wake u
p when she is in a deep sleep.”

We tried for ten
minutes to wake her up. Fin
ally Jefferson got tired of it.

“Fuck this; I’ll just carry her up to your room.” Jefferson bent down and scooped up Ari like she weighed nothing.

“Her bed is the one closet to the door.” I said as he walked by and headed up the stairs with Gun
ner and me following behind.

Once we got in our bedroom I pulled the covers back
as
Jefferson started to lay Ari down. She opened her eyes and lo
ok
ed at him and smiled. He instantly stopped moving and just lo
ok
ed at her. Ari mumbled something about this being the best fucking dream ever and Jefferson smiled back at her and set her on the bed. Then he leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. Ari put her h
and up to her cheek and smiled.

Then she
let out a snore
……I had to giggle.

“Figures” Jefferson said as he
sho
ok
h
is head and turned to walk out.

“Night Ells….” Jefferson said as he leaned down to give me a kiss.

“Night Jefferson and sleep
good
.”

Gunner to
ok
me in his ar
ms and gave me a wonderful good
night kiss. So wonderful I didn’t want it to end. He pul
led away and smiled at me.

“Think about me tonight
okay
?”
I said as I gave him another quick kiss.

“Always!”

He turned and walked out the door shutting it behind him. I walked over to my bed and just fell back on it. I started to jump around like a school girl who just got her first kiss. Holy hells bells this h
as been the most wonderful day
of my life!

I sat up quickly to lo
ok
at Ari. I had to tell her or I was going to burst! Just then I heard her snore.
Pesh
, there would be no way of me waking her up. I would have to just wait until tomorrow morning.

I tip toed into the bathroom, changed and brushed my teeth. As soon as I
laid
down on the pil
low I drifted off into a dream.

Me….Gunner…..and an open field filled with people
looking at us
………I never wanted to wake up.

CHAPTER FORTY TWO

G
unner…….

“Alright Gunner what the fuck happened between you and my sister last night asshole? You have not stopped smiling all goddamn morning and my mind is going fucking crazy here!”

Jeff said as were mending the fence
in the east pasture.

I stood up and to
ok
my cowboy hat off and wiped the sweat off my face with my shirt. I smiled over at Jeff and I thought for sure he was about to walk u
p and punch the shit out of me.

“Dude,
nothing happened like what you’
re thinking happened. I already told you I respect your sister and your friendship more than that.”

“Well then shit Gunner, something must have happened because you are fucking walking around on cloud nine.”

“I told Elli
e last night that I loved her a
nd she told me she loved me.
We talked about where we saw our
future
s
, she asked me if I was going to go play pro and I told her no. My dream was to be here and she pretty much told me she loved the ranch as much as I did.”

Jeff ran his hands through his hair and lo
ok
ed at me. The smile that came across his face was all I needed to see. We walked up to each other and he grabbed my hand and smacked it and then sho
ok
it.

“Holy fucking shit…..Gunner Mathews is in love and it is with my baby sister. I never thought I would see the goddamn day!
That’s great Gunner….that’s fucking great dude. I know you make my sister happy. I have not seen
her
this
happy in…..well fuck….I’ve never seen her this happy!”

I started to laugh as I slapped him on the back. “Well the feeling is mutual. She makes me happy Jeff and I can’t stand to be away from her for a second. I just want to make her happy for the rest of her life.”

“That’s good to hear. Really good to hear ‘cause i
f you ever hurt her Gunner, I’
ll fucking kill you and not think twice about it.”

I stopped taking a drink of my water and lo
ok
ed at Jeff. He went back to fixing the fence like he didn’t even
just threaten me with my life.

“Well I don’t ever intend on hurting her but that is good to know dude…..”

Jeff and I spent most of the morning fixing the back east
pasture fence. Drake said they lost a few cattle last week so hopefully this will put a stop to that. I fucking loved it out here. Working with my hands in the Texas summer heat, shit there wasn’t anything else like it.

“FUCK! I’
m ready to cool off. How hot do you think it is today?” Jeff said as he pulled his shirt off
and wiped his face off with it.

“Fuck if I know…..Gramps said yesterday it got
up to 101 but it sure as shit is
different when you are sitting
in
a barn drinking fucking cold beer!”

Just then we heard Highway to Hell b
laring from up the gravel road.

“That has to be Dewey. Fucker always did like AC/DC.” Jeff said as he grabbed his shirt and put it back on.
“Why the fuck he is going to river with us anyway? Did you see the way he was lo
ok
ing Ari up and down that asshole.”

I had to laugh at Jeff. He won’t admit his feelings for Ari but he didn’t want anyone else to notice her either…..it was all to fucked u
p for me to try and understand.

Dewey pulled up next to Gramps truck and parked. He jumped o
ut and made his way over to us.

“What is up dudes? You heading down to the river,
It’
s
almost one
and Ari said that is what time they were meeting you.”

Holy fuck this bastard had already been drinking. That was not cool, not at all. I wonder if this is a normal thing for him.

“When did you talk to Ari Dew?” Jeff asked as he loaded the tools up in the truck.

“Oh I stopped by earlier this morning. Ari and Ellie were in the garden with Mrs. Mathews. Goddamn that Ellie has a nice fucking ass.”

I’m not even sure why I did it but I reached for Dewey and
slammed him against the truck.

“Don’t you E
VER fucking say
something like that again about her or even fucking lo
ok
wrong at her Dewey or I swear to you I will beat the shit out of you!”

Jeff came running over and tried to pull me off Dewey as Dewey threw his hands in the air.

“Dude!
Holy shit I’m sorry I didn’t think you were that serious about her…..”

“Listen to me
Dew;
I’
m going to marry that girl someday so you better keep your fucking distance from her you got me?” I said I as I gave him a good push and walked to the driver’s side of the truck.

“Dewey we will see you down at the river in a little bit…why don’t you let Gunner cool off a bit before you come down there
okay
?

“Um yeah sure….see you in a bit.”

Jeff loaded the last of the tools and jumped in the truck. “Jesus Gunner, I think you scared the shit out of Dewey.” Jeff said with a laugh.

“Would you have let him talk about Ellie that way?”

“Fuck no…I
was about to kick
the living shit out of him
but you beat me to him
!”

“Let’s just get to the river first before he shows up.” I said as I put the truck in drive and to
ok
off. The thought of Dewey seeing E
llie in a bikini made me sick to my
stomach. Goddamn fucker….

Well pulled up and saw Ellie and Ari sitting
on
the tail gate of my truck and I had to smile. Just the thought of her driving around on the ranch in my truck brought a smile to my face. I lo
ok
ed over at Jeff who had a shit eating grin on his face. What was he up to?

“D
o I even want to know what you’
re planning?”

“No. I don’t think you do!” Jeff said as he gave me a wink and jumped out of the truck. The girls jumped down from the truck and they were both dressed in short ass jean shorts and tank tops. I could see the white strap of Ellie’s bikini top and just the thought of her taking off that tank top had my damn
dick
jumping. Ellie came running over and jumped in my arms as I spun her around.

“Good morning Drew!”
She said in my ear.
“Oh my god I missed you this morning!”

The heat on my neck from her breath was about to drive me insane. Why is
it that everything this girl does it drives
me crazy!

“
Good morning Ellie.
I missed you to
o sweetheart, m
ore than you know. Did you sleep
okay
last night?” I asked as I put her down and pushed
a piece of hair behind her ear.

“I did. I had a dream and I remember waking up so happy but I cannot for the life of me remember what the dream was about. It kind of pisses me off really.”

I threw my head back and laughed at her. Damn she was so fucking cute! I swung down and picked her up while she let out a small scream and carried her back over to the truck. Jeff was already arguing with Ari. Jesus Christ those two……

“I seriously doubt I was calling out
your name in my sleep you
dick
wad
! Y
ou only wish I was!”

“Tell her Ells, tell her how when I carried her up to bed she was saying how wonderful
and strong and handsome I was.”

“Um, that’s not really how I remember it Jefferson.” Ellie said with a shrug of her shoulders.