Wanted (54 page)

She threw her head back and laughed as she lo
ok
ed over at
Ari who had yet to swing off of
the rope swing while Jeff just kept calling her a
scaredy
cat.

“Guess what?”

“What baby?” I said as I traced her bea
utiful jaw line with my finger.

“That was another first for me!” she said with
a
smile
so sweet
I just about had my heart explode in my chest. Fuck me.

“Jesus Ellie……” I cupped her face with my hand and kissed her. I couldn’t believe what a lucky son of a bitch I was to have her experience all these things with me. What did I do to deserve her?

Ellie pulled away from my
lips just a little and whispered against them.

“I love you Gunner.”

“I love you too Ellie, more than anything.”

Just then I heard Ari screaming at Jeff. “You fucking dick! You knew my top would come off if I did that! I HATE YOU…..you dirty bastard!”

CHAPTER FORTY THREE

E
llie……

I had never in my life seen Ari so mad. Jeff was standing in the water holding her bikini top in his hand laughing his ass off. Just then I heard music and saw someone pulling up. Jeff turned and then swam over to Ari as quickly as he could and started trying to put her top on.

“What the FUCK are you doing? Get the hell away from me and give me my goddamn top back!”

“Stop moving the fuck around Ari and stand still and let me put your
top on before Dewey gets here!”

Jefferson sounded panicked. I swam over and to
ok
the top out of his hand and gave him a lo
ok
.
I helped Ari put her top on just as Dewey jumped out of his truck wit
h two other guys and two girls.

“
Who the
fuck are
they
Gunner? Jeff asked as he lo
ok
ed over at Gunner.

“Hell if I know
who they are;
but
I’m about to find out right now.”

Gunner got out of the river and walked up to Dewey who grabbed his hand and gave it a slap.
I couldn’t really understand what they were talking about. I lo
ok
ed over and Ari was walking out of the river and Dewey was staring at her hard. Jeff started to get out and walked up next to Ari, blocking Dewey’s view of her.

I saw Gunner running his hand through his hair. He only does that when something is wrong or he is worried. I started to get out and walked over to Gunner’s truck. Next thing I knew Dewey and his group of friends got back in Dewey’s truck and to
ok
off.

“What was that all about?” I asked as Gunner walked back up to us.

“Dewey had been drinking so I told him to take his friends and get them off of the ranch. I also told him if he ever did it a
gain he would be gone. SHIT! I’
m going to have to talk to Drake about this.”

“Well, I think I’m about ready to head back to the house. I kind of lost the desire to go swimming
and fishing
thanks to
dickwad
here!”

Jeff let out a laugh and lo
ok
ed Ari up and down. I just sho
ok
my head. Gunner put his shirt back on over his head and w
alked over to me handing me my
shirt and shorts.

“
One More Night
”
by Maroon 5 came on the radio. “Jesus…..this is Jeff and Ari’s song!” Gunner said with a laugh.

I started to laugh and
Jeff and Ari both said “FUCK YOU GUNNER!” at the same time.

“You want to go riding Ells?” Gunner asked as he gave me that cro
ok
ed smile.

“You mean horseback riding?”

He nodded his head yes and
I
jumped into his arms.

“YES! Hell yes!” I shouted as Ari and Jeff sta
rted to laugh.

The rest of the afternoon was perfect. Well almost perfect because Ari and Jeff
argued almost nonstop. When Ari challenged Jeff to a
horse
race I thought I was
going
to scream out with joy! While they to
ok
off Gunner and I made a bee line down to the south pasture and slowly walked along the river bank
while the horse
s
grazed in the field
. It was probably the most perfect afternoon in my life.  We stopped once and Gunner pushed me up against a tree and kissed the shit out of me. I so wanted to w
rap my legs around him for a re
peat of last night but the idea of Jeff
erson
or Ari riding up o
n us had me thinking otherwise.

Speaking of
, I could hear the two of them bitching at each other. I sighed loudly and Gunn
er gave me another kiss.

“Come on sweetheart, let’s get back to the stable and get the horses taken care of.” Gunner said with a wink.

After we washed the hor
ses and put them in their stalls
, Gunner and Jeff
erson
gave them all fresh hay. We made our way back up
to
the ranch house where Emma was making lasagna. OH GOD it smelled heavenly!

Ari and I headed up to clean up and get ready for dinner.
Ari was not acting like herself and she was in a mood. She seemed to be happy when we first started to ride the horses but once we got back to the stables she was pissed about something.

“Everything
okay
?”
I asked as she was
lying
on the bed staring up at the ceiling.

“No….”

“Want to tell me about it before we head to dinner?”

“I hate your brother……”

“This is not new news to me Ari. What did he do? You were so happy when we first started riding.”

Ari sat up and sighed loudly. She ran her hands down her face and picked up the pillow and screamed in it. Shit, this was probably going to be bad.

“Why can he not admit he has feeling for me Ells? He is confusing me so much. One second he is dancing to a beautiful song and telling me how much he cares about me and then next he is pushing me away as hard as h
e can. I just don’t get it! I
s
he
confused about how he feels?
Scared?
He treats me like a child one minute and
the next second
grabs my bikini top from me and he lo
oks at my body like he want
s
to devour me.

I. Am. So.
Fucking.
Confused.”

I wish I knew what to say to Ari. I got where Jefferson was coming
from with his feelings. I wasn’t sure why he was trying so
hard to keep Ari in his life but at the same time he was pushing her away. I really ne
eded to sit down with him
and talk to him.

“Ari, are you happy with Jason?”

Ari sat up and lo
ok
ed at me confused. She sat there to
o
long….almost like she was really trying to think long and hard about this question.

“Of course I’
m happy with him! I mean he is my…..well
he’s my boyfriend…..oh god….I’
m so fucked
up. I have a boyfriend and I’
m pinning over a guy who is not my boyfriend. Jesus Mary and Joseph I’m headed straight to hell!”

I let out a giggle…she probably was! “Ari, if Jefferson said to you right now…be my girlfriend, leave Jason….what would you say.”

“I would say Jason who?!” Ari said as we both busted out laughing! It was clear that Ari had feelings
for Jefferson, she always had.

“How long will you wait for Jefferson?” I asked as I raised my
eye
brow up at her.

She let out a sigh and fel
l back on her bed. “I really want to say forever but….” Just then we heard a knock on the door. I hollered
for whoever it was to come in.

Gunner p
ok
ed his head in and said dinner was almost ready. I jumped up because I wanted to help Emma with the salad. Ari slowly sat up and reached her hand out to mine. I laughed as I pulled her up. As I walked by Gunner he s
lapped my ass and OH MAN! OUCH!

“OWWW!
That hurt!” I said with a giggle. Gunner let out laugh.

“We need to get you over that and back in the saddle tomorrow young lady.”

Dinner was amazing. My goodness Gunner’s grandmother sure knew how to co
ok
. All Ari and I did was put together a salad
to go along
with the lasagna and
Gunner gushed over
it
nonstop
! Jefferson talked mostly to Garrett and I noticed he never once lo
ok
ed over at Ari. He was smiling at her when we first came downstairs until her phone beeped. Somehow Ari got a signal and a text message from Jason came through. Honestly
,
I think she was more excited about getting a signal than the fact that she got a message from Jason. Jefferson didn’
t see that though and his smile quickly changed to a frown. Maybe I could ask Gunner to beat some sense into my brother. The thought made me smile and Gunner lo
ok
ed up at me and winked. Cue
the butterflies in my stomach.

Tonight the
girls cleaned up the dishes while
Garrett, Gunner, Jefferson and Drake sat on the porch and talked about the ranch. Gunner had
already told his grandparents six
months ago that he was planning on moving out
to
the ranch
full time
once he graduated from college which was less than a year away. I heard Garrett talking to Emma about it earlier. The thought made my stomach hurt. That meant he would be leaving me. I tried to ask Gunner about it at the dinner table but his face turned white as a ghost and he just changed the subject. I’m not sure why but Emma and Garrett gave each other a serious lo
ok
before the conversation got changed.

After the dishes were cleaned up we all went outside to sit on the porch. Even though it was damn near cl
ose to
100 degrees during the day the nights were wonderful out at the ranch! The breeze that blew was just enough to cool you off, that and a g
lass of Emma’s sweet tea
.
Good god she made the best damn sweet tea I had ever had.
Jefferson and Garrett seemed to be in a deep conversation as I noticed Gunner standing up against the railing lo
ok
ing out into the dark pasture. I felt a warm sensation run through my
body when I thought about what I did to him in the river this afternoon. I felt my face blush and I lo
ok
ed around like everyone might know what my thoughts were. Gunner turned right then and ti
lted his head and smiled at me.

“Penny for your thoughts?”

I laughed. “I don’t think you really want me to talk about my
thoughts out loud Mr. Mathews!”

Gunner lo
ok
ed confused and then I swear I saw him blush. He grabbed me and pulled me to him as he whispered
I love you
in my ear.

“I love you too.” I would never get tired of saying it
to him or hearing it from him.

“Ellie are w
e going to
o
fast sweetheart? I’
ll slow things down if this
is
moving too fast for you. The last thing I want to do is spo
ok
you.”

I hugged him closer to me and leaned up to kiss him. “I love that you worry about me but trust me to let you know if I think we are moving t
o
o fast
okay
.”

“
Okay
….but really all I want to do it sneak away and go up to your room for a little bit and make out with you!” Gunner said has he wi
ggled his eyebrows up and down.

I let out a giggle and slapped
his arm. “Behave Drew Mathews!”

He leaned down and the heat from his breath against my skin was pure torture. “Fuck it turns me on when you say my name….”

Oh….there went that ache between my legs. I desperately wanted to ease it now
that I had a taste of what an o
rgasm felt like. I made sure to give Ari an earful first thing this morning when we w
ok
e up and I told her what happened with Gunner the night before. I thought her scream was going to wake everyone in the house up! She hopped onto my bed and told me to spill….so I did!
Turns out miss smarty pants
h
as
on
ly ever had one and it was self-
induced while she was dreaming about Jefferson. EEWWWW that much I didn’t have to know but it was already out of her mouth
before she could take it back.