Gunner pretty much held his breath until I said that I also wanted kids someday. I wonder what he was thinking. I actually saw him exhale when I said yes. Was he thinking he wanted to have kids with me?

I could only dream. The thought of having Gunner’s kids was too much even to think about. I could just see them now running around the ranch with Gunner chasing them. I bet he would make a great dad to our kids.

Oh, wow. Where the hell did that come from? Our kids . . . I sat up quickly and shook my head. Fuck me, why did I keep getting these thoughts?

Just then Lady Antebellum’s “Just a Kiss” started to play. Oh God, I loved this song! I jumped up and just about scared the shit out of Gunner.

“Oh my God, I love this song! Can I turn it up?”

Gunner laughed at me. “Of course you can, sweetheart.”

I got up and started to walk over to the Jeep. Just then I heard something. It was someone whistling, and it was loud! Then I heard dogs howling. I let out a scream as I turned to run back to Gunner. I saw Gunner jump up, and before I knew it, I jumped into his arms and wrapped my legs around his body and buried my face.

“Holy fuck, Ellie, what’s wrong? What happened?”

“Oh my God! Oh my God, who is that whistling at us, and do you not hear the coyotes? They’re going to come after us!” I practically screamed into Gunner’s chest.

Then I heard the whistle again. Holy shit, it sounded like it belonged in the Amazon rainforest!

“There it is again!”

Gunner threw his head back and laughed. I kept my face buried into his neck.

“Holy hell, Ells, those are whippoorwills. They’re birds!” Gunner was laughing his ass off as he held me. I don’t think I could have had my legs wrapped around him any tighter. I pulled back and looked at him confused as shit.

“Wait. What? They’re birds? What kind of birds are out at night for Christ’s sake, and how close are those coyotes?”

“They’re not that close. Sound really travels in the country, Ells. You could be a half a mile from me talking, and I would be able to hear you. It’s all right. There is nothing to be scared of.”

Oh, jeez, I felt like an idiot. He was smiling from ear to ear with that beautiful crooked smile. Instantly, I felt the ache between my legs. I didn’t even realize it at first, but I pushed my hips into Gunner’s. Gunner’s smile faded, and he leaned in to kiss me.

And kiss me he did. Holy fuck, this might have been the most passionate kiss ever from him. I grabbed his hair and held him tighter and kissed him back with just as much passion. He started to walk while he held onto me and next thing I knew he had me pressed up against the Jeep; he adjusted me to where I could feel his erection. We never broke the kiss. The ache between my legs was growing as he slowly started to move his hips against me. I instinctively moved my hips with his. Gunner slowly pulled his mouth away from mine. The look in his eyes was amazing. I’ll never forget it as long as I live.

“Ellie, can I touch you?”

Oh. My. God.

“Yes.”

Gunner slowly placed his hand under my T-shirt. His hand started to move up my stomach and I thought I was going to explode from the inside out.

“Fuck, Ellie, your skin is so soft.”

I couldn’t even think. His touch was driving me crazy. The ache between my legs was growing stronger, and I was starting to feel weird. I shivered and Gunner stopped moving his hand.

“Touch me, Gunner. Please keep touching me,” I begged. God, I didn’t want him to stop.

Gunner leaned in and started to kiss me again. I felt him move my bra and it released my breasts to him. His hand moved and started to caress each one. Then he started to play with my nipple. I let out a moan against his mouth as I felt him press his hips harder into me.

There was a strange intense feeling building in my body. What the hell was going on? I pressed my hips harder into Gunner and started to rock against him. He kept playing with my nipples, twisting them and pulling them. He pushed me harder against the Jeep and took his other hand and grabbed the back of my head and deepened our kiss.

Oh. My.

Something was happening to me. I pulled away from Gunner as it hit me full force. I started to scream out his name as the feeling got so intense I thought I was going to explode. Gunner captured my screams with his mouth.

I thought for a brief moment I’d left my body. As I started to come down from the overwhelming, pulsating sensations, Gunner slowed his kissing and stopped playing with my nipple. He moved his hand around to my back. I felt so weak; I think if he were to put me down right now, I would collapse onto the ground.

Gunner ever so slowly pulled away from my mouth as I opened my eyes. I was breathing like I just ran a fucking marathon, and so was he. He leaned his forehead against mine and we didn’t move until we both caught our breath.

“Baby, please tell me that was your first orgasm.”

Fuck me, I just had an orgasm. I was going to fucking kill Ari for not telling me how amazing they were. Were all of them this wonderful? Maybe it was because I had it with Gunner? I didn’t even know you could have one without having sex. Okay, well, I did, but not just with kissing and a little hip grinding.

“Gunner . . .” It was all I could manage to get out of my mouth. I watched as a smile moved across that beautiful face of his.

“Another first, baby?”

I started to laugh. “Yes, another first!”

Gunner grabbed me by the back of the head and kissed me again. He drew back and kissed the tip of my nose.

“My God, Ellie, the things you do to me, baby. I want to make you feel that good every day.”

“I’d be okay with that!”

Gunner threw his head back and laughed.

“Ellie, thank you for allowing me to do that for you. You’ve had a very busy day of firsts, haven’t you?”

I let out a giggle as he slowly started to lower me to the ground, and I adjusted my bra.

“Yeah, but I think that last one was my favorite out of all of them!” I said as I looked up at him. My God, he was so handsome and his eyes were filled with . . . love.

Gunner pushed me back up against the Jeep and started to kiss me again. It was the most magical moment of my life, and nothing would ever top it.

Gunner slowly moved his lips from mine but kept them just barely touching mine.

“Ellie . . . I love you . . .”

Nope, I was so wrong. That was the most magical moment of my life.

“I love you too, Drew.”

Gunner pulled back his head and stared at me in shock. I was pretty damn shocked myself that I just said that out loud. It was true, though, and it felt like the exact right moment to say it.

Then he smiled. I felt my body slowly start sliding down the Jeep. My knees would not hold me up. Gunner reached around my hips and pulled me up and pressed me into the Jeep again.

“You just made me the happiest man on Earth, Ellie Johnson. I will love you for the rest of my life, baby.”

Then he kissed me so slow and so sweet. My heart was squeezing in my chest. I did it. I gave my heart away to someone when I swore I’d never do it again. I prayed to God that Gunner was right: would he love me the rest of his life? Would he always want me?

You will never be wanted by anyone . . .

I felt a tear roll down my face. Gunner must have felt it, too. He pulled back and wiped it away with his thumb.

“Please tell me that is a happy tear, sweetheart.”

“Yes, yes, it is. Promise me that you won’t break my heart, Drew. Promise me that, will you?”

He looked at me and his eyes started to fill with tears. Oh my . . .

“Ellie, I would rather die than ever break your heart. I have never in my life felt like this. I would lay down my life for you if I had to. I love you, baby.”

I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck as he lifted me off the ground. I wanted to stay right here, just like this, forever.

In Gunner’s arms laying under the stars at the ranch.

“You ready to head back to the house, sweetheart?”

Every time he called me sweetheart or baby, my stomach did flip flops. I loved it so much. I loved him so much. Yes, I loved him, and if he was willing to take a leap of faith on us, so was I.

“Okay, except we hardly ate anything your grandmother packed. I feel so bad.”

“Don’t worry about it. We can take it with us down to the river tomorrow. Jeff and I have a few things to take care of in the morning around the ranch, but we’re free all afternoon. What do you say you and Ari meet us at the river around one?” Gunner said as he brought the basket back over to the Jeep, and I folded up the blanket and set it on the back seat.

“Sounds good, but how will we find our way to the river? This place is huge!”

Gunner let out a laugh as he went to start the Jeep. It wouldn’t turn over. Oh, shit. After two more attempts, it finally started.

“I need to tell Drake that the battery needs replacing in this thing. Make sure y’all take my truck tomorrow, and I’ll have Grams tell y’all how to get there in the morning.”

Gunner reached over and gave me a kiss before he pulled out onto the gravel road and headed back to the ranch house. I had never in my life felt as happy as I did at this moment. I never wanted to leave. I thought I was so excited about starting school at UT in the fall, but I found myself dreaming of starting a family with Gunner and living here on the ranch. What a silly dream—he was going to school to become an architectural engineer, not a rancher.

We drove in silence until we reached the ranch house. Before Gunner got out, I reached over and held his arm to stop him.

He turned and looked at me with a smile. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

I was not sure why I needed to ask him this, but it all of a sudden became very important to me.

“Nothing’s wrong. It’s just, well, I mean with us talking about wanting kids and everything, I just, well, I just wanted to ask you . . . Shit, this is not coming out right!”

“Ellie, I’ve already told you, sweetheart, you can ask me anything you want. I’ll never hide anything from you.”

“I just was wondering where you saw yourself in the future. I mean, I know you only have one more year of college and your degree is in architectural engineering, but you also love football so much. Jefferson mentioned that you already had NFL teams interested in you. Do you see yourself playing pro football?”

Gunner sat back in his seat and pushed his hand through his hair. Holy hell, I loved it when he did that, and I started to get that damn ache between my legs again. I had to fiddle around in my seat to ease it. Jeez, how does he turn me on so easily?

Gunner looked over at me after sitting there for almost a minute in silence.

Oh, shit. Here it is. I just knew he was going to say he sees himself playing pro ball. Did I want to be with someone who would be traveling all the time? The women who would always be after his attention. I just couldn’t imagine it . . . My heart just sank.

“Honestly, Ellie, my dream ever since I was a little kid was to build and design buildings and to run this ranch. I figured I could do both, so that’s why I majored in architectural engineering. Jeff and I are both getting hired from our internships, but I already worked it out to where I would do most of my work from out here. My number one dream is to take over this ranch. I would like to get married here, start a family here, and raise kids right here on the ranch.”

I was not expecting him to say that. It felt like at least one hundred butterflies went off in my stomach. Would he ever want that life with . . . me?

“So, no pro football, even though you have teams trying to sign you?” I asked as I fiddled with my hands.

“No, Ells, no pro football. I don’t want to be away from the people I love. Especially with my grandparents getting older, I want to be here for them. Take the burden off them with the ranch, and if I’m really blessed, I hope to give them great grandkids.”

“Oh, wow, um, that sounds wonderful, Gunner.” I turned to open the door to get out of the Jeep, but Gunner grabbed my hand and stopped me.

He started to laugh. “Well, that’s not really fair. You get to ask me about my future, what about yours?”

What was I going to say? Oh, well, okay . . . I have only known you for a little over a month now, but I want to marry you, have your kids, and live out here on your family’s ranch. Yeah, that would scare him the fuck off!

“Well, I guess I’m not really sure what I see for the future. I’m starting college soon, so I guess that’s really about as far as I’m thinking right now—just going to college,” I said with a shrug.

Gunner’s face fell, and it looked like he was devastated. What the hell? What did I say wrong?

He slowly gave me a small smile and let go of my hand. He got out of the Jeep so fast I almost didn’t see him grab the basket and head to the front door.

Oh, shit! I guess I pretty much just told him I didn’t think I saw him in my future.

Oh no! Fuck!

“Gunner, wait a minute. That’s not the truth. That’s not the truth at all.”

“It’s okay, Ellie. We have different ideas about our future, it’s not that big of a deal,” he said as he turned to walk away. How could he say that? Why would he say that?

“Gunner, please stop! Don’t walk away from me after what just happened between us.”

Gunner stopped and turned to look at me. “I would never walk away from you, Ellie. Ever.”

I walked up to him and stood on the porch next to him. I was scared out of my mind to tell him what I really saw, but I knew I had to. For some reason I had to let him know I saw the same future and I just prayed to God that it was me he saw in his future like it was him I saw in mine.

“Gunner, this is all moving so fast for me, and, well . . . it was huge for me to tell you how I feel about you. I’m so scared; you have no idea how scared I am. I love you. I love you with all of my heart, and the moment I got out of your truck earlier today all I could think about was being here, right here on this ranch, sitting on this porch with you. I want to watch sunsets and sunrises with you, see our kids running all over the place, and have Emma teach me how to make all your favorite foods. I’ve not been able to stop thinking about it all day, and it scares the fuck out of me!” I just spilled all that out and Gunner was just standing there staring at me with no emotion on his face. I had to sit down.

Oh, shit . . . I think I’m going to throw up. Oh God, I can’t breathe!

I walked over and sat down on one of the chairs. I leaned my head down into my hands and cursed myself for being so stupid. How could I put my whole heart out there like that? Oh my God.

You will never be wanted by anyone . . .

I heard Gunner put the basket down and walk over to me. He got down on his knees and just stayed like that. What was he waiting for? What was he doing? I slowly lifted my head to look at him. What was I going to see? Probably pity in his eyes. Just because he said he loved me doesn’t mean he wants to spend the rest of his life with me.

When I looked up, I let out a gasp. Gunner had tears streaming down his face! Holy hell . . .

“Gunner, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

The next thing I knew he put his head down in my lap and just . . . cried. I was shocked. I picked up my hand and started running it through his hair. Why in the world was he so upset?

“Gunner, I’m so sorry if I made you upset. I . . . I don’t know why I just told you all of that. I completely understand if you don’t feel the same way about me—”

“Ellie, stop talking.”

I instantly stopped talking. He looked up at me and had the most breathtaking smile on his face. I didn’t mean to, but I smiled back at him.

“When you told me earlier that you loved me . . . I just can’t even begin to tell you happy you made me. For you to tell me that you saw marrying me, having kids with me, and living out here with me in your future . . . I feel like I could explode, I’m so fucking happy right now. I know we are so raw right now, and it’s way too soon to even be talking about this, but goddamn it Ellie. I want nothing more than to do exactly what you just said and do it with only you, baby.”

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

“I love you, Ellie.”

“I love you, too. 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.

“That 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 saw Ari asleep in a chair with her book open. She looked 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 asshole’s arm candy.

“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 more comfortable in bed.” Just then Jefferson came downstairs.

“I thought I heard y’all. Did you have fun looking at the stars, Ells?”

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

Jefferson just looked 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 gentleman to do anything like that!”

Gunner let out a laugh. “Jesus, dude, give me a little bit more credit than that.”

Jefferson looked 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 up when she’s in a deep sleep.”

We tried for ten minutes to wake her up. Finally, 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 closest to the door,” I said as he walked by and headed up the stairs with Gunner 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 looked at him and smiled. He instantly stopped moving and just looked 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 hand up to her cheek and smiled.

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

“Figures,” Jefferson said as he shook his 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 took me in his arms and gave me a wonderful good night kiss. So wonderful I didn’t want it to end. He pulled away and smiled at me.

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

“Always!”

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

I sat up quickly to look at Ari. I had to tell her or I was going to burst! Just then I heard her snore. Nope, there would be no way to wake her up. I’d have to wait until tomorrow morning.

I tiptoed into the bathroom, changed, and brushed my teeth. As soon as I laid down on the pillow, I drifted off into a dream.

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