I’d 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, stand still, and let me put your top on before Dewey gets here!”

Jefferson sounded panicked. I swam over and took the top out of his hand and gave him a look. I helped Ari put her top on just as Dewey jumped out of his truck with two other guys and two girls.

“Who are they, Gunner?” Jeff asked as he looked over at Dewey’s truck.

“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 looked 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 run his hand through his hair. He only did that when he was worried, or if something was wrong. 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 the truck and took 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 the ranch. I also told him if he ever did it again, 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,” Ari said. “I kind of lost the desire to go swimming and fishing thanks to dickwad here!”

Jeff let out a laugh and looked Ari up and down. I just shook my head. Gunner put his shirt back on, walked over to me, and handed me my clothes.

“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, as 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 crooked 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 started to laugh.

The rest of the afternoon was perfect. Well, almost perfect—Ari and Jeff argued almost nonstop. When Ari challenged Jeff to a horse race, I thought I was going to scream out with joy. After they took off Gunner and I made a beeline down to the south pasture and slowly walked along the riverbank while the horses 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 wrap my legs around him for a repeat of last night, but the idea of Jefferson or Ari riding up on us had me thinking otherwise.

Speaking of, I could hear the two of them bitching at each other. I sighed loudly and Gunner 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 horses and put them in their stalls, Gunner and Jefferson gave them all fresh hay. We made our way back up to the ranch house where Emma was making lasagna. Oh, man, it smelled heavenly!

Ari and I headed upstairs to clean up and get ready for dinner. Ari was not acting like herself—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 a pillow and screamed in it. Shit, this was probably going to be bad.

“Why can he not admit he has feelings 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 the next he is pushing me away as hard as he can. I just don’t get it! Is 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 looks at my body like he wants to devour me. I. Am. So. Fucking. Confused.”

I wish I knew what to say to Ari. I understood where Jefferson was coming from. 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 needed to sit down and talk with him.

“Ari, are you happy with Jason?”

Ari sat up and looked at me, confused. She sat there too 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 pining 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 eyebrow up at her.

She let out a sigh and fell 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 poked 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 slapped 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 cook. 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 looked 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 looked up at me and winked. Cue the butterflies in my stomach.

Tonight the girls cleaned 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 look before the conversation changed.

After the dishes were cleaned up, we all went outside to sit on the porch. Even though it was damn near close to 100 degrees during the day, the nights were wonderful out at the ranch. The breeze blew was just enough to cool you off. Well, that and a glass of Emma’s sweet tea. Good God, she made the best damn sweet tea I’d ever had. Jefferson and Garrett seemed to be deep in conversation as I noticed Gunner standing up against the railing looking 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 looked around like everyone might be able to read my thoughts. Gunner turned right then, tilted 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 looked 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 we going too fast, sweetheart? I’ll slow things down if this is moving too fast for you. The last thing I want to do is spook 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’re moving too fast, okay?”

“Okay, but really all I want to do is sneak away, go up to your room for a little bit, and make out,” Gunner said as he wiggled 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 orgasm felt like. I made sure to give Ari an earful first thing this morning when we woke up and I told her what happened with Gunner the night before. I thought her scream was going to wake up everyone in the house! She hopped onto my bed and told me to spill, so I did. Turns out Miss Smarty Pants has only ever had one, and it was self-induced while she was dreaming about Jefferson. Ewww, that much I didn’t need to know, but it was already out of her mouth before she could take it back.

Gunner was yawning like crazy. I knew he was tired. Emma said he and Jefferson both got up at 4:00 a.m. to work on the fence.

“Gunner, babe, why don’t you go to bed? You’re exhausted,” I said as I looked up into those beautiful blue eyes.

“Will you come with me?”

“Ahh, no—”

“Can I come lay down with you then?” Gunner whispered.

“No!” Yes . . .

Then I noticed Jefferson stand up and shake Garrett’s hand. He leaned down, kissed Emma good night, and gave Ari a faint nod good night. He walked up to me and kissed me good night as he slapped Gunner on the back.

Then, it was like dominoes. They all started dropping. Garrett and Emma excused themselves and said they were retiring to their room. Drake said he was going to kick his son Dewey’s ass. Gunner must have told him about this afternoon down by the river. Ari headed up right after Dewey left, and all that was left was Gunner and me. I could see he was fighting to stay awake just to be with me. I started to fake yawn and said I was really tired. That was all it took. Gunner jumped up, turned everything off downstairs, and we walked up the stairs hand in hand.

In my mind I imagined we were married and there was a little girl with curly hair running up the steps in front of us with Gunner promising to read her a bedtime story. The thought made me smile, and I glanced over at Gunner. He looked so tired.

What would life be like for him if he worked here full time? Would he always be so tired? God, he even looked handsome when he was exhausted. Oh, how I loved him.

Gunner walked me to the bedroom door and leaned down to kiss me. He deepened the kiss and it nearly took the breath from my lungs. He pulled away and pushed a piece of hair behind my ear.

“Ellie . . .” That was all he said to me, but it meant so much more. I could feel it in my heart. I smiled at him, and I instantly got lost in his eyes. It was like he was trying to memorize every bit of me to take with him.

He leaned down and gave me a kiss that he pulled away from too damn quick. He turned and headed to his room.

I opened the door and stepped inside. As I closed it, I leaned back against the door. My heart was beating so fast I could hear it in my ears. This man had bewitched me. I would forever be his. God, I hoped he wouldn’t get tired of me or fall for someone else. I would be devastated. This felt too perfect, too right. I was just waiting for the floor to fall out from underneath me. It was bound to happen, I just wished I knew when.

You will never be wanted by anyone . . .