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Автор книги: Kelly Elliott

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CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

HEATHER

The moment the front door closed, I fell to the ground and cried. What did I just do? I had never in my life felt the way I did when Josh was kissing me. I’d wanted nothing more than to tell him that I needed him, heart and soul.

He must have waited to see if I’d come after him. After a few minutes, I heard him start up his truck before he drove off.

He left.

He just walked away from me and never looked back.

Oh. My. God. Feeling sick to my stomach, I jumped up and ran to the bathroom. Just when I didn’t think I could throw up any more, another round of nausea hit me. Sitting down on the bathroom floor, I leaned back against the wall. I touched my fingers up to my lips as I closed my eyes.

Princess, look at me. I’d never do anything that you weren’t ready to do, Heather. Ever.

Why did he call me princess?

I thought back to my sixteenth birthday.

***

“Daddy, why can’t I see where we’re going?”

“Princess, you really need to have more patience. You’ll get to see it soon enough.”

Daddy was taking me to get my birthday present, but he wouldn’t let me see what it was.

“Okay, we’re here. Hold on. Let me go around and open your door.”

The next thing I knew, Daddy was holding my hand, leading me somewhere. I could hear people talking, but then it got really quiet. I felt warm breath up against my ear.

“Happy birthday, darling,” my mother whispered in my ear.

My heart started to pound. Mom was here?

“Okay, princess, are you ready for your surprise?”

“Yes, Daddy! I’ve been ready for like the last hour!”

I heard my mom and dad laugh. Someone took off the blind fold, and then I opened my eyes. We were in the parking lot of my favorite restaurant, The Oasis. I saw Ellie and Ari standing there with huge smiles on their faces. My whole family and a few close friends were all here.

“Oh my gosh, is everyone here for my birthday?” I said, looking at my mom and then my dad.

“Princess, take a good look around.”

I turned toward Ellie and Ari, and then I noticed Ari was leaning up against a white Nissan Pathfinder with a huge bow on it.

I spun around and looked at my parents. “You didn’t?”

My dad laughed and then smiled at me. “We did.”

“Daddy, I don’t even have my driver’s license yet. I can’t drive it. I’m too afraid to drive it! Oh my gosh, who’s going to drive it home? Do we have to leave it here?”

Putting his hand on my shoulders, he looked into my eyes. I wasn’t even sure why I was panicking.

“Princess, look at me. I’d never make you do anything you weren’t ready to do. You can drive the car, baby girl, when you’re ready.”

***

Putting my head down on my knees, I just cried. The moment when Josh had said almost those exact words to me, memories of my father had instantly flooded into my mind.

I couldn’t believe that Josh had also called me princess. He hadn’t known that my dad had called me that. At first, I had liked it, but then something had happened. When he’d kissed me, I had fallen even more in love with him.

I couldn’t let him get close to me. What if something happened to him, making him leave me like my parents did? I just couldn’t let that happen to me again. I wouldn’t let that happen to me again.

I thought about what Josh had said right before he’d left.

“I have feelings for you. Honestly, I feel things for you I’ve never in my life felt for any other girl, and that scares the shit out of me. I don’t want to walk away from you, but if you tell me that you don’t have feelings for me, then I’ll leave. I won’t ever bring it up again.”

Oh. My.God. I’d let him walk away from me. I’d just let him walk right out of my life. The hurt that I had seen in his eyes would haunt me for the rest of my life.

Just then, my cell phone rang.

I slowly got up and made my way into the living room. By the time I got my purse and pulled the phone out, it had stopped ringing. I had secretly hoped that it was Josh, but instead, I saw that I had missed a call from Ellie.

My voice mail notification went off. After I hit the button to retrieve the message, I turned on the speaker phone.

“Holy hell, Heather! What happened with you and Josh? He just called Gunner, and he was so upset that Gunner could hardly understand what he was saying. Josh said something about going to get drunk. Before he hung up, he said he’d see us Wednesday. Please call me back on the land line at Emma and Garrett’s.”

I hit delete and then tossed my phone on the sofa. I had a sick feeling in my stomach. What if he went out, got drunk, and slept with some girl? I’d over-heard Josh telling Jeff that he hadn’t had sex in months. I knew he was doing it for me. I threw myself back into the sofa.

Shit! I just made the biggest mistake of my life. I let out the loudest scream I could. What is wrong with me? What did that stupid therapist say? It was something about me needing to let go of the past to move on with my future.

Is Josh my future? I could certainly see him in my future. As I closed my eyes, I imagined what it would be like to make love to him. Would he be sweet and gentle or full of passion and lust?

I had so wanted to take off his shirt earlier, just to get a good look at his chest. I’d seen him without a shirt plenty of times. He had tattoos going up and down his arms, but the tribal tattoo that he had on his side was my favorite. Ugh!

Sitting up, I grabbed my phone. After I pulled up his number, I just sat there, staring at it for a few minutes. Then, I finally hit dial.

The phone rang and rang. Damn it Josh, answer the phone.

I hung up when I got his voice mail.

I waited ten more minutes, and then I called him again. This time, when I got his voice mail, I decided to leave a message.

“Hey, Josh…um, it’s me, Heather. Listen, I shouldn’t have let you leave like that. I’m sorry for what I said. Is there any way that you could maybe call me back or come back over so we can talk? I’ll be home all night.”

After I watched two movies, I hit the gym. I came back home, and there was still no word from Josh. I decided to call him one more time. If he didn’t answer, then I’d know that he didn’t want to talk to me.

The ringing stopped, and then all I heard was lots of voices and music. It sounded like a bar. Oh shit.

“Josh? Hey, it’s Heather. Can you hear me?”

“Um...this isn’t Josh. It’s Marie. Josh is dancing right now.”

“Okay, why are you answering his phone, Marie?”

“He left it here, sitting on the bar, and I saw your name pop up. He’s been talking about you all night long, sweetheart. My girlfriend, Jen, and I are out for a girls’ night. We’ve been trying to keep the vultures away from him.”

I was so mad that I was shaking from head to toe. “Is he drunk?”

She started laughing again. “Ah, you could say. Listen, do you want to come get him? I can drive his car back to your place, and Jen can follow me. He seems like he really loves you. I’d hate to have some whore try to hook up with him tonight.”

Wow, this is unexpected. “Okay, yeah. Where are y’all?”

“Fado’s.”

“I’ll be there as soon as I can, but I’m not twenty one, so I can’t come in.”

Marie gave me her cell phone number to call when I got there. I grabbed my purse and headed out the door.

***

By the time Marie and Jen had helped me get a drunker-than-drunk Josh in my apartment and into my bed, we had become close friends. It turns out they had been keeping the girls away from him all night since all Josh did was talk about me.

“Let me just tell you this, Heather. That boy passed out on your bed right there is madly in love with you. He wouldn’t stop talking about you all night. I hope y’all can work things out. He seems like a nice guy,”

I stood there, stunned. Josh was talking about me? To these women? I looked down to see that they both had on wedding rings.

After Marie and Jen left, I sat down on the bed and watched Josh sleep. He looked so cute passed out on my bed.

I had the sudden urge to just crawl into bed to lie down next to him. Would he be angry if I did?

After the things I had said to him earlier, he was probably so pissed at me. Maybe I was just dreaming here. The way Marie had said he’d acted all night could’ve just been the alcohol talking. He’d probably only wanted in my pants.

Despite my doubts, I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. He opened his eyes and gave me a crooked-ass smile that just about melted off my panties. Jesus, now, I understand what Ari and Ellie were talking about.

“Hey, princess, I must be dreaming right now,” Josh mumbled.

When I smiled down at him, he closed his eyes.

Yeah, I better sleep in the spare room or on the sofa. I grabbed a pillow and headed out to the living room. Tomorrow, I would talk to Josh about how I felt. I needed to be honest with him about my feelings. If he was willing to be patient and go slow, I thought I might be able to get used to the idea of letting someone back into my heart.

***

I heard a noise and flew up off the sofa. I must have fallen asleep out here. I looked around and didn’t see anyone. My head was pounding. I picked up my phone, and I had three text messages.

The first one was from Ellie. She said that Gunner’s mom and dad got in last night. The only word she used to describe it was “awkward”.

Ari sent a text, asking if I was coming out today and staying the night. She wanted me to stay with her and Jeff. That might work. I thought that Josh had mentioned that we was there with them.

The third text was from...Josh?

Josh: I’m sorry you had to come out so late last night, but thanks for letting me crash at your place. I’m guessing Jen or Marie asked you to pick me up. Anyway, thanks again. See you either today or tomorrow in Mason.

Wait…what? I jumped up and ran into my bedroom. The bed was made, and Josh was gone.

I ran back out to the living room and grabbed my cell. I pulled up Josh’s number and hit call.

“Hey, Heather.” Was all Josh said when he answered. He sounded so sad.

“Hey, Josh. Why did you leave without waking me up? I kind of wanted to talk to you about um…well, about yesterday.”

There was a long pause.

“I think you made yourself pretty clear yesterday, Heather. I’m really not in the mood for any more rejection.”

His voice was so cold and distant.

“Okay, I guess I deserve that, but do you think we might be able to talk? I mean, I’d kind of like to explain my reaction yesterday.”

“I think it was clear what your reaction was.”

Oh wow.

“Listen, I’m on my way to Mason in a little bit. Maybe we can talk there. Are you heading out today or early tomorrow?” Josh said.

My hands started to shake. The threat of tears was starting to overwhelm me.

“I’m…ah…” I paused when my voice cracked. I had to clear my throat twice before I could speak again. “I’m heading out today.”

“Alright…well, I guess I’ll see ya when you get there. I’m sorry, but I need to go, I have another call coming through.”

“Oh, okay…sure, yeah. I’ll talk to ya later.”

I hung up the phone with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Why did I get the feeling that I probably just lost the best thing that’s happened to me since the death of my parent’s?

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

JEFF

I couldn’t believe it’s was Tuesday morning, and Mr. Reynolds was heading out now to look at the place. I had no idea where Ari was. She’d been pissed ever since I’d jumped on her about the whole restraining-order shit.

As I headed out onto the porch, I saw a white F 250 pull up.

Motherfucker. He was early, and I had no idea where the hell Ari was. I stepped down off the porch and walked over to his truck. The guy that got out was young.

“Mr. Reynolds, it’s a real pleasure to meet your sir.”

“How’s it going, Jeff? Please, call me Scott.” We shook hands and gave each a good once-over. This bastard couldn’t have been more than five or six years older than me.

“I can tell by your expression that you’re wondering who the hell the young guy is standing in front of you,” He said with a laugh.

I smiled back at him. “As a matter of fact I am.”

“I’m Scott Reynolds, Jr. My father is good friends with Garrett. I’m actually taking over my father’s ranch, so he thought it would best if I came and met with you, to check out your place.”

“Sounds great. So, you probably know Gunner? Were you at the wedding?”

He started to laugh. “Yeah, I know Gunner really well. We used to be buds when we were growing up. I couldn’t wait for the summers when I knew he was coming to visit. He’s a good guy. I was at the wedding, but I left right after the ceremony. One of my mares foaled, so I had to leave early. It was a beautiful ceremony. Your sister is breathtakingly beautiful.”

“Um, thanks. She’s pretty special, that’s for sure. Anyway, do you want to head down to the barn, check out the stables, and all?”

“I’d loved to. How many broodmares do you have so far?”

“Right now, I have four. Two of them are on the Mathews’ place.”

“Are any of them pregnant?”

“One.”

As we made our way over to my truck, I realized that this guy really knew his shit about horses. He was asking me every goddamn thing under the sun.

“I used to come to this ranch when I was little. I had a friend we called Smitty. He used to come and visit his grandparents here. You’ve really done an amazing job of getting it fixed up,” Scott said.

“Thank you. I appreciate that. We’ve been putting a lot of blood and sweat into it, that’s for sure.”

“What made you decide on breeding horses?” Scott asked.

I parked my truck as we pulled up to the barn. I turned and just smiled at him.

“My fiancé. She has a passion for horses. She’s really is the one who wants to train them for roping and barrel racing.”

“Has she ever done either of those?” he asked with a smirk.

“Yes, sir, she has,” I said with a smirk of my own.

As we walked up to the barn, I could hear Ari singing. When we rounded the corner, I saw her mucking out the stalls, her back facing us. She was listening to her iPod. The only thing I could see was Ari moving her fucking hips as she danced with a pitch-fork while singing loudly to Christina Aguilera’s “WooHoo.”

“Did she just say ‘you know you wanna put lips where my hips are’?” Scott asked.

Kill me now. “Ari,” I said, trying not to shout at her. “Arr? Ari!” I shouted.

Nope, nothing. She was still dancing and singing. Reaching down, I picked up a horse brush and threw it at her, hitting her right on the ass.

“What the fuck?” Ari said as she whipped around.

She gave me a dirty look, but then she noticed Scott standing there. She immediately ripped the head phones out of her ears and smiled.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry, y’all. What time is it?”

“It’s around nine,” I said.

Ari looked back over at me. Her cheeks were blushed either from dancing or being embarrassed. She looked so damn cute…and I was pissed as hell at her.

“Ari, this is Scott Reynolds, Mr. Reynold’s son. He’s taking over his father’s business.”

Ari put the pitch-fork up against the stall before she made her way over to us. I looked over at Scott, who couldn’t seem to pull his eyes away from Ari. I took another look at her and instantly knew why.

She was wearing a pair of cut-off blue jean shorts, a white tank top, and a pair of pink cowboy boots. She looked fucking hot.

Ari quickly wiped her hands on the ass of her shorts and then reached out to shake Scott’s hand.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Reynolds. I’m so sorry. I didn’t think you would be here until around noon,” Ari said with that damn smile of hers.

The fucking bastard let his eyes travel up and down Ari, and I swore that he looked at her damn breasts for good ten seconds.

“I had an appointment cancel this morning, so I sent Jeff a text, saying that I would be here earlier. And the pleasure is all mine.”

I looked at Ari again to see that she was blushing even more.

***

We spent the next few hours talking about the horses, the barn, the broodmares, and the studs. If it had to do with horses, we talked about it. Most of the time, Scott was a little too interested in Ari. He asked her a million questions about her wanting to train the horses for barrel racing and roping.

“Well, Jeff, it seems to me that you have a really nice set-up here. I’m really looking forward to doing business with you. I would love to see a few of your mares take some barrels. Ari, maybe you could demonstrate that for me,” he said with a smile on his face.

Ari smiled back, giving him a bring-it-on look.

“You bet I’ll demonstrate for you,” Ari said as her face flushed again.

What the fuck?

“Well then, how about right now?”

Ari looked stunned, but she agreed. She left to go saddle up a horse she’d been working with the last few months.

***

Scott must have liked the demonstration because he wanted to know how soon he could bring his stud out. The mare Ari rode was obviously in heat. The horse was moody, and I could tell that Ari was working extra hard with her.

While she was taking off the saddle from the mare, I pulled Ari off to the side.

“Ari, why did you ride Rose if you knew she was in heat? She’s already a feisty-ass horse?”

Ari just looked at me, and then she glanced over my shoulder and smiled. I turned around to see Scott walking into the barn. I was ready to fucking hit him square in the nose if he kept looking at Ari the way he was.

“So, how about I bring out Samson? Let’s say Friday?” Scott said as he looked at me. Then, He watched as Ari took care of Rose.

“Sure, Friday sounds great, Scott.” I shook his hand.

Then, he walked up to Ari and shook her hand.

“BY the way, I loved the song choice Ari. I’m sure you keep the horses very entertained.” He winked at Ari and started to laugh.

Fucker.

Ari laughed back and there went that blush across her cheeks. I noticed she kept putting her hand on her stomach. Is she feeling sick again?

***

I took Scott back to his truck and made all the arrangements for Friday. Right as he was driving off, Ari came up to the house in her Jeep.

She walked up to me and smiled. “He sure was nice, and he seemed really interested in working with us.”

Something inside me snapped. “Oh yeah. Especially after he heard you singing about fucking oral sex, he got really interested in a lot more than the horses.”

Ari looked at me, stunned. “What?”

“Ari, I’m not in the mood for your damn games. You knew the guy was attracted to you, and you played it up the best you could. You being jealous of Rebecca and trying to get my attention is starting to get old.” I started to walk into the house, fully expecting her to lash out right back at me. Before I went in, I turned around to look at her.

She was just standing there, staring at me. There was no emotion what-so-ever in her eyes. Her hands were resting on her stomach, she started to shake her head back and forth. She looked down at the ground and then back up at me.

When she started to run up to me, I thought she was going to run into my arms. Instead, she pushed me out of the way and ran into the house.

“Ari…fuck, wait a minute. I didn’t mean to say that…” I stopped talking when I saw her run into the bathroom.

She fell to the floor and started throwing up. Shit!

I walked up behind her and bent down next to her.

“Baby, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to take out my frustration on you.”

“Leave me alone Jeff. I really don’t want to see you right now, let alone talk to you.”

I stood back up with tears stinging my eyes. Why do I keep hurting her?

As I turned to walk out the door, she whispered something I couldn’t hear.

“What did you say, Ari?”

“It doesn’t even matter anymore. If you can give me about thirty minutes to get cleaned up, I’d like to head up and meet Gunner’s parents.”

“Um, okay sure.” I turned and headed toward the kitchen.

I could have sworn that she’d said something about how stupid she was to even think of telling me. Telling me what?

***

The moment she walked out of the bedroom in a beautiful sundress and cowboy boots, I just wanted to take her in my arms and kiss her. When I walked up to her, she took a step back.

“Ari, I’m so sorry, baby. You know I didn’t mean what I said. I was frustrated. I think I was looking to pick a fight because that fucker wouldn’t stop looking at you and flirting with you. It drove me nuts.”

She stood up just a little taller and square her shoulders off. “It’s fine, Jeff. Let’s just forget it and move on,” she with absolutely no emotion in her voice.

I took another step toward her, and this time, she took one toward me. Leaning down, I captured her lips with mine.

“I love you, Ari. More than anything in this world, I love you.”

She smiled up at me, but her smile didn’t touch her eyes.

I was slowly losing her, and it was nobody’s fault but my own.