FUCK….it had been too long since I laid my eyes on her beautiful face.

“Well, I guess I’m about to see if Ari still hates me.” Jeff said with a chuckle. I pulled up behind Ari’s jeep and my eyes caught Ellie’s. My God….her smile just does me in every time.

Jeff hopped out of the truck first and then I got out, never taking my eyes away from hers. I thought for sure she would go up to Jeff first but I was shocked when she started running over to me. I just stopped in my tracks. She ran and slammed into me so hard I almost lost my balance.

I just held her as tight as I could and breathed in her smell. God I’ve missed her so much.

“Fuck Ellie I’ve missed you.” I whispered as I kissed the side of her head and held her even tighter and lifted her off the ground.

“Gunner! Thank you so much for coming over! I’ve missed you too.” I gently set her back on the ground. When she looked up at me she had the sweetest smile on her face. I bent down and brushed her lips gently with mine. The fact that Jeff was standing here watching all of this left me a bit….uneasy. Ellie sucked in a breath as our lips touched. Holy hell I wanted to just kiss the shit out of her right now. She must have been feeling the same way because she opened her eyes and looked up at me and started to laugh.

“What do you need help with sweetheart….the Calvary has arrived to help with whatever needs moving!” I said as I looked up at Jeff who was now just looking over at Ari.

“Hey Ari how’s it going?” Jeff said as Ellie walked up and gave him a hug.

“It’s going good. I hear y’all are having a party for Brad tonight for his birthday.” Ari said back to Jeff. I could tell she was trying very hard to act like everything was back to normal.

“Um, yeah did Amanda tell y’all?”

“Yep she did. So are we invited to this little party? Ellie and I are going to need a break after moving today.” Ari said as she winked at Ellie. Ellie looked back up to me and smiled.

I got to hand it to Ari….she was Oscar worthy.

“Yeah sure, I mean y’all are always invited to our parties. That’s an open invitation. Feel free to bring anyone with you if you want.” Jeff said as he walked over and started to pick up a box that was on the ground by Ari’s Jeep.

“Cool….but it will just be Ellie and me tonight. There’s more stuff in the house that is too heavy for me to carry if you don’t mind getting it.” Ari said as she moved towards the front door with Jeff following her on her heels.

I leaned down to Ellie and whispered, “Nice…is that her way of letting Jeff know Jason will not be joining us tonight?”

Ellie tried not to but she let out a laugh. “YEP! He is gone for at least a month….back packing in Europe with his dad and brother. To be honest Gunner, I don’t even think Ari likes him.”

“Well she must like him some to have slept with him.” I said as I looked back up towards the house.

“Ahhhh yeah about that….can you keep a secret?”

“Will I get to kiss you if I say yes?” I said as I wiggled my eyebrows up and down. Ellie instantly blushed. Shit…jumpage in my pants again. I had to move to try and adjust my growing problem.

“Yes…yes you will!”

“Well then I am all ears. Spill it.”

Ellie looked back up at the house, the front door was open and it looked like Mark was talking to Jeff and Ari.

“Ari never slept with Jason she just said that to make Jefferson jealous.”

Whoa…wait….

“WHAT?!” I shouted a little too loud. Jeff poked his head out of the door.

“Is everything okay?” He looked between Ellie and me.

“Oh yeah dude. Ellie just told me…… um…..a joke that I didn’t get.” Jeff gave me a strange look and then turned back to Mark and Ari.

I pulled Ellie to the other side of my truck.

“First things first…..”

I leaned down and brushed my lips against hers. She reached up and put her arms around my neck so I deepened the kiss. God the moment I felt her tongue against mine my knees almost buckled out from underneath me. I let out a small moan that made Ellie smile. I pulled back away from her and gave her a smile in return.

“Goddamn I’ve been dreaming of doing that again sweetheart.”

Ellie giggled and looked back around to see where Jeff and Ari where.

Now back to this other bullshit.

“Okay, so you mean to tell me that Ari is still an um, you know, an um….”

“Virgin? Yes she is. She was upset the morning she called Jefferson. She was in hysterics when she told me what she did and was so upset for trying to hurt Jefferson. I tried to tell her she needed to tell him the truth but in her mind she thinks this will help them both to move on. I of course think she is making a huge mistake but it’s not my place to get involved. Please don’t tell Jefferson, Gunner.”

“Of course I won’t say anything but shit….why can’t they see how they both feel? I want to just knock their heads together!”

“What the hell are you two doing over there? This is a family home for Christ sakes!” I heard Ari shout. I looked down at Ellie and right on cue….there went the blush in her cheeks.

“Come on let’s get you moved into your new digs!”

The whole time we helped them move the little amount of stuff they had I kept thinking about what Ellie had told me about Ari. Watching Jeff and Ari together they seemed to be loosening up again and becoming more relaxed around each other. Jeff even asked Ari to stop talking when she was rattling on about something and she replied with a f**k off dickwad. Yep I would say things were getting back to normal.

Once we got everything into the guest house and Jeff set up their new flat screen TV for them it was lunch time.

“Goddamn…I know where we’re coming to watch football. This f**ker is huge!” Jeff said as he sat back on the sofa.

“So where do y’all want to go for lunch?” Ari asked as she sat on the sofa next to Jeff.

“How about burgers, Mighty Fine sound good?” Jeff asked as he looked around to each of us.

“That sounds MIGHTY FINE to me!” Ari said as she jumped up and grabbed her keys. I’m driving….the weather is too nice not to take the jeep.

As we started to walk out to Ari’s jeep Ellie held me back. Just by me holding her hand it made my stomach do all sorts of flips and dives. Jeff and Ari had walked out the door and were heading to the jeep.

“What’s up sweetheart, everything okay?”

“No…..no it’s not okay.” She said with a serious look on her face. Oh shit. I started to replay the whole morning in my head. Did I say something? What the f**k did I do?

“What is it Ells? What’s wrong?” I asked her as my heart started to beat out of control. Things were just getting back to normal. NO…better than normal. We were passed the whole friends status.

“It’s just that I really need you to kiss me, like right now.” She said with a smile that melted my heart right there on the spot.

Well shit….just when I thought it couldn’t get any better.

“Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to kiss you Ellie.” I said as I reached down and hugged her around her waist. She giggled when I lifted her up and took her lips with mine. Fuck….if my dick was not getting hard again. I just wanted to walk over to the sofa with her and make out. Touch her body and make her feel things she had never felt before.

Just as the kiss was moving from sweet and innocent to passionate and needy….Ari honked the horn. Ellie started laughing and even though I just wanted to shout out FUCK, I started to put Ellie back down. She had a huge smile on her face that only made me smile right back at her.

“Was that what you were looking for?” I asked as I gave her a wink.

She smiled and punched me in the arm. “YES! But more than anything I love the way you pick me up and hold me close to you.” Right on cue……the blush crept up her cheeks. I’ll never get tired of it.

“That is just one of the many things I would love to do to you.”

Ari honked again but this time she laid on the horn for a good five seconds. Ellie and I both laughed and started to walk out the door.

“She is probably pissed she is sitting in the jeep alone with Jefferson!” Ellie said with a laugh.

After lunch we drove and picked up a few items for Brad’s birthday party before heading back to the girls cottage. Ari had sent a text message to their friend Heather and asked if she wanted to come tonight since Amanda would also be there with Brad.

“You better warn your friend Heather that Josh had his eyes on her.” Jeff said with a wink towards Ari and Ellie.

“SHIT! All the bastard talked about every time I danced with him was Heather. F**ker had a hard on all night and it was NOT from dancing with me!” Ari said as she pulled the last bag for the party out of her jeep and walked it over to my truck.

Somehow nothing that came out of this girl’s mouth shocked me. Ari was actually a perfect match for Jeff. If only they could both see it.

“Okay well um, I guess we will see y’all later tonight right?” Jeff said has he looked between Ellie and Ari. His eyes lingered a little bit longer on Ari though……….did Ari just blush?

“YEP! We have to pick up Heather on the way there but we will be there around what 7?” Ellie said as she just stared at me and smiled. I couldn’t even think with her looking at me like that.

“Yeah, seven is good honey.” Jeff said as he walked up and gave Ellie a kiss on the check. He turned and starting to walk towards Ari who was leaning up against her jeep. I saw her whole body tense up.

“I’ll see ya later then.” Jeff said as he reached around her and into the jeep for his tea.

SHIT….for a moment there I thought he was going to lean down and kiss her. By the way Ari’s body language was she was thinking the same thing. He grabbed his tea, took a drink and winked at her. Once he turned around I could see Ari let out the breath she was holding.

I walked over to Ellie and put my mouth up against her ear. “I can’t wait to see you later sweetheart. Thank you for such a wonderful day.” I kissed the side of her face before I turned and walked over to my truck.

I jumped into the truck and looked up to see her smiling at me. I had to fight the urge to jump back out and kiss her again. I waved goodbye as I pulled out of their small driveway onto the main drive leading off the property. I looked over at Jeff who had a shit eating grin on his face.

“You want to tell me what that was all about?” I asked as Jeff turned to look at me.

“I think we should invite Ellie and Ari to go to the ranch with us. Your grandmother and grandfather would love to meet Ellie.” Jeff said as he started to go through my iPod.

“Funny you should mention that ‘cause I was thinking about it earlier this morning when we were helping them move. You think they would both want to come?”

“I know Ellie is dying to get out into the country air. She has talked about moving to the country since she was a little girl so I know she’ll be excited to go.”