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We hadn’t been together in three months. I
didn’t want to rush this. I wanted to show her how much I needed
her. I wanted to make her forget for just a little bit.

I started to kiss her neck and then slowly
moved up to her ear. “Take off your clothes, Ari,” I whispered as I
stood back to look at her.

For the first time in months, I saw a fire in
my girl’s eyes. Ari stepped back and started to peel off the
T-shirt that was plastered to her body. Slowly, she began taking
off her white lace bra. My dick was getting harder by the
second.

She dropped her bra on top of her shirt, and
then she gave me the smile that I’d do anything for. I let my eyes
move up and down her beautiful body.

Stepping forward, I hooked my finger on the
belt loops of her jean shorts and pulled her to me.

“Take off all your clothes.”

She unbuttoned her shorts
slide them down her wet body. I didn’t think I’d ever been as
turned on as I was in this very moment. Just the sight of her had
me going insane.
I love this girl more
than anything.

She stepped back and raised her eyebrows at
me. “Do you really think it’s romantic to make love on my horse’s
blanket?”

I couldn’t pull my eyes away from her lips.
“Yes, I think making love to you anywhere would be romantic as long
as we are together.”

With a smile, Ari walked up to me and pulled
me closer to her. “It’s your turn to strip, you bastard, if you
know what’s good for you,” she said with a wink.

I didn’t think that I’d ever
taken off soaking wet clothes that fast before in my life. The
moment her hands touched my body, I sucked in a breath of
air.
Fuck, I’ve missed her touch.
I was trying so hard to think of anything other
than her touch that was driving me crazy.

She started to kiss my chest from one side to
the other. Then, she dropped to her knees and took me in her mouth.
I swore that almost came on the spot.

“Ari, baby, I don’t think I can hold off if
you keep doing that.”

She let out a small moan that just made me
combust.

I reached down and pulled her up to me.

“I want to be inside you. Now.”

“Well, who am I to deny that command, Mr.
Johnson?”

Ari slowly lowered herself down onto the
blanket. I moved over her and started to kiss her face, then her
neck and moved down to her chest where I gave each nipple equal
attention.

Ari let out moan after moan.

“Oh god, Jeff. I’ve miss you so much.”

“Baby, you don’t know how much I’ve missed
you.”

I continued kissing down her stomach to her
hips. She grabbed my hair and pulled me back up to her to capture
my mouth with hers. The second she bit down on my lip, I knew I
couldn’t wait any longer. Inch by inch, I slowly started to enter
her body. All the while, I never once stopped showering kisses on
her.

I gently moved in and out of her warm body.
“Are you okay, baby? Am I hurting you at all?”

“Please don’t stop, Jeff. You feel so good.
I’m so sorry that I’ve been pushing you away. Please just love
me.”

I brushed my lips against hers, and then I
kissed her deeply. I pulled away to look into her beautiful green
eyes. “I love you so much, Arianna. I hope you know how much I love
you.”

“Jeff...”

I rolled us over, letting her take control.
She’d never felt so good like she did this at this very moment. I
never wanted this to end. Ari smiled at me, and the next thing I
knew, she took us both to heaven and back.

***

I wasn’t sure how long we lay there in that
stall, listening to the rain, before one of us spoke.

“I’m sorry that I’ve been so out of sorts,
Jeff. It’s just.”

“Baby, you don’t have to explain anything to
me. I love you, Ari. I’ll never leave you...ever.”

Turning on her side to look at me, Ari
smiled. “I’m gonna hold your ass to that. I want to get
married.”

“I’m pretty sure I already asked you that,
and you said yes.” I lifted up her hand and kissed her ring.

Ari laughed and hit me in the stomach. “No, I
mean, I want to get married now, like right away. Let’s just go
somewhere and get married. We don’t need a big production. You and
me, babe. How does that sound?”

“Considering your father has already told me
that he wants his baby girl to have the wedding of her dreams, I’m
going to have to take his side on this one, baby.”

Sitting up, Ari pulled her legs to her chest
and gave me that wicked smile of hers.

“You talked to my father about the wedding?
When?”

“About three weeks ago. When they came out to
visit, he came down to the barn and we had what he called… ‘a nice
little chat about making my little girl happy forever or you will
pay dearly for the rest of your life’.”

“I love it! Okay, so deep down, I knew we
wouldn’t be able to get away with running off and getting hitched.
So when do you want to get married?”

I had to laugh.
I love this girl
. “As
soon as possible,” I said. Leaning up, I grabbed her by the back of
the neck and pulled her toward me. When I grabbed nipped her lower
lip, she let out a soft moan that brought my dick back to
attention.

“December? Can you wait until December to get
married?” Ari asked, moving to sit on me. She raised her eyebrows
and smiled at me as she started to impatiently circle her hips on
top of me.

“Well, I see there’s one thing you can’t wait
for.”

***

We spent the rest of the morning making love
and just talking in that stall. For the first time in months, I
actually felt like we were on the right road to happiness. Ari was
smiling, laughing, and talking about our future together, and I had
never in my life felt so fucking happy as I did with her in that
barn. I was getting my girl back.

Before we started to make our way back out
into the rain to head up to the house, I found another blanket and
wrapped it around Ari. Ellie was sure to be heading over to get Ari
soon.

Ari stopped and reached out
for my arm. I turned and looked at her. Her eyes were holding back
tears.
Fuck me.

“Can I ask you something?” she asked.

“Of course you can, baby always.”

“Can we try for another baby? I mean, I
haven’t been taking my pills, and we just...well, I mean what just
happened was so wonderful.”

I placed my hand on the side of her face and
smiled at her. She was breathtaking; the sight of her standing in
the rain, asking me if we could try for another baby, had me just
about falling on my knees.

“I want nothing more than to have children
with you, Ari. I’m ready, baby, whenever you are.”

She gave me that smile, and my heart dropped
to my stomach.

“Do you want a boy or a girl?” she asked me
with a wink.

“I want a healthy baby, but I won’t argue if
that healthy baby happens to be a boy,” I said with a small
laugh.

“I don’t care if we have a
boy or a girl. I’m thankful that I’m not a carrier of the Fragile X
gene, but I’ll love whatever God decides to give us. Earlier, Jeff,
when you were talking about the baby, you said
she’ll
always be with us. Do you
think it was a girl?”

“I don’t know. The moment I found out you
were carrying our baby, even just for those few seconds, I that I
was so happy. Something told me it was a girl. It’s stupid, I know.
I guess I’ve just always thought of the baby as a girl.”

Ari smiled slightly and reached up to kiss
me. When she pulled away, her smile grew.

“The second I found out I was pregnant, I
knew it was a girl. I felt it.”

“Well, here’s hoping we both feel the next
one is a boy. I seriously want him to kick ass on the football
field.”

Ari laughed as we started to make our way to
the house. When she turned and stared at me with that look, I knew
what she was about to do.

She winked at me and started to run toward
the house.

“Last one there has to muck out the stalls
tomorrow!”

I smiled and took off after her while she
laughed the whole way back to the house.

CHAPTER
FORTY-ONE

ARI

I’d never felt so alive as I did right at
this moment. Jeff’s touch alone seemed to snap me out of the funk I
had been in for the last few months. After we were back in the
house, we got into the shower, and he made love to me again. This
was probably one of the best mornings of my life.

***

Looking myself in the mirror, I put my hand
on my stomach. I smiled at the thought of Jeff referring to the
baby as a girl. Our little girl was in heaven, and she would always
being looking over us. She was our very own special angel. I knew
that with all my heart.

“I will never forget you, baby
girl…ever.”

I heard Jeff walk into the
house, arguing with Ellie.
Those two…I
swear.
Rolling my eyes, I reached for my
sweater since there was a cold front moving in. I knew my ass would
be buying one if I didn’t bring one.

I walked into the kitchen, and Ellie and Jeff
were in such a deep conversation that they didn’t even see me
standing there.

“She’s in rehab and asking to see us both.
What was I supposed to say, Jefferson? Grace and Jack were standing
right there when I got the call.”

“You should have told them to tell our mother
to go to hell.”

“Believe me, I wanted nothing more than to
say that, but instead, I said that I would talk to you about
it.”

“I don’t care that she’s in rehab, Ells, or
that part of her recovery process is to say she is sorry to us. She
can fuck off for all I care.”

I cleared my throat so that they both knew I
was there.

When Ellie turned to face
me, the smile that played across her face spoke volumes.
Well, holy hell, I must have a just-got-laid look
on my face.
She glanced back at Jeff and
smiled even bigger at him.

“Do you still want to do a girls’ day? I
packed my gym stuff, so we could hit Lifetime Fitness; I just want
one good workout in a real gym!” Ellie said.

“Fuck yeah, I still want a girls’ day! I have
my stuff packed, and I’m ready to go.”

I looked over at Jeff and gave him a wink. I
was so happy to see that smile on his face. I knew he’d been so
unhappy the last few months, and it was now going to be my goal to
make him happy every damn day.

***

It had been so long since
I’d laughed as much as I did on the drive into Austin.
God, this feels good.

Ellie picked Magnolia Café
for lunch. She talked me into getting a chicken salad sandwich on
some wheat-ass looking bread.
Ugh, healthy
shit.

The waitress brought out our food and put my
sandwich down in front of me.

I looked up at Ellie.

“Really? All I wanted was some mac and cheese
today, Ellie.”

“Stop bitching. We’re going to the gym, and
if you really want to get married in December, it’s time to start
eating healthy.”

“What the fuck is this green shit in
here?”

Ellie raised her eyebrow. “It’s spinach.”

“I can’t eat this shit.” I picked it off the
sandwich and set it to the side.

“After this, we’re going to get ice cream.” I
said before I took a bite of my sandwich.

“No way. No, I’m putting my foot down.”

“Stop being such a bitch to me, Ells. If I
want ice cream on my girls’ day, I’m getting ice cream, damn
it.”

***

After lunch, we got back into the car. Ellie
looked at me and smiled. She reached over to hit play on her car
stereo, and Christina Aguilera’s “Vanity” started.

We both looked at each other, and at the same
time, we said, “Hells yeah!”

The moment Ellie pulled into
Baskin-Robins I wanted to reach over and kiss her ass!
Oh god.
I wanted ice
cream so damn bad. I practically jumped out of the car and ran into
the place.

“Shit, Ari, it’s just ice cream. You act like
you’ve never had it before.”

“Listen, bitch, I haven’t felt this good in
months. If you’re draggin’ my ass to the gym, I’m gonna at least
have something to celebrate that shit.”

Ellie hung up from talking to Gunner and
raised her eyebrows at me.

“Holy hell, Ari, that’s the biggest sundae
I’ve ever seen. You’re going to get sick.”

I just grinned at her and took a giant bite.
I looked up and watched a girl walk in. She was covered in tattoos.
I looked back at Ellie with a smile.

“Oh no! There’s no fucking way, Ari, I’m
going to let you…or me…get a tattoo! No. Way.”

“Come on, Ells! I’ve been
through hell the last few months. You know I’ve always wanted
one.
Please!”

“I’m not getting one. I’d get a nose piercing
before I got a tattoo.”

I jumped up and walked over to the trash
can.

“Come on, let’s get a fast workout in, and
then let’s get some ink and get pierced!”

Ellie just looked at me. “Have you lost your
damn mind?”

“Come on, Ells. You have the perfect nose for
it.” Reaching for her hand, I pulled her and lead her out of
Baskin-Robbins. “Think about what you want for a tattoo while
you’re working out. I already know what I want.”

***

The whole time I was on the elliptical, I
kept thinking about my morning with Jeff. I closed my eyes and
could almost feel his lips on mine.

December.
I was going to marry him in three months. My eyes
flew open, and I looked over at Ellie.

Oh. My. God. I’m going to
get married in three months, and I haven’t started to plan a damn
thing. Nothing!
I needed to call my
mom.
Where should we get married? Austin?
At the ranch?