Wanted (72 page)

“I love you Ellie…..I love you so much sweetheart.”

I collapsed onto his chest and was trying desperately to catch my breath. I couldn’t get the energy to even tell him I loved him.

“Gun….
.
.
ner
…
..
.I
lov
…
..
.love you….
.
.to
o
!”

He started to laugh and slowly rolled me over being careful of my ribs and my arm.

I laid there on my back with my eyes closed. I felt like I was about to fall asleep again. After another minute or two
and
my breathing was back under control.

I opened my eyes to see him smiling down at me. “Marry me….”

He started laughing. “I thought I already asked that and you agreed!”

I laughed back at him. I never wanted to leave this cabin…
..
.ever.

“I mean marry me today or tomorrow I just want to marry you right now!”

Gunner started to push my hair back with his fingers.
Hmmmm
it felt so good.
I loved it when he touched me.

“Ellie, I would run off and marry you right now if I thought that was what you really wanted. But sweetheart I want to have a real wedding. I want to see you in a beautiful wedding dress, with Gramps and Grams there watching us, Jeff as my best man and Ari as your
bridesbitch
.”

I busted out laughing.

“GUNNER!
Ari is n
ot a bitch! She‘
s just….outspoken!
And she would be the maid of honor!
”

Gunner leaned down and rubbed his nose against mine. Then he kissed me, so softly at first but it quickly tur
ned to something more powerful.

He pulled away after a few minutes
and left me breathless.

“Ellie I would really love to get mar
ried here at the ranch if that’
s okay with you.”

I smiled because I wanted the same thing. Ever since our first night looking
up
at the stars I had been having the same dream over and over again. We were in that
same
pasture, Gunner and I were under the big oak and I kept turning around and seeing all these people looking at us. Every time I woke up from that dream I could never figure out what it meant. Now I knew.

“Nothing would make me happier Gunner. Except, I want to get married un
der our Oak tree. I’
ve been having a dream, the same o
ne over and over, with you and me
standing under that tree.
I never understood why I ha
d that dream so much
but now I know why. We were meant to be married there!”

“When sweetheart?”
Gunner said up against my ear. Oh god….was it possible for me to
want
him again, so soon? He started to move his hand down my body until he found his way to the ac
he that already needed relief from him
.

“Umm, oh god…
…
Drew…
..
.”

He rolled on top of me and made love to me again but this time it was so slow and sweet. Was it going to keep getting better each time?

“I love you Drew….
.
.”

“I love you more……”

CHAPTER FIFTY EIGHT

G
unner……

I woke Ellie up with a tray full of her favorite breakfast
.
P
ancakes, eggs, bacon and orange juice.
I thought for sure she would have woken up with all the no
i
se I was making trying to cook it all in that tiny kit
chen. Watching her sitting there eating
I couldn’t pull my eyes from her. I kept seeing that ring on her finger and I had to fight back the tears every time.
She was going to be
mine
soon.

Ellie insisted on cleaning up all the flower petals even though I told her I paid Aaron and Jenny generously to take care of all of
it. We made love two more times that morning and
I was not even sure how I was able to get my dick to work so muc
h the last twelve
hours but I wasn’
t going to complain about it.

After we had things cleaned up to Ellie’s satisfaction we made our way out to the Jeep. Ellie was practically skipping the whole way. The sight of her so happy made my chest swell. I wanted her to feel loved and wanted every damn minute of every day.
Just then Aaron and Jenny drove up
, right on time
. Ellie started to jump up and down when Jenny walked up to her. Jenny grabbed Ellie’s hand and looked at the ring as they both let out a small scream. Then she leaned in asked Ellie something. Ellie turned bright red and looked over at me. She turned back and said something to Jenny that cause
d
a huge smile to sprea
d across Jenny’s face.

Aaron walked up and handed me a huge ass box. I sat down on the por
ch steps and called Ellie over.

“I have one more Christmas present for you sweetheart.” Ellie turned and looked at the box I was holding. She came and sat down next to me and smiled.

“What is it?!” Sh
e asked filled with excitement.

“Well, the only way you are going to find out baby is if you take the lid off!”

Ellie reached over and took the lid off and a 7 week old chocolate lab popped his head up. Little guy looke
d liked he had been sleeping.

“
O
hhh
!
Oh my god! Is
he MINE?!”

I started to laugh. Damn she was so fucking cute.

“Yes, baby he’
s yours.”

Ellie reached in and lifted him out of the box an
d started to hug him
. Aaron and Jenny looked on as Ellie smelled every inch of him and said how wonderful he
smelled. Her smell senses and mine
were clearly different.

She looked at the ribbon that was tied around his neck. The note I wrote was tied onto it. She took the note of
f
and put the puppy down. Little guy went right over and peed in the grass.

“Oh sure now the little fucker goes to the bathroom in the grass!” Aaron said.

Ellie sta
rted to read the note out loud.

“Dear mommy, I’
m here to help daddy watch over
you and
protect you and l
ove you like there is
no tomorrow. Love, Gus.”

Ellie turned her head to look at me. Those blue eyes were filling with tears as she leaned over and kissed me. She pulled away from my
lips just a little and smiled.

“Thank you…..I love him and I love that you remember every single thing I say to you Drew Mathews. I love you so much!”

“I love you too Ellie, more than you will ever know.”

It was 11:00 in the morning by the time we got back up to the ra
nch house. Ellie looked nervous as she was holding Gus in her arms while the little bastard slept
in total peace
.
Lucky ass dog.

“What
’
s wrong sweetheart? You look like you
just
saw a ghost.”

“Holy shit Gunner! Your grandparents are going to know that we had…
.
..that we had
…..
.SEX!”

I started to laugh my ass off! Fu
ck she really was so damn cute.

“Ellie,
we’
re adults, they knew what I was planning all along. Believe me; I got the lecture from them about protection yesterday before I took you to the cabin.”

“But I would never want them to think badly of me for having sex with you before we got married.

I had to smile at how thoughtful her heart was. I pushed a piece of hair that had fallen ou
t from her pony behind her ear.

“Ellie, don’t let those two fool you. They were sne
aking around in Grams barn at seventeen
having sex! Gramps talks a lot when he gets drunk.”

Ellie threw her hand up to h
er mouth and started to giggle
and woke up the little monster.

Just then I heard Ari and Jeff. I looked up and they were walking hand and hand down to the barn. I was so happy Jeff finally came to his goddamn senses. They both looked so happy. I was not going to tell Ellie but Jeff was planning on asking Ari
to marry him graduation night.

Ari took one look at Ellie and she screamed. Ellie screamed back as she jumped out of the jeep
, put poor little sleepy and lost looking Gus on the grou
nd and
ran over to Ari
. Jeff just smiled and stepped out the way of two very excited females. Ari grabbed Ellie’s left hand and screamed again.

Little Gus looked up at me like I knew what the feeling of not being in her arms
anymore
felt like. Little bastard
thought like me already…
…I was going to love this dog
. I reached down and picked him up.

“I know buddy…...she has bewitched me also.” I said as I held Gus in my arms.

“HOLY MOTHER FUCKING SHIT!
You did GOOD Gunner!! FUCK ME that is beautiful!” Ellie turned around to face me with that sweet smile of hers. She gave me a wink and they bot
h started to walk
into the barn but not before she took the dog fro
m my arms and gave him to Ari who
went crazy
over him
.

Jeff started to make his way over to me. I had already asked Jeff for permission to marry Ellie last week. I knew how much he loved her and she didn’t have a father so I felt lik
e it was the right thing to do.

He reached his hand out to me and shook it along with a slap on the back.
A hard fucking slap.

“Jesus…what the fu
ck did you hit me so hard for.”

“I sure as shit hope you made it special for her o
r I will kick your fucking ass. And goddamn if the puppy was not a nice touch. Well played dude.”

I had to laugh.

“I sure hope I did also Jeff
. From how happy she’
s been all morning I would say I did at decent job.”

Jeff smiled
at me and then shook his head.

“You know Gunner, i
f she had to end up with anyone,
I’
m thankful it was you. I see how much you love my sister and I see how much she loves you. By the look on her face when y’all pulled up I would say you did m
ore than a decent job dude. I’
ve never in my life seen my sister with such a glow on her face. Thank you. Thank you for making it special for her. Now
…
…I don’t wan
t to ever talk about
the fact that you had sex
for the first time
with my baby sister
on the night you asked her to marry you
. You ever get drunk and tell me about
it
, I will kick your fucking ass. You got it?”

I just stood there and stared at him. God I loved Jeff like a brother. I shook my head yes and he laughed and pulled me into a head lock and we started to wrestle around
before I heard Gramps yell out.

“Knock it the fuck off…..we got some male bonding to do, to the loft boys.”

We had to leave in a few days
as Jeff and
I had a bowl game the next week
. Our last game as college football players…
..
.I couldn’t believe it.

The day after I asked Ellie to marry me I got up the nerve that night to finally talk
to her
about the wedding. I was so afraid she was going to be upset when I told her I could not stand the thought of her staying in Austin after we got married. I was so worried about it, I was sure she was going to tell me she didn’t want to get married or that we were going to have to wait until she finished school but she just smiled.

“Gunner, I already made up my mind weeks ago I was not going back to school in the fall. I was coming out h
ere with you to the ranch no matter if
you
had
asked me to marry you or not!”

“Ellie what about school, I thought you would be upset if I asked you to give up school to come with me out here. Are you sure baby this
is what you want?
”

She threw her arms around my neck. “YES! I
already figured it out. I’
m going to take classes online and finish up my degree in business. That way I can help you run the ranch when you take it over from Garrett someday.”
I was speechless. This girl
never ceased to amaze me.
I loved her
so much
.
  I leaned in and
asked her if she was feeling daring and
she smiled and wiggled her eye
brows up and down. We snuck off to the ba
rn and made love. Another first…although I spent more time pushing Gus away than anything, that little bastard was barking at me the whole time. He and I were going to have to h
ave a man to man talk and soon.