The Wanted Short Stories (14 page)

Jeff and I danced almost the entire night. It was wonderful, magical, romantic, and beyond fun. I hadn’t laughed so much in a long time. Jeff made a few new contacts, and we even made plans to check out another horse tomorrow.

When I smiled up at Jeff and raised my eyebrows, he laughed and shook his head.

“Baby, I’m exhausted. I think I’m getting too old for this kind of stuff.”

I giggled. “My feet are killing me. Should we head back to the hotel since we are going to see that other horse tomorrow?”

He nodded his head and looked around. “Where did your parents go?”

I stopped dancing and glanced around the ballroom. “I don’t know. Maybe they snuck off to have sex.”

“Yuck. Gross. Man, I didn’t need that image in my head, Ari.”

I chortled as I grabbed his hand and walked back to the table. Jeff pulled out my chair, and slid it in for me and then took a seat next to me.

I leaned over and whispered, “As soon as we find them, I’ll tell them we’re leaving.”

“So, Arianna, your mother tells me that you and your husband own a breeding business.”

I smiled at the slutty-dressed woman sitting across from me. She couldn’t have been much younger than me, and her breasts had been fighting with her dress all night.

“Yes, we do. We’re also partners in Cattle Company as well.”

Her eyebrows rose slightly as she looked over at Jeff. The way she eye-fucked him caused me to roll my eyes.

“Cattle as well? I’ve always wanted to see how a cattle ranch is run.”

Jeff smiled politely. “It’s just a bunch of cows grazing in fields most of the time.”

She laughed, and her breasts began fighting to escape her tight dress. She began running her fingertips lightly across her chest, right above her cleavage.

What. A. Bitch. Hello? Wife is sitting right here.

Jeff reached for my hand and looked at me as he gently kissed the back of it. “Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?”

I smiled because I knew what he was doing. “Yes, more than once.”

He leaned over and kissed me tenderly on the cheek. “I love you,” he whispered.

“I love you, too.” I got lost in his green eyes.

“Arianna, do you work outside the home?” the bitch asked.

Without pulling my eyes from Jeff, I answered, “No. I help run the breeding business, and I train horses as well.”

“Oh my. Do you have any children?”

I pulled my eyes from Jeff and looked over at her.
Why is she being so chatty and asking a million questions?
“Yes. We have a son, Luke, and a daughter, Grace.”

Her smile faded a bit. “I see.” She stood up and leaned down toward her date. She said something to him and then looked back at me. “Excuse me, won’t you? It was a pleasure talking with you both.” She looked at Jeff and winked. “Good luck with all those horses and cows.”

He nodded his head and smiled. “Enjoy your evening.”

I watched as she walked away.

My mother walked up and placed her hands on my shoulders. She leaned down to kiss me on the cheek. “Ari, dear, I’m exhausted. Your father and I are heading back to our hotel. Would you and Jeff like to have dinner with us tomorrow evening? We leave early the next morning.”

I turned to her and smiled. “We’re leaving then, too. Dinner with you and Daddy tomorrow would be great.”

Jeff stood up and then reached for my hand to help me up. We followed my parents out of the ballroom and to the street.

My father looked at me and grinned. “If you don’t want to your hotel yet, your car will take you anywhere y’all want to go.”

“Thank you, Daddy, but Jeff and I are both exhausted. I think we are heading back to the hotel.”

My father looked over at poor Jeff and glared at him.

I let out a giggle. “Daddy, stop being so mean to the love of my life.”

He let out a gruff noise. “Dinner tomorrow evening around seven?”

“Sounds good, Daddy. Good night, Mom. Sleep well.”

“Good night, sweetheart,” my mother said. She kissed me on the cheek and then kissed Jeff.

My father reached out and shook Jeff’s hand. “Good night, Jeff.” He turned and gave me a hug as he whispered in my ear, “I see how much he loves you, and it warms my heat. But I will never let the little fucker know that.”

He pulled away as I started laughing.

“Night, Daddy.”

Jeff walked up and opened the door to our car, and I practically crawled inside. I was beyond tired. I just wanted to go back, take a hot shower, and go to sleep.

Jeff slid in next to me. “The Brown Hotel, please.” He looked at me and asked, “What did your father whisper to you?”

I giggled. “He told me that he sees how much you love me, but he would, and I quote, ‘never let the little fucker know that.’”

Jeff’s mouth dropped open. “Why? Why does he like to torture me?”

I shrugged. “You’ll probably do the same thing to some boy when Grace starts dating.”

Jeff looked forward. “I won’t have to because Grace will never date—ever.”

I smiled as I snuggled up next to him, and then I began drifting off to sleep.

I felt Jeff lifting me as he took me out of the car. I lifted my head to see that he was carrying me into the hotel.

“Baby, I can walk,” I said with a sleepy voice.

“Shh…I’ve got you.”

I buried my face into his neck and took in his heavenly scent. He looked so handsome tonight, and as much as I wanted to make love to him again, I could hardly keep my eyes open.

Jeff somehow managed to open the door to our hotel room with me in his arms. He walked up to the bed and gently laid me on it. He gently removed my right high-heel shoe and began massaging my foot.

“Mmm…feels so good,” I mumbled.

He repeated the process with my left foot. Then, he reached for my hands and pulled me up. He began unzipping my dress. He pushed the dress down some and then began kissing along my neck. He moved down to right above my breast.

He whispered, “Sit down and lie back, Ari.”

As I lay back, I lifted my hips so that Jeff could pull my dress down. He quickly took the dress off of me, and he licked his lips as he took in my body. The only thing I was wearing now was an ivory lace push-up bra.

He ran his fingers along the bra and then down my cleavage as I closed my eyes. My whole body felt like it was on fire. He rolled me to the side just a bit, and after one of his movements, my breasts sprang free, and I let out a moan of relief.

He tossed the bra on top of my dress on the floor. He cupped both breasts and began massaging them. I could feel my whole body relaxing. My eyes grew heavier, and I tried like hell to focus on Jeff.

He gave me a crooked grin and whispered, “Go to sleep, baby.”

I tried to respond, but all that came out was a, “Hmm…”

I closed my eyes and felt Jeff getting up from the bed. I could hear him taking his tux off, and then he made his way to the bathroom. I thought about how wonderful the last few days had been, and I still had two more days of nothing but Jeff, horses, passionate sex, and shopping.

What a lucky, lucky girl I am.

Then, I rolled over onto my stomach and let sleep take over.

Today was our last day in Kentucky, and I was taking Ari everywhere she wanted to go. We had toured Churchill Downs and a few other historical places, and we were now getting ready to head out on the Belle of Louisville for a dinner cruise.

Ari turned to me and smiled. “It’s our last night in Louisville, and this is such a wonderful way to spend it.”

I wrapped my arms around her and kissed the top of her head. “It looks like the sunset is going to be beautiful. Are you cold?”

She shook her head as she turned and looked up at me. “You know, this trip was exactly what I needed. I feel so refreshed.”

I grinned and nodded. “So do I. I miss the kids so much, but damn, five whole days without fighting kids or getting up at the crack of dawn to work has been like a dream. Plus, we’ve had hot sex more than once a day. We should stay another few days.”

Ari hit me on the chest and winked. “As much as I would love to, I miss Luke and Grace something terrible.”

“I do, too, baby. I do, too.” I kissed the tip of her nose.

We stood in silence as the steamboat headed out.

During dinner, we sat next to a couple who were also from Texas. They would be moving from Texas to Kentucky, and they were visiting to buy land here. We had a blast with them.

The sun began to slowly fade away, and the colors dancing on the river were beautiful as Ari and I stood on the deck of the boat.

I was suddenly overcome with sadness. “I miss Luke and Grace.”

Ari looked at me, and her eyes were filled with sadness. “I do, too. I can’t stop thinking about them. Grace hasn’t texted me all day. Ellie took her and Alex shopping in Austin today. What if Grace wants to stay there when we get back?”

I threw my head back and laughed. “Ari, please. I’m sure she has just been so busy having fun, and that is the only reason she hasn’t sent us a text. Besides, it’s Ellie. She can’t stand shopping.”

Ari chewed on her bottom lip. “What about Luke? I haven’t heard from him today either.”

“He had a baseball game today. Gunner texted earlier and said they were winning.”

“See? If they’d won, Luke would have texted us by now. Our children have moved on without us!”

I laughed and pulled her into my arms. “No, they haven’t.”

She frowned. “Have you heard from Luke at all today?”

I had sent Luke a text earlier. I’d wished him good luck at his game, but I hadn’t received a reply. I hadn’t thought about it until just now. “Um…now that you mention it, no, I haven’t heard back from either one.”

“See? Oh my God. Your sister has stolen the love of our kids. That little bitch!”

I started thinking. “Come to think of it, I texted good night to both of them last evening, and I never heard from them.”

Ari let out a gasp and threw her hands up to her mouth. “Me either.” She dropped her hands as she began looking around frantically.

“What are you looking for?”

“A way off the boat. I need to get back to my kids!”

“What? We leave tomorrow morning, and there is no way off the boat. Are you insane?”

She spun around and poked me in the chest. “This is all your fault. I said to let your dad and Carol watch them. But did you listen to me? No. You said to let them stay with Ellie and Gunner. They’d have fun, you said. Well, look at what we’ve got now.”

I shook my head and tried not to laugh. “Ari, you seriously think our children wouldn’t want to come back home?”

She nodded her head quickly. “They’ve forgotten us.”

I had to admit it. My heart was beginning to hurt a little from just thinking about Luke not texting me to tell me about the game.

I grabbed Ari and pulled her back into my arms. We both stared out and watched the sunset.

When my cell phone dinged with a text message notification, I practically pushed Ari away from me. I pulled my phone out and saw a text from Luke.

“Aha! He texted me! He sent me a text. Pesh…see!” I shoved my phone in Ari’s face.

She frowned and pulled out her cell phone. “Nothing,” she whispered. She looked back at me and tried to smile. “What did he say?”

I opened up his message and read it aloud.

Luke: Hey, Dad! Hope you and Mom are having fun. Sorry I didn’t text last night or earlier today. Uncle Gunner took Colt and me hunting last night and this morning. It was fun, but it wasn’t as fun as when you and I go. We won our game! Kiss Mom for me, Dad. I miss you both. I’ll be glad when y’all come home tomorrow. Oh…by the way, I kind of hit Will. He said he liked Alex. Uncle Josh wasn’t too happy with either one of us. I kind of have a black eye from fighting with Will.

I looked up at Ari and smiled as I saw a tear rolling down her face. I quickly blinked my eyes to keep myself from tearing up.

Damn, I love that boy.

Ari began laughing. “He
kind of
has a black eye?”

I shook my head. “He is so protective over Alex. I think he will be more protective than Colt will be.”

Ari wiped away her tear. “I miss them.”