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.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
ARI
I tried really hard to not let what Jeff had said to me back at the house affect me. I knew he was stressed, and Scott was going out of his way to flirt with me right in front of Jeff. I tried to make small talk with him on the way to meet Gunner’s parents.
Ellie had sent me a text, saying things were moving slowly with Gunner and his dad. She said they had barely had said two words to each other since his parents had arrived last night.
Ellie was waiting for me on the porch. She practically came running over to Jeff’s truck. As soon as I got out of the truck, she grabbed me and hugged me.
“How are you feeling?” She whispered in my ear.
“Fine.”
“Lying bitch. Did you tell him?” Ellie asked as she pulled away to look at me.
I shook my head. I could see the look of disappointment on her face.
“Hey, sis. No love for your big brother?” Jeff said as he walked up.
He took Ellie in a big bear hug and spun her around. She started laughing and then told him to put her down.
“How are things with Gun and his dad?” Jeff asked, looking up to the house.
“Well…um…they really need to spend some time alone together, I think.”
Gunner had sent Jeff a text and said that his dad’s old best friend, Drake was so happy to see his dad that he pretty much came and took him to the barn for awhile.
“I was hoping maybe you could talk Gunner into heading down there,” Ellie asked Jeff.
“Yeah sure, Ells, I can get him to do that. You okay with that, Ari?”
I smiled, trying to act like I really gave a rat’s ass what he did. At this point, I was so tired and weak that I probably wouldn’t have cared if he said he was going to Rebecca’s.
“Yep, no worries. Y’all have fun catching up.”
Ellie took me by the arm, and then we started to walk into the house.
The first person I saw was Grace.
She smiled and walked over to give me a hug.
“Congratulations on your engagement, Ari and Jeff. I’m so very happy for both of you.”
Jeff and I both said our thanks, and then Jeff was somehow able to talk Gunner into heading down to the barn.
As soon as they left and it was clear they were gone, the attack began.
“Why the hell have you not told him, Ari? You said you were going to tell him this morning!” Ellie yelled.