After I watched two movies, I hit the gym. I came back home, and there was still no word from Josh. I decided to call him one more time. If he didn’t answer, then I’d know that he didn’t want to talk to me.

The ringing stopped, and then all I heard was lots of voices and music. It sounded like a bar. Oh shit.

“Josh? Hey, it’s Heather. Can you hear me?”

“Um...this isn’t Josh. It’s Marie. Josh is dancing right now.”

“Okay, why are you answering his phone, Marie?”

“He left it here, sitting on the bar, and I saw your name pop up. He’s been talking about you all night long, sweetheart. My girlfriend, Jen, and I are out for a girls’ night. We’ve been trying to keep the vultures away from him.”

I was so mad that I was shaking from head to toe. “Is he drunk?”

She started laughing again. “Ah, you could say. Listen, do you want to come get him? I can drive his car back to your place, and Jen can follow me. He seems like he really loves you. I’d hate to have some whore try to hook up with him tonight.”

Wow, this is unexpected. “Okay, yeah. Where are y’all?”

“Fado’s.”

“I’ll be there as soon as I can, but I’m not twenty one, so I can’t come in.”

Marie gave me her cell phone number to call when I got there. I grabbed my purse and headed out the door.

***

By the time Marie and Jen had helped me get a drunker-than-drunk Josh in my apartment and into my bed, we had become close friends. It turns out they had been keeping the girls away from him all night since all Josh did was talk about me.

“Let me just tell you this, Heather. That boy passed out on your bed right there is madly in love with you. He wouldn’t stop talking about you all night. I hope y’all can work things out. He seems like a nice guy,”

I stood there, stunned. Josh was talking about me? To these women? I looked down to see that they both had on wedding rings.

After Marie and Jen left, I sat down on the bed and watched Josh sleep. He looked so cute passed out on my bed.

I had the sudden urge to just crawl into bed to lie down next to him. Would he be angry if I did?

After the things I had said to him earlier, he was probably so pissed at me. Maybe I was just dreaming here. The way Marie had said he’d acted all night could’ve just been the alcohol talking. He’d probably only wanted in my pants.

Despite my doubts, I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. He opened his eyes and gave me a crooked-ass smile that just about melted off my panties. Jesus, now, I understand what Ari and Ellie were talking about.

“Hey, princess, I must be dreaming right now,” Josh mumbled.

When I smiled down at him, he closed his eyes.

Yeah, I better sleep in the spare room or on the sofa. I grabbed a pillow and headed out to the living room. Tomorrow, I would talk to Josh about how I felt. I needed to be honest with him about my feelings. If he was willing to be patient and go slow, I thought I might be able to get used to the idea of letting someone back into my heart.

***

I heard a noise and flew up off the sofa. I must have fallen asleep out here. I looked around and didn’t see anyone. My head was pounding. I picked up my phone, and I had three text messages.

The first one was from Ellie. She said that Gunner’s mom and dad got in last night. The only word she used to describe it was “awkward”.

Ari sent a text, asking if I was coming out today and staying the night. She wanted me to stay with her and Jeff. That might work. I thought that Josh had mentioned that we was there with them.

The third text was from...Josh?

Josh: I’m sorry you had to come out so late last night, but thanks for letting me crash at your place. I’m guessing Jen or Marie asked you to pick me up. Anyway, thanks again. See you either today or tomorrow in Mason.

Wait…what? I jumped up and ran into my bedroom. The bed was made, and Josh was gone.

I ran back out to the living room and grabbed my cell. I pulled up Josh’s number and hit call.

“Hey, Heather.” Was all Josh said when he answered. He sounded so sad.

“Hey, Josh. Why did you leave without waking me up? I kind of wanted to talk to you about um…well, about yesterday.”

There was a long pause.

“I think you made yourself pretty clear yesterday, Heather. I’m really not in the mood for any more rejection.”

His voice was so cold and distant.

“Okay, I guess I deserve that, but do you think we might be able to talk? I mean, I’d kind of like to explain my reaction yesterday.”

“I think it was clear what your reaction was.”

Oh wow.

“Listen, I’m on my way to Mason in a little bit. Maybe we can talk there. Are you heading out today or early tomorrow?” Josh said.

My hands started to shake. The threat of tears was starting to overwhelm me.

“I’m…ah…” I paused when my voice cracked. I had to clear my throat twice before I could speak again. “I’m heading out today.”

“Alright…well, I guess I’ll see ya when you get there. I’m sorry, but I need to go, I have another call coming through.”

“Oh, okay…sure, yeah. I’ll talk to ya later.”

I hung up the phone with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Why did I get the feeling that I probably just lost the best thing that’s happened to me since the death of my parent’s?

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

JEFF

I couldn’t believe it’s was Tuesday morning, and Mr. Reynolds was heading out now to look at the place. I had no idea where Ari was. She’d been pissed ever since I’d jumped on her about the whole restraining-order shit.

As I headed out onto the porch, I saw a white F 250 pull up.

Motherfucker. He was early, and I had no idea where the hell Ari was. I stepped down off the porch and walked over to his truck. The guy that got out was young.

“Mr. Reynolds, it’s a real pleasure to meet your sir.”

“How’s it going, Jeff? Please, call me Scott.” We shook hands and gave each a good once-over. This bastard couldn’t have been more than five or six years older than me.

“I can tell by your expression that you’re wondering who the hell the young guy is standing in front of you,” He said with a laugh.

I smiled back at him. “As a matter of fact I am.”

“I’m Scott Reynolds, Jr. My father is good friends with Garrett. I’m actually taking over my father’s ranch, so he thought it would best if I came and met with you, to check out your place.”

“Sounds great. So, you probably know Gunner? Were you at the wedding?”

He started to laugh. “Yeah, I know Gunner really well. We used to be buds when we were growing up. I couldn’t wait for the summers when I knew he was coming to visit. He’s a good guy. I was at the wedding, but I left right after the ceremony. One of my mares foaled, so I had to leave early. It was a beautiful ceremony. Your sister is breathtakingly beautiful.”

“Um, thanks. She’s pretty special, that’s for sure. Anyway, do you want to head down to the barn, check out the stables, and all?”

“I’d loved to. How many broodmares do you have so far?”

“Right now, I have four. Two of them are on the Mathews’ place.”

“Are any of them pregnant?”

“One.”

As we made our way over to my truck, I realized that this guy really knew his shit about horses. He was asking me every goddamn thing under the sun.

“I used to come to this ranch when I was little. I had a friend we called Smitty. He used to come and visit his grandparents here. You’ve really done an amazing job of getting it fixed up,” Scott said.

“Thank you. I appreciate that. We’ve been putting a lot of blood and sweat into it, that’s for sure.”

“What made you decide on breeding horses?” Scott asked.

I parked my truck as we pulled up to the barn. I turned and just smiled at him.

“My fiancé. She has a passion for horses. She’s really is the one who wants to train them for roping and barrel racing.”

“Has she ever done either of those?” he asked with a smirk.

“Yes, sir, she has,” I said with a smirk of my own.

As we walked up to the barn, I could hear Ari singing. When we rounded the corner, I saw her mucking out the stalls, her back facing us. She was listening to her iPod. The only thing I could see was Ari moving her fucking hips as she danced with a pitch-fork while singing loudly to Christina Aguilera’s “WooHoo.”

“Did she just say ‘you know you wanna put lips where my hips are’?” Scott asked.

Kill me now. “Ari,” I said, trying not to shout at her. “Arr? Ari!” I shouted.

Nope, nothing. She was still dancing and singing. Reaching down, I picked up a horse brush and threw it at her, hitting her right on the ass.

“What the fuck?” Ari said as she whipped around.

She gave me a dirty look, but then she noticed Scott standing there. She immediately ripped the head phones out of her ears and smiled.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry, y’all. What time is it?”

“It’s around nine,” I said.

Ari looked back over at me. Her cheeks were blushed either from dancing or being embarrassed. She looked so damn cute…and I was pissed as hell at her.

“Ari, this is Scott Reynolds, Mr. Reynold’s son. He’s taking over his father’s business.”

Ari put the pitch-fork up against the stall before she made her way over to us. I looked over at Scott, who couldn’t seem to pull his eyes away from Ari. I took another look at her and instantly knew why.

She was wearing a pair of cut-off blue jean shorts, a white tank top, and a pair of pink cowboy boots. She looked fucking hot.

Ari quickly wiped her hands on the ass of her shorts and then reached out to shake Scott’s hand.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Reynolds. I’m so sorry. I didn’t think you would be here until around noon,” Ari said with that damn smile of hers.

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.