* * * *
All They Wanted
A Wanted Series – Novella
Copyright 2016 Kelly Elliott
Cover design by Sara Eirew Photographer
Cover photo by Shannon Cain
http://photographybyshannoncain.com
Editor: Nichole Strauss with Insight Editing Services
Interior Designer: Julie Titus with JT Formatting
Published by K. Elliott Enterprises INC
ISBN: 978-1-943633-24-1
All rights reserved.
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products, bands, and/or restaurants referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Visit my website:
www.kellyelliottauthor.com
Title Page
Chapter One – Gunner
Chapter Two – Ellie
Chapter Three – Jeff
Chapter Four – Ari
Chapter Five – Josh
Chapter Six – Gunner
Chapter Seven – Ellie
Chapter Eight – Heather
Chapter Nine – Josh
Chapter Ten – Ari
Chapter Eleven – Jeff
Chapter Twelve – Gunner
Chapter Thirteen – Ellie
Chapter Fourteen – Ari
Chapter Fifteen – Heather
Chapter Sixteen – Gunner
Chapter Seventeen – Ellie
Chapter Eighteen – Jeff
Chapter Nineteen – Ari
Chapter Twenty – Gunner
Thank You!
Other Books by Kelly Elliott
The sound of a truck pulled my attention away from the fence I was mending. Jeff parked and jumped out, wearing a huge grin. I’d seen that look on his face before. He had an idea, one I was either going to love or hate.
“What’s up?” I asked going back to twisting the wire.
He handed me a beer and leaned against the pole. I reached for it and opened it. “What do you want, Johnson?”
Laughing, he tipped his hat and asked, “Now why do you think I want something?”
After taking a drink, I lifted my brow and held up the beer. “You showed up with beer. Let me also add you showed up right when we were done, asshole.”
Jeff slapped me on the side of my arm, knocking me off my balance. Dewey reached out to steady me on my feet.
“Camping.”
I gave Jeff a blank stare.
“What about it?”
“I think we should go on a couples camping trip. Me and Ari, you and Ellie, and Josh and Heather.”
Turning, I gathered up my tools. “I don’t think taking two kids under one on a camping trip would be my kind of fun, Jeff.”
“No. Leave the kids. I’m talking Friday to Monday morning. Three nights only. I’m almost positive Ari and Ellie would be up for a few nights away from Alex and Luke. And I’ve already talked to Josh. He thinks Heather would be down for it.”
Dewey and I both laughed. I shot a look at Dewey and we both shook our heads. “I think they would be up for a night away … in a bed and breakfast in Fredericksburg.” Stopping what I was doing, I glanced back at him. “Have you forgotten, your wife is pregnant? And what’s Josh thinking. Heather is pregnant with twins.”
“So. They can’t camp because they’re pregnant? Besides, I’ve already mentioned it to Ari. She said as long as she has a cot or blow-up mattress and food, she’s in.”
Setting my tool bag in the back of my truck, I took my hat off and wiped away the evidence of my work. It was late April and already hot. This summer was going to be brutal.
“What about Brad and Amanda?”
“Brad said Amanda was too far along and would never be in the mood for camping.”
With a sigh, I met Jeff’s stare. He looked like a dog begging for food. “I’ll talk to Ellie about it.”
Jeff fist pumped. “Yes!”
“But … I’m not promising anything.”
Pointing to me, Jeff walked backward to his truck. “I’m telling you, dude. This camping trip is going to go down in fucking history as the best camping trip of all time. And I happen to know, Ellie is going to be on board.”
He opened the door to his truck. Clearly he and my wife had come up with this plan. Being married to my best friend’s little sister always seemed to keep me on my toes. When the two of them came up with a plan, they banned together until the end.
“Oh, I have no doubt it will go down in history,” I called out as he grinned and jumped into the truck. As he pulled off I turned to Dewey. “How do I get myself into this shit?”
He threw his head back and laughed his ass off. “Better you than me, Gunner. Better you than me.”
“You really want to go camping, Ells?”
Ellie quietly shut Alex’s door. She motioned for me to follow her downstairs.
Once we were in the kitchen, she pulled out an apple pie and cut a piece. “I think it would be fun, Gunner. Think about it, when was the last time we all got to hang out with no kids?” Glancing up at me, she gave me a sexy as hell look. “We can get drunk and have wild sex in our tent.”
She licked apple off of her fingers and raised her brows. My dick jumped in my pants.
“It has been awhile.”
A smile moved slowly across her face. “It has. Before Luke was born. Besides, after the girls have their babies, times like this will be gone. At least for a few years.”
I nodded and leaned against the counter.
“Where should we go?”
Her face lit up. “Garner State Park.”
“How did I know you were going to say that?”
“Come on, we’ve talked about camping there before and it’s an amazing state park.”
Jetting out her lower lip, she pouted. I couldn’t help but smile at her attempt to get what she wanted. “Come here, Ells.”
Her blue eyes lit up with desire. “Why, Mr. Mathews, are you wanting to mess around?”
“With my beautiful wife? Hell yeah I am.”
Ellie walked up to me and placed her hands on my chest. “I would so be stripping out of my clothes right now … but your parents are on their way over.”
My mouth dropped. “What? Why?”
Cocking her head to the side, Ellie shrugged. “Not sure. They mentioned wanting to stop by later this evening to talk to us.”
A sick feeling washed over me. Ellie noticed. “Don’t think like that, Gunner. I’m sure everything is fine.”
Cupping her face with my hands, I gazed into those blue eyes. “Have I told you how much I love you lately?”
“Not in the last few minutes.”
The left side of my mouth rose into a smile. “Let me fix that,” I whispered while I gently brushed my lips across hers.
Ellie’s hands grabbed onto my arms. Moving my lips to her ear, I softly repeated, “I love you.”
I ran my nose along her neck, eliciting a small moan from her. “Mmm … you’re tempting me, Mr. Mathews.”
“You always tempt me, sweetheart.”
A light knock on the back door had me pulling away. Ellie pouted then winked. “Later?”
“You better believe later.”
Ellie made her way to the back door and opened it with a huge grin on her face. “Hi, Jack and Grace!”
My parents walked in and each kissed Ellie on the cheek. “Hi, darling. How are you feeling?”
“I’m feeling wonderful!” Ellie responded.
Reaching my hand out, my father and I shook hands first before he pulled me into a quick hug. One good slap on the back and he took a seat at the table.
“Hey, Mom,” I said with a smile and drew her in for a hug.
She sat next to my father and gazed up at me with a smile. “Hello, darling.”
Ellie put the apple pie in the middle of the table with a few plates. “Homemade apple pie if anyone wants a piece.”
Of course my father immediately dug in. “Well, I was raised to never turn down homemade apple pie.”
A smile tugged at Ellie’s mouth. “And it’s Gram’s recipe.”
With a laugh, my father responded, “Even better.” No one could ever pass up something that Grams had created in the kitchen. Not even her own son.
I took a seat and looked between my parents. “So, what brings the two of you over here, and after Alex is asleep?”
Folding her hands neatly across her lap, my adorable mother flashed a huge grin.
“Well, your father and I wanted to talk to you both about something.”
I lifted my brow. “Sounds serious.”
“Well no, it’s not really too serious.”
Ellie took the seat next to me. I reached for her hand and held it as I watched my father shovel in the apple pie as fast as he could. “That pie good, Dad?”
“Mmm hmm. Don’t tell, Mom, but I think you have mastered the recipe, Ellie.”
Ellie squeezed my hand. Glancing to her, I couldn’t help but smile as her eyes lit up with happiness. She was so damn beautiful.
And mine.
Dad sighed and pushed the plate away from him. “So anyway, kids, let’s get right to it.”
I motioned for him to keep talking.
“Grace, would you like me to be the one to ask?”
My mother nodded.
“Drew, Ellie, we love spending time with Alex. Beyond words love it. Now we know she is four months and that is young. But, we’d love to be able to have her spend some more time with us. Maybe spend the night again. We had so much fun with her.”
I couldn’t help notice how my mom was looking between Ellie and me. Waiting to see our reaction. There would be no way Ellie and I would ever deny my parents time with Alex. I wanted my daughter to have the same relationship with her grandparents as I did with Grams and Gramps.
With a huge grin, Ellie said, “There isn’t anyone I would trust our daughter to be with more than you two.”
My mother returned Ellie’s smile. “That makes me so happy! We thought maybe if y’all would like to get things caught up around the ranch, or the house.”
“How about for the weekend?” Ellie blurted out.
“What do you mean for the weekend? Keep Alex for a whole weekend?” My parents turned and gave each other goofy as hell smiles.
“Yes!” they both said at once.
I could hear the excitement in their voices.
Ellie turned to me and simply said, “No more excuses. We’re going camping.”
“Are you sure Gunner volunteered to bring all of the food?” Heather asked. Her brows were furrowed.
“Yep. He planned out the meals for the entire weekend, and Jeff agreed to be the cook.”
Ari groaned. “He does realize he has two pregnant women to feed, right?”
I chuckled. “He’s well aware of that, y’all.”
I’d never seen anyone with the food cravings while pregnant like Heather and Ari. And when they were together, it was worse. Almost as if their obsession with food combined with one another.
Heather roamed through the cots. “There are so many cots.”
“You’re getting a cot?” Ari asked Heather.
Heather rolled her eyes. “If I thought for one moment Josh would let me get a cot, I’d be all over it.”
“This is going to be fun. You’ll see.”
Ari narrowed her eyes at me. “Why are you and Jeff so game on this camping trip?”
“I don’t know,” I stated with a shrug. “It kind of feels like this is our last big fling if you will. Once you have another baby and Heather has the twins, our time together as a group will be cut in half.”
Heather gave me a warm smile. “But we’ll still be together. It will just be play dates.”
“I know that. There’s no way for me to easily explain it, but I really feel like we all need this weekend.”
Hooking her arm with mine, Ari winked. “If this trip ends up being miserable as hell … which I’m not saying it will, but if it does. You’re to blame.”
“Gee, thanks. Come on, let’s go feed those babies.”
Heather picked up her pace. “Good, because I’m starving. I want enchiladas.”
Ari gasped. “Yes! Enchiladas. That sounds yummy.”
After dropping Heather and Ari back home, I took a few minutes to clear my head before I pulled up to the house. I wasn’t sure what was wrong with me, but whatever it was, I needed to snap out of it. Grace said I probably was still suffering from baby blues. I was happy … yet sad. I couldn’t explain it.
Grabbing some bags, I headed into the house. “Gunner?” I called out into the empty house.
I set the bags on the counter and reached for my phone to call him.
It only rang twice before he answered. “Hey, sweetheart. You back from Austin?”
A warmth spread across my body simply from hearing his voice. Even after being married for almost two years, he still made my heart flutter. Smiling, I answered him, “I am. Where are you and my sweet baby girl?”
“Mom and Dad’s place. I figured when you got back you might like a bit of time to yourself. I set everything out for you to take a nice hot bath.”
Thud. There went my heart. How did I ever get so lucky with this man?
I headed into our bedroom. “That sounds amazing. How’s Alex?”
“She’s being loved on like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Awe, I bet she is.” I walked into the bathroom and stopped. Candles were everywhere. Next to the window sat a fresh bouquet of daises that Gunner must have gotten from the garden. A towel along with a bath bomb sat on the edge of the soaker tub.
“Gunner, it looks like a romantic spa in here.”
The sound of a screen shutting told me he had stepped outside. “Good. Now strip out of your clothes and get in that tub. I’ll be heading back soon and putting Alex down. She’s exhausted from all of the attention she’s gotten from everyone.”
“Everyone?”
“I took her to see Grams and Gramps before stopping here. Poor little thing barely had a nap.”
Chewing on my lip, I imagined Gunner in the tub with me. “Should I wait? I’d love to have you join me in this oversized tub of ours.”
A screen door slammed again. “Let me get our daughter. I’m coming home now.”
My hand covered my mouth to hide my laughter. I heard Gunner tell his parents he was leaving. “Sorry, Mom and Dad. Ellie really wants to see Alex before she goes to bed.”
I shook my head. “You totally pinned that all on me.”
“Yep. See ya in a few, sweetheart.”
The phone went dead. Pulling it back, I shook my hea
d and headed back to the kitchen. I searched for the perfect bottle of wine before grabbing two glasses and the plate of fruit and cheese I quickly made up.
The sound of Gunner’s truck pulling up had me rushing back into the master bathroom to drop everything off before heading back to the kitchen.
Gunner walked in with our sleeping daughter in his arms and my libido shot through the roof. Never mind the fact that my husband was drop-dead gorgeous, or that his blue eyes seemed to be sparkling, it was the site of him carrying out daughter in his arms that got to me the most.
“Hey,” he softly said before kissing me on the lips.
“I missed you today,” I replied as I handed him a bottle I’d gotten ready.
“I missed you too. Let’s take care of the princess here so I can give my queen some one-on-one attention.”
The pull in my lower stomach was hard to miss. The only thing I could do was nod. Gunner turned and headed toward the stairs. My hand went to my stomach to settle the butterflies flying about.
Tears formed in my eyes as my emotions took over. I never in my life dreamed I would ever be this happy.
Dragging in a deep breath, I headed to Alex’s room.
I stood outside of the room and watched as Gunner hummed softly while feeding our precious baby.
He glanced up at me and smiled. Those dimples made my heart flutter. “What are you thinking, Ells?”
I didn’t even need to think of my response. “How I’m the luckiest woman on earth.”
Gunner winked. “And soon to be the most satisfied.”
I was the luckiest woman on earth, no doubt.
Tossing the last bag into the back of my truck, I turned and grabbed the tent. Setting it next to the giant ass bag Ari had packed, I let out a sigh. I still couldn’t believe she packed so many things.
“Hey, cowboy.”
I spun around to see my beautiful bride sitting on top of Big Roy. I hated that she rode while being pregnant, but I knew Ari. It wouldn’t matter how much I didn’t want her to do it. If she wanted to, she’d do it.
“Hey, beautiful. How’s he feel?”
Ari laughed. “Slow. Lazy bastard doesn’t want to move. I’ve never ridden a horse that walks this slow in my entire life. If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear you had a heart-to-heart with him.”