Here's the latest installment of this FF. Hope you enjoy it and thanks for reading and the feedback!

Slade looked at him as if expecting an answer and Matt didn't plan to give him one. What was happening between him and C.J. was their business and not Slade's. A part of him wanted to say that yes, they had gotten together but he knew that C.J. still felt sensitive about it and so he said nothing.

"Slade, if you're finished," Matt said, putting his empty glass down, "I've got some more onions to plant."

He stood up and walked back to the garden. The sun had began to sink in the sky but the heat still permeated every inch around them though in the distance, Matt could see those familiar storm clouds. And the sight of them, darkening over the mountains made him smile to himself.

"It looks like it might rain," Slade said having seen them too.

"It's that time of year," Matt said, as he reached for the bag of seed that Lamar had brought, "and the rain's badly needed."

"I hope C.J. doesn't get caught in it."

Matt started digging in the soil.

"C.J. can handle herself just fine Slade," he said, "She grew up on a ranch like I did. We're used to this kind of weather and we both know what to do."

"She just got caught in that bad storm, didn't she?"

Matt remembered that quite well.

"We got caught in it," he said, "and we found shelter and when it was…over, we headed on back."

If Slade wanted to fill in some gaps in Matt's account, there was nothing he could do about it. But the other rancher just nodded.

"That was handy," he said, "It couldn't have been that long anyway. These storms are fierce but they blow through quick."

Matt knew how quickly storms lived but when he had been caught with C.J., time had stopped along with everything else around them falling into the background. At least it had felt that way when she had been with him.

"It was long enough," he said, "but it did pass. It was just a storm after all."

Slade smiled.

"A force of nature, you might call it."

Matt hedged, thinking of something else associated with those words. Or more accurately, someone else, a young woman busy across the ranch somewhere.

"Maybe…"

Slade continued with his narrative.

"Then at some point, you got bitten by that spider? What a terrible day."

Matt felt irritation fill him and he put his shovel down.

"These things happen," he said, "And as far as days went, the rest more than made up for it."

"You seem to be doing much better," Slade said.

"I never felt better."

Slade frowned.

"Look Matt, you can't blame me for wishing things could be different between her and me."

No, Matt couldn't blame him for that but the guy had to start facing reality and that was that she had moved on with her life.

"Like I said, I think she's told you how she feels about that," Matt said, "You need to respect her feelings."

"That's what I've been doing," Slade said, "We're still working together after all and we're still neighbors."

Bo came up to both of them.

"Lamar and I will be taking the two hands out to town for some dinner," he said, "Lulu told us there's a new barbecue place."

Matt nodded.

"I heard that place is pretty good," he said, "Not as good as home cooked of course."

"Do you and C.J. want to go with us," Bo asked.

Matt looked up at him.

"Thanks but we're both planning to stay close to home tonight," he said, "Been a really eventful week."

Bo accepted that and went back into the barn. Slade sighed and started to leave.

"I guess I'll be going," he said, and then turned around, "There was a man who dropped by the ranch today asking questions about some of the ranches in the area including this one."

Matt looked up at him.

"Did he leave a card?"

"No, but it could be someone connected with that developer who's been looking to build out here," Slade said, "Still it was strange him coming around like that just asking questions."

Matt wondered if he were truly connected with any developer. There certainly were some strange people showing up in the area during the past several days. And still no solid leads reported on the whereabouts of Marquis. But then Matt figured this could be part of his plan, to have Matt and the others sit around and think about his actions or wait for him to come after them. Then waiting for the moment when their guard was down to strike.

"Well I'll see you later," Slade said as he left.

Matt continued working in the garden but wondered about the man who had stopped by Slade's ranch clearly looking for something.

C.J. nailed the final piece on the fencing and then stood back and looked at the finished product. She rubbed the sweat off of her face, really feeling the heat. But the fence stood straighter than it had earlier and that meant that she could get Chelsea and head on back to the ranch earlier than planned. She felt a warm breeze hit the back of her neck and that there were dark clouds approaching. The afternoon monsoon appeared to be arriving on schedule but she knew at least this time she had time to head on back to the ranch house and enjoy it from there. She pictured Matt back toiling in the garden with the others and suddenly couldn't wait to see them. Actually she had been thinking about him all day, and how his arms would feel around her when she returned, his mouth on hers.

She packed up her tools and took them to put in her saddle bag to head on back before the storm hit. But she decided to check her phone for her messages but found none. She noticed that she did have some new emails. She clicked on the list and discovered another from the unidentified sender called "Old Friend". Her body tensed as she clicked it open.

You're much more beautiful than he said…that will prove to be very useful.

Damn, this couldn't be him, could it? How could he be sending emails from where he remained locked up in prison? Had he instructed someone from the outside to send these messages, someone he paid? She knew that she should tell Matt about the emails but no, they had to be some prankster that may have known about how Marquis had kidnapped her and Matt from the trial which had received a lot of publicity. But not everything had come out about the hijacking and kidnapping at the trial, not even when she had testified on the stand.

No reason to revisit those days which she had put behind her, she thought as she returned back to the present and to the beautiful land which surrounded her, the breeze hitting her face from the south west which hinted of damp earth, the quiet before the storm.

She turned off the email and untied Chelsea before getting on and heading back to the ranch and Matt.

The wind picked up quite a bit when Matt had patted the last onion seed into the soil. Bo and the others had headed off to the barbecue place leaving him alone. Well not exactly for much longer. And sure enough, as the wind blew in the humidity mixed with flying dust and leaves, he saw her on her horse heading on towards the barn. He stood up and patted the dirt off of his jeans and headed towards the corral. By the time he arrived, she had already began leading Chelsea to the barn, just as the huge drops began to fall at first lightly before the full thrust of the storm arrived.

She unsaddled Chelsea and settled her in her stall and then turned around to look at Matt. It took two steps apiece for them to reach each other and less than that to fall into each others' arms as their lips met eagerly.

"I missed you," she said, between kisses.

He just smiled, stroking her lips with his fingers.

"Let's head inside," he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder, "I've got a perfect way for us to pass the time until this storm ends."

So did she and as it turned out, they thought an awful lot alike.

She wrapped herself in the linens of her bed, listening to the rain fall on the roof of the house, and the room darkened after the clouds had overwhelmed the bright sunlight outside. He lay there beside her on his back, with her head lying on his chest. They had ordered pizza a while ago and knew it might take a while to arrive but they'd keep busy in the meantime.

"I love storms," she said, thoughtfully, "and how the air smells so fresh, and the sounds…"

Matt had always enjoyed storms himself but no more than he had since he'd come back to the ranch and spent a couple of them with her.

"I think it's in the company you keep," he said, tightening his arm around her, "who you spend that time with."

She felt her eyes sting, the warmth of his body against her skin, the vibration of his heartbeat.

"I guess so."

"I know so," he said.

She paused.

"I guess this means we're together."

"I'd say so," he said, "I know I'm exactly where I want to be."

His words warmed her but scared her too.

"Houston…we're two adults both free and single enjoying each other's company away from the city at a place that has given us both great memories."

He digested that.

"Do you really think this is what this is all about?"

She turned her head to look at him.

"I don't know what to think," she said, "There's so much going on right now…"

"I mean it C.J.," he said, "This isn't a casual thing for me."

She sighed.

"I know," she said, "and it's not for me either. I'm just not sure what to do…I don't know if we even both want the same things."

He stroked her hair and she closed her eyes.

"What I want is for this time we're together here not to end," she said, "But soon you'll be heading back to L.A. and I'm not sure what my future holds."

He heard the emotions weighing in her voice, competing with each other.

"We're together now and that's what matters," he said, "We'll work the rest of it out as we go along. That's what people do in relationships."

She knew that, after all that was what she had done so many times in the past. Whether it had worked out or not, but with him everything seemed different. But she had so many complications in her life, not the least was that she had been receiving emails from the chapter of their lives that she and Matt thought they had closed behind them. And she didn't know why.

"Are you willing to do that," he asked her.

She nodded but he still saw hesitation there.

"C.J…"

The doorbell rang in the distance and they realized that was the pizza delivery person. The two of them looked at each other.

"I'll get it," Matt said, finally with a smile.'

He got out of bed and C.J. well, she had never been able to keep her eyes off of a fine male specimen. Matt put on his jeans and zipped them up, as he left the room. She lay back, thinking back to what they had just shared during the past couple of days, the explosion of passion that face it, had probably been pushed aside by both of them for longer than either would admit but what did it translate to for the future? C.J. didn't know if she would ever really move back to live in L.A. Okay, she might go back there to work but she had fallen in love with the ranch that belonged to the man who she had loved for years. As her closest friend and...more than that but she knew that he enjoyed living in the city, with his exciting profession, all the popular night spots and the women…

She sighed and rolled over, thinking that maybe she should get up and go think about what she really wanted but a larger part of her nixed that thought when he returned back in his room dressed only in jeans and a smile and carrying what smelled like truly delicious pizza.

Now C.J. had been a pizza loyalist since she had moved to L.A. and discovered Mama Noveli's own unique trademark cuisine including the best pizza she had ever tasted. And when the Novellis had moved away after Vince's retirement to a new life, she had felt like a huge chunk of her life had moved with them. Just like when Bo and Lamar had moved back to Texas several years ago and when they came back to help her with her ranch…she has filled with a happiness she hadn't noticed had been missing in her life until it returned. But having Matt come here and okay, into her bed, that opened up a flood gate for different emotions, some of which meshed together well, some…not so well. But looking at him now, she knew how much she wanted to bring them all together in some form of harmony.

"Anchovies are on your side," Matt announced as he placed the pizza container on the bed between them and opened up the lid.

A plethora of scrumptious odors struck C.J. and she smiled, grabbing up a piece piled with those little fishes and other things equally as tasty.

"Are you sure Houston," she said, "They're not nearly as bad as you seem to think."

He chuckled, more than content to stick with all four members of the meat group, sprinkled with red onions and peppers on his portion.

"Rain's beginning to stop," he said, "but I gave the delivery guy a good tip for braving the weather to keep us fed."

She nodded.

"Well we need the fuel after all," she said, chewing her pizza, "We should do this often."

His brow rose.

"The pizza or…the calorie burning?"

She bit her lip.

"All of it," she said, "I've spent so much of my life wondering if it would ever be like this…between us."

He put his pizza down and reached over to kiss her and she let him, because she loved it when he did that.

"Mmm, you taste like anchovies of course and…"

She laughed and kissed him back.

"You taste like onions and peppers," she countered, "and…"

He interrupted her suddenly.

"I didn't know how long I'd been waiting until the other afternoon," he admitted, "Then it just hit me and I've been feeling it ever since but I don't know, it seems it's around longer than that."

And she knew which afternoon that had been, with a smile. She had been thinking about him a lot since then and what could be, if she were willing to let it. Still, it seemed like so much a leap for her. Still, what did he mean by longer?

He answered that unspoken question quickly enough.

"C.J…I have a confession to make…"

Her brows shot up and she put the delicious pizza aside, looking at him.

"What do you mean?"

He paused, and his eyes changed, and what she saw there caused her eyes to sting again. She focused on him as he began talking, his cheeks turning a charming shade of pink. Oh this was going to be good.

"I…thought about this many times before…including when we took the plane to the Bahamas."

Only they had never made it there, because one moment they had been talking, the next, they had been unconscious until they had woken up sitting in a jeep, his arm wrapped around her staring into a machine gun pointed at them.

"You mean…"

He nodded.

"I was thinking about how to tell you what had changed…but I didn't have the chance."

She understood that because she had been there too but why hadn't he told her since, beginning after they had escaped from Marquis?

"Yeah I know…but why didn't you ever say anything?"

"Because…I realized when Marquis had you tied up in front of his men who were going to kill you if I didn't cooperate, how much I stood to lose...and that scared the hell out of me."

She thought about that for a long moment, because she knew that even as she had been tied up and with guns pointing at her ready to take her out upon Marquis' command, she had been thinking the same thing about him. And when Marquis had pulled out a handgun to aim at Matt, she had believed in a flash that it had been to kill him. The fear and sadness that filled her...overwhelming even as she tried to focus on giving him whatever strength she had to not weaken in the face of Marquis.

"So you didn't want to take that risk again, to want something so much to where it makes you vulnerable," she said, quietly.

He looked up at her and then slowly nodded.

"I'm sorry about that."

She shot him a sharp look.

"Whatever for," she said, "I'm not going to judge you for that because look how I've been acting…"

He sighed.

"But you're just trying to protect yourself and based on my history…I can't say I blame you for that."

She shrugged.

"But it's silly to do that because it's difficult to lose someone and to even think about it, but to not have that stake in them to begin with, to share that much, that's a greater loss."

He looked at her, his eyes showing so much.

"Besides," she continued, "I've got my own history too…I've done things well…I can't judge you Houston and I don't want to, not now. I'd rather spend my time doing...other things."

He smiled broadly at that and reached for her, She fell into his embrace clearly belonging there, as he hugged her tightly. She rested her head against him, thinking that yes, life was filled with risks but it also included its great rewards including the man she held in her arms, not wanting to let him go.

Outside their window, the rain continued to fall but a patch of moonlight shone through a break in the clouds as night came to the ranch.