Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
M ore time to forget.
What the hell was he thinking saying that? Instead of pointing out that he knew why she was so flustered, he should have let her leave and kept right on pretending like nothing happened.
Except something had happened. The same something that had happened the morning they woke up together in her bed. He had thought it just had to do with alcohol and the realization that his football career was over. But he’d only had one beer tonight and football hadn’t even been on his mind.
What had been on his mind was the feel of the soft, warm skin beneath her chin and the strum of her strong, erratic pulse. What had been on his mind was the way her hair turned to stardust in the moonlight and the way her green gaze had settled on his mouth and burned him with an intensity that took his breath away.
All he had wanted to do was kiss her—to once again feel the slide of her soft lips and the heat of her wet mouth and thrust of her greedy tongue.
His body remembered her. It knew the feel of her skin and the taste of her lips and what it was like to be held tightly inside her. If her reaction to his touch was any indication, her body remembered him too.
He didn’t think time was going to make them forget.
Hallie didn’t either.
“I think it’s best if we stay away from each other, Jace.”
She was right. The memories of that morning were much worse when she was around. But then why couldn’t he agree? Why did he just stand there staring into her green eyes?
Eyes that were nothing like Sweetie’s.
They might be the same shade of green, but Hallie’s had a starburst of burnished amber encircling the dark pupil. Something he had never noticed until that morning.
“Dammit, Jace! Stop looking at me like that.” She whirled and got into her truck, slamming the door closed behind her. He just stood there until her taillights disappeared in the darkness. Then he cussed himself out and headed inside.
He was exhausted and hoped sleep would give him a clearer perspective of what had just happened with Hallie. He planned on sleeping in the spare room, the same room he’d shared with Decker whenever he came to visit their grandparents. But the bed was gone and in its place were stacks of boxes, paint cans, and paintbrushes.
Which meant he had to sleep in Decker and Sweetie’s room in the same bed Hallie had slept in. As soon as he slipped between the sheets, her scent enveloped him. It wasn’t flowery or perfumey like most of the women he’d dated. Hallie’s scent was light and subtle. Like clean country air. Like country air, he couldn’t describe its scent, but when it filled his lungs, it made him feel safe and secure.
He had no trouble falling asleep . . . or dreaming of that morning:
He woke in the hazy pink of predawn to a pair of green eyes that reminded him of an oak leaf at the end of summer when its edges were just turning deep amber. He was confused for only a second before recognition dawned. Something bloomed in his chest, a feeling of familiarity and comfort. He knew this person staring back at him and she knew him.
He smiled, but that smile faded when Hallie leaned in and pressed her lips to his.
The kiss was soft and fleeting, but it still shook him to the core.
“Hallie?” he whispered.
She kissed him again. This time, deeper with a brush of hot tongue. She tasted of tequila and some elusive flavor that reminded him of home. A flavor that soothed his torn soul and made him feel like he wasn’t a complete failure. The feeling only intensified as the kiss deepened. Every brush of her lips and stroke of her tongue seemed to heal him . . . and made him crave more. Just as heat started racing through his veins like wildfire, she pulled away, confusion clouding her eyes.
He should let her go. He knew he should let her go.
But he couldn’t.
“No, plea-se.” His voice cracked. “I need you.”
With only a slight hesitation, she came back to him.
Somewhere amid more heated kisses, clothes were discarded and he learned how well her petite, toned body fit to his. How right she felt in his arms. How perfectly her breasts filled his hands. How sweet her nipples tasted on his tongue. How tightly her wet heat encased him.
After only a few mind-blowing thrusts, she pushed him to his back and straddled him. Her hair cocooned them like golden curtains, her gaze holding his with a magnetic force he couldn’t look away from as she slowly rocked against him. The feeling was indescribable. He tried to hold on to it. He didn’t want this moment to end. But his body refused to listen. It wanted release. It wanted release with this woman.
With Hallie.
Before he could find that release, Jace startled awake. At first, he thought it was his raging hard-on that woke him, but then a sloppy tongue brushed over his face. Dixie stood next to George, her large eyes accusing, as if she knew what he’d been dreaming about.
What he had no business dreaming about.
He sighed and got up.
After taking the dogs outside for their morning pee, he fed them their designer dog food—chopping it up and heating per Hallie’s instructions. When he’d been playing football, he’d always made himself a protein smoothie and veggie-filled omelet in the morning. Now he rarely ate breakfast. So after the dogs finished eating, he cleaned their dishes before heading to the bathroom to shower. He planned on driving back to Houston, but a call from Sweetie as soon as he stepped out of the shower changed those plans.
“The doctor is going to release Decker tomorrow morning. So why don’t you just stay there?”
“That’s okay. I don’t mind coming back.” In fact, he needed something to do to keep his mind off Hallie.
“That’s a long drive for nothing. Cloe and Rome are here with me now and Liberty and Jesse already volunteered to drive me and Decker home tomorrow. So you just stay there and get some rest. You certainly deserve it.” Her voice wobbled. “I want you to know that I couldn’t have gotten through this last week without you, Jace.”
“Hey, now, no more tears. Decker is going to be fine and I needed your help getting through this as much as you needed mine. That’s what friends are for.”
She hesitated. “I’m happy you’re still my friend, Jace.”
“Me too.” It wasn’t a lie. Sweetie meant a lot to him and he couldn’t believe he’d almost ruined their friendship because of his hurt ego. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
After he got dressed, he looked for anything to do to keep his hands and mind occupied. He washed all the sheets and towels, dusted, cleaned the kitchen and bathrooms, and mopped and vacuumed the floors. While vacuuming the spare bedroom, he took a closer look at the boxes. Last night, he’d thought Sweetie and Decker were using the room as storage. But now he realized they were all things for the baby—a crib, a changing table, and a rocking chair.
This was going to be the baby’s room. From the looks of the paint and the brushes and rollers, they had been getting ready to start painting and decorating when Decker had been shot. Now, there was no way Decker could help Sweetie decorate the room. And Sweetie couldn’t do it by herself. Jace had been looking for a project. It looked like he’d found one.
By late afternoon, he had the room painted . . . and himself. He was washing the paintbrushes outside with the hose when a white dually truck pulled into the driveway. He was surprised to see Corbin. He didn’t know why Belle’s husband would be stopping by.
He turned off the hose and tried to quiet the dogs that were standing at the screen door barking like crazy.
“Hey, Jace,” Corbin said as he climbed out of his truck.
“Hey, Corbin.” He pulled the bandana out of his back pocket and dried off his hands that still had splotches of paint. Something that didn’t go unnoticed by Corbin.
“Doing a little painting?”
He nodded. “Hopefully, I got more on the walls.”
Corbin laughed and looked down at his paint-splattered T-shirt and jeans. “But you look so good in pink.”
He grinned. “If you’re looking for Hallie, she’s not here. She went back to the ranch last night.”
“I know. I just came from there. She told me you stayed here last night. That’s why I’m here. I wanted to come over and talk to you about something before you left.”
If Jace had been friends with Corbin, he wouldn’t have thought anything of it. But they weren’t friends. Jace had already left for college when Corbin and his sister arrived to live with their uncle. The first time they had met was at the wedding. So what could he want to talk to him about?
Unless Hallie had told him about their night together.
It seemed doubtful. Hallie had made it clear she didn’t want her sisters finding out. Still, she might have said something to make Corbin suspicious. If he came out and asked, Jace didn’t think he could straight-faced lie.
“Come on inside and I’ll get you a beer,” he said as he turned for the house.
George and Dixie greeted Corbin with enthusiasm while Jace took two of Hallie’s beers out of the refrigerator and opened them.
“I see Hallie left you some of her beer,” Corbin said when Jace handed him a bottle.
Jace sat down at the table. “I hear you’re going to invest in her brewing business.”
Corbin nodded as he took the opposite chair. “But it was a mistake to make the offer.”
Jace lifted his eyebrows. “How so?”
“Mimi read me the riot act once she found out and the rest of the Holidays aren’t too happy either. They want Hallie to stay here and not move back to Austin.”
“So are you going to withdraw the offer?”
“No. I’m not a man who goes back on his word . . . even if I end up ticking off my wife and her grandmother.” He took another drink of beer. “But I didn’t come here to talk about Hallie’s brewery.” He set the bottle down on the table and looked at Jace. “Hallie mentioned you might be a good candidate for foreman of the Holiday Ranch.”
Jace choked on the sip of beer he’d just taken. It took a lot of coughing to clear his throat enough to speak. “Where did she get that idea?”
“I guess she thinks you need something to do now that you’re not playing football anymore and she thinks you’d make one helluva foreman.”
He stared at Corbin and couldn’t help the warm glow that settled in his stomach. “She said that?”
Corbin nodded. “And coming from Hallie that means something. Since you get along with Hank—something that isn’t easy to do—and used to work the ranch, I’m here to offer you the job if you want it.”
Jace didn’t know what to say. He was stunned Hallie had talked to Corbin about hiring him, especially when she had just told him they needed to stay away from each other.
Although maybe she hadn’t been talking about him staying away.
“Is Hallie leaving?”
Corbin looked surprised by the subject change, but recovered quickly. “She’s heading back to Austin this weekend to start looking for a building for her brewery. She suddenly seems in quite the hurry to get her plans started.”
The pain that punched Jace in the chest was unexplainable.
Or maybe it wasn’t.
“You can’t let her go.”
Corbin blinked at him. “Excuse me?”
“You can’t let Hallie leave. And not because her family doesn’t want her to. This has nothing to do with anyone else but Hallie. She loves the ranch. She’s always loved it. It’s more than just a home to her. It’s a way of life. I didn’t realize that until last night when we were talking. When I saw the look in her eyes when she was telling me her plans to make the ranch more successful, I realized how much she wanted to run it herself.”
Corbin stared at him. “Hallie? But she wants to start a brewery.” He hesitated. “Although she couldn’t seem to answer me when I asked her for a deeper purpose for wanting to brew beer.” He looked at Jace. “She has plans for the ranch?”
“Good ones.”
“Why didn’t she say anything?”
“Maybe she thought you wouldn’t want to hear them. She didn’t exactly grow up with a man who was interested in her ideas about the ranch. Hank’s a good man, but like a lot of old-time cowboys, he’s stubborn and set in his ways. He’s never made his girls feel like he values their opinions. I think Hallie has given up trying to make him listen.”
“Then I’ll talk to her,” Corbin said. “I’ll make sure she knows that I’d love to hear her thoughts on the ranch. And if I can convince her to stay on and take over the job of foreman, that would be even better. I might get back in Mimi’s good graces.”
Jace shook his head. “Unfortunately, that’s not going to work. You can’t just offer Hallie the job because she won’t take it.”
“Okay, I’m lost. I thought you said she loves the ranch and wants to help run it.”
“She does. She just doesn’t realize it. And anyone telling her what she should do is like telling Hank what he should do.”
Corbin groaned and ran a hand through his hair. “Shit. Why do the Holidays have to be so damn difficult? I swear if I had known the stubborn family I was getting into—” He cut off and a smile spread over his face. “I still would have married Belle. They might be stubborn, but I love the whole damn lot of them. So what do I do? Just let her run off to Austin and buy a brewery and be miserable?”
“No. You just need to figure out a way to keep her here until she figures it out for herself. And me refusing the foreman job will help. Hallie has always put her family before her own desires. If she thinks you need her help, she’ll stay. Not to mention that Sweetie and Decker will need help too.”
“But I thought you were staying to help them.”
He had thought about it until his reaction to Hallie last night. Now it would be best if he left. Especially if she was staying.
“It’s time for me to head out.”
Corbin studied him for a moment before he nodded. “So what are you going to do? If you don’t mind me asking.”
Jace didn’t have a clue. All he’d ever wanted to do was play football. Now that it wasn’t an option, he wasn’t sure what he would do. But what he was sure about was that he wasn’t going to fall into the self-pitying pit he’d allowed himself to fall in before. As Hallie had so bluntly pointed out, he was luckier than most people. He had gotten paid to play a sport he loved for a long time. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, he was going to count his blessings.
One of those blessings was his family.
He finished off his beer, enjoying the way the smooth brew slid down his throat, before he set the bottle on the table and got to his feet.
“Right now, I’m going to finish a baby’s room. Have you ever put together a crib, Corbin?”