Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
J ace didn’t know if he was buzzed on the beers people kept handing him or the game. All he knew was he felt happier than he had in a long time. It hadn’t been a pretty game. They’d fumbled three times and thrown four interceptions. But, unlike the other two games, the boys hadn’t given up. Maybe because he’d stopped looking at them like only pawns in the goal of winning and started looking at them as kids who had more things to worry about than just winning a game. School and getting into the right college. Girlfriends and hormones. Parents and home issues. They were just kids, like he had once been. They were scared, insecure, and just wanting to please the people they loved most. They didn’t need a coach yelling at them to win. They needed a mentor telling them that they’d be okay.
Right before they’d scored the touchdown in the final seconds to win, he’d rallied the team around and told them that—win or lose—he was proud of them. He was. So damn proud of them that he’d hugged each and every one as they headed out of the locker room to no doubt party their asses off.
They had earned it.
And so had he.
He hadn’t had so much to drink since his night with Hallie. But she wasn’t there tonight. He knew she was avoiding him. Which was for the best. Still . . . he wished she’d been sitting in the stands when he’d won tonight. It was a foolish wish. But one he couldn’t shake.
He downed the rest of his beer and another one immediately appeared in his hand. He glanced at the person who had handed it to him and grinned when he saw Decker.
“Hey, Deck!” He gave him a gentle hug and a soft thump on the back. “What are you doing here?” According to the doctors, Decker was healed up and could go back to work on Monday. Decker was more than ready, but Jace couldn’t help still being concerned for his cousin. “You sure this isn’t too much excitement?”
“I’m ready for a little excitement. If I had to stay in that house one second longer with Sweetie mothering me, I was going to go crazy.”
“Hey.” Sweetie moved up next to Decker. Every time Jace saw her, her stomach looked bigger. “Watch it, mister. This mother hen has a mean peck.”
Decker pulled her in for a quick kiss. “You can peck me all you want, Sweets. But please stop worrying about me. I’m fine.” He winked. “And I’ll be happy to prove it to you later tonight.”
“Too much information.” Jace said, which made Decker and Sweetie laugh. He joined in with them before he held up his beer. “To Decker healing up. To your new addition arriving soon. And to winning football games.”
“Amen.” Decker clinked his beer bottle.
Sweetie held up her glass of water. “And to finally finding a foreman for the ranch.”
Jace lowered the bottle of beer he’d just taken a drink from. “What?”
“I was sitting over there with Corbin and Belle when Hallie walked up and started telling Corbin he would be an idiot if he didn’t hire Reid Mitchell. Although with the way the man looks, she might just be letting her libido take over her good sense.”
“Her libido?” Jace squinted at Sweetie. “What do you mean?”
“Yeah, Sweets.” Decker sent his wife a wounded look. “Just what do you mean?”
Sweetie laughed. “No one is as good looking as you, Decker Carson . . . but Reid Mitchell isn’t what you’d call hard to look at either. And Hallie isn’t known for ignoring good-looking cowboys. Which probably explains why she headed right back to their table after she got finished bullying Corbin into hiring him.” She pointed over Jace’s shoulder. “She’s sitting right over there with Reid.”
Jace followed her finger, but he couldn’t see anything with the crowd. He should continue to drink his beer and celebrate with his family and friends. He shouldn’t care Hallie was there with a good-looking cowboy.
But he damn well did.
“I need to head to the bathroom.” He got up and weaved his way through the crowd. Everyone stopped him to talk about the game. When he finally made his way out, he wished he hadn’t. Just the sight of Hallie sitting at a table with her head tipped back in laughter made him want to hit something.
Preferably the cowboy who was sitting with her and making her laugh.
If Jace hadn’t been a little drunk, he might have been able to turn around and let it go. No, even if he hadn’t been buzzed, he wouldn’t have been able to let it go. The sight didn’t just piss him off. It left him with a hollow ache he knew wouldn’t go away by avoidance. He’d tried that. He’d been trying it for months and that ache just kept getting stronger and stronger. Now it was like his entire body had been eaten up by it. He couldn’t ignore it anymore.
He couldn’t ignore Hallie anymore.
He walked over to the table and Hallie immediately stopped laughing. She looked up at him with those pretty green eyes splashed with amber and he went dumb. Every thought in his head just evaporated and all he wanted to do was pull her into his arms and claim her as his own. Like a kid with his favorite toy that some other kid had stolen, he wanted to yell, “She’s mine. All mine!”
“Hey, Jace.”
Hallie’s greeting brought him back from his childish musings, but he still struggled to have a sane thought while looking into her eyes. Which was apparent when he spoke.
“We won.”
Her eyebrows lifted as if she too thought that was an idiotic thing to say. “I figured as much by all the hollering and cheering.”
He cleared his throat. “I just thought you’d want to know.” He struggled to find something else to say, but came up empty. He glanced at the cowboy and hated him immediately. Probably because he was good looking.
The cowboy stood and held out his hand. “Reid Mitchell.”
“Jace Carson.” He took his hand and squeezed a little harder than necessary. Reid didn’t seem to notice.
“Congrats on winning. Would you like to join us?”
“I don’t think—” Hallie started, but Jace cut her off.
“Don’t mind if I do.” He pulled out a chair and sat down. He could tell by Hallie’s scowl she wasn’t happy. He didn’t care. He wasn’t happy either. He was jealous. Jealous as hell. He might not have a right to feel it. But right or wrong, the green-eyed monster was eating him alive. He didn’t care if she wanted him there or not. He wasn’t leaving. He wasn’t going to let Reid get what he wanted.
Hallie.
He wanted Hallie. He was tired of fighting it. Tired of pretending he didn’t want to pull her into his arms and kiss the hell out of her. Tired of pretending he didn’t want to see her every day to find out if she’d fixed her hair in one thick braid or two skinnier braids. One sassy ponytail or two cute ones. Or if she’d left it to fall around her shoulders in glorious waves of wheat like it was now. Tired of pretending he didn’t have feelings for her.
Feelings he could no longer ignore.
Those feelings must have been written all over his face because her eyes widened and her breath caught.
Reid cleared his throat. “I think I’m gonna head on out. It’s been a long day.” He pushed back his chair. “Nice meeting you, Jace. Hallie, I hope we’ll be talking soon.”
“Not if I can help it,” Jace said without ever taking his eyes off Hallie.
As soon as he was gone, Hallie glared at him. “What in the world are you doing, Jace?”
He knew exactly what he was doing. He was staking a claim. But he had a feeling Hallie wouldn’t exactly be happy to hear that. In fact, she looked pretty darn mad. He was mad too. Mad that she had consumed so much of his brain he couldn’t think straight. Mad that she looked so damn breathtaking in dresses or sweaty work clothes or his football jersey that no other woman compared. Mad that he had wasted so much time pretending like what happened that morning had just been sex when he knew deep down that had never been the case.
He rose to his feet and held out a hand. “Dance with me.”
“What?” She glanced around. “We can’t—”
“Yes, we can. It’s just a dance, Hallie.”
She looked around again before she stood. She ignored his hand and walked to the dance floor without any assistance. He couldn’t help but smile. That was Hallie. She would never need anyone’s help getting anywhere she wanted to go.
Once on the dance floor, he wondered again if this was a huge mistake. Maybe he should just leave and keep pretending she didn’t drive him crazy. But then he took her into his arms and she looked up at him with those eyes, those green mind-altering eyes, and he knew his time of pretending was over.
* * *
Hallie didn’t know what was going on with Jace. She didn’t know why he’d arrived at the table looking like the god of thunder and had been so rude to Reid, and then insisted she dance with him. She really didn’t know why she had agreed when their entire family and friends were no doubt watching them.
It probably had to do with the look in his eyes. There was something in his smoky-blue depths that hadn’t been there before. Something intense and breath stealing. Something hungry and possessive.
Or maybe he’d just had too much to drink.
“Are you drunk?”
His gaze lowered to her mouth. “Not on alcohol.” Before Hallie could get over the wave of heat his words evoked, the band started playing Zac Brown’s “Chicken Fried” and Jace’s face lit up. “I love this song.”
Before Hallie knew what was happening, Jace started twirling her around in the country swing. He had always been a good dancer and she had always loved to dance. So she forgot about the look in his eyes and fell into step.
They danced well together. Usually, Hallie struggled with wanting to lead. But Jace never gave her the chance. He spun her around like a top, using his hand and the occasional touch on her waist to guide her where he wanted her to go. They danced two straight country swings. By the time the second song was over, she was dizzy and breathless. She became even more so when the next song started and Jace’s strong hand settled on her hip and he pulled her against his muscled chest. His eyes glittered down at her as he started waltzing her around the floor.
“I think we need to talk,” he said.
Talk? It was hard to even think with the press of his muscled body and the flex of his broad shoulders beneath her fingertips. Not to mention, the alluring scent that oozed from his pores and made her want to bury her face into his neck and take big gulping breaths.
It took all her concentration to reply. “About what?”
“About this thing between us.”
That got her attention. “There’s nothing between us, Jace.”
He leaned in closer, the stubble of his jaw rasping the side of her face and sending goose bumps skittering across her skin as his warm breath brushed her ear and caused a tremor to run through her. He felt it. She knew he felt it. His hand tightened on her hip as if he had no intentions of ever letting her go. When he spoke the same desire that raced through her veins was thick in his voice.
“Liar.”
She was a liar. There was something between them. Something she could no longer ignore. But she couldn’t give in to it either. And it wasn’t only because of the oath she once took. Or the town gossip that would hurt her family. It was because she was scared. She was scared that what she felt for Jace was more than just desire. For a woman who had worked so hard to break away from her domineering father, to make sure no man ever controlled her emotions again, the thought of being emotionally attached to a man was terrifying.
And something she wasn’t about to let happen.
She pulled away from him and walked off the dance floor.
“Hallie, wait!” he called.
She ignored him and headed for the door, waving at her parents and Mimi as she passed the bar. She made it to her truck before Jace caught up to her. He took her arm and spun her around. He looked like the angry thunder god again, but she was feeling like an angry thunder goddess so they were on equal footing.
“Stop manhandling me!” She shoved him hard in the chest. He didn’t budge.
“Then stop running away from me. We can’t run anymore, Hallie. We have to face the fact that the morning we spent together can’t be swept under the rug. At least not by me.”
She hated the giddiness that settled in her stomach at his words. He couldn’t forget that morning. He couldn’t forget her. She shouldn’t be happy about it, but she was. Probably because she knew she would never forget it either. She had tried to forget and failed miserably. She was glad she wasn’t the only one.
But that didn’t make it right.
“It might not be forgettable, but it can’t be repeated.”
“Why not? We’re two single adults. We have the right to our own lives. And if you’re still worried about me having feelings for Sweetie, I don’t. I don’t think I ever did have those kind of feelings for your sister. We just got together because it was easy and what everyone expected. But what your sister figured out sooner than I did was that we didn’t have one thing in common besides me being the hometown football hero and her being the hometown sweetheart.” He stared at her and his eyes held a look that made her stomach feel like it did when she used to jump from the hayloft.
“But you know who has things in common, Hallie? Do you know who likes beer and football and ranching and dancing? Do you know who makes me laugh and pissed off and completely out of my head with desire?” He placed a hand on the roof of her truck and leaned closer. “You, Hallie. You make me laugh and so angry I see red and so hot that I can’t think about anything but kissing you and doing all the things we did that morning in Austin. If that’s wrong, then let me burn in hell. Because I’m already in hell not being able to touch you like I want to touch you.”
His eyes turned pleading. “Please, Hallie, let me touch you.”