Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
J ace had never seen anything so sexy in his life as Hallie staring up at him with desire-drugged green eyes and her gorgeous moonlit hair falling around her even more gorgeous moonlit body. The fact she had him fisted in her hand and was pumping him in tight strokes that made his knees weak didn’t hurt either.
“Hallie,” he whispered.
“Sorry, but that’s just not loud enough to count.” She lowered her head and took him into her mouth with a deep suck that pulled him straight up to his toes.
“Hal—lie!”
Her eyes twinkled up at him as she proceeded to demonstrate how good she was at getting him to scream her name. Like he had done to her, she teased him—bringing him close with deep suction, lush tongue swirls, and tight strokes of her hand at the base of his cock—before she loosened her grip and gentled the suction, making him shake with need.
When he couldn’t take one second more of her torture, he pulled away and reached for the condom. Once he had it on, he turned to find Hallie stretched out seductively on the bed waiting for him, her eyes glittering with heat and something that took his breath away.
“Ready to ride, cowboy?”
He didn’t need to be asked twice. Sliding into her warm, wet heat was like sliding into a hot bath after playing an entire football game in a blizzard. It was satisfying and healing and as close to heaven as anything Jace had ever felt in his life. It wasn’t just the intense physical satisfaction of being sheathed in her warmth. It was more than that. It was the feeling of rightness that came along with the sexual desire. A rightness Jace had never felt before.
“Hallie.”
He didn’t yell it, but it felt like he had. The one word echoed through his soul like it had been shouted from the highest mountain. As he pumped out his desire, he whispered her name again and again until he felt like he was flying off that mountain and soaring through the blue sky like an eagle that had found his wings.
He continued to fly long after he was spent and she curled up in his arms like she never wanted to leave.
He didn’t want her to leave either.
The thought made the first trickle of unease settle in his stomach. He couldn’t keep Hallie. He was leaving in a few weeks. Now that the Holiday Ranch had a foreman, she’d be leaving too. Probably soon.
The unease turned to something else. Fear. Fear of losing the woman tucked so sweetly against him.
“I think I won.” She played with the hair on his chest. “You were up to twenty-six when I stopped counting.”
He couldn’t deny it. Even now, he wanted to repeat her name over and over again. Instead, he pressed his face into her hair and inhaled deeply as if to seal her scent inside him forever. “What forfeit do you want?”
“I’m thinking on it.” She snuggled closer to him, her head coming to rest against his heart. A heart that was beating wildly with thoughts of losing her. But how could he lose her when he’d never had her?
She yawned, her exhalation heating his skin and making him hard all over again. “Don’t let me fall asleep,” she said. “I need to get home before my parents and Mimi do or they’ll worry.” A second later, she was breathing softly.
Jace thought about waking her, but couldn’t bring himself to do it. She might not be his forever, but, for a little while longer, he wanted to pretend she was.
He wasn’t surprised he fell asleep. Beer and phenomenal sex were a drugging combination. He woke to the ringing of a cellphone. Figuring he’d left his phone in the pocket of his jeans, he shifted Hallie out of his arms and leaned over the side of the bed to pull the phone from his pocket.
“Hello.”
“Who is this?” The woman’s voice that came through the speaker had his eyes widening. He sat straight up in bed just as Hallie woke up and chose that moment to say his name again . . . in a very sexy voice.
“Hmm . . . Jace.”
“Jace?” Darla Holiday said.
He swallowed hard. “Yes . . . ma’am.”
There was a long stretch of silence during which Hallie wrapped her arms around him from behind and cupped his pec while her other hand cupped . . . something else.
“Hallie!” He jumped to his feet, turned on the lamp, and held out her phone. The phone he’d accidentally answered. “Your mama.”
That seemed to get her attention. She stared at him. “My mama?” Even with fear of discovery clenching his stomach, he couldn’t help but notice how stunning she looked with her bed-messed falling around her shoulders and breathtaking breasts.
He nodded as Darla’s voice came through the speaker.
“Hallie?”
Hallie mouthed, What the fuck ? All Jace could do was shrug like the idiot he was. She rolled her eyes and grabbed the phone from him.
“Hey, Mama. What’s going on?”
Since Darla wasn’t talking softly, he had no trouble hearing her. “What’s going on? I’ll tell you what’s going on, young lady. Your daddy, Mimi, and I have been worried sick since we arrived home from the Hellhole to discover you weren’t here. Mimi is now calling all your sisters and Daddy is calling Decker to see if he can put out a missing persons alert. That’s what’s going on!”
Jace cringed and Hallie glared at him. “I’m sorry, Mama. I just . . . stopped by Mrs. Stokes’ on the way home to talk with Jace about the game and we sorta lost track of time.” Darla said something he couldn’t hear. Hallie cringed. “Well, I don’t know why Jace left his truck at the Hellhole. I guess he had too much to drink and someone gave him a ride home. Well, how do I know who gave him a ride home, Mama?” She lowered the phone. “Who gave you a ride home, Jace?” She sent him a warning look and he knew he was supposed to give her a good answer. But he didn’t have one. If he gave a name, Darla could easily prove him a liar by asking that person. Hallie’s mama wasn’t dumb. It was obvious by her questioning that she’d already figured things out. If him answering her daughter’s phone hadn’t given it away, Hallie’s frantic behavior had.
Jace took the phone away from her. “Hi, Darla. I’ll have Hallie home in a few minutes.” He hung up the phone and set it on the nightstand.
“You’re right,” she said. “There’s no need for us to explain anything to my mama. Or to Daddy or Mimi. The less we say the better.” She climbed out of bed and started picking up her clothes. “We’ll just stick to the story that I stopped by to talk football.”
He grabbed his boxers and pulled them on. “I’m sure that will be believable when you haven’t shown up for one game.” He glanced at the clock. “And when it’s past one in the morning. And why didn’t you just say you drove me home because I was drunk?”
She stopped in the process of tugging on her jeans to glare at him. “Well, pardon me for not thinking fast enough. Might I remind you that we wouldn’t be in this predicament if you hadn’t answered my phone.”
“I didn’t realize it was your phone.” He pulled on his jeans. “And I’m sorry, but I’m not going to lie to your mama.”
She stopped buttoning her shirt and stared at him. “What does that mean?”
“It means I’m not going to pretend we were talking about football or someone besides you brought me home.”
“So you’re going to tell her what we did?”
“No, but I’m not going to act like we’re just friends. We’re more than that, Hallie. And regardless of the fallout, I’m tired of acting like we aren’t.”
“Because you aren’t the one who fooled around with your sister’s ex-boyfriend!”
“I get it. Believe me, I get it. When I found out Decker and Sweetie got together, I tried to pull the cousins-don’t-fool-around-with-other-cousins’-girlfriends card. But that was just because my ego was hurt. Sweetie and I weren’t meant for each other. She and Decker are. No dumb cousins’ rules or silly sisters’ oaths would have changed that.”
Hallie’s eyes widened. “Are you saying we’re meant for each other?”
Was he? If the horrified look on her face was any indication, he shouldn’t be.
“I’m just saying you can’t let your life be ruled by oaths you took as kids. Decker didn’t let what Sweetie and I had interfere with what he felt for her. I don’t think we should either. That’s all I’m saying.”
Her gaze zeroed in on him. “And what do you feel for me, Jace Carson?”
His heart moved up into his throat and he had to swallow hard to get it back where it belonged. “I like you, Hallie Holiday. I’ve always liked you. You’re funny and feisty and . . .” His gaze lowered to her breasts peeking through the strands of long golden hair. “Hot as hell. And I don’t want this to be the last time we see each other.”
“Are you saying you want a repeat of tonight?”
He did. But that wasn’t all he wanted. “I want to dance with you. I want to spin you around until you’re dizzy, then I want to waltz you in my arms until closing time. I want to take you to Tito’s Tacos and watch you eat your favorite shredded beef burritos with extra cheddar cheese and green chili. I’m assuming those are still your favorite.”
When she nodded, he stepped closer and continued. “I want to ride with you like we used to. Once we’ve ridden until we’re both sweaty and tired, I want to head to Cooper Springs and go swimming.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “Swimming or skinny-dipping?”
“Whichever you prefer. I don’t care as long as we can do it together. And then I want to sit in the hayloft and watch the sun lower on the horizon like a big orange beach ball and the stars come out like thousands of twinkling diamonds.” He lifted a hand and traced her cheek. “With you, Hallie. Just you.”
It took her a long time to reply. Which made his stomach more than a little queasy. So did the fact that she refused to look at him. Her gaze was pinned to his chest. Finally, she spoke.
“That’s a lot to get done in two weeks. Especially when you have a football team to coach.”
She had a good point, but he couldn’t deny his desires anymore. “I know. That’s why I don’t want to waste a second of it pretending we’re just friends.”
She lifted her gaze. “There will be gossip.”
“I’ve been in the middle of gossip before. I think it’s time that I stopped worrying about how people see me and just worry about how I see myself. But the question is can you deal with the gossip?”
She paused for a long moment that had his insides tightening and his heart thumping. If she couldn’t handle the gossip, if she couldn’t own up to what was between them, then he’d have no choice but to leave town. He couldn’t live in the same town and control the need that ate at him. He wasn’t even sure he could live in another country and control it. Which scared him. But at the moment, he was more scared of her answer.
She stepped closer, her bare toes meeting his. Just that slight touch had him trembling. He trembled even more when her hands slid over his bare chest and looped around his neck.
“For another night like tonight, I think I can deal with just about anything.”
Relief flooded him and he grinned. “You liked that, did ya?”
“Oh, I more than liked it.” She leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed him. All the emotions he’d been keeping in busted loose and he lifted her completely off the floor and kissed her like he’d been wanting to kiss her ever since they’d started this conversation.
His hands had just filled with the soft curves of her butt when her phone started ringing on the nightstand. He pulled back from the kiss and rested his forehead against hers. “As much as I’d love to finish what we started, I think we need to get you home before your daddy arrives with his shotgun and busts down the door.”
Once they were dressed, she drove him back to the Hellhole to get his truck.
“You don’t need to follow me home,” she said. “I’m sure everyone will be in bed by this time.”
He still followed her.
Everyone wasn’t in bed. The porch light was on and Jace could see Hank, Darla, and Mimi sitting on the porch when he pulled in behind Hallie’s truck. He took a deep breath before he jumped out and held Hallie’s door as she got out. She didn’t look as feisty as she normally did. Which had him taking her hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. He continued to hold it as they moved toward the porch steps Hank now stood on.
“Just what the hell is going on, Halloween Holiday?”
Hallie tried to pull her hand free, but Jace didn’t let her go. Nor was he going to let her take the blame.
“Sorry, sir, for getting Hallie home so late. It was all my fault.”
Hallie turned on him. “No, it wasn’t. And let go of my hand before I punch you.” He let go of her hand. “Don’t you dare try to treat me like a woman who needs a man to protect her or explain for her.”
“I wasn’t—”
“Yes, you were.” She looked at her father. “What’s going on, Daddy, is that I’m a grown woman who can take care of herself. So you and Mama and Mimi don’t need to be staying up waiting on me to come home. I apologize for not telling you where I was, but I thought I’d be home before you got back from the Hellhole.”
“And why weren’t you?” He looked at Jace. Since he’d just gotten chastised, Jace looked at Hallie. He didn’t want her to lie to her parents, but he didn’t want her to be as brutally honest as she was.
“Because I fell asleep in Jace’s bed.” She turned to Jace. “Good night, Jace. Thanks for a lovely evening.” She gave him a quick kiss right on the lips before she turned and headed up the steps, leaving Jace with her scowling daddy.
Jace cleared his throat. “I guess I’ll be go—”
“Oh, no, you won’t. You’ll tell me exactly what’s going on between you and my—”
Mimi spoke up from where she sat on the porch. “That’s enough, Hank William. Hallie is right. She’s a big girl and we don’t need to be butting into her business.” She got up. “Now let’s all go to bed. It’s been a long night.” She walked to the screen door and held it open. Hank didn’t budge until Darla took his arm.
“Come on, dear. Like your mama said, it’s not our business.”
Hank sent Jace a warning look that was very similar to his daughter’s. “You better watch yourself, boy. Winning coach or not, I won’t put up with you dallying with my daughter—any daughter!” He turned and stomped into the house.
Darla sent him a curious look, but didn’t say a word as she followed her husband. Jace waited for Mimi to head inside after them. He should have known better. Mimi had always liked getting the last word. He expected her warning to be as harsh as her son’s. But like her granddaughter, Mimi was unpredictable.
A smile broke over her wrinkled face. “Prayers are answered. Just not always in the way you think.” She winked at him before she headed into the house, the screen door slamming closed behind her.