Page 44 of Wrangling a Texas Hometown Hero

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.

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