Page 56 of Wrangling a Texas Hometown Hero

If he hadn’t been upset with the way his conversation was going with Hallie, Jace would have been impressed. Now he didn’t even give the girl a second look as he returned his attention to the cowgirl glaring at him.

“I wasn’t telling you what you can and can’t do.”

“I don’t know what you’d call it.” She glanced at the girl. “Looks like you’ve found your kicker.”

“I don’t care about finding a kicker right now.”

“You don’t care because she’s a girl.”

“What?”

“You don’t care because she’s a girl. If she was a boy, you’d be jumping for joy and rushing to talk him into joining the team.”

He stared at her. “Would you stop talking about that girl? I don’t care about her. I care about us.”

She leaned closer, her green eyes flashing with temper. “Maybe you should care about that girl. Maybe you should care enough to see her as something more than an addition to your team. Because maybe she’s spent all her life trying to prove herself—to prove that she’s strong enough to stand on her own two feet. Now she suddenly has the attention of the man she thought cared about her thoughts and dreams, a man she thought would support whatever she wanted, and she’s realizing she was totally wrong. You don’t care about what she wants. You’re like every other man who thinks he knows what’s best for her. And yes, maybe her dream isn’t what she thought it was. But that’s not your decision to make. It’s hers.” She thumped her chest. “Hers. She will not be bent to the will of any man. Not a jerk owner of a brewery. Not her father. And certainly not an arrogant ex-quarterback!”

She whirled and marched toward the stands.

He started after her. “Don’t you dare leave, Hallie Holiday!”

She turned and shoved him hard in the chest. “Oh, I dare. Because you don’t own me, Jace Carson. No man owns me. And just to make things perfectly clear, I’m going to Austin to run the best damn brewery in Texas and I don’t need anyone to help me do it!” She whirled and marched off the field.

He stood there speechless, wondering how things had gone so wrong so quickly. He had hoped the night would end with Hallie in his arms and talking about their future together. Now it looked like there would be no future together. Once again someone he loved was leaving him. He should be used to it by now. But the way he’d felt when his daddy and Sweetie had left didn’t compare to what he felt at this moment. Those times, he’d been hurt. But hurt didn’t describe the desperate empty feeling that consumed him.

“Looks like you pissed off your girlfriend big time.”

He turned and saw the teenage girl standing there with the soccer ball tucked under her arm. Since he wasn’t in the mood for conversation, he headed toward the locker room. The girl caught up with him.

“So you’re the football coach? I would have been at the tryouts, but my uncle got busy and couldn’t give me a ride and I had to walk.”

He glanced at her. “You wanted to try out for the team?”

A stubborn look crossed her face. “Unless you don’t want a girl.”

She sounded just like Hallie. Which probably explained why he stopped in his tracks and snapped at her. “I don’t have a problem with a girl being on my team! I’m not some ogre who ignores people’s dreams and keeps them from doing what they want to do.”

“Are you sure? Because it sounded to me like that’s exactly what you did to your girlfriend. You made her think you didn’t care about what she wanted.”

“That wasn’t it at all. I was just pointing out that she doesn’t really know what she wants.” As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized how ridiculous they sounded.

The girl knew it too.

She cocked an eyebrow. “Wow, boys are really dumb.”

He wanted to argue, but then realized he couldn’t. He was dumb. He couldn’t fault Hallie for getting mad. In his rush to convince her to stay, he’d made her feel like he was taking over her life. Which was exactly the wrong thing to do with a woman like Hallie. All her life, she’d had to deal with an overbearing daddy who told her what she wanted instead of asking. Jace had done the exact same thing, acting like he knew what she wanted better than she did.

What the hell was the matter with him?

It was a repeat of what he’d done with Sweetie, putting his own needs and desires before hers. With Sweetie, he had expected her to do nothing but support his football career. With Hallie, he’d expected her to do the same thing—stay in Wilder just because that’s what he had decided he wanted to do.

He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. “You’re right. I am dumb.”

“If you don’t pick me as your kicker, you’ll be even dumber.”

He dropped his hand and looked at the girl. She had the same determined look as Hallie. He would bet she wasn’t going to let anyone get in the way of her dreams. Not even an arrogant football coach.

Damn, he’d screwed up. He knew how much Hallie’s independence meant to her and he’d acted like an arrogant, controlling jerk. To top it all off, he hadn’t told her the truth about how he felt. He hadn’t told her how much he loved her. Because deep down he still worried that he wasn’t worthy of love. He knew the feeling came from his daddy leaving him at an early age. He had always known it. And yet, he’d refused to deal with those emotions. Maybe that’s why he was standing there with his heart exposed and aching. Maybe if he wanted to love, he needed to start with himself.

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