Page 9 of Wrangling a Texas Hometown Hero

“Now tell me about what happened in Dallas. How did you get a tryout?”

He thought it would be hard to talk about, but he was learning with Hallie, talking came easy.

“One of the Wolverine trainers was friends with an assistant coach for the Cowboys. One night on a beach in Galveston, I called the guy and got the coach’s number. Then I called the coach and proceeded to plead like the pathetic fool I am.”

“You were pretty pathetic that night at Amos’s.” She grinned and patted his cheek. “So keep going with the story. The guy caved and gave you the tryout?”

“He shouldn’t have.” He pulled off his hat and ran a hand through his hair. “I was delusional to think I’d have a chance. I’d been doing physical therapy and working out. Somehow I got it into my head that I was even better than I had been before the surgery. I found out the hard way it was just wishful thinking.”

“So I guess you sucked at the tryout.”

“So badly the coach who had given me the chance looked like he wanted to crawl under the artificial turf. He finally walked over and told me I could leave anytime.”

Hallie cringed. “Ouch. I get why you wanted to drown yourself in tequila.”

“It was my own fault. I knew deep down my football career was over. I guess I just wanted to give it one last-ditch effort.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that. Mimi always says to go down fighting.”

He smiled sadly as he rested his arms on his knees and rolled the brim of his hat through his fingers. “Yeah, well, I’m all fought out now.”

“Aww, I feel real sorry for you, Jacie.” She hauled off and socked him hard in the arm.

He straightened and turned to her in stunned surprise. “What the hell!”

“What the hell is right.” Her green eyes flashed with anger. “Pull your head out of your ass, Jace Carson. You got a chance most people would kill for. You got to spend the last ten years getting paid to do what you love while most of us will never get that chance. So forgive me if I don’t feel sorry for you. Especially when it’s not like you have to give up football completely. With your experience, you can be a coach or a sportscaster.” She hesitated. “I take the sports casting back. You turn into a bumbling idiot when you get in front of a camera.”

“I do not!”

“Then you never watched yourself. Remember the interview you had with that local station after you won the first state title? Instead of saying, ‘I owe the win to my teammates and coaches,’ you said, ‘I owe the win to my comates and toaches.’ I laughed my ass off.”

He scowled. “Oh, you want to talk about embarrassing moments? Let’s talk about the children’s Christmas pageant when you played the Angel of the Lord.” Her amusement faded and he grinned as he continued. “I’ll never forget you walking out on stage with bent wings and a wire halo bouncing over your head and yelling at the top of your lungs, ‘I forgot the stupid words, but it’s something about not being afraid because of Tide detergent and Joy dish soap.’”

“That was all Mimi’s fault. Mama was so busy making our costumes that she gave Mimi the job of teaching me my lines. She said the best way to remember something is by association. It just so happened that we were in the cleaning product aisle of the grocery store when I was trying to learn ‘tidings of great joy.’”

He rubbed his arm. Damn, Hallie had a hard punch. “Kudos to Mimi. Your performance was the highlight of the pageant. The entire town still thinks so.”

“And they still think you’re the best quarterback to ever live. So who cares what some Cowboy coaches think.”

He grinned. “And who cares if some misogynist asshole fires you? Here in Wilder, you’ll always be a badass angel who knows her cleaning products.”

She laughed and he joined in.

Damn, it felt good.

Chapter Three

“Jace Carson can still dance.” Noelle sighed. “It’s a darn shame he’s off limits.”

Hallie kept her gaze away from the dance floor and on the thick slice of wedding cake she was eating. She had never been good at hiding her emotions, and her emotions were still all over the board where Jace Carson was concerned. She was greatly relieved he’d agreed the morning they had spent together had been a mistake and was best forgotten.

And yet, there was a small part of her that also felt a little annoyed.

Which was completely ridiculous.

She didn’t want Jace to remember that morning. She didn’t want to remember it either . . . and yet, every time she closed her eyes, the images were right there. Images of strong hands, with calloused fingers from gripping a football, gliding over her skin and caressing her hips and cradling her breasts and slipping between her—

“Dammit!” Hallie hadn’t planned on voicing the curse aloud. Noelle startled and sloshed champagne on her dress and all the people standing close to them turned and stared. Hallie pinned on a smile. “Pardon me. I just heard the Texas Rangers lost their last game.”

---