Free My Texas Sweetheart (book one) by Pauliena Acheson

and pissed off at the same time. I say goodnight and head off to bed.
    ****
    The next morning my mom wakes us all up early to open up gifts and for our annual Christmas morning breakfast. She and dad tell us we are all heading over to the Summers ranch for dinner, I wanna get there before everyone else so I can have some alone time with Maggie. I hope she’ll talk to me about last night but I won’t hold my breath.
    ****
    An hour later I’m pulling up their lane, parking I see Maggie coming out of the house with Jade.
    Jade says he’s gotta go help his dad and tells Maggie to stay with me, she give him a look but still listens. Thank you for that! We both stand there staring at each other. Fuck it! Grabbing her hand I start us walking towards the river, kinda shocked she’s letting me… when we get there I turn around and face her. She beautiful today. Digging in my coat pocket I pull out the gift I got for her, “I got this for you” I say handing it to her. She just stares at me and then gentle starts opening her gift, I hope she likes it. I got her a necklace with a horse shoe that has diamonds all around it with a tiny rose in the middle.
    “Oh Jase… it’s beautiful! Thank you” she throws her arms around my neck, “not as beautiful as you” oh shit did I really just say that out loud, she looks shocked but then she gives me the most beautiful smile. Our faces are so close together, if I just lean in a little bit I’d be kissing her, I can tell she’s thinking the same thing. She keeps looking at my lips… just as I start leaning in to kiss her. Adam calls out our names breaking the spell, Maggie jerks herself away from me and start heading towards the house. Fuck Adam you have shitty timing, “Sorry man… if I would of known” he says trailing off. Yeah I know, I gotta get my head together, why did I almost kiss her? Am I falling for Maggie? Can I stop screwing girls for her? Hell. Fucking. Yes!!

Chapter 9 (Maggie)
     
    This Christmas was the best we have had in a few years because Chase came home. Yesterday, Jase showed up to give Adam and me our gifts. I got a really beautiful horse shoe necklace. I gave him tickets to a Cowboys game. He loves football. He’s hoping to get a scholarship to the University of Texas. If all the boys get scholarships there, they can keep playing football together. It’s a few days after Christmas, when there’s a knock on the door. I answer it, smiling. “Hi, you must be Chase’s SEAL buddies. I’ll take you both down to where he is,” I say. They smile at me.
    I grab my shoes , head out the door…and stop short. Christian’s coming up our driveway. Oh, shit. Chase will kill him if he sees him. I’m trying to figure out what to do. Screw it. I keep walking my brother’s buddies down to the barn. As soon as we are inside, I see Dad. “Hey, Daddy. Where’s Chase?” I ask.
    Dad looks over at me. “Morning, baby girl. He’s out in the corral with Jase and the guys.” He looks at Chase’s friends and they all shake hands. I kiss my dad on the cheek, and turn around and tell them to follow me. As we are walking towards to corral, one of them asks me about bull riding. I tell them the ins and outs, and how Creed is the best.
    We get to the gates of the corral and I holler for Chase. All of the guys look over and start walking our way. “Hey, Todd, Nate. Glad you made it. Come on in and give us a hand,” Chase says and introduces everybody.
    Once everybody starts chatting , I say goodbye and head back towards where I know Christian will be standing. Walking back through the barn, I don’t see Dad. He must have gone to do something else. As soon as I step out of the barn, Christian starts walking towards me. “Hey, Maggie. Can we please talk?” He asks, tenderly.
    I want to tell him to go to hell, but I can’t. “Sure, why not?”
    He begins telling me how sorry he is for last night, and that it only happened because he was so mad that I was breaking it