My Texas Sweetheart (book one)

by Acheson, Pauliena

  Without letting me reply, she turns to Creed and gives him a hug. Damn, it was amazing to see her feeling more like herself. I go over to the bed and begin to help her pack up her things. “You ready to go home, sis?” Creed asks.

  “I just have to wait for the nurse to come and give me my prescription. Then we can blow this place.” She giggles and winks at me.

  Moments later, the nurse comes in with Maggie’s prescription and an appointment card so she can see her doctor the following Friday. After the nurse leaves, Mags turns to us. “Hey, boys, let’s go. This girl needs to eat some real food.” Putting her one hand in mine and giving a slight squeeze, she puts her other arm through Creed’s. On the way out the door, I grab her bag. It’s such a good feeling to have her finally going home.

  After everyone was piled into the truck, I glance over at Maggie. “Okay, babe. What do you have a craving for?”

  She blurts out, “A big, fat juicy burger with a strawberry shake.”

  “Okay, Creed, you heard your sister. What are you waiting for?” I said, looking at him.

  “If that’s what your heart desires, consider it done,” Creed declares.

  After going through the drive thru, Creed takes us down to the park, just like we planned. Before leaving this morning to pick up Mags, I had parked my truck down at the park so that we can have some alone time. The look on her face as Creed pulls up beside my truck is absolutely priceless. “Babe, isn’t that your truck?” She asks, a bit confused.

  “I brought it here so that we could be dropped off and be alone for a while.” I get out of the truck and go to help Maggie out.

  She hands her prescription to Creed. “Creed, can you give this to Mom so it can be filled, please?” He nods and takes it from her, pulling away.

  We walk over to my truck, I pull out a blanket, and we walk over to the tree and sit down. After we’re done eating, I settle Maggie in between my legs and snuggle up to her. “This is nice, being here with you,” she says. I couldn’t agree with her more. This was the perfect way to start our afternoon together, but Maggie didn’t know that I had even more planned.

  We snuggle for a little while longer, then I get up and pull her to her feet. “Mags, baby, it’s time to go.”

  A slight frown crosses her lips so I lean in and plant a passionate kiss on them. “But I don’t want to go home yet. Can’t we just stay here a little bit longer?” she pleaded.

  “Who said anything about you going home?” I winked at her. I see the smile return to her face. I was going to take her back to the swimming hole where I first told her that I loved her.

  We walk over to my truck, and I open her door to help her in. I get in, then pull out of the park and head towards the swimming hole. “Where are we going?” she asks.

  “Gotta wait and see, baby,” I smirk at her.

  As I drive away from the park, I look over at her and find her staring at me. I smile. “What are you staring at?” I ask.

  “Just admiring the view.” I shake my head.

  A few more turns and we will be there. I can’t wait to hold her in my arms again. I pull the truck into one of the parking spots and turn it off before I look over at Maggie. “I wanted to come here because this is the first place that we said ‘I love you’ to each other,” I say.

  Maggie looks at me for a few minutes, making me feel uncomfortable. Maybe I should have taken her somewhere else, or did something different. Come on, Mags. Please say something. I notice tears rolling down her cheeks. Oh shit, please don’t tell me I did this wrong. “Baby, why are you crying?” I ask, pulling her onto my lap.

  “Oh, Jase, nothing’s wrong. I’m just so happy that you thought to bring me here. This is a special place to me.”

  I nodded, bending down to kiss her before I opened the door of the truck. Maggie smiled slightly and said, “You know, if you would have said something, I could have had my bathing suit with me.” She winks

  I smirk. “Baby, I already thought of that. I had your mom grab one for me.” The smile she gives me warmed my heart.

  I grab the bag out of the back of my truck. “You can change in the truck. I’ll go lay out the blanket.” She nods and climbs back in.

  I head down to the water and lay the blanket down, setting the basket with cake and drinks in it on top. I walk back towards the truck and Maggie was getting out. “You look beautiful, Mags.” I smiled at her.

  She smiles back, giving me a kiss on the cheek. She walks over to the blanket, while I jump into the truck to change into my shorts. As soon as I’m changed, I jump out and walk over to where Maggie is. “Are you ready to go swimming?” I ask. She nods.

  We start walking towards the water. “Do your parents need any help with moving or anything?” Maggie asks.

  “Yeah, your dad and brothers are going over there tomorrow to help. Your mom’s going to cook for everybody,” I tell her.

  Maggie looks at me, pouting. “I’m not allowed to help?”

  Shit, I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. Of course, she is coming over. I’m just not sure I’ll let her help move. “Mags, of course you’ll be coming over.”

  In one swift motion, I throw her over my shoulder, run over to the water, and throw her in. Maggie pops out of the water, glaring at me. “You’re a jerk.”

  Laughing, I walk into the water and grab her. “Come on, baby. Don’t be mad at me.”

  Next thing I know, she’s trying to push me under the water. I reach up and grab, trying to keep my balance, but I go under. As I resurface, I’m shocked to find that I have her bikini top in my hand. Oh, shit! I wasn’t above water for long before she pushed me back under, grabbing her bikini top from me. Shit, I must have pissed her off.

  Popping back up, I start coughing up the water. “Jase, are you okay?”

  I look over at her, wondering if I should push her under the water. “I’m fine, baby. I just need to catch my breath.”

  She leans into me and presses her lips on mine. I feel the cool water drip from my hair and land between our lips. As the passion of our kiss gets deeper, she uses all her strength and I’m back under the water. Oh, so this is how we are going to play this game? So, instead of resurfacing, I decide to swim under the water to her. Not being able to see, I use my hands and grab hold of her leg to send her backwards. Needing oxygen badly, I use all my weight and lift upwards.

  As I surface and am laughing, I hear laughter from Maggie. Confused, I look to see that I had actually flung a log through the air. Watching in amazement, the log splashes into the water, sending a spray over me. Up on the riverbank, Mags was doubling over from laughter. “Very funny, Mags!”

  I didn’t know whether I was embarrassed or just frustrated that she had not only gotten me twice, but three times. I raise my arm in the air and give her a wave, all the while loudly proclaiming that I would eventually get my revenge.

  Swimming closer to the river’s edge, I reach up to the arm that she had extended to help me out, and that is when the smile in her eyes makes everything that had just happened so worthwhile. All the feelings of getting her back disappeared.

  After drying off a little, I settle next to Mags on the blanket. “You hungry?”

  With an evil smile, she turns towards me. “Depends what’s on the menu,” she replies.

  All thoughts of food disappear from my head. I could just lay here with her for the rest of the day, but the grumbling in my stomach brings me back to reality. “You know you’re on the top of my menu, but if I’m going to have any chance of keeping up with you, I’m going to have to eat.” I chuckled.

  After we finish lunch, I reach over and pull Mags onto my lap. “Baby, this has turned out to be the best afternoon yet,” I say, as I snuggled her closer.

  “Oh, does that mean you’re up for more punishment?”

  “I wouldn’t even think about getting me again, baby, because it will be your last,” I laugh. She gives me a quick punch in the arm. “Ouch, what was that for?”

  “You
’re just like my brothers. You think that you can outsmart and outwit me? I would love to see that happen.”

  Oh, my girl is giving me attitude. Should I pretend to give up, or pick her up and dunk her back in the water? I just couldn’t stop myself. In one quick motion, I was on my feet and picking her up. I ran as fast as I could to the river’s edge, Mags screaming and giggling at the same time. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll put me down right now!” I stop in my tracks.

  Oh, this was going to be fun. “You mean put you down right now?” I asked, innocently.

  “Yes. Right here, right now.”

  Looking deep into her eyes, I give her a quick kiss and whisper, “Anything for you, baby.” With a gentle heave, I put her back in the water.

  Shrieking all the way, she says, “Jase, you son of a…!” That’s all I hear before her head goes under water.

  When she resurfaces, I know that I’m probably in trouble. “Damn it, Jase! The water is cold!” I stand there, grinning at her and thinking that if she starts getting out of the water, I’ll have to run.

  Just then, I hear a truck coming towards us. Damn, that boy can’t stay away for more than a few hours. As I was distracted by watching Adam pull in, Maggie sneaks up behind me and tries to pull me into the water. At the last minute, I grab her and we both end up going in.

  Just as we are resurfacing, Adam, Amy, and Jake come into view, grinning. “You two look like you’re having fun,” Amy says.

  Suddenly, Jake did a cannonball right beside us. Maggie shrieks “Jake, you jerk!”

  He was too busy laughing to notice her getting closer. When she is close enough, she reaches up and dunks him under the water, then swims away. “See, I told you that I always win,” Maggie says, laughing.

  Jake, Adam, and I all look at each other and, thinking the same thing, Adam and I jump into the water to help Jake. She can outsmart one of us, but not all three of us. Before we even hit the water, she’s scrambling up on the bank. She and Amy look at each other and start running towards my truck. Dammit, where’d I put my keys? They jump into the truck and take off.

  We scramble for the bank, but it’s too late. They’re gone. I can’t even see the lights of my truck. “Your sister’s dead when I catch her,” I chuckle at Adam. He nods, smiling.

  “Let’s get ‘em, boys,” I say, as we gathered up all our stuff. No one saw the can of whipped cream, and I grab it, knowing it was going to come in handy. As we get into the truck, my cell phone buzzed with a text. I look, seeing it’s Mags:

  Megs: Come find me, you sexy beast. GAME ON!! (

  What the hell is she up to? With an evil grin, I say, “Game’s on, boys. Let’s go have some fun.” We all laugh. I start to text her back:

  Jase: On my way, baby. You better be ready to run.

  As we start driving around, Jake asks, “Where the hell are they?”

  I look over at Adam. “I have no clue, but it shouldn’t be too hard to find them. Between my big ass truck and the size of the town, it should be easy.”

  An hour into our hunt, I get another text message from Maggie:

  Maggie: Are you boys having a hard time finding us? I could give you a clue if you want.

  “Maggie just texted and said that she can give us a clue if we wanted,” I say. There aren’t too many places where the girls could be.

  “Tell her to give us one,” Adam growls. Guess he is getting tired of this driving around as much as I am. I text Maggie back:

  Jase: Alright, baby. Give us a clue… or just come out, come out wherever you are.

  Maggie: Babe, you passed us five times already, but here’s your clue…there are two fields on both sides of us.

  What the hell? That could be anywhere. She’s not making it easy. “She said that we’ve passed them five times, and there are two fields on both sides of them.”

  Jase: That could be anywhere. Give us a better clue.

  Megs: Green black green. Hope that’s good enough because that’s all you’re getting for now. HAHA!

  She thinks that she has one over on us, but I remember an old lane down by her house where her brothers took me a few times to have a few beers. “Adam, remember that old lane that runs between the fields over by your place”? I ask.

  “Sure do. You think they’re in there?”

  “I’d bet on it. Let’s do one more drive-by. As we go, we’ll be hollering their names, but we won’t look in their direction,” I say, smiling. “It’s time for us to show these ladies that they can’t hide forever.” We all have evil grins on our faces. Oh, little lady, your man is going to show you his skills. Let’s see what you think about me now.

  Adam does the drive-by and we holler out the girl’s names. Turning around, we start heading back to the lane where we think the girls are hiding. When we are in a clearing just behind where we think they would be, we cut the engine and coast a couple inches closer, opening our doors so that we can bail. Once the truck stops, we go into the cornfield to give us cover so the girls didn’t see us sneaking up on them. Adam raises up his arm, counting to three, and we attack the truck on all sides. Jake jumps up on the back, I go for the driver’s door, and Adam goes for the passenger. We were screaming like a wild bunch of banshees…then came to an abrupt halt. The girls were nowhere to be found.

  “Where the hell did they go?!” yells Jake. “They were here when we drove by a few minutes ago! I saw Maggie hanging out the window when we drove by!”

  “How the hell did they know…?” moaned Adam. Just then, my cell goes off:

  Maggie: Hey, boys! Did you think it would be that easy? Listen, Amy has something to say…

  Just as I was telling the guys what Maggie’s text had said, we heard Adam’s horn tooting down around the bend, then saw a big cloud of dust as we raced towards it. They were gone again. Damn. Just then, Adam’s phone rings. “Holy shit, is it really you, bro?...If I told you, you’d probably rub my nose in it so I’m not too sure I want to tell you, man…Hold on, I have an idea, but I wanna talk to the other guys first…Give me a few seconds.”

  Bewildered, we stare at Adam. “What’s up, man?” I ask.

  With a slight grin, he turns to me. “Chase is home. I’m thinking that, with his skills, we can put a few more on our team without letting the girls know.”

  “Now that’s what I call smart. Okay, tell him where we are and get your other brothers here, too.” It’s time to show these little girls who’s boss.

  He gets back on the phone. “Hey man, we are down on the old hidden path just past the homestead. We need you to bring the brothers as quick as you can. We have a couple of chicks to catch…None other than our dear little sister and her friend, Amy…Okay, see you in a few.” He hung up, smiling. “He’ll be here in a few minutes.”

  Minutes later, Chase pulls up in his jeep. Not only were Adam’s brothers on board, but so was Nate and Todd. Just as they were all pulling in, I get another text:

  Maggie: Hey lover. Whatcha doin’?

  Jase: You know exactly what I’m doing, babe. When I get done doing it, your ass is mine!

  Maggie: Oh, you think you got what it takes, honey buns?

  Jase: Enough of the sweet talk, baby. I’m coming to get you, just as soon as you give me another clue.

  Maggie: MMM, who would have thought that skinny dipping would be this much fun?!

  There is NO FUCKING WAY that she is skinny dipping back at the river. How the hell do I get the boys down there and then explain to them that their sister is in her birthday suit. “Um, guys, I got another text,” I say, uncomfortably.

  “Why are you blushing, lover boy?” Chase grins devilishly at me.

  “Well, um…ah, just…like, um…your sister is…oh, what the hell?…She’s down at the river skinny dipping with Amy.”

  “She’s doing WHAT???” Adam screams.

  “She just texted me and said that’s what they are doing.” I feel the hairs on the back of my neck pricking. I’m not sure why Adam is acting like
this all of a sudden.

  “Okay, troops, everyone in the vehicles. We’ll show these two who claims victory,” Chase says.

  We all start heading for the trucks when Jade says, “Why don’t we just walk? It’s only over there.”

  “Might not be a good idea to walk just in case they take off in my truck again.” We pile into the trucks, taking off for the swimming hole. As we near the water, Chase texts me:

  Chase: We should leave the trucks and walk the rest of the way.

  I tell Adam and Jake what Chase texted. Adam stops, throws it into park, we all get out, and head to the river. Looking around, I don’t see Maggie or Amy. Dammit, they did it again! How in the hell are they always one step ahead of us? I look over at Chase, who has a big grin on his face “Should have known they wouldn’t be here. Brats are being smart right now. I would bet that they are back in that cornfield, laughing their asses off. That or they already left to go somewhere else.”

  “How did they know we would check here? If they are watching us, then they know that you all are here, too.” Just then, my phone beeped:

  Maggie: Hey, sexy. Why don’t you boys cool off in the water? You’ll need it.

  “What did she say?” Creed asks.

  I look around. “She said that we should all cool off, and that we’ll need it.”

  Creed and Chase both shake their heads and laugh. “They better enjoy this while it lasts,” Chase declares. I text Maggie back:

  Jase: Nah, baby. We don’t need to cool off. We’re going to find you soon. How about another clue?

  Maggie: Aww, do the big boys need clues? Okay, baby. We’re about four miles away from you and to the left. We’re near some big, handsome men. Hurry up, sexy, or I might just leave you for them.

  What…the…hell?! She better not even think about leaving me for any other guy. “Bro, what’s with the face?” Jade asks. I’m pissed.

  “Maggie gave us another clue. They’re four miles away from here, to the left and near some big, handsome men,” I tell them. Chase and Jade raise their brows at me, and Adam shakes his head. I am trying really hard to reign in my temper, but I’m finding it hard.