Carter's Treasure (18 page)

“I’m really sorry.”

“Molly, stop apologizing. I want you to be able to count on me for anything.”

“Well, you have definitely proven yourself worthy.”

He saw her actually smile for the first time and started to feel some relief. “How’s your head?”

“Pounding.”

“How about some breakfast and something for your head?”

She nodded, but cuddled up closer to him, kissed his chest, and shut her eyes again.

He grinned proudly. “I’m glad you’re not rushing to get out of my bed.” He chuckled lightly. “I was a little afraid you’d be kinda freaked out this morning.”

“You took such good care of me last night and you feel so good to lie next to. Thank you, by the way…for everything. I kind of dumped a lot on you. I wouldn’t blame you if you ran screaming the other direction.”

“Gorgeous, I’m not going anywhere.”

Molly looked up at him. A smirk of a grin appeared and he immediately felt better. “You know…when I thought about our first night together and how it would be, last night wasn’t really how I pictured it,” she giggled.

The sound of her laughter made the weight fall off his shoulders. “Oh, really?” He didn’t try to hide the huge grin that split his face. “You’ve been thinking about that have you?” Her cheeks flashed red and the giggling continued instead of answering him. “Uh huh, I think you have.”

“Well, do you blame me? You’re hot.”

Carter felt so much better after hearing her laugh and joke with him. “Oh, Gorgeous, I adore you.” He sighed and stared at the ceiling, hating that this perfect morning was coming to a close. “Hey, Mol, we need to let Brody know how you’re doing. He’s been really worried, and the longer you slept, the more worried he got. He’s sent two texts already.”

She laid her head back down tucked herself close to his bare chest. “I don’t want to move.”

Carter’s heart swelled. “I’m glad, but what if I do this?” He pinched her butt.

“Nope.” She shook her head and chuckled.

“What about this?” He tickled her waist.

She wiggled. “Nope.”

“Are you sure?” He started to tickle her with both hands.

She put up a good fight, wiggling and struggling, but started laughing uncontrollably, “Okay, okay…Uncle!”

“That’s my girl.”

“Just for that, I’m keeping your t-shirt.” She pulled the collar up to her nose. “It smells like you.”

“Baby, you can have it.” He paused. “But…”

“Uh-oh.”

“Yep, there’s a catch. When we sleep in the same town, the shirt sleeps here.” She snickered but he continued, “What do you think?” He wiggled his eyebrows at her. “Come on, Gorgeous, I’ll be good, I promise.”

“Well….you said, the shirt sleeps here. You didn’t say anything about me.” Laughing, she started to roll away from him.

He grabbed her and rolled on top of her. “I think you know what I meant.”

“I don’t know…I think I got you on a technicality.”

Grinning, he slid one hand down her back to grab her bare butt, courtesy of her thong, and squeezed. “Oh yeah?”

“Yep.”

“Well, Gorgeous, let me clarify this for you.” He leaned down to kiss her. “I want the t-shirt with you in it. Stay with me next weekend. What do you think?”

A nervous smile played at her mouth as she looked up at him.

“I’ll be good, I promise. I won’t try anything. It’s just that last night was so right, lying beside you, listening to you breathing, feeling your skin against mine. I liked knowing you were right here beside me. I want this, the laughing and talking in bed. I like this alone time with you.”

He could see her struggling. The nice guy in him wanted to tell her not to worry about it, it wasn’t a big deal. Every other part of him wanted to keep begging until she caved.

“Will you be upset if I ask for time to…think about it?”

“Not at all. If you don’t want to or don’t want to upset Brody, that’s fine. I understand. I won’t be upset.” He winked down at her and saw the relief in her face. “I just wanted you to know where I’d like you to be, and that’s with me.”

The knock on the door made her jump in his arms.

“That’s probably Eli or Jess wanting to check on you before they pull out.” Carter gave her a quick peck, before hopping out of bed and pulling on his jeans from last night. “Ah, I guess I should have woken you, it’s after eight and you didn’t get your run in.”

“I’d rather have been here.” Molly smiled as she got out of bed, pulling on her jeans as well, but leaving on his t-shirt.

The knock on the door was louder the second time. Carter opened it, fully ready to welcome in one or both of his two best friends. Instead, it was her brother. Shit. If Brody would lighten up a little, Carter would meet him half way in a heartbeat. As it was, Carter felt like he’d snap in two from bending over backwards to try please the man.

“Come on in, Brody,” he said, deliberately trying to keep his voice welcoming. “Hey, Carter? Where are my shoes?”

Brody’s attention immediately went to the voice from the bedroom.

“They’re out here.”

“What in the hell?” Brody’s head whipped back to Carter and his voice went to steel.

Carter was so taken back, he didn’t answer. Judging by the anger in Brody’s eyes, Carter’s silence was apparently fanning the flames.

“Did she not sleep on the couch?”

“No. I didn’t.” Molly appeared in the main room, unflustered.

Carter only wished he could be so calm. “We didn’t do anything, Brody. I promised you last night. I offered for her to sleep in the bed. I wouldn’t do anything to take advantage of her.”

“And I’m the one who asked him to stay with me, beside me. And that’s what he did, if it was any of your business, but since it’s not…back off, Brody.”

Brody just ignored her and directed his anger at Carter. “I knew I couldn’t trust you, man. You’re just like all the rest.”

“Brody.” Carter wouldn’t fight back, but he wasn’t going to let him assume the worst by any stretch of the imagination. “I am not,” Carter said, emphasizing each word. “I told you before, I will do anything to protect her and make her happy. I will never hurt her.” He kept his gaze level, his breathing calm, and his voice low. If this ended badly, he didn’t want Molly to have any reason to be mad at him.

“Enough.” Molly’s voice and tone had both men’s attention immediately. “You’re out of line, Brody.”

“Dad is going—“

“Oh, don’t you worry. I’m calling James the minute I step out of this motorhome. I know you were worried and upset about last night, something I appreciate, but you coming in here half-cocked, ready to start something, is bullshit. You want to love me, great. I love you too. You want to protect me, great. Saturdays around here can get crazy and I don’t like crowds. You know that. So great, I appreciate the help. But when it comes to this…” Molly motioned between Carter and herself “You have no say, no jurisdiction, no comments, nothing. This is my decision.”

She pointed at the open door. “We’ll finish this conversation in a few minutes.”

Carter watched her chest heave with the angered breaths she was taking. Later on, he’d have to remind himself to never piss her off. After that, he’d laugh his ass off at how the little, barely over five foot tall girl had brought her brother, who was almost a foot taller than her, to his knees. She was definitely a little spitfire.

Brody looked between the two of them and left without another word.

“Why? Why do you keep putting up with this?”

Carter took her in his arms and whispered against her ear, “Because I’m in love with you, Molly.”

Chapter Ten

A couple of days later, her cell phone rang. Molly answered on the first ring. That phone hadn’t left her side since the moment they’d pulled out of California last Sunday morning.

“Hi.” Molly couldn’t help but sound eager to hear from him. She had tried really hard the first couple of times he’d called to play it cool, not wanting to sound like a giggly little high school girl hearing from the quarterback, but she couldn’t help it. When she saw his number appear, her heart sped up and her excitement couldn’t be contained, so she’d given up. Now she didn’t care, and judging by his laughter on the other end, he didn’t seem to mind.

“Hey Gorgeous, how’s my girl?” He chuckled.

“Better now. It’s so good to hear your voice. How was practice?”

“Fine. We’re getting ready to pull out and head to Houston.”

“I can’t wait. We’re leaving early in the morning. Brody has the trailers packed, except for my bike since I need to practice one more time before we load it.”

“I miss you.”

“I miss you too. I can’t wait for you to hold me again.” She wasn’t used missing someone, like half of her was gone. Sure, she’d been away from Karen or James over the years. Karen and James had stopped traveling with her when Brody had taken over her training after he’d retired, so she missed both of her adoptive parents. This longing she felt for Carter was very different though, it was so much stronger. She was having a hard time not crossing that mental line of being needy.

“Good…I’m glad. I have to tell you something.”

She could hear the lightness in his voice, but still she was a bit skeptical. “Okay?”

“It’s not bad.”

“Uh huh?”

“My parents are coming in for the race this week. They were supposed to come for last week’s, but something came up at the store.”

“And?”

“And, I want you to meet them. Hang out with us.”

“Oh, Lordy.”

“Come on, it will be fun.”

She took a slow breath, gathering some courage. “Okay. Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“A question guys don’t want to answer?” She may not have had any real world experience when it came to relationships, but she’d watched enough chick-flicks to know guys didn’t like to be cornered. They usually stared with the deer in the headlights eyes, started mumbling incoherently, and ran out of the room. If the girl was lucky, by the end of the movie, he might come to his senses and carry her off into the sunset. Molly was pretty sure love in real life wasn’t so easily wrapped up with a pretty bow.

“Yeah.”

“What does this mean?”

“What does what mean?”

Damn. The man is going to make me spell it out for him. “Well, everything is moving so fast. And meeting the parents is kind of a really big deal.”

“Can I be honest?”

“I only want honest, you know that, Carter.” She could picture him grinning on the other end of the line.

The short time apart had made him miss her to the point it hurt. It also gave him time to think. After she’d laid herself on the line last Saturday night, he felt it was only fair to do the same. It might go a long way to reassuring her—he sucked in a breath—or it might scare the living hell out of her. He hadn’t wanted to have this conversation over the phone, but they only got limited time alone at the track. That, and well, he couldn’t keep it to himself another minute.

“I’m twenty-eight, Molly, almost twenty-nine. And that’s really close to thirty. I’m ready. I’ve been ready. I’ve known that when the right girl walked into my life, I’d be ready to settle down…and I knew it when you walked into my life. I partied a little when I was younger, I’m over it. Now I have a career that I have to think about and I love it, but most women don’t understand it. I’ve done the long distance thing before with a woman who didn’t get it. I’m done trying to make up for the fact I’m always on the road, trying to make them believe that I’m not screwing around and cheating, having to buy their affection to make up for the fact I’m never around. I’m done with all that. On the flip side, I’m not a guy who just hooks up randomly on the weekends. I don’t need embarrassing pictures of me showing up on the internet because I took a chance with a stranger.”

That was a part of his career that Carter took very seriously, more so than the winning even. He was a role model, even beyond the scope of future racers, but to the kids that just loved his sport. He wouldn’t do anything to damage his reputation. The thought that a slip in his judgment, even just one time, would give unwritten permission to a young person to repeat his mistake, that was unforgiveable. He would never let it happen.

“I want someone who understands my life and me. I want someone who can appreciate all the time I put into this, the practicing and the workouts and even the travel. This is harder than most women realize and I am tired of them thinking I’m just playing and telling me to get a real job.”

“It is a real job, Carter.” Carter could almost see Molly raise her eyebrows over the distance. “You had someone tell you otherwise?”

Carter smiled to himself as he continued. “I honestly didn’t know if there might be someone out there who really gets it. I really didn’t, but you walked up to our group that day, and I knew in that moment that my life was about to change. I know it feels like this is moving fast, but I’m not going to risk losing you because I didn’t take the chance. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted. You make it fun now. You’re sweet and sassy at the same time. You’re absolutely gorgeous and funny. And this will embarrass you…” He smiled to himself picturing her. He could only imagine how red her cheeks were becoming. “But when I kiss and hold you, it turns me on every single time.”