Carter's Treasure (6 page)

Molly giggled and pretended to zip her lips. Eli slapped Carter’s arm. “Well that answers that, doesn’t it, Sterling?”

Carter tickled her again. “Thanks a lot. You’re a brat.”

Carter noticed even Brody chuckled under his breath, before he said, “Go get your dinner and bring me back a burger.”

“Bossy, bossy.”

“Just go, kid. And bring me back a beer, too.”

She rolled her eyes. “Geez, I’m going, I’m going.”

She climbed to her feet, stretching her arms above her head. Carter couldn’t help the grin that danced across his face when her tank top rose up, revealing a section of flat, toned abs. When she put her arms back down, he looked up at her face and caught the blush that had reddened her face. When he winked, she bit her lip. He couldn’t help but love the way she was so easily embarrassed. Not that he wanted to purposely cause her discomfort, but he found it so endearing. Just another nod to how innocent she seemed to be. Another reason he felt like he needed to be the one to protect her.

Carter stood up and put his hands on her shoulders. “Come on, Gorgeous, I’ll go with you.”

“By the way, smartass, they don’t have a salad bar. I already checked,” Brody hollered after her.

She didn’t even bother to turn around. Instead, she simply held up her arm and flipped him off, making the rest of the group start laughing all over again.

Brody watched Molly walking off with Carter toward the grills. He didn’t trust Carter at all. He knew his type, the nice guy who plays it sweet, makes a good girl like Molly fall in love with him, and then takes off the second he gets what he wants. Over the years, he’d seen guys do it again and again, and he wasn’t about to stand by and watch it happen to Molly. She was so naïve to what he saw plain as day.

Jesse nodded toward Brody. “So, what’s the story on your girl? I bet she’s a real heartbreaker, huh?” Jesse grinned. “I mean, look how fast she had Carter and Eli falling at her feet. You’ve got to have men crawling all over your house.”

Brody snorted.

“Oh,
hell
no.” Brody shrugged. Not those that valued their life and their family jewels.

“She’s just kinda what you see is what you get. She’s pretty easy going most of the time, and she works harder than anyone I know. But she really isn’t one of those flirty girls. She doesn’t date really at all, actually. She works too much now to have a social life. We’ll be on the road with you all for the next several months. For us, it was a last minute contract. I found out Sunday night, had her out on our track Monday and Tuesday, and then hit the road to be here by today. No guy is going to put up with that shit.”
Which is the way dad and I prefer it.

“Then you add guys like him.” He motioned toward Dylan and shook his head. “She has absolutely no tolerance for guys like him. Besides, Dad keeps anyone that hangs out at our house in line. They know not to mess with her or he’ll kill ‘em.”

He rubbed his palm over his face. “The problem is we’ve kept her so damn sheltered that unfortunately she can be kinda naïve sometimes.”

Really naïve. He rolled his shoulders. They were just going to go get dinner. Innocently. But running through his mind were pictures of his sister with Sterling’s hands all over her. Brody shook his head.
Oh God, I’m losing it.
He definitely preferred when she was younger. She was easier to protect then.

Erin was right, though. At some point, they had to let her find someone. It wasn’t fair that his mom and dad had each other and he had Erin. Sometime, they were all going to have to let her trust her instincts. She’d been taught how to defend herself, but God, when he thought of what could happen to her, it made him physically ill. What she’d been through before, it skewed any man’s chances with her, at least in his mind.

“But you aren’t actually related, though, right?” Jesse asked.

Brody shook his head. “No. She moved in with us when she was fourteen, almost fifteen, and Dad took over her training. She’s a hell of a rider.” Brody tried to shake himself from the worry that was eating at him.

“You okay?” Jesse asked, obviously sensing how serious he’d become.

“Yeah.” Brody lowered his head. “Just a lot of history.”

As they walked back with their dinners, Carter’s question finally bubbled to the surface. Maybe it was stupid, but he couldn’t help the little nagging in the back of his head. “So, are you and Brody always at each other like that?”

“Oh, yeah sorry.” Molly snorted quietly. “We forget we’re out in public. It can get kind of uncomfortable for other people who aren’t used to being around us.”

“No, no, it’s just funny. You guys act like an old married couple.”

Molly laughed out loud. “You know, he’s been with Erin for years.”

He did a little happy dance in his head. “Really?”

“Yep. She started hanging out around us about twelve years ago. A friend of a friend type of thing, and now they’ve been together for almost five years. I think. It could be more like six…hell, I don’t remember.”

“I would never have guessed they’re together at all. They don’t act like it.”

Molly just shrugged. “I guess maybe they’ve just been together so long? I don’t know.”

She glanced up at him. “Why?”

He’d never considered himself a jealous person before. As a matter of fact, he’d prided himself on being a pretty easygoing guy, never minding when a woman he was dating danced with another guy or had guy friends she hung out with, even if he wasn’t around at the time.

But now, with Molly? Here he was…jealous…and it was of her own damned
brother
. Even if he knew it was insane, absolutely certifiable, he was just having a hell of a time keeping that part of him that was apparently more caveman than acceptable in check. Talk about a way to scare the absolute shit out of the girl.

“No reason.”

She bumped him with her shoulder. “Wondering if Brody and I were ever anything?” She grinned up at him, shaking her head as if he was completely crazy.

Cringing, he couldn’t help the slight redness from coloring his cheeks. He was embarrassed she’d figured him out so easily. He couldn’t help it, though. He really liked her.
Really
liked her, and he wasn’t blind. He saw the way Brody kept glaring at him. Brody definitely didn’t want him anywhere around Molly. He didn’t take it too personally. He got the feeling Brody took the initiative to scare away all men, growling if they even looked at her. He was definitely going to have to check for knife wounds from the daggers Noland had been shooting his direction since they’d met.

She sighed, thankfully cutting him a break. “No. Never. We were practically raised together, pretty much like twins since our birthdays are so close. Half of the year we’re even the same age. It’s very much a brother-sister thing. It’s a long story…I’ll get into it sometime. I just…I owe him a lot.”

They were nearing the group again so he let her comment drop. Carter snuck a look at her and smiled. “I’ve never met anyone like you before.”

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“You’re unique.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “That’s about as good as ‘you’ve got a great personality, but…’”

She was grinning when she looked up at him.

“Unique is good, Gorgeous…very, very good,” he said quietly as they came up behind Erin and Brody. Oh, so good. Finally after years of putting up with the wrong women, he finds the most perfect girl. He wasn’t going to factor her possessive control freak of a brother into the equation or that small, minor little problem that what she did on a bike scared him to death.

“Here, Erin, exactly the way you like it,” Molly said, handing Erin her food.

“Oh baby, you’re my angel, I’m starving.”

“Where’s mine?” Brody asked her.

“Probably back at the grill, I would imagine.”

This time Carter laughed when Molly did nothing to disguise the smug look she shot at Brody. He figured he’d better get over the two of them being so close if he had any chance of making this work.

“That’s the thanks I get?” Brody fired back. “Rearrange my life for the next four months, drive your ass clear across the damn country, and then no dinner? Seriously?”

Molly looked at Brody with her head cocked to the side.

“Rearrange your life?
Really
? Need I remind you…I
am
your life?”

There were a few chuckles from the guys. Brody just raised one eyebrow at her response. Carter did his best to hide his pride. That would only make things worse with Brody. He had a feeling that if she’d stand up to her brother, she was definitely no doormat.

Carter had seen bits and pieces of that spunky attitude. She was going to be a challenge. And that attracted him all the more. Sweet, caring, and fire all wrapped into one. He didn’t want a
yes girl
. That was half the problem with being famous. Molly on the other hand, she didn’t need him like that. She was famous in her own right. She was his perfect match, all right.

“Here’s your beer, now shut it.” Molly smirked.

Carter could tell she loved bantering back and forth with Brody. He had watched them torment each other all afternoon, but it was plain to see how much they adored each other, too.

She shrugged. “It’s not like you won’t eat the rest of mine anyway.”

“Then what are you going to eat?” Carter asked, suddenly concerned, and then caught himself.
Damn it.
He had this compulsive urge to be protective of her. He knew he was going to have to tamp it down or he could screw
this
up before
it
ever got off the ground.

“Oh, Lord. He’s making me sound like I’m high maintenance.”

Erin smacked Brody for Molly’s sake. “He’s just being an ass. You just eat a little healthier than most.”

“Anybody that doesn’t chug four energy drinks a day eats healthier than him,” Molly shot back.

Carter squeezed her leg, giving in a little to that compulsion. “So what do you eat?”

“Damn it, Brody. You’re making me sound like a salad picker.” Molly eyed her brother from across the space.

Eli choked on his beer as Jesse and Cody came back with their dinners. “Dude, you okay?” Cody asked as he plopped into an empty chair.

Eli pointed at Molly while still laughing and half-choking. “What’s a salad picker?”

Jesse grinned. “You know, one of those girls who won’t eat in front of a guy. She orders a little tiny salad, then sits there and just picks at it.”

Molly giggled and finished Jesse’s answer, “Yeah, and then goes home and pigs out on anything she can find because she’s starving.”

Eli crossed to give Molly a high five. She took one more bite and then got up and crossed the group, handing Brody her plate.

Eli, still grinning, looked at her. “So what’s the difference between you and a salad picker, since you ate…what…two bites off that plate?”

“I can polish off a salad. Besides, all that fried food…I can’t run if I eat that crap. I’ll just grab something from our motorhome later.” She gave Brody a shit-eating grin. “This really was his plate. I just wanted a couple of bites.”

Carter chuckled proudly.

“Speaking of running.” Brody snatched the plate from her and gave her an evil eye. “Don’t wake us up in the morning.”

“Do I ever?”

“I’m just saying.”

“Whatever.” All she could do was roll her eyes. Brody was in a foul mood. One could only hope Erin could fix that,
however
she had to do it. Molly knew he was concerned about Carter. And she had no explanations for him, at least not until she could wrap her own head around it. This was new for both of them and he was going to have to back up and give her some space to figure it out.

She let out an impatient breath, blowing her long, draping bangs from her eyes. She sat back in her chair, crossed her feet at her ankles, and took a very relaxed stance. She wasn’t going to fight with him about it in front of these people. They’d just met. It would take a saint’s patience, but she refused to embarrass herself.

“Don’t wake them up?” Cody looked at Molly. “What time do you get up?”

She shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m up usually by four or so.”

“A.M.? Are you
crazy
?” Jesse asked.

“What the hell are you doing up that freaking early?” Carter looked at her, his eyebrows scrunched, mouth parted.

“Running.” Her simple answer floored the guys around her. It made her all the more proud of how hard she worked. She grinned at Carter who was shaking his head. “Don’t worry, I promise not to wake you up, either. I’m used to it. I only ran this afternoon because we’ve been on the road and I couldn’t get it in before then.”

Jesse looked at her, still in slight shock. “So what time do you go to bed then?”

“Well, pretty quick here.”

“But…” Carter chewed a bite of food quickly and put his plate down. “You can’t go yet. It’s only, what, seven?”

“More like seven-thirty and that’s Pacific Time. I’m running on East Coast time…you’ve got to remember the time change.”