Racing to Love - Brody's Love (4 page)

Their mechanic Joey walked toward the group. “Hey,
man” He slapped Brody on the back. “By the sounds of it, you’re
next.”

“Aww, shit. Is that my dad?

Carter inclined his head to listen to Brody and
Joey’s conversation. He’d been silently praying she wasn’t on the
phone with a boyfriend. His heart wasn’t the only thing that jumped
when Brody confirmed it was his dad. He shifted in his sudden
discomfort that wasn’t entirely unpleasant.

Damn.

He was going to have to get himself under control.
His mind and body were getting away from him, and he hadn’t even
met her yet.

“What’s going on? You guys do something to piss him
off?” Jesse asked.

“No, my dad’s just a bit of a control freak, mainly
when she’s involved.”

“I can see why. She’s freaking hot,” Jesse laughed
and raised his eyebrows, jerking his head in Molly’s direction.
Even though Jesse was one of his closest friends, Carter had the
urge to punch him.

Apparently, Brody didn’t like the statement any more
than he did. “Hey man, that girl is like my sister. Do not fuck
with her, do you understand?” Brody glanced around the group. “That
goes for all of you. She’s off-limits.”

Everyone took a collective step back from the sudden
fury radiating from Brody.

Carter tore his attention from Molly and placed it
on Brody, trying to read to him, sensing a whole lot more to his
warning.

Carter watched as Molly ran a hand through her side
sweeping bangs and mouthed,
Oh my God,
to Brody, shaking her
head in frustration. Brody mimicked her, obviously teasing her.
Rolling her eyes, she flipped him off.

Carter couldn’t help but laugh at the two of
them.

“
Yes, James…I know…I know…You
already told me that…yes you did, twice! You’re making my brain
hurt.” She rubbed her forehead. “I’m not being smart with you,
James, you’re really making my brain hurt.” That sent Brody into a
laughing fit and Carter found himself laughing, too. “I know,
James, seriously.”

Molly had been so focused on getting James off her
ass that she hadn’t paid a bit of attention to the group Brody was
standing so close to. The sudden laughter caused her to become
acutely aware they were all not only watching, but listening to
her.

It was typical for her to be really uncomfortable
around groups of guys, which was really
great
since she’d
spent her life around groups of men. At least Brody was there.

As she talked, she looked over each of them
individually as she continued her conversation.

Then she saw him.

He had short sandy blond hair, the ends at his neck
curling just a tad. Lightly tanned and lean with a racer’s muscular
build. He was standing there in low-slung, well-loved jeans and a
plain white v-neck t-shirt, just watching her with a lop-sided grin
on his face. She could tell he was a good head taller than her, but
that was nothing new. She was only 5’2”, so just about everyone was
taller than her. He had Hollywood good looks that could have landed
him on TV, and gorgeous ice-blue eyes with long eyelashes that
would make any girls heart start pounding on the spot. He must have
known she was staring at him from behind her sunglasses, because he
flashed her this killer smile that did something funny to her
stomach.

She swallowed hard. She didn’t notice guys except to
figure out which ones to avoid, and she had no idea why she was
suddenly fixated on this one. “Um, what did you say, James?”

Then the guy winked at her.

“Um…James, Brody wants to talk to you, so gotta go,
love you, bye.” She spit out the last part as fast as she could and
shoved the phone into Brody’s chest.

“Dad…okay…I know…yeah…I know.”

Molly couldn’t help but snicker. James was the
biggest pain, always worrying more than he should. She knew why,
but still, it was hell to get stuck on the phone with him.

“All right, well, George is here, so we’ve gotta
go,” Brody said before he rushed out a quick, “Okay, bye.” He hung
up and smiled at Molly. The phone didn’t ring back, meaning James
had apparently given up for the moment. The tiny victory was
theirs. She mouthed a silent
thank you
to her partner in
crime.

George crossed to Molly with his arms open wide, the
smile making his warm eyes crinkle. “Hey, sweetheart, how’s my
girl?”

“Hi, George.” He hugged her tight, picking her up
off the ground for a second. “I’m good. How about you? You still
like running the big boys circuit? Wasn’t it way more fun with the
kids?” Still in his arms, Molly grinned with the tip of her tongue
barely touching her top teeth. She remembered how much fun they had
with good ol’ George. Well, mainly Brody, but the two of them were
never separated, so she always got blamed too.

“These boys aren’t nearly as entertaining or as
maddening as some racers I know.” He laughed and patted her back
the way he’d done when she was young. “So, I see James is still as
overprotective as always.”

She had missed sparring with George. “Oh, he means
well.” She smiled up at him briefly before she raised her eyebrow
in defense. “And maddening? I never gave you a lick of trouble, old
man.” Brody and George both laughed as if that was the funniest
thing they’d ever heard, and she threw her hands up. “What? Did I
say something funny?”

“Sweetheart, your ass is the reason for most of the
gray hair I have.”

Molly rolled her eyes to disagree. “It was all Brody
and you know it, George. I was only guilty by association.”

“So how much of that conversation was about riding?”
Brody cut in.

“Roughly three minutes out of about twenty,” she
said, shaking her head again at Brody, sure the pink in her cheeks
gave away that she was embarrassed by the guys snickering at
her.

Jesse grinned. “So, I’m going to venture to say your
dad is more than a little worried about his little girl being
surrounded by all these boys?” Molly didn’t answer him, but Brody
gave him a look that told him to drop it.

George’s laughter died down to a light chuckle. “All
right…all right, let me introduce you to these guys. This is Cody,
Jesse, Eli, and Carter. This is my girl, Molly West.”

She politely shook hands with each of them, Carter
being last.

When he took one of her hands in both of his, she
immediately felt tingles everywhere and her heart started beating
faster. She looked down at her hand, then back up to his face. She
watched a slow, sexy grin come across his face, and she started to
blush as she tried to pull her hand back away.

“Um—” It was barely more than a whisper “—you still
have my hand.” She bit the right side of her bottom lip, grinning
shyly.

Confidently, he smiled back. “Yeah, I do,
Gorgeous.”

Oh God. He was sunk, hook, line, and sinker. She’d
lowered her sunglasses with her free hand, since he wasn’t about to
let go of the one he held, and now he was looking into the most
beautiful deep blue eyes he’d ever seen.

She blushed and looked down.

“Well, Sterling’s smitten,” Cody teased.

If it was possible, her ivory-skinned cheeks flamed
even more.

Yep, he was done for.

Carter squeezed her hand before letting it go.

Those innocent smiles and blushing cheeks were a
welcomed change to the constant offers he got, but continually
denied.

When they all headed over to sit outside Brody and
Molly’s bike trailer, he made sure to sit in one of the chairs
closest to her and patted the other one for her to sit next to him,
hoping she’d take it instead of one of the empty ones by Brody.

Molly had just started to pull her sweatshirt over
her head when Dylan, a rider from another team, walked up. Carter
groaned.

Dylan Martins was such an asshole. When Dylan
whistled, Carter’s stomach clinched at the thought of her with
him.

“Damn, what a hottie,” Dylan said, walking up close
to Molly as she pulled her head through the sweatshirt. “And a very
pretty face to match. Hey, babe.” He grinned at her like the
jackass he was.

The protectiveness Carter had felt earlier came
swooping back. He bit his tongue.

She pulled her hair out the sweatshirt with one
graceful sweep. It fell almost to her waist.

Carter was shocked when she raised her eyebrow and
squared up to him. “Excuse me?” she said, “you may want to back
up.” Her blue eyes were locked on him, her head tilted as she gave
him a look that said
you’ve got no chance in hell
. Molly let
out a disgusted snort.

“Come on, babe…come hang out with me. We can go back
to my trailer.” He ran a finger down her arm.

She yanked her arm away, stumbling back as she
glared at him. The back of her legs hit the white plastic chair he
now had her backed up against. “You don’t even know me.”

“I want to get to know you, all of you.”

Carter was on his feet before he knew it. “Back off,
Martins.” Carter put his palm against Dylan’s chest and physically
backed him up a couple of steps.

“Come on, I’m just messing with her.”

“No, you’re not. Are we clear?”

Dylan backed away, laughing. “Whatever. See ya,
babe.” He gave her a creepy wink before he turned and walked
away.

Carter looked back at Molly after Dylan disappeared
around another trailer. “You okay?”

She nodded and said, “Yeah,” but he knew she was
shaken up.

Molly took a breath as she looked around the pits.
Underneath the stadium was nothing but concrete, the floor, the
ceiling, and the walls. But what they could transform it into to
make the pits a fun place for fans to walk through on race days was
something she’d always loved. She had missed this. The vendor
trailers and factory semis completely covered in sponsors’ names
and logos, all parked close together, the camaraderie of the
various teams, mechanics yelling back and forth in moments of
panic, the smell of exhaust from the bikes, all of it. She missed
being in the pits just in general, indoor or outdoor, it didn’t
matter what series. She had missed hanging out with other riders.
It was a different world and she fit in there. Well, she missed
most of the riders.

Usually the riders were fine and didn’t mess with
her—treated her like one of them. But then there were always guys
like Dylan that James and Brody tried to protect her from. She
could usually back them down with the glare she’d perfected, but
some guys just couldn’t take a hint. She was fine until they tried
to touch her.

“I’m sorry about that, kiddo.” George ran his hand
through his hair.

She shrugged and put back on the hard exterior Dylan
had managed to crack. “Ah, no biggie, George, occupational
hazard.”

“That’s why Dad taught her how to box,” Brody said
proudly, glancing over at her. She knew he was checking to be sure
she was okay, though he played it off for the guys. She said a
silent thank
you as he continued on. “Pissed Mom off, but
I’ve seen it come in handy several times. You can’t see it very
well—” He looked around at the guys, then at Molly who still stood
by Carter. “—but she’s got enough red in her hair to have an
attitude.”

“Bite me, Brody.” She couldn’t help but laugh and
was thankful he was trying to lighten the mood.

“And the temper to prove it, huh, little girl?”

She grinned and shook her head.

Carter sat down and Molly sat down in the open chair
next to him. She didn’t know why, but something about him felt
safe. She guessed it was because he’d automatically jumped up to
help her when that pervert Dylan had hit on her.

It definitely
wasn’t
that wicked grin.

“So,” Eli said, “seems like you know who we all are,
what about you? Tell us more, you obviously know George here.”

“Yeah.” Molly lovingly looked up at George and he
winked back at her. “We go back a few years, huh? I don’t know. I
raced, went pro, retired, did freestyle, retired again, now I do
paying jobs. End of story.”

“I hate to say this out loud, but you don’t hear
much about women’s racing in the media,” Cody added.

“No, it’s definitely not as big as men’s racing, but
that’s okay, it cuts down on the stalkers that way.” She laughed,
more out of nerves because Carter had just rested his arm on her
chair, touching hers. She let out the breath she was holding and
bit her lip.

“How many wins did ya end up with?” Jesse
smiled.

She could feel the heat on her cheeks. “I don’t
know. I didn’t keep track,” she answered, then mouthed
help
to Brody, but he just grinned at her.

“I’m not buying you don’t know your own stats! Nice
try, girl! Fess up,” Eli said.

Her chest heaved as she sucked in an uncomfortable
breath and then looked down. “Seven.”

Carter patted her leg and then just kind of settled
in to rest on her thigh. She couldn’t take her eyes off the spot
where his large palm engulfed her leg, the heat from his hand
burning through her jeans and spreading through her.

What in the hell? She should have been freaking
right about now.

“Seven wins is awesome!”

His answer barely registered with her.

“Um….not…wins.” She finally looked around bashfully
then quietly answered, “Titles.”

Eli choked on his beer. “What?” Eli asked, wiping
his chin from the beer he just spit everywhere. “Did I hear you
right? Did you say titles, as in seven AMA Pro Titles? Not amateur,
but we’re talking pro?”

“Yeah, well, women’s, so WMA, but yeah,” she
answered shyly.

Molly had never bragged about her career; the
titles, the medals, the winning. She competed because she loved
riding. The winning came easy because she loved being on a bike.
Plus the fact that it made James and Brody so proud, that was all
she ever cared about, except for one. The first year she went to
the X-Games was Brody’s last. They both won gold that year, and to
stand with her brother with matching medals and wearing his number
on her jersey—that was the highlight of her career as far as she
was concerned. She had that 8x10 framed on her dresser at home;
they were hugging, his cheek resting on top of her head, both with
the biggest smiles they could produce, showing their matching
medals to the camera. That one moment was worth more than the other
eighteen years of motocross wins combined. That one picture was
more precious than all the trophies, medals, jerseys, and plaques
James still had displayed with all of Brody’s.