Carter (Remington Ranch Book 3) (14 page)

She turned back to the front of the house as Carter’s truck came to a stop and he climbed out. She took a moment to just admire him. He was all kinds of sexy. His hair was still damp from the shower. He wore a black T-shirt with the sleeves rolled up a little. She’s always thought that big guys did that to show off their bulging biceps. Carter had reassured her that it was simply because the sleeves weren’t big enough; they restricted movement if he left them down. In his case she believed him.

He pulled his bag out of the back of his truck and turned to smile up at her. “Is Cassidy here?”

“She just left.”

He looked puzzled.

“She walked.”

Carter looked concerned. “Down by the river?”

“Yes.”

“She needs to be careful.”

Summer laughed. “Don’t worry, she knows. She says it’s the wolves and bears who need to be afraid.”

Carter laughed with her. “She may have a point there.”

He ran up the front steps and came to her. She reached her arms up around his neck and stood on tiptoe to kiss him.

“I missed you.”

He smiled. “I missed you, too.”

“You’re here now though, and that’s all that counts.” Even as she said it, her conversation with Cassidy echoed in her mind. It wasn’t really
all
that counted, was it? What really counted was what the future would hold. And no matter what it held, she didn’t want either of them to end up getting hurt.

As Carter closed his arms around her and kissed her back, she leaned into him, wishing that he could be her future. The thought took her by surprise, but it was true. She did! She didn’t see how he could be though. Even if that was what he wanted, too.

Chapter Fourteen

By the time weekend rolled around, Carter was more than ready for it. He’d ended up needing to be on site most of the week with his new job. He’d spent Monday and Tuesday nights at Summer’s place, but by Wednesday she’d suggested that she come up to see him. He’d gladly agreed. He loved going to see her, but it was adding an extra half hour onto his drive at the beginning and end of every day. Last night they’d stayed here at his place, too, since they were headed to the airport at lunchtime to pick up Summer’s sister, Autumn. Carter wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Well, he knew he was nervous, but other than that he wasn’t sure. Part of him knew he would be under scrutiny. Part of him wanted to defend himself against this woman he’d pictured in his mind; she was almost a wicked stepsister in the version he’d created. Another part of him knew—or at least hoped—that he was being unfair. That Autumn wouldn’t have a problem with him.

Summer came down the stairs, she was fresh from the shower and wrapped in a towel. He let his eyes wander over her. He wanted to take her back upstairs and unravel the towel.

She gave him a knowing smile. “You want to?”

He chuckled and shook his head. “You know I want to, but I don’t know if I have the strength! You’ve worn me out this week.” It was true. While they might have taken their time before they made love for the first time, they’d certainly been making up for it ever since. Summer may seem sweet and innocent, but she was insatiable in the bedroom.

She smiled. “Sorry, I just can’t seem to get enough of you. And since you keep saying you’re not going to stay with me tonight…”

“I can’t. Autumn’s going to be staying with you. It wouldn’t be right.”

Summer rolled her eyes. “Why not? She knows all about you. Knows that we’re seeing each other. It’s not as though she’s sharing a room with me, just staying at my place.”

Carter felt dumb. He shrugged and gave her an apologetic smile. “I know, darlin’. And I’m sorry. It just doesn’t seem right to me. I’ll drive you both home from the party and then I’ll come on home. If she wants to, I’ll come take you both out for breakfast in the morning?”

Summer nodded. “Yes, please. We need to get her back to the airport early in the afternoon, so breakfast would be good.” She waggled her eyebrows at him. “And after we drop her off we can come back here.”

He laughed. “I thought you wanted to ride again tomorrow.”

“I do!”

“I meant Lola, not me!”

She chuckled. “Maybe. If there’s time.”

Sometimes he found it hard to believe just how lucky he was. Summer Breese was standing in his kitchen, wearing just a towel and a smile and she was telling him how much she wanted him. It almost seemed too good to be true. He knew it was true, but what bothered him most was knowing that it was too good to last. He was still wary of her sister—her business manager—who, no doubt, wanted her back in Nashville, and back to her singing as soon as possible.

Summer came to him and put a hand on his arm. “What? What changed?”

He met her gaze. There seemed to be so many of these moments; moments when one or the other of them would go quiet as they realized how fragile all of this was. He shook his head. He didn’t want to talk about it, didn’t want to dampen her spirits or spoil the day. But he didn’t want to keep avoiding it either. They both crept around the elephant in the room, but it was still there. “Nothing changed, Summer. It just hit me again.”

“What did?”

He sighed. “The fact that we’re kidding ourselves. And we’re trying to kid each other. We’re both trying to enjoy every minute we get, but we both know it’s not going anywhere. Sometimes it just hits me. It makes me sad.” He touched her cheek and smiled. “But I don’t want to be sad right now. There’s going to be plenty of time for that when you’re gone.”

She covered his hand with her own and pressed her cheek into his palm. Her eyes were big and sad. “I know what you mean. It hits me too; we can be laughing and then it sneaks up and steals my breath away. I don’t want it to end, Carter…”

His heart hammered in his chest as she searched for her next words.

“…I don’t know what we can do.”

He shook his head sadly. Neither did he. His life was here. Hers was in Nashville. That was all there was to it. “All we can do is what we’ve been doing. Enjoy what we have, while we have it.”

She nodded. “But I want more. I just. I don’t know how.”

He wrapped his arms around her and held her close to his chest. He didn’t want to let go—ever. But he knew he would have to. She tilted her head back to look up at him. Her eyes shone with tears. That killed him. He never, ever wanted to be the guy who made her cry.

He gently swiped his thumb under her eye. “Don’t cry, darlin’.” There was a lump in his own throat as he spoke. “You’re going to be just fine. You’ll go back to your life, you’ll go back to your singing. You’ll be great. You’ll be happy. I’ll be just a memory—hopefully one that makes you smile sometimes.”

Two big fat tears rolled down her cheeks. “I don’t want you to be a memory though!”

He shrugged as he wiped the tears away. Neither did he. But he didn’t see any other way.

“Carter, I…”

He hated that she was sobbing now. He held her close to his chest and tried to quiet her. This was killing him. He hadn’t taken this into account. He’d felt it was all worth the risk, because he’d only been thinking about the pain that
he
would have to go through when it ended. Seeing her like this, he realized that she was going to hurt, too. And that was the last thing in the world he wanted. He felt helpless. He was causing pain for the woman he loved, and he’d never, ever meant to.

He drew in a deep breath. The woman he loved? He closed his eyes. Yup. That was what she was. He didn’t know when it had happened, but if he was pushed, he’d probably say it was the moment he first met her. He’d let his big dumb ass fall in love with this beautiful, sweet little lady.

He stroked her hair while her sobs subsided. Eventually he tucked his thumb under her chin and tilted her head back to look up at him. He shook his head sadly. “Don’t cry.”

She blinked away fresh tears. “I’m sorry.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry for, Summer. We got into this before we realized what it was going to cost us.
I’m
sorry. I didn’t understand that it would hurt you.”

She gave him a puzzled look.

“I thought it would only hurt me.”

She blew out a sigh. “Well, you’re wrong there, mister.”

“I can see that now. I can see it, but I don’t know what to do about it.”

She sniffed and gave him a weak smile. “All we can do is what we were trying to do, I suppose. It’s going to hurt, so we may as well do our very best to make the hurt worth it.”

He smiled back. She was right. That was all they could do—until he could think of something else.

~ ~ ~

Summer held Carter’s hand as they stood at the airport waiting for Autumn to arrive. For all she’d reassured him on the drive over here that he had nothing to worry about, she was a little nervous herself. Autumn had been so angry when she’d seen the story in the paper about Summer and Carter the first time she’d been here. They’d gotten past that, but not until Summer had returned to Nashville and reassured her sister that she wasn’t about to give up her career and move to Montana to be with Carter. Now she was considering doing just that, she didn’t know what Autumn’s reaction would be. It wasn’t just about her concern for Summer. It was about Autumn’s own career, too. She was Summer’s business manager. What would she do if Summer no longer had a business to manage? Summer was pretty sure that there were other artists out there who’d love to work with her sister. Autumn was amazing at what she did, but…she sighed. She wasn’t going to solve any of it right now.

Carter squeezed her hand. “Are you all right?”

She nodded. He looked nervous as hell. “I’m fine.” She smiled. “And so are you! Whatever thoughts we have going around in our heads right now, we both have to stop it. She’s my sister and she loves me. She cares about me, and she wants to see me happy.” She smiled up at him. “You make me happy, and she’d have to be blind not to see that.”

He smiled back at her. Then turned to look as the doors to the ramp opened. Summer waved and tugged on his hand when she saw her sister.

Autumn spotted them and waved back. She hugged Summer when she reached them, and then turned to Carter.

“Nice to meet you, Carter. Now I understand why my sister was in such a hurry to get back here.”

A hint of color touched Carter’s cheeks as he held his hand out to Autumn. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, too, Autumn. Can I take your bag?”

She handed it over with a smile. “Thanks.” She turned to Summer “Is there a restroom around here? I can’t bring myself to go on the plane.”

Summer nodded and pointed toward the ladies room.

“How about I take the bag and bring the truck around?” asked Carter.

Summer smiled. She wasn’t sure if he wanted to give her a minute with her sister or get a minute to himself.

“That’d be great, thanks. We’ll see you out front.” As he started to turn away, she caught his arm and pulled him back. He looked puzzled until she reached her arms up around his neck and planted a peck on his lips. “We won’t be long.” She felt bad that his neck turned red again, but not as bad as she would have if she’d just let him walk away to take care of the bags and get the car like some kind of chauffeur.

Autumn raised a perfectly groomed eyebrow at her as he walked away. “Was that for my benefit or his?”

Summer chuckled. Her sister didn’t miss a trick. “Honestly? I don’t know if it was more for your sake, his sake, or mine! I just wanted it,
need
it to be very clear, to both of you, that he is really important to me.”

Autumn’s angular features softened as she smiled. “I could see that anyway; you didn’t need to embarrass the poor guy.”

Summer rolled her eyes. “I keep messing this up.”

“Then, I’m guessing it’s very important to you indeed.”

Summer nodded.

Autumn pushed her way into the bathroom. “Sounds as though we need to talk,” she called when she’d closed the door behind her. “What do you think he’ll make of Nashville?”

Summer covered her face with both her hands. How to answer that one without getting into the whole can of worms right here? “I don’t know yet. And for the moment, I’m more concerned with what
you’re
going to think of Montana. Hurry up in there, will you? I want to get going so you can see the valley.”

Autumn emerged from the bathroom and eyed Summer while she washed her hands. “I sense tension, sister. What are you not telling me?”

Summer’s heart stopped beating for a moment. “What do you mean?”

Autumn gave her a skeptical look. “You know exactly what I mean. Stop stalling for time and tell me what you’re so worried about. The big show you made out there, the way you just dodged my question about what he’s going to make of Nashville. What are you so uptight about?”

Summer stared at her. “I’m so uptight because I want you to like him. I want you to like him because I love him!”

Autumn laughed. “I already knew that!”

Summer had to take a moment to catch up with herself. “You always were the smart one! I didn’t even know it until I just told you.”

“Oh, wow! You mean you haven’t told him?”

“How could I? I seriously did not know it until right now.”

“Well, I wouldn’t worry about it. He loves you, too. It took me all of two seconds to realize that when I walked through the doors and laid eyes on the pair of you.” She smiled through pursed lips. “Looks like you’ve got some catching up to do.”

Summer nodded, she did,
they
did. But then, so did Autumn. She needed to catch up on the fact that it didn’t really matter what Carter might think of Nashville, because no way on earth would he ever move there. Even if he said he would, Summer wouldn’t let him. She couldn’t ask that of him.

“Why do I get the feeling there’s more to this than you’re telling me?”

Autumn really
didn’t
miss a trick.

Summer sighed. “It’s complicated. For now, can we get out of here? I’ll tell you all about it when we get to the house. Carter’s going to drop us off there and then pick us up tonight to go to Cassidy’s party.”

“Okay, but don’t think you’re going to be able to hide it from me. I want to know what’s going on with you. I want to see you happy. That’s what matters most to me.”

Summer hoped that she really meant that, but how could she if Summer making herself happy would cost Autumn her job? She let them out of the restroom and pointed to the doors. “Come on, Carter’s waiting.”

Autumn linked arms with her as they went. “And by the way? He’s gorgeous! Are there any more like him? Cassidy got engaged to his brother, right?”

Summer nodded. “She did, but Shane’s a different character altogether.”

Autumn laughed, “Let me guess there isn’t another one like Carter anywhere in the world, let alone amongst his brothers. He’s unique—and you got him!”