CARTER (Steel Daggers MC Book 6)

by Elisa Leigh

  “It’s my last name. When I was prospecting everyone called me Carter since that’s what I was called while I was in the Marines. I guess it just stuck.”

  “How long were you in the Marines?”

  “I went in when I was eighteen. I stayed in for eight years and got out.”

  “How long have you been with the Steel Daggers MC?”

  “Babe if you wanted to know how old I am all you had to do was ask.”

  I blush. Hard. Am I that transparent? Pfft, probably. Carter smirks at me and squeezes my knee under the table, sending sparks up my leg. “Relax G. I’m turning thirty later this year. Not too old for you.” He says then winks.

  “I wasn’t trying to imply that you were old!” I screech making Carter laugh loudly. The people sitting around us all turn and stare at us before going back to whatever they were doing before. Ever since this morning, something has changed. He’s no longer closed off and reserved. He’s laughing and joking and flirting up a storm. I have to admit, it’s nice to see this side of him.

  “So now that you know my first name and how old I am, you have to give me something about you.”

  “I’m Georgia and I’m eighteen,” I smirk.

  Carter arches his brow. “Yeah, I already knew that. Try again.”

  “I’m boring. What do you want to know?” I shrug.

  “What are your favorites?”

  “Favorites?”

  “Yeah, you know… flowers, color, cereal? The important stuff.”

  “Cereal?” I ask amused.

  “Will you stop repeating everything I say and give me something useful?” He grumps playfully.

  I laugh. “My favorite color is red, like cherries. I love sunflowers. One day I’d love to see a field of them, it’s on my bucket list. I like all cereal, but my absolute favorite is Peanut Butter Captain Crunch. Now you.”

  “I don’t care about flowers, but one day I want a nice yard with soft green grass that I can walk on. Lucky Charms is my favorite cereal, but I also like all kinds, it’s pretty much one of my basic food groups. Brown is my favorite color.”

  I scrunch up my nose. Who likes brown as their favorite color? “Brown?”

  He reaches over and grabs one of my loose curls between his fingers, “You know, brown, like the color of your hair.”

  “Laying it on kind of thick don’t you think?” Tammy says as she sets down a large plate of pancakes in front of me with a smaller plate of bacon.

  “Dear god, that’s a lot of food. There’s no way I’ll be able to eat it all.”

  “Don’t you worry honey. Whatever you don’t finish Brixton here will finish for you. This one’s a bottomless pit. He’s been that way since he was a little kid. Hope you know how to cook.”

  “Hey! I can cook.” Carter says in mock outrage banging his fist on the table. The man knows how to draw attention, I’ll give him that much.

  Tammy and I both give him a yeah right look and he glares then snags a piece of my bacon biting into it. “I can cook I just choose not to.”

  Tammy laughs and sets Carter’s food down in front of him. “The syrup and butter are on the table. If you need anything else just let me know.”

  I butter my pancakes then pour on the syrup. I grab a piece of Carter’s bacon because what’s fair is fair. While he scowls, he doesn’t make a move to stop me. Ignoring him, I dip the bacon in my syrup and take a bite of it, the flavor making me moan out loud. This is really good.

  “Damn woman. Keep those sounds to yourself.” Carter says. I look up and notice he’s adjusting himself under the table.

  Is it weird that it turns me on a little? Probably, but I don’t care. Everything with Carter is new and exciting. I’m giving in to it, going in headfirst. Who knows how long we’ll be here and I’ll have to leave again. Do I have to leave?

  Seven

  CARTER

  After breakfast, we walked out of the diner, Georgia complaining she was about to burst. I don’t know why. The girl only finished two of her pancakes and half of her bacon before she shoved it towards me and told me I could have it. I happily finished it off for her and contemplated ordering something else, but decided not to because I was ready to get out of there and show her around my neck of the woods.

  “Do you have anything you need to do today?”

  “No. Do you?” She asks hopefully.

  “Not a thing. It’s Sunday so I don’t work at Spanky’s or the construction site today.”

  Georgia smiles and I help her put her helmet on and then put mine on so we can continue our talk. I’ve never been this interested in getting to know someone before, but with her, I crave every morsel she gives me. Swinging my leg over my bike I scoot up and hold my hand out for Georgia to get on behind me. Maybe my brothers knew what they were doing when they put their woman on the back of their bikes. There’s nothing better than the woman I intend to make mine pressed against me as we ride. When she gets on, I wrap my hand around her thigh, encouraging her to scoot up. The closer she sits the better.

  “So where are we going since neither of us have anything to do today?” She asks.

  “Want to go for a drive?”

  Georgia wraps her arms around my middle and leans her head against my back. “Yeah.” She sighs.

  I drive around the town I grew up in showing her where I played baseball and the schools I went to. I point out the skating rink I spent most of my summers at and the park with the hill everyone would gather to sled down. Georgia asks me a bunch of questions and we get lost in conversation, laughing and joking around. We end up at the lake and I park my bike so we can get off and stretch our legs.

  “So tell me about this place.” She asks, walking towards the water after handing me her helmet.

  I stow our helmets and quickly catch up with her, snagging her hand in mine. I haven’t held a girl’s hand since the tenth grade when I was on a date at the roller skating rink with Rachel Dursey. She had small tits but liked to give handjobs. Turns out she wasn’t very good at it. Holding Georgia’s hand is a different experience altogether. Her hand is soft and she holds onto mine like she never wants me to let go. The real kicker is I don’t care if this ends with a handy, I’m just happy to be the lucky fucker who gets to be here with her.

  It’s the end of summer and there’s a slight chill in the air so I’m not surprised when Georgia shivers. I pull her to my side and wrap my arm around her, holding her close. We walk along the edge of the water in comfortable silence.

  “When I was little my parents used to take me to the beach.” She shares, telling me the first piece of who she really is, not just surface-level bullshit anyone could find out. “It was one of my favorite things to do. Tyce was already a teenager at the time, so getting him to come with us was hard for my parents. One day, I don’t know, it had to have been one of the last weekends before he went off to boot camp, he came with us to the beach. We stayed there all day long because I didn’t want to leave and he didn’t care when we left. He swam with me out in the ocean and gave me piggie back rides while he walked on the hot sand. We built the biggest sandcastle that day. It was one of the last times we were all together and happy as a family.”

  “What happened to your parents?”

  Georiga stops walking and stares out at the lake. I pull her down and sit with her in between my legs, the back of her head leaning against my chest. “They died in a car crash when I was twelve.”

  “That had to suck,” I say, running my fingers delicately through her hair.

  She laughs, but the joy I heard earlier is gone. “Yeah. That’s one way of putting it.” She sighs. “Tyce came home for good when he got the news. I could tell he wasn’t ready to call his career quits, but he wasn’t willing to stay in, knowing he had me to take care of. He never knew if or when he’d be called in to go overseas.”

  “I can understand that. When I was in they had me by the balls. They told me when and where I had to be and if I didn’t comply there would have bee
n serious consequences. I can’t say that I hated it, but I’m happy to be out.”

  “So what about your parents?”

  “My mom and pops live in town, but I haven’t seen them in a few years.”

  Georgia sits up and turns to look at me. “Why?”

  I shrug and it’s my turn to stare out at the lake. “Pops didn’t approve of some of the decisions I was making. He told me I was throwing my life away to ride with a bunch of bikers instead of finishing out my career in the marines as he had done.”

  “After that, I quit stopping by their house and answering the phone when they’d call.”

  “I’d give just about anything to have my parents back. We were really close.”

  “I still see my sister Bethany and her son Sam at least once a week. He’s three years old and just as crazy as I was at that age.”

  “I love little kids. I used to babysit the neighbor kids to earn extra money during the summer. That’s what I’m getting my degree in. One day I hope to teach first or second grade.”

  “My mom has been a teacher for over thirty years. She loves it, but some of the stories have me wondering if she’s right in the head. I couldn’t deal with half the shit she does on a daily basis and I’ve been to Afganistan where I was shot at, a lot! Are you sure you want to be a teacher?”

  Georgia laughs and nods her head. “It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.”

  “How many years do you have left of school?”

  “Maybe a year, year and a half. I need to be able to do some internships to finish my degree, and moving around like we do it’s not very easy for me to do.”

  “There are schools in town. If you were wondering if they had those kinds of things here.” I hint.

  She throws her head back laughing hard, tears falling down her cheeks. “Oh yeah? This town has actual schools? Oh my god, Carter, you’re too much.”

  I pull her closer and kiss the back of her neck. “Oh hush. You know what I’m saying.”

  “What are you saying, Carter?”

  I rest my chin on her shoulder. “That if you wanted to, you should think about staying here instead of wherever your brother and his guys are going next.”

  Georgia turns around to face me, knees in front of me and grabs my face in her hands and looks me in the eyes. “Are you asking me to stay here with you?”

  I dip my chin once.

  Indecision is written all over her face. “But we hardly know each other.”

  “I know you Georgia. I know you take care of the people that matter to you, even if they can be major douche holes. I know you prefer orange juice with ice instead of coffee, which is gross by the way. I know you’re smart and have you’re head on straight because you’re only eighteen and almost have your bachelor’s degree. I also know that even though you’ve never been on the back of a bike, besides mine, thank you Jesus, that you ride like a pro. I know that I’m falling for you and if you left you’d take a large part of me with you.”

  “You sure do know a lot.” She whispers, her eyes zoning in on my lips.

  Spearing my hands into her hair I pull her towards me and do the one thing I’ve been wanting to do since I’ve met her. I take her mouth in a hot as fuck kiss, making love to it like I plan on doing to her sweet pussy real soon. She gasps and that’s just the in I needed. Pushing my tongue through her cherry red lips I swipe it against hers. Georgia leans into me, her hands gripping my shoulders. I lean back against the grass with Georgia lying over me, one of her knees dangerously close to my dick and the other touching my hip. The kiss goes from hot to inferno in a matter of seconds as we lose ourselves in it. Sliding my hands down her sides, I groan when she rubs her core against me. I push my hands under the band of her jeans and grab her ass, pulling her to me. My dick is so hard that I’m worried the next time she accidentally rubs against it I’ll come in my jeans.

  I don’t want to stop but I know if we don’t I’ll end up rolling us over and doing things with her that I don’t want anyone but me to see. I pull back and groan when her sneaky little hand runs over my dick then grips it over my jeans. “Fuck baby. You can’t do this to me.”

  “Do what?” She moans in the sexiest voice I’ve ever heard.

  “You keep touching me and I’ll be finding a spot where no one can see us.”

  She’s so fucking adorable. I can tell by the way she’s biting her lip and looking around that she doesn’t want to stop, but she’s also new to her body and is unsure of what to do. Little does she know I find her innocence one of the sexiest things about her. I sit up and pull her against me so she’s sitting on my thigh. I grip her chin. “Thank you.”

  “For giving me your kisses.”

  She blushes a deep shade of red, and I can see why it’s her favorite color because it’s starting to become mine too. “Oh. I… you don’t have to thank me.”

  “You’re right, I don’t. But I’m a gentleman like that.” I say and wiggle my brows.

  She laughs and stands up then reaches her hand out to help me up.

  “Baby, no offense but there’s no way in hell I’m letting you help me up from the ground,” I tell her and stand. “But thank you.”

  “Is this a man thing?”

  “Hell yes, it’s a man thing. I help you up not the other way around.”

  Georgia rolls her eyes and starts walking her sassy ass back towards my bike. “Fuck.” I’m in for it with her and her sassy mouth.

  Eight

  GEORGIA

  The past week has been nothing short of amazing. The only thing that is making it less than perfect is that Tyce isn’t happy about all of the time I’ve been spending with Carter. We’re barely talking and it hurts. He keeps stopping to tell me we’ll be leaving as soon as work wraps up and I shouldn’t get close to him. I have no idea what “work” is and no one is telling me, not even Carter. When I asked he kissed me thoroughly and refused to tell me. I pressed him on it and he told me it was club business, whatever the hell that means.

  During the day Carter works construction fixing up the buildings around this sleepy town and at night he runs Spanky’s. I’ve kept myself busy with schoolwork and spending time with the Old Ladies, especially Emersen. She feels like the big sister I never had. I’ve looked into transferring to the state university here and it seems like it would be easy to do and I wouldn’t lose any of the credits I’ve already earned. They offer an elementary education degree. With the credits I already have I could possibly graduate in a year if I start next semester. Although Carter brought it up to begin with, I’m kind of nervous to bring it up to him now.

  While we don’t get to spend much time together during the day, we make up for it through texting and our morning breakfast dates. Not to mention, I’ve spent every night in Carter’s bed since we came home last Sunday. We haven’t gone any further than hot kisses and heavy petting, but I’m more than a little frustrated and ready to change that.

  There’s also the issue of my disorder. The issue being he doesn’t know about it and I’m too much of a chicken shit to tell him. Physically I’ve been doing fine by taking my medication when I’m supposed to and eating a healthy diet, as well as controlling my stress. I should get more sleep, but other than that I’m fine. I’ll tell Carter when the time is right, but I don’t want to scare him or possibly push him away, not yet. Not before I know what we could be to each other.

  It’s Sunday afternoon and Carter and I are on our way to the diner, which yes we’ve been eating at almost every morning. He’s introducing me to his sister and nephew tonight and I can’t wait to meet them. Carter has told me a lot about them and it makes me feel like I already know them. When we pull up to the diner I hop of the bike and hand my helmet to Carter, who then stows it. Walking in, Carter bypasses the hostess stand and walks us straight to a table where a beautiful woman with sandy blonde hair is sitting with a little boy who looks a lot like her. She smiles when she sees us approach and slides out of the booth to give me a big hug.
<
br />   “I’m Bethany. You must be Georgia!” Before I can acknowledge her I see Sam fling himself at Carter. “Uncle Brix.” He shouts as he hugs his uncle tight.

  “Hey little man. How are you?”

  “Good.”

  “You being good to your momma?”

  “Yeah.”

  Carter pulls a toy car out of his pocket and hands it to Sam. Sam’s eyes light up and squeezes Carter tight and tell him thank you before he wiggles out of his hold and goes back to where he was sitting to play with his new car.

  “Aren’t those two just the cutest thing ever?” She whispers and I nod.

  “Yes.”

  “Here let’s sit so we can order lunch.” She suggests.

  I scoot into the booth and Carter sits beside me while Bethany scoots in on the other side next to Sam.

  “How old is he?”

  “He’s three, almost four,” Bethany says looking over at her son.

  Carter told me that Sam’s dad hasn’t been around since before Sam was born. I hurt for Sam because his dad doesn’t want to be a part of his life, but really, if he isn’t here for this little guy, he doesn’t deserve to be and Sam and Bethany are much better off.

  “So, Brix tells me you want to be a teacher. You know, my mom is a teacher. I’m sure she’d be happy to talk to you about it if you had any questions.”

  Huh? I thought they didn’t talk to their parents.

  “Brix and my Dad are on the outs, but Mom misses him like crazy. If you ask me they’re all being stubborn. You know she’s retiring soon and is having a retirement party at the end of the month.” She says looking and Carter.

  He nods. “I know. I got an invitation.”

  Bethany rolls her eyes at her brother then looks at me. “Maybe you can talk him into going. They’d be really happy to see him, even our Dad, who is just as much a hardass as Brix is.”

  “Pfft. Compared to Dad I’m totally zen.”