Molly looked from her mother to Carter. “Does that work for you?”

Carter nodded. “Of course. Your mother is your first priority.”

With a sigh, Molly nodded. “Then I’ll start on Monday.”

“Good. Now go enjoy the heaters outside with the rest of the young people. I’m going to get a glass of eggnog.”

“I can get that for you, Mom.”

Her mother shot a glare across the kitchen, and Molly stepped back. “Okay, you can get it for yourself.”

“Good girl. Now out of my way.” Georgia made a shooing motion.

Molly shook her head. “Guess we’re going out back to play with the other kids.”

Carter laughed. “I guess we are.”

There were portable heaters set up, though it had turned out to be a pretty nice day today. Bash was out there, along with Luke and Logan and a couple of Molly’s uncles, and Ben, Martha’s husband.

“About time you showed up,” Luke said.

“You’re lucky we didn’t smoke all the stogies before you got here,” Logan said.

“I heard there were cigars.”

Fred, Molly’s uncle, offered him one.

“Thanks.”

Molly had wandered off to sit with the women, so he stuck with the guys, catching up on life at the ranch with Logan and Ben, and listening to Bash complain about some personnel issues he’d been having with a couple of his cocktail waitresses. And Carter talked about how he’d hired Brady, and how he was doing.

Typical guy stuff.

But he kept skirting glances across the patio to Molly, who hadn’t once looked in his direction.

She was pretty engaged with her friends. They were all laughing and having a good time talking about God only knew what.

“And then we all had sex with the suspect, but since she was a hooker, she charged us. We got a discount though, since we gave her a get-out-of-jail-free card.”

Luke’s conversation finally entered his brain. He whipped his head around. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Luke smirked. “Nice to see you finally paying attention.”

They all laughed.

“You were so focused on what the women were doing, we could have been talking about anything. Luke asked you a question four times and you didn’t answer,” Logan said. “Why don’t you just go over and sit with Molly? Be sure to hand in your man card on the way over.”

“Fuck you, Logan.”

“Aww, come on,” Bash said, slinging his arm around Carter’s shoulders. “My man here has obviously got issues.”

“Yeah,” Luke said. “Serious ones. A woman’s got him by the tail.”

“More like by the balls,” Logan said.

“You’re one to talk.” Carter pinned Logan with a glare. “And you, too, Luke.”

“I can at least keep track of a conversation,” Luke said. “Whatever’s going on with you and Molly has your brain scrambled.”

Maybe it did. And the only way he could address it was with Molly. In the meantime, he shrugged it off and concentrated—really concentrated this time—on his friends.

After a while, the women headed inside and the guys stayed out, conversation turning to sports. They started debating the football game, so they went inside and joined Emmett in watching it, while the remaining women gathered around the dining room table, drinking coffee and talking, though Megan and Chelsea came over to watch football with them.

Once he got into the game, that’s where his concentration stayed, especially when they all argued over which team was going to win. It was halftime before he got up from his spot on the sofa to venture into the kitchen, deciding to switch from beer to coffee.

“Having fun?”

He turned from the counter to see Molly. “Yeah. How about you?”

“I am. Thanks for coming over today. My mom was really happy to see you.”

“I was happy for the invite, though I guess you and I aren’t going to have any time to talk tonight.”

She shrugged. “Too many people hovering around today. Sorry.”

“No big deal.”

She lingered, so he figured there was something on her mind. Then again, like she said, today wasn’t the day to have that talk. So instead, he looked out the doorway. Everyone was busy talking or watching the game.

“Molly.” He moved in closer.

“Yeah?”

He slipped his arm around her and pulled her in for a kiss, intending on taking just a brief taste of her.

Then she moaned, and clutched his shirt, dragging him in. He groaned and swept his hand across her back, down, letting his fingers skim over the top of her butt, lost in her, wishing they were alone.

But they weren’t, so with great goddamned reluctance, he broke the kiss.

She licked her lips.

“Careful,” he whispered.

“I’m not careful when I’m with you. I’m trying for distance.”

“Why?”

She lifted her eyes to his, deep pools of blue, filled with the same desire and need that was tearing through him right now, making it hard for him to resist pulling her out of the house, driving her over to his, and throwing her down on his bed so he could sink inside her, satisfying both their needs.

She laid her forehead against his. “I don’t know.” She put her palms on his chest. “I don’t know. I just need . . . a minute. A day. I don’t know.”