Chapter 11
WOLF
Molly and I haven’t spoken since I told her to think about my offer, but somehow, I know it’s her when tires crunch on the gravel outside my window.
I quickly lace up my boots and grab my belt, then stand to look out my curtains.
Molly puts the vehicle in park in front of the main lodge, and I try to mentally catalogue who will be there to greet her as I turn to look for a shirt.
Dana will likely be in the throes of cleaning up after breakfast and getting ready to open the visitor center.
Uncle Bert is likely lazing around one of the main back bedrooms…
I find a soft grey T-shirt in a basket full of clean clothes I’ve never bothered to put away then lean back to glance out the window again.
By now, Molly has emerged from her truck and is circling around the front.
She yanks on the passenger side door, flinging it open before reaching in and retrieving a sizeable wicker basket covered in a blue tartan cloth.
I fumble with the T-shirt and push it over my head.
I’m about to go meet her when I hear the unmistakable, chirpy timbre of River as his boots rapidly crunch on the driveway.
“Mornin’!” he hollers, approaching Molly in full uniform, and she turns to regard him curiously.
“Fuck me,” I mutter in a growl that aligns with my name and quickly turn from the window, snatch my hat off the top of my dresser, and stampede my way out of the room. Throwing my cap on my head, I bust through the front door of my cabin and hotfoot my way toward the lodge.
“You’re here to see who?” River leans back like he’s literally blown away. “Are you kidding me?” he says as Molly’s eyes drift over his shoulder and meet my gaze.
I’m moving in for the kill, no holds barred. I grab my little shit of a brother by the scruff of the neck, I grab his official ball cap out of his hand, and slap it on his head for him. I turn him one hundred and eighty degrees and give him a parting shove “What the fuck, Wolf?!” he yells.
“Get the fuck to work,” is all I offer before resting my hands on my hips and turning to Molly as if I’ve simply taken out the trash.
The basket hangs in her hands as she squints after him. “How old is he?”
“Twenty-two.”
“And why do you treat him like he’s nine?”
I look over at River, who yanks open the door of his Jeep before cupping his hands around his mouth. “Hey guys! There’s a girl here to see Wolf!”
My blood pressure elevates slightly as he hops behind the wheel, and I turn back to Molly. “That’s why.”
She gives a nod in understanding. “And why is he the only one who wears an official uniform?”
“Hazing,” I state simply. “He’ll get to choose his own wardrobe when he’s been in the job long enough to earn the right to not give a shit.”
“Got it.” She nods again and hefts the basket back up. A considerably large muffin peeks out from under the cloth.
“What’s with the muffins?” I hold my hand out to take the basket from her.
She blinks, looking slightly uncomfortable as she adjusts the cloth. “Oh… I um, have this thing where I bake when I get stressed. It helps me deal with everything. I know, it’s weird.” Her cheeks flush pink.
“Looks like you’ve been under a lot of stress,” I say, not trying to be funny. But I am amused at myself—when I’m around this woman, I’m not reduced to monosyllabic words mixed with grunts.
She chuckles, a good sign, and says, “Anyway, I was thinking you could share them with your…coworkers?”
“Brothers.”
“Oh.” Her chin draws back in surprise. “Okay. Brothers. And, I was hoping we could talk.”
“Sure.” I search my mind for where to go before deciding on the lodge’s back deck.
I motion lightly with my hand for her to follow me around the side of the big building and up the steps of the expansive deck.
The deck faces east, and it’s still early enough that the light lands perfectly on the hardwood planks , as if the sun is putting the deck on display.
Molly and I are just settling in across from each other at the large farm-style table when the sliding glass door rolls open, revealing another fucking brother.
Forest stands in the open space looking between us. “What is this, opposite day?”
“I’ll take that to mean you woke up alone this morning?” I snap back at him. “Something I can help you with?”
“Just had to see it for myself.” He grins innocently and steps down onto the deck in a pair of sweatpants, a rumpled white T-shirt, and his hair fucked nine ways to Sunday, gravitating toward the basket of muffins.
I grab the basket handle and shove the whole package at him. “Muffins,” I growl at him. “Go put one in your mouth.”
I don’t have to tell him twice as he takes hold of the basket handle with one hand while the other hand immediately dives under the cloth.
Despite being adequately in shape, Forest is an eater.
He walks back toward the sliding door, cramming one of the muffins in his mouth.
“Mmm, they’re still warm!” he exclaims, his words garbled around the bear-sized bite he took. “Huckleberry…tastes good in my mouth.”
I hold up my middle finger and stare him down until he turns around, still chuckling.
Then I take a breath and adjust my ball cap.
“So what’d you want to talk about?” I fold my arms on the table and face Molly, realizing what a dumbass question it is.
The last time we saw each other, I proposed marriage before telling her to think about it and get back to me. What the hell else could this be about?
“Well, there’s no way to say this without looking like a complete imbecile, so I’m just going to go for it. Does your offer still stand?” She tilts her head and squints an eye against the sun.
I’m taken in by the hints of auburn the light showcases in her hair and the dusting of freckles that dance across her high cheek bones.
“You know, um…to get married? To help me keep Clover Hill?” she says, hope dancing in her eyes.
I don’t answer right away because I’m too busy staring at her like a tool and realizing that she actually wants to do this. Some kind of cocktail of nerves roils deep in my gut. What’s unexpected is the mixture of relief and a dash of excitement thrown in.
“Yeah.” It speaks. “Yeah, the offer still stands,” I confirm a little more clearly.
A breath releases from between her lips as she gazes at her lap a moment, looking relieved. “Okay, well… I’d like to take you up on it.”
“Okay.” I nod, but should I reach across the table and touch her in some way?
Shake her hand? Hi-five her? I should probably at least talk again as my hands have no clue what to do.
“That’s what we’ll do then.” My focus lands on the one long, intricate braid hidden in the mess of brown locks that hang around her back and shoulders.
Then I force myself to look directly at her.
She surprises me by gazing right back at me and saying, “I don’t know how to thank you.”
I shake my head. “You don’t have to.” And she doesn’t. Something in my gut says marrying Molly is the right thing to do. She must think so, too, as she came to me just now, so why is there a frown on her pink lips? Why is she giving me a dubious look with those hazel eyes?
“What you’re doing is sort of a big deal, Wolf. You’re practically signing your life away. And it drives me nuts that you more than need to be thanked, yet there’s no way I really can.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll find some way during our eternity together,” I say facetiously, surprising myself. It even dares to make my imagination wander a little bit.
“Hoo boy,” she blows out a breath. “I can’t believe?—”
“Holy mother-fucking shit biscuits, Wolf!” Forest booms from the open kitchen window, his mouth still full. “First of all, what the fuck?! You have some serious shit to explain to me. Secondly, if you don’t marry her, I will! These muffins are bomb! I’m on my third!”
I lean closer to Molly, trying but unable to ignore the flowery perfume that tickles my senses. “Well, if the whole thing stresses you out that much, you could bake some more. I’m sure my ass-face brother would love some coffee cake next.”
Molly lets out a quiet giggle that lights up her eyes and gives me life.
Joking around with my family is one thing.
But I don’t think I’ve ever made a woman smile like that.
Never even occurred to me to want to. It’s gone quickly though, when a worried shadow falls over her eyes, and she points over her shoulder. “Is he going to tell… anyone?”
Oh shit. She’s worried about the idea of this being a fraud marriage making its way around town. “No,” I shake my head adamantly, “no, he won’t say a word.”
“What about your other brothers?”
“Don’t worry about them either. Forest and I will figure out what to do.”
“Okay.” She nods softly. “Because I did go talk to my lawyer. That provision is real, and I can’t get past it by merely signing a piece of paper.
It has to be a real marriage, and no one is to believe otherwise.
The last thing I need is to go through with all this and still lose Clover Hill over marriage fraud. ”
None of my brothers will say shit to expose us, not once they know the reason behind it.
All of us are banded together for this land and its inhabitants and not because we get paid to.
“I won’t let that happen. Neither will my family,” I promise her.
Then again, usually the fewer people who know a secret, the better.
I really will have to talk with Forest. He’s acting like a dick right now, but that’s brother stuff.
When it comes to serious shit, he knows what to do.
Speaking of brother stuff… “One thing you’re doing to thank me is getting me away from these clowns.” I raise my brows and hook a thumb toward the kitchen.
“Oh!” Molly’s eyes flit from the tabletop up to mine. “Oh my god, that’s right. You’ll have to move in, at least for a while.”
Shit, I hope I didn’t catch her off guard.
I’ve been stewing over the idea of living together all weekend.
I’ve never shared living space with a woman before and one that I hardly know?
This should be…interesting. “I don’t have to right away,” I say, holding a hand out, hoping to settle any nerves she has.
“No, you should.” Molly nods firmly. “Wolf… are you sure you want to do that?”
She has a look of helpless worry in her eyes, which is different from what I’m used to. And now I’m transfixed by the long, dark lashes that fan out around her eyes. Have I really never noticed them before?
“I already told you I would.”
“Yeah, but that was before you knew it would have to be more than just a formality.”
What she doesn’t know is that the very moment I made that wild-ass offer, a flash of me living with her in that beautiful home developed behind my eyes.
I saw myself protecting her and the land, even kissing her goodbye in the mornings.
The feeling it gave me wasn’t a hurtful one.
But, I’m not sure she’s in the mindset to hear that right now, or if I’m even willing to share it.
Since we began this discussion, a ball of nerves has been forming, nestled in that cavity between my gut and my chest. No matter how much I tell myself all these thoughts are just thoughts, it’s there, burning hot and making itself known.
I take a breath and then another and give the bill of my ball cap a squeeze as I think about what to say.
I know I’m doing this either way; I just want to ease her mind about it.
“I’m more than okay with it, Molly,” I answer, looking down at the planked floor of the deck, hoping that the words are enough for now.