Page 23 of Electric Kiss

Nate let out a bark of a laugh. “What a fucking pair we make. I have feet. You have hands. You’ll have to sit on my lap. I’ll press the pedals, and you can steer, but I am making sure you get home safely. You can chew me out the entire way back that I let you think you’d hurt my wrist.”

“Fine,” Daisy conceded.

Nate grinned.

He locked up using his remote to bring the shutters down and then joined her at the buggy. She stood at the side, chewing on her thumb, wondering how it would work.

“Do those bench seats move?” Nate asked, standing next to her.

“No, they’re fixed to the floor.”

“Well, you’re going to have to sit on my lap and drive while telling me which peddles to press as I won’t be able to see past you.”

“Shouldn’t I just walk or get one of my brothers to come down here and get me?”

“This is my fault, and I am going to get you home. Let’s move,” he said, shooing her with his hands.

Daisy dropped her head back and walked to the driver’s side of the buggy. Nate swung in and widened his thighs, making sure he could press the go pedal and brake pedal. Once he was happy, he patted the space between his thighs. Daisy looked doubtful she would fit, but hishurry the fuck uplook got her hobbling over to him. She used the steering wheel to hoist her body in, and then Nate took over, holding her waist the one arm until she settled.

“My bottom is too wide for the space. I’ll have to sit on you,” she said.

She was ten kinds of embarrassed that she had to sit on his lap. Her skirts were thin, and there was no mistaking the warmth of his legs under her. It was a tight squeeze with her legs under the steering wheel, so she had to drape her legs over his. Nate tightened his arm and brought her back to his chest, and clung on.

“Drive us home, Miss Daisy,” Nate said with an awful Southern accent.

“Oh boy, this will be the longest trip up the cliff,” she muttered as she turned the ignition. “Press go but keep it easy,” she said.

She reversed and then circled wide to drive along the quayside and then up the private road to the estate. She sped past Turner Hall, which was in darkness.

“I’ve never been up here before last week. The place looks menacing,” he said.

“Trust me, it is,” she replied over her shoulder. “Slow down a bit. The path is narrow as we pass Edward Hall.”

“This isn’t the way we walked when I brought you home last time.”

“No, we came the beach pathway that time and then across the lawns. There are many ways you can get up to the estate. I use those two unless I’m heading out to see Dad’s grave.”

“Right,” he said and tightened his hold.

She drove them in silence past Edward Hall, which had its porch light on. From the rear, they could hear generators and see spotlights. As she zipped past, there were the ends of articulated lorries.

“What’s going on there?”

“They’re getting it ready. A movie is shooting here in acouple of weeks. Erica is starring in it, part of the deal of her not working away from her newborn for the first year.”

“Perks of a Hollywood actress.”

“There has to be some balance with the intrusion she gets. I couldn’t cope with what she had to put up with. Far too private.”

“That’s a Turner trait,” Nate commented.

“Possibly. Slow down. We’re nearly there. I’m going to pull up alongside the other buggies.”

Daisy counted three others, one for each of the cottages. No one lived in the fifth cottage, but there was space for a buggy if someone moved in. Daisy harboured thoughts it would be her mother, but she had a long way to go to persuade her brothers that their mother was a good person in a dangerous situation.

“Okay, we’re here. I’m going to shuffle out,” she said once the ignition was off.

“That’s not your cottage,” Nate said, nodding to Archer and Erica’s place.

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