Page 94 of The Secret We Keep
My face falls quicker than I can catch it.
Dogging?
What?
His gaze meets mine, just for a second, before giving me a lopsided grin. “I brought you here for a driving lesson,” he explains more calmly.
I close my eyes before prising them open and gaping at him, all humour quickly evaporating when I register what’s really going on.
I passed my theory, but I’ve never actually driven a car, not even with my dad.
What if I crash his fancy car?
What if I drive it straight into the lake?
“Time’s ticking, curly fries.” Our eyes meet. “Unless you reallydowant to be here for the dogging?” He winks, trying to lighten the mood.
Ground. Open. Swallow. Me. Whole.
“No. I’m just…”
Paddy gets into the car where I was just sitting and reaches for the door handle. “Come on.”
I step back as he begins closing the door, heart in my mouth and palms sweating. I can’t drive. I only know the theory side. Practically, I have no experience.
Taking my time, I lift one foot after the other around to the other side of his car. I get in and close my door, hands braced down by my sides.
“If you don’t like people in your car, then why are you giving me adriving lesson?” There’s a burning sensation in my chest.
Putting on his seatbelt, he says in a serious tone, “I think this could be good for both of us,” but I hear the wavering of his voice just like mine.
I turn to look at him. “I…”
“Relax.” He places one hand on my leg, rendering me speechless and unable to think. When I look down, Paddy doesn’t remove it. “This isn’t me touching you up,” he says quickly. “I know you’re nervous, that’s all. I was only joking about the dogging thing. I don’t think people really do that here.”
Tension bubbles. Heat swells in my core. Yeah, I feel nervous, but not just because he wants me to drive a car. But because his thumb is doing that stroking motion again.
Does he know he’s doing that?
“What if I crash?”
His hand flexes on my leg. “You won’t.”
“Why are you doing this to me?”
His eyes crinkle in the corners, as his lips curve up. I melt on the inside, the heat of my body overriding the trembling in my hands. “It’s time for me to put my trust in you for a change.”
Oh, Jesus. “Paddy, I don’t think this is a good idea.”
Removing his hand off me, I finally breathe, watching as he moves his hands and points at various buttons in the car, telling me what they all do. None of what he’s explaining goes in, but I nod every couple of seconds, waiting for my muscles to loosen. We’re not even moving, yet it feels like I’m speeding at a hundred miles per hour.
“Got it?”
My stomach knots.
Crap.
“Morgan?”
