Page 75 of Gin & Jewels
“I’d like that.” I smiled.
“Good. Now, are you ready to do this?” He motioned to the open road.
“What if I pass out while driving?”
“That won’t happen, but if it does, I’ll grab the wheel and steer us to safety.”
“You’ll sit right next to me?” I asked, looking at the space between us that had the paper bag on it.
“Exactly why I picked this truck to borrow.”
I took a moment to look at the road and then blew out a breath. “Okay, I’m ready.”
Brad got out on the driver’s side, and I slid across the seat until I was behind the wheel. My palms started to sweat again, and my heart was beating so fast that I could hear it in my ears.
He slid into the passenger side. “Do you need me to go over anything with you?”
“No. I just put it in drive and press the gas, right?”
“Yep, but don’t step on it hard. Ease into it.”
“Right.”
He moved to the middle and kissed my cheek. “You got this. I’m right here and can take over at any time.”
I swallowed. “Okay.”
I buckled my seatbelt and started the engine. After a good five minutes of staring at the road ahead of us, and Brad and I not speaking, I finally felt as though I was ready. And I did it. I put the truck in drive and eased onto the gas. I started off slow, going about five miles per hour, and then picked up a little speed.
“See, princess. You got this.”
I did have it.
I had it so much that I drove around and around, going left at the turn several times until I was ready to go right and have lunch.
I was soproud of Cassie.
Conquering a fear—a fear tied to her parents’ deaths—was huge. It also turned me on. It could be the fact that for the past few weeks, my hand had taken care of business. It could also be because sex was on Cassie’s mind since she’d been worried aboutperformingfor me. I’d been thinking about it since that night. I knew she needed time to heal, but because it was on her mind, it was on mine too.
I hadn’t been with a virgin in over sixteen years, but I knew that Cassie’s first time couldn’t be with my mom in the other room. I wanted Cassie to be relaxed and for us to take as long as we needed for it to be special.
Cassie parked the truck under a tree at the lake. Because school had started, the small lake was almost deserted. There were a few people in the distance, but no one close to us.
“It’s beautiful,” she gushed as she looked at the water.
“Yeah, I used to come here all the time in high school.” We got out of the truck, and I grabbed the bag and the blanket I had brought.
“You seem to know everyone here. Did you have a lot of friends?”
I nodded. “I did.”
“So the opposite of me …”
We weren’t going to go down that road again. I wanted Cassie to stop thinking about the past because she couldn’t change it. “I guess, but it doesn’t matter. None of them are my friends now. People grow up and move on. People change too. The friends I have now are who matter.”
Cassie helped me lay out the blanket close to the shore. “You mean the guys in Vegas?”
We sat on the blanket. “Yeah. Any of those guys would drop what they were doing if I was in need. They’re good people.”
