Page 118 of Torn In Two

At the end of the lot, I dragged the wheel around, maneuvering the truck into a wide U-turn to trundle back in the direction we’d come. Knowing he was there, and he wasn’t going to let me steer us off the cliff or into a tree or oncoming traffic, I settled down, even daring to push my foot on the accelerator a little.

A thrill shot through me when the truck responded. We were barely going ten miles per hour, but it felt like flying.

It felt like freedom. Or at least the promise of freedom.

It had been easy to focus on all the bad things the world outside Ethereal Eden’s gates offered. But there were simple pleasures here too. Like a man teaching you to drive his truck, just because you’d asked.

All I had to do was ask.

We drove around the lot for twenty minutes, practicing the very basics of driving. I even reversed at one point, though that was kind of terrifying.

Breathless with giddy excitement, I stopped the car.

Hayden glanced at me, watching me put it into park. “Had enough?”

“For tonight.”

“How’d it feel?”

I grinned. “Like freedom.”

Like a reminder of everything I’d be giving up if I went back. Josiah would have never let me drive his truck. I wouldn’t have dared to ask. It would have ended in a punishment for forgetting my place.

I was as guilty as Hawk and Hayden. The boundaries I had here weren’t only of their making. I had a role in them too.

They weren’t mind readers, and I no longer had to let a man make every decision for me.

I could ask for what I wanted.

What I needed.

Hayden rubbed the back of his hand over his mouth, not doing a good job of hiding the satisfied smile tugging at his lips. “Good. How about I drive us home though? It’s getting late.”

I could ask for what I wanted. What I needed.

And what I’d always needed was him.

“Not yet.” I crawled over the center console and settled myself on his lap, knees either side of his legs, not caring that it wasn’t terribly comfortable. “There’s something else I want first.”

His hands settled on my hips, and he laughed. “You know, most people pay their driving instructors with cash…”

I ran my nose up the side of his neck. “Do they? One small problem with that. I don’t have any.” I kissed the spot beneath his ear.

His fingers tangled in the back of my hair, pulling it enough that my head tipped back, exposing my throat.

“No?” he murmured. “I suppose I could call this a free first lesson then…”

The stubble of his short beard scraped over my skin, tantalizingly different than the softness of his lips and tongue as he worked his way from my chin to my collarbone.

“I think I’d rather pay in another way.”

He pushed the neck of my shirt aside so he could kiss my shoulder. “Okay, if you’re really intent on paying, I accept cash, check, or sex in my truck.”

I laughed, slipping my hands down his chest and then underneath his hoodie. I ran my fingers along the ridges of his abs and flicked the button on his jeans. “What if someone parks beside us?”

He unbuttoned my shirt. “Then I’ll put my mouth over your nipple so nobody sees it.”

I looked past him as he pushed aside my shirt and groped my breasts through my bra. “Oh no. Someone’s coming.”

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