Page 109 of At Her Will

“Since you’ve ridden in plenty of vehicles, I assume you’ve paid some attention to how it’s done,” she said. “Why did you never get a license?”

She took more pleasure in his effort to answer her, but he knew what she expected. His voice, though hoarse, wascoherent. “Never seemed to have a need. Trolley and bus get me where I want to go.”

“So why do you want to learn to drive? Other than to give me some relief on hypothetical road trips?” She sat back against her seat, her shoulder against it, her legs crossed, knee up near the console. She’d worn a flirty blue and green paisley skirt, its wide waist band decorated with dark buttons. Her breasts were hard to ignore, clad in a short-sleeved blue top with a scoop neck. But after his gaze slid from there and down to her legs, the return trip brought him back to her kissed lips and luminous eyes.

“You want to show me, and anything you can teach me, that let me be with you, I like that.”

“That’s a very good answer. Let’s get started.” As she went through the basics, she learned how much he’d absorbed from watching others. When she at last told him to start the vehicle, he leaned over, gripped her seat belt and drew it across her body. His fingers brushed her hip as he latched it. The truck was an older one, without the nanny beeping if the seatbelt wasn’t on, but that didn’t matter to Rev. Keeping her safe did.

With a whimsical smile, she leaned over and did the same to him, sliding her fingers over his chest, tangling briefly with the chain for the silver cross. She lingered at his hip as she clicked the belt in place, and discovered he was carrying chewing gum in his pocket.

“Bubble gum?”

“For the kids,” he told her. “And sometimes for Beau. You can have a piece if you want.”

She smiled and replaced the package. “Start the truck.”

He proceeded carefully, listening to her instruction as he made several circuits of Tiger’s test track, showing a decent grasp of driving skills.

“Tiger said you can come out anytime and practice,” she told him. “It’s an old truck and he leaves the keys under the mat. It’s usually parked next to the barn.”

“He don’t worry someone going to steal it?”

“Not a big issue out here. Plus, even without his outlaw biker history, anyone who sees the man is going to think twice about pissing him off. And then there’s Skye. With her tech skills, she could ruin someone’s credit, put them on an FBI watch list and worst of all, empty their music playlists and cancel their social media accounts.”

He chuckled. “Best not to mess with a Mistress’s man.”

“You got it. Like Cyn says, ‘I’m the only one allowed to beat or psychologically torture you.’ Let’s do a few more rounds here, then we’ll test out some of the back roads around Tiger’s property.”

Once again, Rev handled himself well for that step, though he pulled off when faster vehicles came up behind him. He didn’t get flustered, but he was attentive and cautious in the way new drivers were.

“How does it feel?” she asked when they took a break on a shoulder.

“Good. I like learning things that can help someone else. When I first started working with Beau, I wanted to learn all the stuff he knew, which made him sure they brought me in to take his job. But I just wanted to pull my weight so he could count on me. Once he figured that out, we got on fine. Every budget cycle, if it a tight year, I tell Miss Mavis if they have to cut our staff, then it should be me. I won’t let them do that to him, and I always got my job at the church.”

His jaw set. “Beau wasn’t too sure about you either, said some of the things Witford and Tisha did, only Beau’s reasons for telling me were different. He was more worried about how it affect me as a man.”

She narrowed her gaze. “What things?”

“I don’t want to get old Beau in trouble. He was just worried about me.”

“Are you refusing to tell me?”

“No. Just protecting him.” He gave her a rueful smile. “What you’d expect. Why some fancy, beautiful woman might be interested in someone like me.”

He spoke casually, but she could see Beau had managed to plant a doubt or two, and they’d taken root. Shallow ones though, easy to pluck out if addressed early. As she did now.

“Rev, I respect you as an equal. You submitting to me, me being your Mistress, that’s a decision made from both sides. I am attracted to you. No, let me correct that. I amfiercelyattracted to you, and it’s not just your beautiful body, wonderful mouth and that limitless desire to submit you carry. It’s the whole man, everything I’m learning about you.”

She leaned in to slide her fingers under the collar of his shirt, stroking heated skin. “So, at the risk of offending Beau or anyone else acting out of true concern for you—which I appreciate—if they’re suggesting you’re some boy toy I’ll tire of because of our different economic or educational circumstances, they’re feeding you garbage and can fuck the hell off. I’ll drive that garbage out of your mind, like Jesus and those money lenders. I have no problem using a whip to do it.”

The comparison startled then amused him, but she saw the doubts he’d harbored give way to belief, allowing him to move from there to need. The need to feel the weight of a control that strong, reinforced with the kind of pain she’d shown him could open him up to dormant feelings only recently come to life. But they’d been there from the first time he’d gotten on his knees before the Virgin Mary.

“I apologize, Mistress. You’re right. I letting things come between us that don’t belong there.”

“Yes. But that’s why you told me about them, which is the right thing to do. That’s how we take care of them. Together, and by trusting me with what’s happening in your head.”

She sat back. “Drive us back to Tiger’s. We’ll go get some lunch.”

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