Page 23 of And Then There Was Us
She backed up, waving her hands in front of her. “No. No way. No, no, no. I’m like a big gray cloud when it comes to cars.”
Hugh crossed his arms and laughed. “Then I guess we’re not going anywhere and you’ll be late to work, because I’m not driving.”
“Hugh. No.” She shook her head.
“Sorry. No can do.”
“Hugh,” she said in a harsher tone. “How can you even ask me to drive one? They’re more expensive than anything I’ll ever own.”
“They’re cars, Bree. They’re less valuable than Layla, and you trust yourself with her.” He watched her lips press together, and he knew he’d struck a chord. “They’re just cars.”
She shook her head again with the most adorable, emphatic frown he’d ever seen. Hugh went to her and wrapped his arms around her.
“I’m not worried. You shouldn’t be either.” He needed her to see that cars were just possessions. They weren’t what made him who he was. She needed to separate him from everything else in her mind so he could prove to her he was worth going out with again.
“Hugh,” she whispered. “What if I wreck it?”
“I have insurance, so as long as you don’t hurt yourself…” He shrugged.
She buried her face in his chest. “I can’t believe you’re making me do this.”
“I can’t believe you’re fighting me on it.” He held up the keys, and she snagged them from him.
“Fine. Whatever. Do you do this to all your girlfriends?”
“I don’t have girlfriends, so the answer is no.” He smiled as he opened the driver’s side door for her and then climbed into the passenger side. He clicked the remote, and the garage doors lifted.
“A guy like you has girlfriends.” She gripped the steering wheel so tight her knuckles were white.
“Okay, wait.” He pried her fingers from the steering wheel and gently settled her back against the seat. “First of all, no, I don’t. I have dated women, but I haven’t had a real girlfriend, someone who I cared about and went out with more than three or four times, since I was in college. Just so you know, I’ve spent the last few months separating myself from that dating world of fan girls and models. Second…I’m really sorry, but you’re so tense. I’ve got to do this.” He leaned across the seat and kissed her until he felt the tension ease from her body. She met each stroke of his tongue with a passionate, hungry stroke of her own, and then he kissed her longer, simply because she was too sweet to forgo.
When he drew back, her eyes were closed. “Better?” he asked.
She blinked several times. “Yeah.” She nodded. “Good. Fine. Great.” She put her delicate fingers back on the steering wheel and wrapped them gently around the leather, as if she had no energy left to put forth. She shifted the car into gear, and her lips curved into a smile as she drove onto the main road.
“This isn’t at all like driving. It’s like flying or something.”
“She’s a beauty,” Hugh agreed as they made their way through town.
“Still, you shouldn’t have let me drive it.” Bree hadn’t taken her eyes off the road once, and she was an excellent driver.
“It’s just a car.”
Brianna parked in front of her apartment complex. She handed him the keys and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Hugh noticed that her hand was still shaking a little.
“I was so nervous.” She let out a long sigh. “The kiss helped, but…I was sure I’d wreck it.”
“I had faith in you.”
Hugh surveyed the old brick apartment building. Grass sprouted through fissures in the sidewalk. Stacked boxes and plastic chairs littered the patio of the first-floor apartment to their right. A bearded man with a beer gut hung over the second-floor balcony, watching them walk inside. Hugh put his arm protectively around Brianna, his biceps and neck muscles tense.
“That guy kind of creeps me out,” Brianna whispered.
Hugh stood up tall and threw his shoulders back, then narrowed his eyes and cast a harsh glare at the ogling man.
Brianna’s third-floor apartment was bright and sunny. The white-tiled foyer was clean and, though small, it was functional. There was a small table against the wall with a stack of mail and Layla’s school papers. Beyond the foyer was a cozy living room with glass sliders that led to a small balcony. On the wall between the kitchen and living room was a large black-and-white photograph of a sleeping baby. The light illuminated the baby’s forehead and eyes and then softened as it covered her bundled body.
“That’s a gorgeous picture. Is that Layla?”
