Page 80 of Always: A Legacy Novel

A lot.

“It’ll take more than a five minute drive to learn,” Cross added, “but I can help, and you can get a feel for it, if you want.”

“Help how?”

He bent over the seat and unbuckled her belt. Not bothering to explain his motives, he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into his seat, and onto his lap.

“Gas, brake,” Cross said, nudging her foot to the pedals in question. “This is the clutch, and I’m going to handle that for tonight.” He put Catherine’s hand on the shifting lever, and his overtop hers. “This is where we shift from one gear to the next, up or down depending on the speed you want; you’re not going over second, so keep a light foot.”

“Wait, I need to shift, steer, watch the road, and—”

“Not wreck,” he said, chuckling, “and yeah, all at the same time. That’s not even all of it, it’s just what you’re going to do tonight, with me helping out. Also, you actually need to have at least one hand on the steering wheel to keep the car on the road, so maybe do that, babe.”

The affectionate term slipped out of Cross’s mouth before he even realized he had used it. Catherine didn’t seem to mind, though.

“Shouldn’t it be two hands on the wheel?” she asked.

Cross set his free hand to her thigh and squeezed. “Extra hand here, if you need it.”

“Yeah, but my other hand is on the gear shifter.”

“It isn’t always,” he explained, “just for right now. Brake, gas, let’s go.”

Catherine pressed hard on the gas, and the Rover’s engine growled loudly as the vehicle lurched forward with force. She let out a yelp, a nope, and tried climbing off Cross’s lap before the damn thing even stopped again. He hit the brake, kept her firmly on his lap by holding around her waist, and tried hard not to laugh.

“I don’t like it,” Catherine said, “I don’t want to try again.”

“Too bad. Not so heavy footed, remember. One more time.”

“But—”

“One more time, babe, come on. Push easy, don’t just slam down on the gas pedal.”

She listened the second time around, going easier on the gas, and letting the Rover actually crawl forward slowly.

“A little more gas,” Cross ordered.

“But then it’s going to go faster.”

“That’s the point. You wanted to try, Catherine.”

Her elbow hit his rib hard.

Cross tugged on her hair in response.

“Hear that higher growl?” he asked as the Rover finally got decent speed.

“The engine, you mean?”

“Yep, when it sounds like that, you need to up a gear. Pump the clutch, move up a gear, that’s it.” He did exactly that, and kept his hand on hers overtop the shifting lever as he shifted into gear and said, “Second gear just like that.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t actually do it.”

“You will next time. I’ll get you out here again.”

And he would, as long as she asked.

For the most part, Catherine didn’t mind driving, it seemed. She steered just fine. She only needed to be comfortable with everything else, he figured.