Page 99 of The Best Thing He Never Wanted

She closed her eyes as she took a sip. “That’s all right. I don’t want to hold us up. It’s bad enough that I’ve slowed you down from running to walking so that I can come with you.”

He put his hand on her shoulder. “You haven’t slowed me down, Bea. I chose walking over running because I’d rather be with you.”

She leaned her head against his shoulder. “You’re awfully sweet for a man who’s supposed to be more like a granite cliff, you know.”

That made him smile. “I’m not trying to be sweet. Just telling you how it is for me. And come on, while we’re talking about it, we may as well go sit on the bench and see how our village looks this morning.”

Her gaze flickered toward his, but he just shrugged. Our village? Dumb thing to say, it might be hers, but it wasn’t his—no matter how natural the words had felt. He gestured for her to go out first, and once they were sitting side by side on the stone bench, on the cushions that really did make it more comfortable, he put his idea to her. “Listen, I was thinking about not walking this morning.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Of course; you should run if you want to.”

“Slow down, Bea. That’s not what I meant. I was thinking we could go for a drive instead.”

“Oh. Okay. That sounds lovely. Where would you like to go?”

“It’s not about where we go.” He hesitated, not sure if he should even suggest it, but decided he had to. “It’s about who’s driving.”

She lowered her mug. “Oh. You want me to drive?”

“Only if you want to. I thought while it’s early on a Sunday morning, there won’t be much traffic on the roads. Could be a good chance for you to get used to them.”

She took another sip of her coffee before nodding slowly. “That’s actually a rather good idea, isn’t it?” Some of the tension left his shoulders when she turned to smile at him. “Yes, please. I think it’s a very good idea.” She gave him a sheepish smile. “Especially after that little performance on Friday afternoon—I was so stupid.”

“Hey. Don’t say that. Nobody gets to call you stupid. Not even you. It’s like I said at the time—you just have to train your instincts. And you can only train by doing. So, what do you say? After coffee, we get in the SUV and go?”

“Just go? Not go somewhere?”

“Yeah. We can follow the road instead of following a map. Figure it’ll be easier that way. There’s no pressure to get someplace in particular.”

She let out a short laugh. “That’s probably a good idea.”

Fifteen minutes later, Bea locked the house behind them and Blane noted the way she checked the door after she took out the key. She hadn’t said anything else about the guy in the lane, but she’d seemed extra cautious since then. And of course, so was he. He unlocked the SUV and opened the driver’s door for her.

“Thank you. That’s very sweet.” She took the car keys from his hand. “It’s not a driving lesson, though, you know. I’ve been driving for forty years. It’s just…”

“Never said it was. I’m not here to show you how the pedals and levers work. I came around to pull the seat up for you.”

She looked at the seat, which was pushed as far back as it could go. He’d had to ram the damn thing all the way back so he could drive without his knees jammed under the steering wheel.

Bea climbed in and managed to wrestle it forward herself. He couldn’t help laughing at the look she gave him when she was done.

“Now run around to the other side like a good little passenger, would you please?”

“Fair enough.”

She started the engine and turned them around without a problem, but when she reached the open gateway, she stopped and looked at him before pulling out onto the road.

He cocked an eyebrow. “What?”

“Where do you want me to go?”

He met her gaze and held it. “I want the same as I always do, Bea. I want you to do whatever the hell you want. I’m just along for the ride.”

She closed her eyes briefly, then reached across to touch his arm. “Thank you.”

“There’s nothing to thank me for. This is what you said you were going to do before I came into the picture. You wanted to get used to the roads. Now you can. You just don’t have to do it all by yourself.”

She nodded, then pulled out through the gateway and drove them down the steep, winding road toward the bakery. When they reached the main road, she indicated to turn left, but didn’t pull out even though there was no traffic. He figured he knew what was going on, but he waited.