Because You Are Mine (Because You Are Mine #1)(53)
“In high school, I didn’t really have anywhere I needed to drive to, and my parents didn’t push it. I opted out of driver’s ed,” she said hurriedly, praying he didn’t observe her sidestepping of the truth.
The truth was, she’d been at her heaviest when she’d been sixteen. She daily thanked God her body had been youthful enough to sustain the abrupt weight loss she experienced at eighteen. Much to her amazement, there had been no lasting scars from those weight-laden years of her life. The weight had melted off her as if it truly had been a traumatic experience she could heal from versus a measurable biological event.
But Sweet Sixteen had been Miserable Sixteen to Francesca. She’d been slated to take driver’s ed with three other girls in her gym class, three girls who—by a horrible stroke of fate—regularly bullied her. Gym class had already been a daily torture for her. The idea of spending an hour in confined quarters with three sneering girls hiding their laughter at every clumsy move she made, and a young male gym teacher vaguely sympathetic to the other girls’ disdain, had been too much for her. Her parents had suspected this was the reason for her avoiding driver’s ed, and hadn’t insisted she take the class.
They were likely just as mortified by the idea as she had been.
“By the time I moved to Chicago, there was absolutely no reason to get a license. I can’t afford a car, the parking, or the insurance, so it became a moot point,” she explained to Ian.
“How do you get around?”
“The El, my bike . . . my feet,” she said, grinning.
He shook his head once, briskly. “That’s not acceptable.”
Her grin faded. “What do you mean?” she asked, offended.
He gave her an exasperated glance when he noticed she’d once again taken umbrage. “I just mean that a young woman like you should have the very basics of control in her life.”
“And you think driving is a basic of control?”
“Yes,” he replied so matter-of-factly that a surprised laugh popped out of her throat. “It’s a developmental milestone, getting your driver’s license, no different than taking your first step . . . or learning how to control your temper,” he added significantly when she opened her mouth to argue. The arrival of their entrées temporarily postponed their charged conversation.
“There’s a reason for all the sayings, you know,” Ian mused a moment later, lazily watching her pour salad dressing onto her greens. “The ones about being in the driver’s seat, driving your fate, power driving . . .”
Her gaze flew up to meet his stare at the last, recalling vividly how he’d described his claiming of her at the St. Germain last night. His small smile told her he knew she was remembering.
“Why don’t you let me teach you how to drive?” he asked.
“Ian—” she began, feeling frustrated and a little helpless.
“I’m not saying it to control you. I’d like you to feel more in control over your life, in fact,” he interrupted, cutting his chicken fillet briskly. He glanced up when she didn’t speak. “Come on, Francesca,” he coaxed. “Be a little impulsive.”
“Oh, ha ha,” she said sarcastically, but she couldn’t help but smile at his goading. She melted a little when he grinned back, a devilish, sexy gleam in his eyes. “You act like you’re planning on teaching me to drive here in Paris after we finish lunch.”
“That’s because I am,” he said, picking up his phone.
* * *
They lingered at the bistro, talking, sipping coffee, and waiting for Jacob to arrive with the car Ian had requested.
“There he is,” Ian said, his gaze on a shiny black BMW sedan with tinted windows. She’d listened to him ask Jacob to lease an automatic-transmission vehicle and bring it to the bistro address. Now here was Jacob, not a half hour later. It was so strange to consider the things one could do on a whim when money was no object.
She couldn’t believe she’d let him talk her into this.
She smiled at Jacob as he handed Ian the keys. “Aren’t we going to drop you off?” she asked the driver when he turned to walk down the sidewalk.
“I’ll just walk to the hotel. It’s not far,” Jacob assured cheerfully before he waved and turned away.
Ian opened the passenger-side door for her. She was relieved that he wasn’t going to start teaching her to drive on the busy Paris streets. Even so, she was convinced that a disaster was about to occur.
“This is an extremely nice car,” she said, sitting on the passenger side and watching while Ian adjusted the driver’s seat for his long legs. “Couldn’t you have rented a banged-up car? What if I wreck this one?”
“You won’t wreck it,” he said as he began to drive down the shaded street. Clouds were rolling in, hiding the gorgeous golden sunshine they’d relished the entire autumn day. “You have excellent reflexes and good eyes. I noticed during our little fencing match.”
He glanced quickly to the side and caught her staring at him. She blinked, her gaze bouncing off him. She’d only seen him drive one other time—that night he’d yanked her out of the tattoo parlor. Maybe he was right about power and driving. He seemed utterly in control as he maneuvered skillfully through Paris traffic. She couldn’t remove her gaze from his large hands grasping the leather wheel, his touch light but sure, like a lover’s. For some reason, it made her think of what that crop had looked like in his grip earlier. She shivered.