Trusting You (Second Chances #2)(16)

Brett grinned wide and winked. “Since we have a few minutes to spare, I thought I’d give you those lessons I promised you.” Cutting off his ignition, he got out of the Jeep and came around to my side, opening the door. I groaned as he pulled me out and pushed me around the vehicle with his hands on my hip.

“I’m telling you it’s a waste of time. I tried learning before and couldn’t get it,” I warned, throwing my hands up in the air.

Brett laughed and shoved me into the driver’s seat. “Oh well, you’re learning now. We can stay here all day, but like I said, it’s a good thing to know how to drive one. You never know when it might come in handy.”

He shut the door, went around to the passenger side, and got in. I adjusted the seat and sat there, waiting on instructions. “You can do this,” he muttered with a huge grin on his face. “To start the car you need to press in the clutch, which is the pedal to the left, and then turn the key in the ignition.”

I did as he said and started the Jeep. The moment I accidentally took my foot off of the clutch, the car sputtered and shut off. “Oops, that was an accident,” I admitted.

Brett chuckled. “It’s okay, and I’m sure you’re going to stall out several times here in the next few minutes. Start her back up and keep your foot all the way down on the clutch until you’re ready to start moving.” He put my hand on the gear shift and showed me which direction to put it in for each gear when I shifted up. I already knew the basics of a manual transmission, but it was still the actual doing it part that had me flustered.

Starting the Jeep back up, I kept my foot on the clutch and slowly pressed the gas while releasing the clutch. It stalled.

I did that over a dozen times until almost an hour later I was cruising around the parking lot like a pro. Well, not actually since I still felt shaky taking off from first gear. “See, that wasn’t so hard to learn, was it?” Brett asked. “I knew you could do it.”

I parked his Jeep and shut it off. Taking a deep breath, I turned to him and smiled. “I don’t know why I always thought it was the hardest thing to learn. But it wasn’t that bad.”

Brett leaned over, placing one hand on the headrest and the other on my knee. Slowly he glided it up my bare thigh and under my white sundress to trail his fingers over the lacy underwear I wore. Teasingly, he whispered in my ear, “I think you need to be rewarded, don’t you? Once we get back this afternoon I’ll show you how proud of you I am.”

I bit my lip and nodded while he pulled back my underwear and massaged my clit with his finger. He placed my hand over the bulge in his shorts and I groaned. “I look forward to it. But this is one stick I most definitely know how to drive,” I teased.





“Why can’t you tell me who we’re going to see?” I asked, holding my sundress down over my legs as the wind blew through the Jeep. After learning how to drive his car and after our little teasing escapade, Brett took over the driver’s seat and started us on our way.

All Brett told me before we left was that we were going to meet a special lady of his. When I asked if it was his mother he shook his head, whispering no, before turning away from me. He didn’t think I noticed, but I saw the pained expression on his face even though he tried to hide it. I wanted to ask what was wrong, but thought better of it. If he wanted to tell me he would, and hopefully one day he would trust me enough to tell me.

There was that word again: trust. He didn’t trust me yet to tell me something that bothered him and hurt him. It pained me that he wouldn’t confide in me, but I guess it wasn’t just me that had an issue with trust. Once we got out of the city limits we headed into one of the smaller towns that bordered the city. Green fields and open meadows surrounded us as we headed into what we considered ‘the country’ out in our parts of North Carolina.

We pulled into a quaint little neighborhood, nestled in the quiet suburban land, which had a bunch of older brick houses that was probably considered upper scale when they were built many years ago. The houses actually had acreage, which was uncommon once you got into the city limits. I always grew up accustomed to city life, but there was something about gardens and land that appealed to me. Maybe I’ll sell my home and get some land one day.

We parked in the driveway of a one story brick home with black shutters, and flowers in pots all on the front porch. Almost immediately an elderly woman burst out of the front door and I had a very good idea of who she was … his grandmother. I could see it in her smile. Her hair was short with tight curls which seemed to be the growing trend with older ladies these days, and she was wearing a bright red apron that had flour spread all over it like she’d been in the kitchen baking.

Brett jumped out of the car and ran up to the woman, capturing her frail body into his strong arms. Smiling, she cupped his face and kissed his cheek, but not before I saw a tear fall down the side of her face.

“I’ve missed you,” the old lady said, hugging Brett across his waist; he towered over her by a whole foot.

Brett smiled. “I’ve missed you too, Grandma.” When he noticed me waiting by the Jeep, he motioned me over. Releasing his grandmother from his hold, he came up beside me and put his arm around my shoulders. “Grandma, I want you to meet my …” He stopped and hesitated for a moment before looking down at me questioningly.