Page 314 of Under Her Skin

“Okay, but you have to let me pay the insurance on this,” I say as I try to figure out how to start thecar.

“Too late,” he says. “I’ve already paid for the entire year of it. I managed to take a picture of your driver’s license one night when you slept over. And your social security card, just so I could put you on my auto insurance. You are one highly-covered individualnow.”

“Wow! I don’t know exactly how I feel about you going through my purse,” I say as I think about the invasion of my privacy. But then I run my hands over the steering wheel and all that goes away. “This car is so beautiful. I know I’m going to be afraid to drive it. It’s too expensive andgorgeous.”

“And completely covered by insurance, and I know you have to be a safe driver. I’ve never ridden anywhere with you, but I know you have to be one. You are one, right? I mean your driving record showed no accidents or tickets of anykind.”

I look at him and feel a little more of that invasion thing, but his smile eases that too. “Blaine, this was very nice of you. I’m sure I’ll get used to it. And the answer is, yes. I’m a greatdriver.”

“I tell you what,” he says as he opens his door back up. “Let’s go change and go out to dinner. You can driveus.”

I get out of the car, too, and follow him back inside, giving a longing look to the new car. “I’ll be back,” I say to it as if it’s human or something.I just love it so muchalready!

Wrapping myself around Blaine’s arm, I hold onto him as we walk back to the bedroom. “This isunreal.”

“No, this is real. This is reality. I am your reality, Delaney Richards. And you are mine,” he says, then stops in the hallway, and I find myself pinned between him and thewall.

His thumb grazes my cheek as he looks into my eyes. “Blaine, this seems like adream.”

“That’s exactly how I feel too. I’ve never felt this way. It’s as if I’m standing at the bottom of a giant mountain that I’m about to climb. At the top are all the riches in the world. At the top is you.” His lips touch minesoftly.

As we kiss, I think about what this all means. I think about what my parents are going to say. I haven’t mentioned one word about Blaine to them. I have no idea how they’ll handlethis.

His sweet kiss ends and his hands move through my hair. “This is going to work, Delaney. This is going to be better than either of us has everexpected.”

I hope this gorgeous man is right, because if I have to give him up, I don’t know how I’ll handlethat!

Chapter7

BLAINE

My knuckles are white is I grip the ‘oh shit’ bar on the passenger side of the car.Delaney is not a greatdriver!

“This is kind of a sharp turn here,” I pointout.

She zips around it without hardly slowing at all. “I know, but look how great this car hugs the curve. This is like riding on rails. I love it,Blaine!”

Her enthusiasm is nice. I just wish her driving was too. “I’m pretty sure the speed limit is seventy on this part of thehighway.”

“It is, but thanks to that radar detector, I can fly down this road, making such great time. It’s incredible,” she says as she pulls into the other lane without looking to make sure no one was behindher.

“There’s not a radar detector in this car, Delaney. I didn’t think you’d need one of those. So you better slow down to the posted speed limit. You don’t want to get a ticket on your first day with the new car.” I clutch the seat with my other hand as she looks back to her right and changes lanes yet again, for reasons I don’tunderstand.

“Then what’s this?” she asks as she points to the small, black box by the rearviewmirror.

“That’s the box that opens the garage door.” She slows down andlaughs.

“Oh. Well, I’ll get myself one. I think I’ll be going fast a lot in this beast of a machine,” she says, horrifyingme.

“You should really think about taking a defensive driving class too. I’ll take one with you. It’ll help lower our insurance rate.” I look at her to see if she’s interested in that at all, because she needs some kind of a class. “Who taught you how todrive?”

“My Uncle Steve. He’s the reason my parents got into the tire business in the first place. He’s a racecar driver and their company supplied histires.”

“Oh, now I get it. That’s why,” I say about herdriving.

“Yeah, that’s why they made a tire business,” she says, then zips off the next exit, making me cringe as she comes to a hasty stop behind a largetruck.

The lights will surely slow her down now as we make our way through the city streets to get to the restaurant she picked. She looks over at me with a smile filling her entire face. “I really love the car, baby. And I really loveyou.”