“Nice try. But no. You’d keep me hanging on the edge for hours just so we didn’t have to come back and do this. So suck it up or there’ll be no sucking of anything between either of us.”

“That’s it,” she huffed. “I’m using my safe word.”

His mouth brushed her ear. “You don’t have a safe word. I have a safe word, remember?”

“Knox.” That sounded whiny. “Why are you pushing me on this?”

“Because you’re thirty-five years old and it’s time you learned to drive.”

She pointed to his big truck that was like twenty-seven feet off the ground and had tires the size of a bulldozer. “I’d rather not crash and burn a monster truck.”

“Stop saying that. This is a standard-sized pickup.”

“It can’t be.”

“It is.”

“Compared to what? Tractors? Have you seen the size of cars in Japan?”

“Nope. And we’re not in Japan; we’re in America, where our public-transit system in the Wild West isn’t up to Japanese bullet-train standards.”

“Not the same thing.”

“Quit being a pain in the ass and get in.”

“I don’t like your tone.”

Knox got right in her face. “You won’t like my hand smacking your ass either if you don’t get it moving.”

“Acting a little cheeky today, sub.”

“I’m not your sub right now, remember? So quit stalling, whining, and bitching, and pull up your big-girl panties and get in the damn truck.”

“Fine. I assume you have a ladder?”

He muttered something. Then he pointed to the thin piece of silver chrome below the door. “That’s the running board. Use it to get in.”

Shiori opened the door and launched herself into the driver’s seat. First thing she moved the seat closer to the steering wheel. If Knox’s knees were hunched against the dashboard, it was his own fault for being so tall.

Knox climbed in the passenger side. More muttering. Then, “Move the seat back. You don’t need to be directly under the steering wheel to drive.”

She eased the seat back.

“Now. You have two pedals at your feet. But you’re only going to use one foot. Gas is on your right. The brake is in the middle. Now look on your dashboard and see the letters P, R, N, D, L?”

“I see them.”

“What do they stand for?”

“Pretty Reckless New Driver, Lookout?”

He didn’t crack a smile.

She sighed. “Park, reverse, neutral, drive . . . no idea what the L is for.”

“Low. You can drop it into a lower gear if the weather is bad or if you’re driving down a steep grade. Now turn the key and start ’er up.”

“It seems too soon. Shouldn’t we go over the safety features of this vehicle?”

He shook his head. “Turn the key and press on the gas at the same time.”

“I have to do two things at once?” she practically shrieked.

“Shiori,” he snapped. “Stop freaking out. If sixteen-year-old kids can do this, so can you.”

She turned the key and slammed her foot down on the gas pedal. The engine roared.

“Good. Now put your foot on the brake and move the gearshift into drive.”

“So then we’ll be moving.”

“Hopefully.”

“Where are we going?”

“Around and around in this empty parking lot until you feel comfortable behind the wheel.”

Jesus. They’d be here for two months if that held true. She pulled the gearshift down until the red needle was on the D. “Now what?”

“Now take your foot off the brake. The truck is in gear and it will move, but not much until you apply the gas. So when you step on the gas, do it gradually, not all at once.”

Okay. Here goes.

She fought the temptation to close her eyes. She put her foot on the gas like Knox said, and the truck lurched forward. She took her foot off and slammed on the brake. Then she tried it again. This time it went smoother. She tried a little more gas and it didn’t lurch.

“Doing great. Now, try not to drive down the middle but stay to the right.”

“There’s so much to remember.”

“When you get to the end of this row, turn right and go up the other side. And you might get a better feel for driving if you went faster than ten.”

Was he snickering? She didn’t dare take her eyes off the road to glare at him or take her hands off the wheel to flip him off.