The Weekday Brides 04 - Single by Saturday by Catherine Bybee Read Free Book Online Page A

while about medicine and tests, much like everyone seemed to do when they passed the age of seventy. She finished talking about their health with a pause.
    “Michael and I are going out of town for a couple of weeks.”
    “Oh?”
    “He has family in Utah he hasn’t seen for a while.”
    Aunt Edie hesitated. “You’ve not met them?”
    Karen knew her aunt already knew the answer to her question. “No…well, except for his brother. Not his parents.”
    “A man who doesn’t introduce his bride to his parents…”
    “Edie!”
    “Don’t Edie me. It’s not normal.”
    This wasn’t the time to bring Edie up to date on the future, or lack thereof, of her marriage.
    “It’s fine. I’m OK. I promise.”
    “I should have done something different—”
    “Edie. Stop. I’m good.”
    “Your mother didn’t deserve you.”
    They’d had this discussion before, too. “Tell Stanley I said hello.”
    “You’re cutting me off.”
    “I’m saying good-bye. I have a driving lesson to get to.”
    Edie sighed into the phone. A heavy gesture meant to make Karen notice. “I love you.”
    “Love you too, Auntie. Big kiss to that studly husband of yours.”
    That got the laugh out of her aunt that she loved to hear.
    Zach stood outside leaning over the car. He’d combed his hair back and changed his shirt. The black button-up linen gave him a mysterious edge and made him look like he belonged on the back of his motorcycle or in the driver’s seat of the McLaren. She allowed herself one brief glance at his backside as he bent over the car. His sex appeal was effortless. She wondered if he knew how much. Michael wore his like a badge, but with Zach, he didn’t seem to notice.
    Ignoring the way her skin heated, she removed her eyes from the package known as Zach, and asked, “Are you ready?”
    He twisted around. His gaze traveled her body and then rested on her eyes with a soft, approving smile. “Are you?”
    “How hard can it be?”
    “Have you driven a manual transmission before?”
    “Learned on my uncle’s Jeep when I was sixteen.” She glanced at the floor of the driver’s seat. “Where’s the clutch?” She looked for the lever to change gears. “You sure this is a manual transmission?”
    Zach warmed her with a laugh. “It’s all on the steering wheel.”
    She peered closer. “Seriously?”
    There were levers on the wheel and many other buttons that she didn’t recognize. “I tell you what. You drive her first, and I’ll watch.”
    Zach lifted his eyebrows. “Don’t have to ask me twice.”
    The childlike look of joy on his face stuck as he rounded the car and opened the door for her.
    “Damn, the doors don’t even open like a normal car.”
    “This isn’t a normal car.”
    “Tell me about it.”
    Settling into the low seat was much like sitting on the ground. Only this ground moved.
    Zach’s grin grew as he wrapped his long fingers around the steering wheel.
    “I take it you haven’t driven it yet.”
    “Mike did the driving.” With a press of the button, the car fired to life. The raw power of the engine felt like she was sitting on a live rocket ready to catapult into space. “Ready?”
    Someone had moved the Escalade while she showered, giving enough room behind the car to back up. Zach pressed another button to put the car in reverse. His hands maneuvered the levers at the steering wheel as if he drove the car every day. Instead of watching his hands, she watched the driver. Joy radiated off him in waves.
    She directed him away from the house and off the main streets. “Traffic is heavy until we get out of the city.”
    “Where do you want to go?”
    “Let’s go up Pacific Coast Highway. Eventually it clears out. Then I’ll try to drive it.”
    “It’s not hard,” he told her. “You press on the right shifter to accelerate, the left to shift down.”
    She leaned over the center console. “No clutch?”
    “None. It’s a dual clutch system.”
    She waved a hand in the