"Are you sure, Honey?" Jamie asked solicitously. "In that case, I’ll just have to do the little favor that Daddy asked you to do."
"Favor? What favor?" Ryan asked excitedly.
"He likes to have the cars driven every couple of weeks, and since they won’t be down here for almost a month, he asked me to drive them a little bit," she said casually. "But if you don’t think you can stand the pleasure..."
"Jamie, I can’t drive these," she cried regretfully. "Your father wouldn’t want a stranger driving these babies."
Jamie reached into her pants pocket and took out a handwritten note, which she handed to Ryan. It read:
Dear Jamie,
I hope you and Ryan have a good time this week. Please make her feel at home and don’t be shy about playing golf at the Club.
I normally ask the gardener to run my cars, but I would actually prefer that you two take them out for a spin. You’ve told me that Ryan is a car nut, so please ask her if she would mind taking them out and blowing some carbon off the plugs.
Feel free to raid the wine cellar. We’ve recently stocked up on some of your favorite white Bordeaux, and now that you’re 21 you can enjoy a glass or two without threat of arrest!
We love you, Cupcake. Take care and enjoy your week.
Love,
Daddy
Ryan lost all of the color in her face as she read the note several times. "He’s actually asking me to drive these beasts?" Her look of incredulity was terribly charming to Jamie, but she nonetheless immediately assured her partner that such was the case.
"Yep. But if you don’t feel up to it..."
"Keys! Gimme keys!" she demanded, right leg twitching perceptibly.
"Calm down, Tiger," Jamie said soothingly. "You don’t want to unleash these monsters when you don’t have your emotions under control."
Ryan took several deep breaths while Jamie ran back to the house to get the keys. When she returned, Ryan’s color had returned and she looked considerably calmer, but her excitement was evident. Her eyes were still wide and her foot tapped impatiently on the gray concrete floor. "I can’t decide what to drive first," she said as she looked between the Mustang and the Acura.
"Are you really not going to look at the other cars?" Jamie was stunned that her lover would delay a sensation that she got so much satisfaction from.
"Not yet," she said impatiently. "That’s like having four beautiful women lined up in front of you and all of them want to have sex. You know you’d be thinking about the other three when you were with the first one. It’s just too much information! I need to concentrate, Jamie."
Jamie gave her a big grin as she held out two sets of keys. Ryan continued her mental debate, looking back and forth between the two sets. Finally, she closed her eyes and opened her hands, silently asking her partner to make her decision for her. Jamie placed the Mustang keys in her hand and walked around to get into the passenger side of the car. Ryan slipped into the driver’s side and sat quietly as Jamie leaned over and pushed the button to lift the garage door. As she did so, she recalled the first time they had been in a car together. "This reminds me of the first time you drove the Boxster."
Ryan turned and gave her a dazzling grin, showing that she recalled the drive as well. "It was all I could do to stop myself from putting a major move on you that day. I still remember smelling your perfume when you leaned over me to show me how something worked, and just wanting to take a nibble from your luscious little neck."
A heavy sigh and a seductive grin showed just how things had changed. "Nothing’s stopping you now, Tiger."
Ryan made up for lost time, pouncing on her partner and pinning her to her seat back. It was obvious that the excitement of the cars was spilling over into other facets of Ryan’s determined personality, and after a few minutes of the gentle assault, Jamie regretfully pulled away to focus on the task at hand. "When we get home, Baby. You can show me everything you wanted to do to me that day."
"Deal." Ryan added one more kiss to complete the contract. Mind back on business, she ran her hands all over the dash and the instrument panel, fingers tickling over the gear shift and the turn signals, seemingly trying to memorize the entire car. She turned slowly to her partner and said, "Thank you, Sweetheart. This is really a treat for me."
"You’re welcome, Ryan. Now let’s have fun!"
She graced her lover with her most winning smile, showing her even, white teeth, then turned the engine over, closing her eyes in pleasure as the car growled a low, throaty roar. "This is the epitome of the muscle car," she stated authoritatively, as Jamie just smiled over at her.
She tossed her right arm over Jamie’s seat back and turned around to carefully guide the car out of the garage. When they reached the street she turned and asked, "Which way should we go?"
"Let’s take 17 Mile Drive and head south," Jamie decided. "It’s slow this time of day, and we can just mosey along."
"Sounds good," Ryan said happily as she turned left onto the drive. "So, tell me about your father’s love affair with cars."
"Well, his family didn’t have money for cars when he was growing up and I think it really bothered him. They lived in the city, and didn’t need one anyway, but I think he really longed to have a hot muscle car to impress the girls."
"That’s why I wanted one," Ryan teased, then tried to scoot out of the way of Jamie’s pinch. "So when did he get these?"
"I remember him buying each one, so I’d say he got the Mustang about 12 or 13 years ago. Everything else came after that."
"Does he drive them, or does he keep them only as a collector?"
"Oh, no, he’s not that kind of guy. He likes things for what they are, and these are cars that are meant to be driven. He actually drives the wheels off of them when he’s down here. His regular cars hardly leave the garage. I’d say the Acura is driven less than any of the others though," she said with a smile. "He really loves his muscle cars."
"What does he drive at home?" Ryan asked, wondering what one would choose as an everyday car if money were no object.
"He has a seven series BMW that he drives at home. But he gets a ride to work, so he really doesn’t take it out much."
"Your father carpools?" she asked incredulously, turning slightly to gape at her partner.
"Um...not exactly," Jamie replied, a little embarrassed. "He has a driver who picks him up."
"Well, at least that makes sense!" Ryan laughed. "I can’t see you father in the carpool lane with two other people in the car, talking about what they had for dinner last night."
"No...."Jamie agreed. "Even though he comes from a simple background, he’s a bona fide member of the upper class now."
"You’ve got to admit the benefits are pretty awesome, Honey."
"Oh, I freely admit that," Jamie said. "And speaking of that, how are you liking your little drive?"
"This car is pure bliss," she said with a huge smile on her face. "I could drive all day."
"You’ve got three more at home, Sweetie. Don’t be a glutton."
"Hey, as long as we’re out and about, why don’t we find some place to have our ears pierced? I know we could wait until we get back to the city, but I’d really like to have it done while we’re actually on our honeymoon."
"Sounds like a deal," Jamie smiled over at her partner, charmed that it was so important to her to perform this rite.
Jamie knew the area very well, and she suggested a few places that she was reasonably sure would do a good job. She was surprised when Ryan began to pepper her with questions about the establishments—questions that she could have no way of answering. "Uhh, Honey, I don’t really know if these places use an autoclave…whatever that is."
Ryan was adamant about her demands, causing Jamie to believe that her partner was being overly cautious about such a simple procedure. "We’re not getting our nipples pierced, Ryan," Jamie argued to no avail. "Can’t anybody do it?"
"You might be cavalier about someone sticking a needle through your body, but I’m not," she said firmly. "I need to make sure they know what they’re doing."
"Okay, Honey," she finally conceded, recognizing that argument was futile against the firm set of her lover’s jaw.
The first stop was an attractive little shop that sold jewelry and other small goods. Ryan decided in less than five seconds that they did not measure up.
"What was wrong?" Jamie asked, trotting behind her on the way back to the car.
"You just had a bench to sit on," she replied, as if the answer was obvious.
"And?" Jamie prodded.
"It’s not professional. They should have a nice chair. If they skimp on that, they might skimp on keeping the instruments clean."
The second and third shops that they looked into were also unacceptable according to Ryan’s high standards. Number two, because Ryan didn’t like the guys’ "attitude," number three, because there were very young girls waiting to have their tongues pierced, and Ryan found that objectionable. Jamie had a feeling that they were not going to get it done that day, but Ryan prevailed upon her to try the last place on the list.
It was a short drive and, to Jamie’s amazement, Ryan immediately declared that it was a winner. It was clean, the woman who did the piercing was friendly to both of them, there was a dentist’s chair in the private room, and they were the only customers.
Ryan told the woman what they wanted, and the heavily pierced woman asked them a few questions about where they wanted to be pierced. They agreed that the earrings should go just above the first piercings on their right ears. Jamie decided to go first, and Ryan asked if she could stay to hold her hand. "No problem," replied the woman. "Are you lovers?" she asked casually.
"Yes, we are," Jamie replied with a little blush. "Is it obvious?"
"Probably not to most people, but I’m gay too, and you give off a lot of vibes," she said with a smile. "Did you just start seeing each other?" she asked as she got her piercing gun ready.
"Um..." Jamie looked at Ryan for help.
"We’ve known each other for a while, but we’ve just recently become lovers," Ryan informed her as she smiled fondly at Jamie.
The woman cleaned Jamie’s ear with antiseptic as she said, "Congratulations! I hope it works out for you."
"It will," they responded simultaneously, as the woman laughed heartily.
"Could you two be any cuter?" she commented with a chuckle as she showed Ryan where she was going to shoot the stud. Ryan nodded her approval and gripped Jamie’s hand. One little twitch from her hand, and the piercing was finished.
"That wasn’t bad at all," Jamie said as she got up from the chair. "Your turn, Sweetie." As she turned to her partner, to her observant eye Ryan didn’t look quite right. "Are you okay?" she asked with concern.
"Fine, let’s do it," she replied curtly as she sat down in the chair.
The woman looked at Jamie, who just shrugged. It was obvious that something was bothering Ryan, but equally obvious that she wasn’t going to say what it was. The woman showed Jamie where she would put the stud, and Jamie nodded and reached down to grab Ryan’s hand. To her surprise, she couldn’t pry it from where it gripped the arm of the chair, knuckles going white. It dawned on Jamie that Ryan’s demeanor reflected nervousness, so she placed her hand on her shoulder to reassure her.
The woman put the gun up to her ear and, as the steel went through her lobe, Ryan’s eyes rolled up in her head, and she was out cold. The woman gave Jamie a stern look as she asked, "Did you know she was that nervous?"
"No!" Jamie said in alarm. "I had no idea!"
The woman handed Jamie a cold compress. As she applied it to the back of Ryan’s neck, she gripped her limp hand. Within seconds, Ryan came around. "Did I pass out?" she asked groggily.
"Yes, Honey," Jamie replied as she leaned in close. "Did you know you were going to do that?"
"I thought I might," she admitted. "I really hate needles."
"Why didn’t you say something, Sweetie? We didn’t need to do this."
"You wanted to, and I knew if I told you how nervous it made me, you wouldn’t want to do it anymore."
"You’ve got that right, Baby. I would never ask you to do something that made you faint."
"I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but it means something to me to have to do something I’m really frightened of to wear my earring," she said earnestly as she reached up to touch her diamond, temporarily resting in her left earlobe. That merited her a sound kiss from her beaming lover.
"You are so sweet," she said as she shook her head. "I love you, Ryan," she said softly as she kissed her again.
The shop owner watched this whole scene with a bemused grin on her face. "Young love." She rolled her eyes indulgently and gave them a smirk.
After a short walk in the cool breeze, Ryan felt capable of taking the wheel again. They headed back to the house, chatting companionably the whole time. When they returned, Ryan kissed the steering wheel with a flourish as she got out. "Goodbye little Pony," she said with a fond wave.
Standing to stare at the Acura for a moment, Ryan said, "I need my sunglasses for this baby. Be right back." Waiting patiently, Jamie spent a moment to consider her lover’s reaction to the unexpected gift of being able to drive the cars. The childlike joy that her partner expressed was, in Jamie’s opinion, one of her most winning traits. Ryan acted just like an enthusiastic five-year-old when she was given an opportunity like this, and Jamie fervently hoped that her partner would never lose that childlike wonder.