Exactly how steamy is this story?
G
Although this book takes place in the more-humid-than-a-sauna-in-August Caribbean tropics, it ain't steamy.
The only woman Ben's father is interested in thinking about is his dead wife. And Ben's fantasies seem to focus on cars more than girls.
I felt the wind in my hair. Then a long deep curve. I held the accelerator steady. The wheels gripped the road. We leaned into it. […] I turned to the girl beside me and she smiled. I didn't wonder who she was or how she got there. (12.2)
This girl is just an extra in Ben's detailed fantasy about his first car, which he's imagined down to the factory extras. He hasn't given the ladeez much thought yet.