Ednor Scardens (Charm City Chronicles), Volume One

Chapter 53 - Just the Facts

When I awoke the next morning, I was in exactly the same position as when I fell asleep. Michael lay spooned against me with one hand sneakily tucked into my pants, cupping my butt. His eyes were closed, but I wasn't sure if he was really asleep or not. When I tried to move his hand, I saw the corner of his mouth jerk, fighting a smirk.

I slid down to the foot of the bed and made a quick dash for the bathroom to brush my teeth and pee. When I returned, he was gone, doing the same thing in the powder room, I supposed. Not ready to get up, I stretched back into bed on my stomach. Seconds later, I felt the mattress dip as he climbed back in and reclaimed the spot where his hand had been.

"Michael Kelsey, I can't believe you would take advantage of me like that while I was sleeping!" I scolded playfully.

"Considering how you left me hanging last night, you should consider yourself lucky that was the only thing I did."

"I'm sure that I haven't the faintest idea what you mean." I said with feigned innocence.

An exasperated sigh exited his mouth as he re-wrapped his arms around me. We enjoyed lying quietly together until Anita and Gabe walked past our partly-opened door. Anita's head snapped around and I overheard as she commented, "Oh my god, it's about time."

Michael rolled his eyes at me, knowing what Anita thought she was seeing. "Are you hungry for some breakfast?" he asked. At that exact moment, my stomach growled.

"Well, I guess that answers my question," he laughed, starting to get out of bed. I grabbed his arm.

"Don't leave yet." I smiled sheepishly. He let himself fall back onto the bed.

"Your wish is my command," he mocked, scooting his face next to mine on the pillow. "So, what would you like to do today?"

"Well, actually I wanted to ask you something about Melanie Morrissey."

His face registered surprise and then shifted to a cautious mask.

"What exactly did you want to know about her?"

"When did you go out with her? How much did you like her? Who broke up with whom and why? And did you ever go all the way with her?" The stream of questions blew out of my mouth in a torrent.

"Whoa, Kate, the first three questions aren't that difficult, but the last one? Are you sure you want to ask that kind of thing, and more importantly, are you really sure you want to hear my answer?"

His violet eyes searched mine closely. I'm sure he must have been silently planning to strangle Anita later.

"Could you answer the first three, please?"

"Okay. Yes, we did date for awhile when I was a sophomore. We went out for about three months. At the time, I thought that I liked her a lot. And I broke up with her." I saw nothing but truth in his face when he finished.

"Did you...?" I just couldn't make myself say it again.

"Why do you want to know that?" His voice was low, and I could tell that he didn't want to answer me.

"I'm not sure why it feels important, but I need to know."

"If it's that important to you, then the answer is yes."

His eyes flickered away from mine in discomfort.

"Why did you break up with her?"

"It's hard to explain, but she's a strange girl. I mean, she's very attractive, but single-minded."

"What do you mean, single-minded?"

"I mean she was only interested in a physical relationship. Is that plain enough or do you want me to be more graphic?" He was getting aggravated with me. "I got tired of her. She was too one-dimensional."

"Oh. So if we...," I stammered, my voice wavering as understanding washed over his face.

"SoTHAT'S what this is about? You're afraid that if we went too far, I would dropyou??? Kate, you are nothing like Melanie Morrisey. There's absolutely no comparison. Please don't ever think like that."

"Can I ask you one more question?" This was so embarrassing, but I wanted to know.

He blew out a breath. "Yeah, I guess."

My face was red before I even got the first word out of my mouth. "What's it like for a guy? And why does it seem so difficult for guys to stop along the way?"

Now his face was red too. I knew he couldn't believe I was asking him these things. But what did girls know about this? Especially girls who'd never done that? I wanted to know.

"Well, you're just full of questions today. Is that what you did while you were recuperating in that beach chair? Think of everything you ever wanted to know about me?"

He laughed softly, but not in an unkind way. He just didn't know where all of this was coming from.

"Okay, I can only tell you what I think, but without getting too technical. Guys have a harder time stopping because, well, it's kind of like a train. Once the train picks up speed on the track, it takes an awful lot of braking to stop. And I don't know how to tell you what it feels like. Maybe you'll just have to wait to find that out."

He tried to lighten the atmosphere, but I didn't think I'd ever seen his face so excruciatingly red.

"Thank you," I said, and kissed him lightly.

He pulled my face back to his and kissed me thoroughly.

"Michael, if we don't get up and have breakfast, I'm not going to have to wait very long to find out the answer to that last question."