Page 49 of Stripping the Sub
It’s not personal, he reminded himself.
The fact she was still in his bedroom, rather than already running out the door before breakfast, made him feel marginally better.
She trusted him.
Last night she’d trusted him enough to completely let go and then come home with him, even if this morning she’d woken up and regretted it. Then again, she might not regret it. He’d woken up to her thrashing around, which seemed more like an instinctive reaction than something she’d thought through. Of course, she didn’t want to spend the night again now.
Too much, too soon, too fast.
Something he probably should have realized last night, but she’d been too out of it to drive. He wanted to excuse himself by saying he thought it would have been too invasive to take her to her place when she was so out of it, but if he were being totally honest with himself, the truth was he’d wanted her at his. So that’s what he’d done.
He heard the bedroom door open, and then a moment later the automatic fan which was attached to the light switch in the bathroom turned on, before the sound became slightly more muted as the bathroom door closed. Alright, so she was still here, which meant he hadn’t totally fucked things up. He was just going to have to keep reminding himself to slow down; they needed to move at her pace, not his. Just because the club contract was signed did not mean he should change tactics; if anything, that was proof he needed to stay the course.
The eggs and sausage were almost ready when Ellie appeared in the entryway to the kitchen, still wearing his blue t-shirt and dark blue boxers. The sight of her in his clothes sent a proprietorialthrill through him, and he had to remind himself not to get too excited about it. Her hair was back in a side ponytail, although more mussed looking than last night, and her face was completely scrubbed clean. Last night he’d used some of his leftover make-up wipes to clean off a lot of it, but she’d cleaned off the remnants which had given her adorable raccoon eyes overnight. Good thing he’d still had some of his make-up wipes left over from his last tour, he didn’t think she would have liked sleeping with mascara all over her cheeks last night.
“Were you robbed or something?” she asked, leaning against the doorway.
“What?”
“Were you robbed?” she asked again, leaning back slightly to gesture at his apartment. Her gesture took in the couch, television, small dining table, and desk where his laptop rested. “You have no stuff. You have furniture, but no stuff.”
She seemed nervous, but like she was trying to be casual, all of which made her look incredibly adorable.
“Since I was always traveling on tour I never really accumulated that much stuff, although I have a bunch of old stuff in the attic at my parents’ house,” he said, smiling at her. “Does scrambled eggs and sausage sound good to you?”
“Do the scrambled eggs have cheese on them?”
“They can.”
Ellie smiled, looking a bit abashed. “I’m kind of a cheese fiend.”
“I think I remember that,” Michael murmured, grinning as he grabbed some cheddar from the fridge to grate onto the eggs. “You always had a string cheese with your lunch.”
She laughed. “I can’t believe you remember my cheese obsession.”
He shrugged as he grated the cheese onto the eggs and pulled down two plates. “It was cute. Do you want water, coffee, milk, or juice?”
“Just water is good,” she said, padding forward into the kitchen to take a plate from him and fill it up with food.
“Forks are in there,” he pointed at the drawer. “And fruit, in the basket over there if you want any.”
In a matter of minutes they were seated at his dining room table, her with her water and him with his coffee, digging into breakfast. Michael could see how nervous she was, the tension was set in her shoulders, but she was putting up a good front.
“How are you feeling this morning?” he asked, enjoying the way her cheeks immediately heated. “Any bad after effects?”
“No,” she said, pushing her eggs and sausage around on her plate, rather than meeting his eyes. “I’m sore, but a good kind of sore. It was a good scene.”
“I thought so too,” he said, deliberately keeping his voice a lot more casual than he was actually feeling. Watching Ellie squirm was adorable, but he didn’t want to push her too much. Still, he’d thought talking about the scene would be easier for her; he’d noticed she was usually more comfortable focusing on the physical. Maybe since the scene was over she wasn’t as comfortable anymore?
“So, are you going to start getting more stuff now that you’re staying in one place?” she asked, scooping up a forkful of eggs, and signifying an immediate change in subject. Michael decided to let it slide. After all, their contract only extended to the club. They were still going to talk about last night’s scene, but he could wait until they were at the club and have the conversation before their next scene.
“Maybe,” he said, looking around the space. “I don’t really know what I’d get. I could print off some photos of friends or something, that might be nice.”
“Also, maybe some end tables. An armchair. Some DVDs,” she teased. She was starting to relax a little more. “Something to make this place look a little less like a hotel. Although, hotels usually have paintings up on the walls.”
“Yeah, yeah…” He looked around again. “It’s just hard to get out of the ‘don’t buy anything you can’t pack or don’t want to leave behind’ mindset.”
“Do you think you’ll go back on tour?”
