Page 29 of Edge

EVIE

Iwas hot. Really hot. And slightly uncomfortable. I was also on my stomach, which was odd because I usually slept on my back or on my side. I moved my hand to push myself over and froze when it landed on something that felt more like a person than the mattress it should have been.

Slowly lifting my head, I opened my eyes to find myself looking at Edge’s sleeping face. Seconds later, internal panic ensued. I didn’t know what to do. Getting up might wake him, but I couldn’t exactly stay there and go back to sleep. Could I?

Before I could make a decision, the arm resting across my back tightened around me while he brought his other hand up to cradle the back of my head. “It’s okay, baby. Go back to sleep,” he said sleepily.

Ignoring the way my heart fluttered when he called me baby, I rested my head against his chest and closed my eyes. We were just sleeping. Nothing more. I had almost convinced myself that was the case when he slightly shifted his position and I felt him gently kiss the top of my head.

That little kiss did a better job of waking me up than any cup of coffee ever had. While he drifted off to sleep, I laid therewondering what, if anything, it meant. Did he mean to do it? Was it a sleepy accident? Would he even remember?

Then I moved on to the self doubt portion of my internal debate. Why would he even be interested in someone like me? I wasn’t like other women. And not in the stereotypical “I’m not like other girls because I’m unique and special” way. In the very real “my life is a mess and I have a boatload of problems with even more baggage” way.

Finally, after who knows how much time had passed, I reached the “I have to pee but don’t know how to get up without waking him” stage. Furthermore, I had another slightly pressing issue. If I had known he was going to spend the night, I wouldn’t have agreed to Taco Bell for dinner. But I did, and well, I really needed to fart. At least, I hoped that’s all it was. I also knew there was no way I could pee without passing gas, but I was running out of time.

Carefully extracting myself from his arms, I got to my feet and tiptoed down the hall to the bathroom. Closing the door behind me, I used a towel to fill the small gap under the door and turned on the water in the sink as high as it would go. Then, with every muscle clenched as tightly as possible, I sat down and took care of business, praying for a whoosh of air instead of a thunderous reverberation. After all was said and done, the universe had smiled in my favor, but I learned my lesson. No more Taco Bell unless I was alone.

When I came out of the bathroom, Edge was awake and sitting up on the couch. “Morning,” he rasped.

“Good morning. Would you like some coffee?” I asked and immediately held up my hand. “Never mind. I know the answer.”

He grinned. “Thanks. Mind if I use your bathroom?”

“Not at all. It’s right through there,” I said and pointed toward the bathroom door while silently thanking the powers that be for my odorless morning gas. Meanwhile, I tried to makeas much noise as possible while he was in there so I didn’t hear anything that might or might not be happening.

I was so focused on being loud that I didn’t hear him come out of the bathroom and startled when he spoke behind me. “Sorry about last night. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

“You don’t need to apologize,” I said and handed him a mug of coffee. “I fell asleep, too.”

“I blame all the carbs from dinner,” he said, grinning as he took a tentative sip of coffee.

“You’re probably right,” I agreed and finished making my own cup of coffee. I felt awkward and didn’t know what to do about it. It was like the morning after sleeping with someone for the first time, but without the sex.

Edge didn’t seem to have the same issue. He made himself comfortable at the kitchen table and started looking at his tablet. “Do you want to check out some of these cars today?”

I didn’t exactly want to, but it was my day off and needed to be done. “Sure,” I said with a little too much excitement.

He laughed. “I hope you don’t think that was believable.”

I shrugged and told him the truth. “I don’t want to spend the day shopping for a car, but I have the day off, and you’ve offered to help, so I don’t want to waste the opportunity.”

“I have a feeling today will be better than yesterday.”

I was glad he thought so, because I didn’t. I didn’t have much faith in anything anymore, and if it weren’t for Irene, I probably wouldn’t have any at all.

He finished his coffee and rinsed out his mug before placing it in the sink. “We can get started whenever you’re ready.”

“Do I have time to take a shower?”

“Do whatever you need to do,” he said. “There’s no rush.”

Still, I felt bad for making him wait, so I hurried through my regular routine and opted to braid my wet hair instead of drying it. I was quite proud of myself when I managed to beready in record time. He seemed surprised when I told him I was finished, but he didn’t comment.

Thirty minutes later, it was my turn to be surprised when he briefly stopped in front of an iron gate before it opened for him to drive through. “Where are we going?” I asked and continued to survey my surroundings.

“To my house so I can shower and change,” he said.

“You live here?” I asked in surprise. We were driving through what appeared to be hundreds of acres of farmland.