She was going to be feeling the after effects from last night for days. She wanted more scenes like that. Which meant she needed to get out there and convince Michael she wasn’t a total freak. He’d already agreed to take her home after scening at the club, rather than back to his place, so that conversation was out of the way.

She could do this.

“Thanks, Lexie,” she whispered.

“Any time, babe,” Lexie said. “And you can call me any time, okay? Good luck!”

Hanging up the phone, Ellie took a deep breath. Okay, step one - leave the bedroom. The bathroom was just across the hall. She could totally handle just going to the bathroom. Michael wasn’t in there after all.

Nothing like having a woman panic about waking up with him to make him feel good. Michael tried not to let it get him down as he moved around the kitchen, picking up a bowl to crack the eggs into, and setting a pan down on the stove. Eggs, sausage, fruit... that sounded good. He set a second pan down on the stove and turned the heat to medium before pulling open the fridge to grab the food.

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.