Chapter 2

AN:A special thanks to my hubby, for giving me the bald faced truth; my reaction was similar to P's...Best Friend's hubby? Baseball teams...Now I am wondering if my Canadian friend's hubby uses hockey teams...My friend-who is a farmer's wife-said her hubby probably counts parts to a combine! Now THAT is creative...

Derek was sitting on Penelope's couch in her purple palace. As she watched him, she couldn't help but think he looked a little out of place there. If she were being honest, she had to admit Kevin never looked quite so odd; he blended into the surroundings. Then again, Kevin wasn't so blatantly male. Derek was the polar opposite of everything in the room. He was rock solid and buff; the room was cushy with lots of pillows. He was huge; the couch was a teeny loveseat. He was masculine; everything around him was cutesy and feminine with lace and faux fur. He was in all black; the room was colorful.

She sighed. This wasn't going to work. The fung shui was off. If he didn't look right in her living room, he certainly wasn't going to look okay in her bedroom, either! She swallowed hard...maybe it was an omen?

He looked up at her sigh and began to talk. "So... we're discussing preliminaries tonight?"

She nervously looked at him. God help her, but he looked rather eager. Out of the two of them, she would've thought she'd be the one more ready to knock boots with him. The man was beautiful, every inch she'd ever seen of him, like a fantasy come to life. She, on the other hand, had lumps and bumps, hail damage on her thighs, like just about every other American woman. Instead, she was ready to bolt-and it was her house!

Handing him the glass of wine she'd retrieved, she placed hers on the coffee table with the dainty lacey doily on it and sat down. "Yes, I think it's good that we know what to expect."

"I'm clean," he said quickly. "I've only had sex without a condom when I was in a committed relationship in college. I was eighteen, and she and I were both virgins. Otherwise, I've always been protected." He reached for his wine and took a sip, then smiled crookedly at her. "Just to ease your mind; I've got quite a rep, you know."

Penelope was curious. Not about the condom, or his rep; she knew his reputation like the back of her hand. She'd seen it in action first hand, too. She was curious about his relationship he'd mentioned. Morgan never mentioned a serious relationship to her before. She kind of thought he'd always been a player. Oh, well. Now wasn't the time to ask him.

"Well, I've had four partners in my life. Three were not serious. Kevin was my first really serious relationship. I'm on the pill, but Kevin used condoms, too," she said.

"Why?" he asked.

"I don't know," she answered, shrugging. "Kevin liked to use them."

"Oh," Derek said, starting to smirk.

"What?" she asked, slightly annoyed.

Derek's smirk grew broader. "My guess is Kevin had a slight problem with his gun."

She looked at him in confusion. "What problem?"

"You know... he pulled the trigger too fast," he said, making a clicking noise with his tongue while using his hand to simulate firing a gun.

She blushed again, but he didn't seem to notice. He probably had a point; Kevin had never lasted very long. He tried, and he was good and thourough in bed, but he was so excited and so in love with her, he just blew. It wasn't his fault, and she tri-

"Anyway, it happens," he continued, interrupting her thought while he sat back and crossed his ankle on his knee.

"To you?" she asked.

He looked at her like she'd just insulted the hell out of him. "No!"

"Well... how do you stop that kind of thing?" she asked seriously. "I mean, Kevin said you get excited, you blow. I mean..." She felt her cheeks heating immeasurably. "When I come, I can't stop it."

He shook his head. "No, baby. It's different for women. With men, it's learning control, pleasing your partner. It took me a while to get it. Freshman and Sophomore year of college, I was a fifteen minute man."

"Huh?"

"In and out in fifteen minutes." He gave her a sardonic grin. "I was young, so I was able to do it ten times a night, so I made up for it that way."

This was interesting. "What did you learn?"

He laughed, and she saw his cheeks flush. "Damn. You really want to know it all, huh?"

She grinned back devilishly and nodded quickly. "Inquiring minds want to know."

"Okay," he said, shaking his head and chuckling. "When I get close, when I know I'm at the edge, just about ready to blow, I have to take my mind off of it, think of anything but coming."

"Like what?" she asked, curious. "What do you think of?"

"I name the damn NFL teams, in alphabetical order, from the Arizona Cardinals to the Washington Redskins. I usually make it to Washington, and then go backwards to get back to the Bears." He paused for a second and grinned at her. "I sometimes make it, but not always."

She stared blankly at him, absolutely incredulous, and then burst out laughing. He started to laugh, too, and soon, they were laughing together so loudly, her neighbor pounded on the wall to get them to lower the noise.

"Oooh... haha... please," she said, wiping the tears from laughter away.

He was still grinning. "Whatever works, right?"

She started to laugh again. "Oh, God, Derek. Stop."

They sat back, smiling and laughing. It felt so good to just laugh and have fun with him. It had been a very long time since they'd laughed that hard together.

She smiled over at him. "Feels good, doesn't it?"

"Not as good as other stuff we'll be doing..."

Her smile faded. She was still a little too nervous to do this right now. She seriously didn't think this would work; their friendship was way too strong to ever be lovers. "D, I think maybe we're too close to have sex."

"Hey," he said quickly. "Not chickening out, are you?"

"No, but-"

"Listen," he said, holding her hands. "I've thought about it for years with you, and I know you've thought about it, too... haven't you?"

She turned scarlet and looked away, but nodded. "Once or twice."

He gave a stilted laugh. "Well, now we'll never have to wonder again."

"I don't know." She looked back at him. "The more I think about it, the worse this idea gets."

"Hmm," he said, cocking his head to the right. "The more I think about it, the better it sounds to me."

She snickered. "At least I learned something today."

"See?" he said, tapping her temple with his long finger. "Valuable education. Now, grab the book and see where we start."