Page 20 of More Bite than Bark

“In the cabinet over the coffee pot.If you’ll bring it, I’ll have some too.”

She retrieved the honey and took it back to the island and slid onto the stool beside him.

“What do you need to know?”She leaned against his side, resting her head against his shoulder for a couple of seconds, hoping he understood how much she appreciated how he’d handled all of this.He was doing better than she had, that was for sure.

“Tell me about Anderson.You said he was the one who wanted to wait until after you were married to sleep together?”He turned to look at her for a second, then turned his attention back to his plate.

She nodded.“I didn’t see the point, but he was insistent.”

“Did he say why?”

She shook her head.“Nothing that made sense.I know he wasn’t a virgin, he knew I wasn’t.I asked more than once, but all I got were vague non-sensical answers, or he would change the subject and distract me.I don’t know how many times I asked, how many times I tried to entice him into giving in before I gave up.”

Kevin nodded slowly.“Did you ever get the feeling there might be someone else?”

“It occurred to me, but I don’t know how he would have done it.I never saw him with anyone but some of the guys.He never talked about any women, more than to mention someone he worked with or a stranger when telling me a story.”

Kevin was quiet for a moment, as he finished the last of his egg, then used one of his biscuits to sop up what was left of the yolk.

“Was he into sports of any kind?”

“Football, but what southern male, and half the women, don’t get into football?”

Kevin nodded.“Anything else?Baseball, basketball, golf, dogs, horses anything?”

Elizabeth tilted her head to one side, trying to remember anything he might have said he wanted to see or watched when they were together.

“I can’t think of anything.”She shrugged.“We spent a good amount of time together, but not all our time.He could have watched other things when I wasn’t around.”

Kevin didn’t say anything for a moment as he added butter to his biscuits.She wondered what he was thinking as she picked up a piece of bacon and took a bite, enjoying the crunch of it between her teeth.

“Why don’t you tell me what you’ve found out, then I can tell you if I knew anything about it and add any details I know or tell you if it’s new to me.”

Kevin tore a chunk off one of the biscuits and popped it into his mouth, after a moment, he turned on the stool to face her.

“I’m trying not to upset you.I don’t want to start whatever we’ve got going here with you upset or hurting.”

Elizabeth slid off her stool, went to the far counter, and pulled two paper towels off the roll, used one to clean the butter off her hands, and took the second back to him.But instead of getting back onto her stool, she moved her stool away and stepped to stand between his knees.Setting his paper towel next to his plate she looked up at him.

“You’re sweet.Thank you for trying to take care of me.But I know there’s something off about him.I think I’ve known for a long time, but because Mama convinced me marrying him was the right thing, I ignored it.I already told you, I don’t love him.I never did.I don’t think I ever would, despite what Mama insisted.The whole wedding and walking out thing?I’m not upset by it, not at all.I’m more stressed about the work involved in sending back gifts than that I won’t be spending the rest of my life with him.Ask what you need to know.”

He leaned in and kissed her forehead, then pulled her into his arms.She leaned against him, laid her head on his shoulder, and let herself relax into him as he held her.

“I’m trying to take care of you, sugar.”

“I appreciate that, but I’m not made of glass.I can handle knowing what’s going on.”

“I know you’re not made of glass, Elle, but I want to protect you, to make sure you have everything you need, even if it’s not me.”

Elizabeth didn’t know how to respond to that.

“That’s why you were going to keep your mouth shut and let me marry Michael, isn’t it?”

“If he made you happy, I wasn’t going to stop it.I didn’t know he didn’t make you happy.”His body went stiff.

She picked up her head and looked him in the face.“What’s wrong?”she frowned up at him.

Kevin looked down at her.“What were your honeymoon plans?”