A Man of Unusual Talent

Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

That was obvious.

"Am I?" Mat's brows drew together, and his lips tightened fractionally. "Not as good as you think, because I was perfectly ready to help you get rid of those bags of body parts in that church parking lot." Somewhere in the background a clock ticked loudly.

Body parts? What was he... "Marshmallows!" CC corrected. "Bags of marshmallows. I can't really control this thing, you know? I was so nervous about coming over here...being with you, that..." At a loss for words, he just shrugged. "Marshmallows happen when emotion overwhelms me." That was simplifying it, but how could he explain more when he didn't really understand it himself?

Mat's eyes widened, his lips twitched. "Well...um. Then I guess maybe I'm making too much of this."

Panic struck. "What?" CC bolted out of his chair, knocking the table, tipping over his soda. He hadn't just confessed his deepest, darkest secret to a man who was about to drop him like a hot potato, had he?

"Sex." Mat growled. His fists clenched at his sides.

"Great idea!" CC tried to sound enthusiastic...and part of him felt a very genuine enthusiasm...but mostly he was thrown off balance by the single word.

"No. It just occurred to me..." Mat's face turned a deep red and his gaze skittered away. "Well..."

Seeing Mat awkward and out of his element, shook CC. "Mat?" His gut clenched in alarm, the tips of his fingers tingled, his palms warmed. Terrific. Nothing like a heavy-handed demonstration to underline just how freakish he really was.

"I care about you, CC." Deep blue eyes stared at him, intent, meaningful. "A lot."

"Uhm...okay. So, sex?"

"No! No marshmallows during sex." Mat glared. "So, I guess your emotions aren't as involved as mine."

What the fuck? "Mat..." CC's voice faded away as he realized he didn't have any sort of explanation for that phenomenon. Why weren't there marshmallows during sex? "I don't know. I..."

"I love you, CC. Hell, I was willing to break the law for you. And you don't even feel strongly enough about me to make it rain marshmallows when we have sex?"

Blinking furiously, CC processed the whole situation rapidly. Mat was...jealous? Insecure? "You want marshmallows during sex?"

"No. I want you to feel as out of control and emotional during sex as I do. You said marshmallows happen when emotions overwhelm you. I want...that." There was a forlorn quality to Mat's voice that pinged at CC's consciousness, made him want to make things better.

"You want me to be overwhelmed." CC spoke slowly, testing the idea. In the back of his mind, he scrambled for a why... Why didn't he produce mountains of marshmallows during sex? "Mat... I don't understand how I do this. I don't know where the marshmallows come from. For all I know, they're being swiped from factories in China."

"What has that got to do with anything?"

"It means I don't know anything about this condition. I've been studying everything I could think of for years, trying to make sense of it. Physics, anatomy, biology, you name it, I've tried it. Short of turning myself in to some government lab and letting them dissect me, that is."

"CC...what I'm trying to say is...I don't want to be just another guy. I love you. For whatever reason, however, I love you. I realize it hasn't been that long, but I hoped you felt the same. If not, then I think it's kinder...better..."