He'd been wrong when he'd said to Mandi that he expected to be dangerous to women in a week or so. But she hadn't corrected his estimate. Because they'd been arguing, or because she'd figured about the same amount of time? Was he ahead of schedule or something? Reaching for the bent-pipe safety railing of the stairs, he squeezed. At first nothing happened, so he squeezed a little harder. The tubing crumpled in his hand. Staring at the damaged pipework, Cade knew he couldn't continue with Beth. He'd been extremely lucky not to have hurt her this morning, no damned doubt about that. Then it struck him that he hadn't mashed any of the sandwiches and he remembered Mandi having mentioned the same phenomenon the night before. She'd said, 'You didn't squash your burger, did you?' Or something like that. Maybe he could continue with Beth. If he was very gentle, very careful... Wait one. He was describing all but a very few moments of their time together the night before. And this morning had been one long, easygoing, session. No hard riding at all, except when she'd been on top. "That's it," he softly said aloud to himself. "Slow and easy unless she's on top. That ought to work." He'd been so preoccupied that he hadn't noticed Mandi's presence descending between the stairwells until his last thought had essentially seemed to solve his dilemma. As he sipped the last of his Dr Pepper, she floated to a stop directly behind him and cleared her throat with a grin, obviously expecting Cade to jump out of his skin. Cade drained the cup and said, "Hi, Mandi," without so much as a flinch. Annoyed as hell that she hadn't startled him and determined not to let him see her failure, Mandi concealed her irritation as she flitted upward enough to clear the handrail, then settled to the steps just below the landing so they'd be more or less eye-to-eye. Glancing around, she asked, "Is there some reason you're sitting in the stairwell?" He pointed to the crumbs on the napkin and said, "I've just been having a private snack before I head down to breakfast. Care to join me?" "I've already eaten, but I guess I could stand another coffee." Grinning, she asked, "What was that 'slow and easy unless she's on top' all about, Ed?" Stuffing the napkin into the paper cup, Cade stood up and walked downstairs past her as he said, "Just a kind of safety lecture about dealing with unconverted women." Turning to follow him, she asked, "'Dealing' with them, huh? Sounds to me as if you plan to be doing more than 'dealing' with them. Anyone in particular?" "Could be. I know some unconverted women. Wouldn't know them very long if I let myself get clumsy with them." Chuckling, Mandi said, "Likely so, but in a few days it will be better if you don't play with them at all." Glancing back at her, Cade asked, "Why's that?" Raising an eyebrow at him, Mandi grinningly said, "Think about it.