Making Me Believe Read online

  He lay there for a minute as his pulse returned to normal. He propped himself up on his elbows to take some of his weight from her, watching her as her eyes cleared and focused again. He dropped a quick kiss to her lips and rolled to her side.

  She followed him and burrowed into him, so tired she could only think of sleep. “I liked that. We should do more of it when we wake up,” she said against his skin, as she closed her eyes.

  He smiled and pulled the cover over her body so she wouldn’t get cold. His little virgin bride had more than surpassed his expectations. He couldn’t wait to see where the next few days would lead.

  *****

  Rose woke to strange sensations the following morning. Something was tickling her nipple so she slapped it away. There was a hand on her stomach. That wasn’t right. Slowly she opened her eyes. “Oh. Good morning.”

  He laughed. “Couldn’t figure out who was touching you for a minute there, could you?” The humor on his face had her laughing at herself.

  “I’m not used to sleeping with anyone. I couldn’t figure out what that was,” she told him. “I thought it was a bug or something.”

  “Just your husband trying to get you to hurry and wake up,” he said kissing her.

  “Why? We’re not in any hurry today,” she said. “We have all day.”

  “You may not be, but I am,” he answered as he rolled fully on top of her. He began kissing her passionately, his hands kneading her breasts.

  “Ahh…I understand now. Your needs were more important than my sleep,” she said.

  “So glad you see it my way, now be quiet, wife. I’m trying to make love here.” He found her propensity for chatting during sex highly amusing.

  She seemed to think it was fine to just have a conversation. It was cute. She laughed. “You’re doing a lovely job of it, whether I talk or not.”

  He got back down to business, kissing her neck and ears. “I’ll do better if I’m not trying to have a conversation,” he said.

  “You knew I was a talker before you married me. Did you really think that would change while we made love?” She rolled her eyes at him.

  He sighed heavily. “I guess not.” He moved a finger inside her to see if she was ready. When he felt her dampness, he positioned himself between her thighs. “Do you think this will make you be quiet?” he asked as he thrust inside her.

  She gasped with pleasure. “Probably not,” she said, “but I really appreciate the effort.”

  Chapter 6

  Alex and Rose spent the weekend getting to know one another better, both in bed and out. They spent a couple of hours in the hotel casino, and even took in one of the shows. By the time they got back on the plane to return to Texas, she was feeling very secure in her decision to marry Alex.

  Maybe he didn’t love her yet, but she felt like in time that could happen. She was not looking forward to getting back to the real world. She knew they had a lot of work ahead of them, combining households and then moving as soon as possible. They’d both given notice to the apartment complex the previous week.

  The ride home from the airport with Sarah and her family was just as crazy as the ride there. As soon as Alex and Rose got settled into the mini-van, Sarah spun around and asked Rose, “So how was the honeymoon? Is my brother any good in bed?” She had an impish grin on her face.

  Rose sputtered and turned three shades of red. Alex threw back his head and roared with laughter. “I didn’t think anything would make you blush!”

  Rose turned on Alex. “You do realize that your sister just asked me if you were any good in bed right? That’s just plain weird, and since I’ve been in bed with you for the past thirty-six hours, it’s blush-worthy, so just get over it! I have to say that I do understand why you call her Sarah the brat now.”

  Sarah grinned at Rose with wide eyes. “You spent the entire time in bed? You didn’t even take in a show?” Sarah had a sister now, and was thrilled to have someone to tease like Alex had always teased her.

  Rose groaned. “We took some breaks to eat, watch a show, and we even gambled for an hour or two. We just spent most of the time in bed.” She glared at Alex for laughing. “How far along are you?”

  Sarah giggled softly. “Nice subject change, sis. I like the way you think!” She didn’t answer, but patted her huge stomach.

  Rose poked Clark in the shoulder.

  “Ouch,” Clark said. “No poking the driver.”

  “Then make your wife and brother-in-law behave please,” she politely suggested.

  Clark sighed heavily. “It’s just not possible. I really think it’s some sort of genetic defect.”

  Sarah slapped Clark’s arm. “Genetic defect? What’s wrong with you?”

  Clark snapped, “Still driving! Don’t hit or poke the driver please!” Clark seemed exasperated with the whole lot of them.

  Alex was laughing harder and harder. “Sarah, I don’t think your brother is getting any tonight. He has a bad attitude,” Rose told her.

  Clark pulled up in front of Rose’s apartment. He turned to look at Rose. “It’s not going to work, you know. It won’t improve his behavior one little bit. Don’t deprive yourself just because you’re trying to get him to be good.”

  Sarah said, “She’d only be depriving herself if Alex is good in bed. Would you be depriving yourself by holding out, Rose?”

  Rose opened the door of the van. “I’m done with this conversation. I really am.”

  “Will ya’ll come over for dinner tomorrow night?” Sarah asked. “We usually have Alex over on Sundays, but with just returning from your honeymoon and all, we can forgive you for missing tonight.”

  Alex looked at Rose. “Let’s wait until next week. We have a lot of organization to do to combine households.” No one was fooled by that. It was obvious that he wanted to get Rose back in bed and keep her there for a week.

  Sarah rolled her eyes at Alex. “Yeah, right. You just want to keep Rose to yourself for as long as possible.”

  “Of course, I do! I married her because I wanted to spend time with her in bed and out. I got stuck with you.” Alex hugged Sarah and carried their bags to the door of Rose’s apartment.

  He unlocked the door with the key that Rose had given him and carried their things inside. She picked up the bags and began to unpack them when she was stopped by his hand on her arm. “I’m sorry my sister was so annoying.”

  Rose shrugged. “She’s definitely a sister. She’s fine. I was just a little embarrassed. I mean, we just got back from our honeymoon, and I know that everyone knows that we had lots of sex, but I didn’t need her talking about it!”

  He grabbed her hand and started to pull her toward the bedroom. “Do you know how long it’s been since I made love to you?”

  She glanced at her watch. “Oh, no! It’s been over five hours! We’re starting to act like an old married couple. Quick take your clothes off and hop on the bed!”

  He shook his head at her. “You’re being sarcastic. I’m being serious. All I could think about on the plane ride home was making love to you. I was sure that Sarah was going to notice how hard I was in the car and comment on it.”

  She grinned. “I noticed, but I didn’t say anything. I sure hope your sister wasn’t staring at you there!”

  He unbuttoned her blouse and dropped it on the floor. “You’re the only one who can’t keep her eyes off me.”

  She pulled his head down for a passionate kiss. “That’s probably a good thing!”

  *****

  They went to the apartment office first thing on Monday morning. They looked at the two bedroom apartments at the same complex and decided they’d be happy there for the time it took to build their house. They rented one that would be available on Saturday morning. That would make things easier for them with a shorter move. The new apartment was right between their old ones, so would work out well for both of them.

  They decided to turn the extra bedroom into an office. One bonus that the two bedrooms had over th
e one bedroom was a washer dryer was included. No more Friday nights at the laundromat.

  They picked up some boxes, and both threw themselves into packing. They both had to work Tuesday through Friday, so having most everything done today would be a help.

  Alex got several of his employees to agree to help with the actual move on Saturday.

  That night they made sweet love. Rose wasn’t looking forward to being away from Alex for the first time since their wedding on Tuesday, but knew that they’d have to go back to the real world.

  Tuesday morning Rose fixed breakfast for the two of them. She usually just had cereal, but now that there were two of them, she cooked pancakes. She ran out the door to make it in time to work out before work.

  She was glad that Alex was an early riser as well, because she needed to be out of the apartment by 6:00.

  When she got to work, she saw a huge “Congratulations!” banner strung across her cubicle. There were balloons tied to her chair. Alicia popped her head up as she sat down in her decorated cube.

  “Do you like it?” Alicia asked. She was looking at her speculatively.

  “Yeah! Was this your doing?”

  “Not the cube! Sex! Do you like sex?”

  Rose just laughed. “I told you no details would be given!” She had known Alicia would be asking, though.

  “Was it hard to come back to work this morning?” Alicia asked.

  “Very.” It had been the hardest thing she’d done in a long time.

  “Then you do like it! Let me see your ring!”

  Rose held her hand out to show off her ring. “I think he did good.”

  Alicia nodded. “It’s beautiful.” It was a simple band with three small diamonds. “We’re having a party for you this afternoon.”

  “During tax season? You’re kidding!”

  “Nope. I talked Colleen into it. She may be a dragon, but she’s a romantic. She loved the story of you guys meeting and getting married a week later. So do I for that matter,” Alicia responded.

  “How was your weekend?” Rose asked, trying to get the conversation off of herself.

  “It was great! I met this guy. I decided to do laundry on Friday night to see what would happen. I mean it did work for you! I met no one. So Saturday night, I went to this great nightclub. I met this great guy. He rocked my whole world. And my bed.”

  Rose rolled her eyes as usual, but for once she understood the appeal of sex. Well, she understood the appeal of sex with someone you love. She couldn’t imagine being so intimate with a stranger.

  She slipped her headset on and signed into her phone ready for her day. By the time six rolled around, Rose was exhausted. It wasn’t just that she was working a lot of overtime. She always worked as much as she could get. Now she was getting a lot less sleep. It would all be worth it, though.

  They ordered a pizza and took a packing break to eat after eight. She usually was in bed by nine because of her early mornings, but that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. She yawned as she finished packing up her bedroom. They’d be moving over to pack up his place tomorrow night.

  He kept telling her that hers was easier to pack because it was cleaner, but she hadn’t been in his yet for comparison.

  They finished packing up everything but a last few essentials before heading to bed after eleven. She was so tired she couldn’t see straight and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

  He came in from the shower and looked down at her. He sighed. There was no way he could wake her up to make love to her. He’d have to let her sleep. He would love to wake her, but she was working so hard trying to get them moved in together.

  Stripping, he climbed into bed and pulled her into his arms kissing her cheek. If he couldn’t make love with her, he could hold her while they both slept.

  Chapter 7

  The following day, Rose cancelled her overtime for the remainder of the week. She needed to get off work at four if they were going to get his apartment finished before Saturday unless he was greatly exaggerating the mess they were facing.

  He picked up dinner on the way home and they ate, and then headed to his place. She steeled herself for the mess she feared was waiting. She wasn’t a neat freak, but she didn’t tend to like huge disgusting messes and that’s what she feared she was facing.

  After he’d opened the door, she was stunned to see just how bad the mess was inside. Sarah was right. He was a slob! He’d been good about keeping things picked up after himself at her place, but maybe he was just trying to keep from offending her. Would she still have married him if she’d seen this first? Yeah, she would have. But she’d have grumbled a bit.

  He had the same floor plan she had, but his apartment was flipped from hers.

  She sighed heavily. “Garbage bags?”

  He grinned at her. “Under the kitchen counter. I told you I was a typical male.”

  “This is worse than typical. This is pathetic!” She shook her head and headed into the kitchen. “Do you want me to start in the kitchen or the bedroom?”

  “The bedroom doesn’t have as much trash, so you start there. I’ll work out here,” he answered dropping a kiss on her cheek.

  She walked into the bedroom and looked around. The sheet was at the foot of the bed. The blankets thrown on the floor. There was dirty laundry everywhere. She turned around to look at him as he followed her. “What?”

  “I’ve never made love to you on my bed. I thought maybe we could take a little break.”

  She laughed. “We haven’t even started yet! I can’t make love on a bed with no sheets!”

  He walked to the closet and pulled out a sheet. “I can make the bed.”

  “You’re crazy! This place is going to take a solid month to clean and that’s only if we can put our hands on a bulldozer!”

  He ignored her as he put the sheet on the bed. He grabbed her hand and tugged her toward it.

  “Alex!”

  “I didn’t get to make love to you last night. It’s been over 36 hours,” he said. He pushed her down on the bed and followed her quickly, kissing her neck and stroking his hands up and down her body. He slipped his hands under her shirt and rolled her nipples between his fingers through her bra.

  She half-heartedly pushed at his shoulders wanting to get everything done, but wanting desperately to make love with him. Lust won out. She gripped his shoulders and tilted her head to the side to give him better access to her neck.

  After that, she lost the ability to think. By the time she recovered, she was lying naked beside him with her head resting on his shoulder, both of them breathing hard, and feeling extremely content. She lay there for a minute and finally sat up.

  “We’ve got to get to work. Stop distracting me!” She stood up and pulled on her sweat pants and t-shirt, skipping the bra and panties.

  She taped up the bottom of a box, grabbed a big black trash bag, and went into his closet to start packing.

  He stayed on the bed for a minute longer and then got up. He pulled on his jeans and went into the kitchen and started clearing away the trash.

  Rose had her hair pulled back into a ponytail as she worked. She was amazed at the amount of stuff he had crammed into his closet. She sorted through his clothes as she went and threw away everything that was too stained or torn to wear. It looked like he’d just taken to piling clothes that were no longer wearable in a corner of the closet.

  She finished the shelves in the closet and moved on to the nightstand. She raised an eyebrow as she found an unopened box of condoms. She’d known he wasn’t a total innocent, but was surprised to find them in his drawer.

  At the bottom of the drawer, she found a photograph lying face down. She stared at the picture. It was a woman. She had red hair and laughing brown eyes. She was probably in her mid-twenties. Based on the clothes she was wearing, the picture had been taken within the last few years.

  She definitely wasn’t Sarah. So who was she?

  She laid the picture on the bed
, and continued packing, deciding she’d ask Alex about the picture later.

  She continued plowing through, packing eight boxes in his bedroom, before going out into the kitchen and living area. “I’m done for the night. I just can’t do anymore. I need sleep.” She looked around the room. She was amazed at how much he’d gotten done in the time they’d been there. All of the trash was picked up. He had packed four boxes himself. “You’ve gotten a lot done,” she told him, impressed.

  “We might make it. I’d like to have everything completely moved and the old apartments cleaned out by Sunday evening,” he said.

  “That would be nice!” she responded. “I found your condoms by the way.”

  He had the grace to look embarrassed. “Maybe I should have taken the bedroom,” he said.

  “Maybe you should have! I have a question for you.”

  “What’s that?” he looked wary. What else could she have found?

  She walked into the bedroom and he followed. She handed him the photo she’d found. “Who’s this?”

  He took the picture and stared down at it. “Where did you find it?” He was trying to stall for time. He knew right where she’d found it.

  “In your nightstand.” She watched his face carefully. He looked sad. “Who is she?”

  He shrugged. “Just someone I used to know.”

  She waited for him to say more, but when he didn’t she picked up her bra and panties and balled them up in her hand. “Are you ready to go back?”

  She wasn’t sure why it hurt so much that he didn’t answer her questions. He hadn’t lied about how he felt about her. He’d made it clear that getting married was for sexual reasons and sexual reasons only. It still hurt.

  He dressed and they walked back to her apartment together. Neither of them said anything. She noticed that he was still clutching the picture that she’d shown him.