Wishing in Wisconsin (At the Altar Book 3) (7 page)

"So tell me about your wedding night.  Did he carry you off to the bedroom?"

"You're not getting details.  He more dragged than carried, but that's all you get."

Cissie frowned.  "Well, how am I supposed to decide if I want to get married if you won't talk about your wedding night?"

"Go read a romance book.  You'll figure it out. You need a recommendation?"

"No, I know what to read."  Cissie glared at her friend.  "And here I thought we were best friends who told each other everything.  I feel like this whole wedding night thing is a huge let down."

Cindy grinned.  "It wasn't to me."  She popped another cheese curd in her mouth and refused to answer any more questions about her wedding night.  Really, even between best friends some things needed to be kept quiet.

*****

Trey got home shortly after five that evening, four used snowmobiles in the back of the truck.  They looked used.  Two of them badly needed paint jobs and the other two wouldn't start, but he'd gotten them all for a song, and he was looking forward to the work.  He'd ordered a book from Amazon on how to fix a snowmobile, and it should be there the next day. 

He'd had help loading the snowmobiles into the back of his car, but he wasn't sure how he could get them out on his own.  Those buggers were heavy!  He backed his truck up to the shed, before searching the building and finding a couple of long boards that he used to make a ramp to get them out of the truck. 

By the time he was finished, he was filthy.  He went into the house and straight to the shower, not wanting his new bride to see or smell him.  Once he was clean, he wandered into the kitchen and found her where he'd left her.  She was just putting the finishing touches on their dinner.

Wrapping his arms around her waist, he buried his face in her neck.  "Do we have time for a little fun before dinner?"

Cindy's heart sped up as soon as he said 'fun.'  How was she going to be able to explain to him how she was feeling without making him self-conscious?  She didn't want to make him think he'd done anything wrong, because truly he hadn't.  She just needed to get to know him better before she could stop feeling guilty about their sexual relationship.

"It's just about ready," she responded, loving how his body felt pressed against her back. 
This is going to be hard.  Oh my, it already is!

He saw their glasses hadn't been filled yet, so he offered.  "You want water or milk?"

"Water.  I never seem to drink quite enough water."

He filled both glasses with water and sat down at the table, waiting while she brought their meal.  She was a surprisingly good cook, although why that surprised him, he didn't know.  Cooking for a living would teach her to be a good cook even if she hadn't been before.

"I was able to get four snowmobiles today," he told her as soon as she joined him at the table.  "They're going to take a lot of work, but I think they'll be worth it.  I paid very little, and one guy was happy just to have me take it off his hands.  No charge at all."

Cindy nodded.  "Oh, that's great.  Where did you put them?"  She had visions of snowmobile parts lying all over her lawn, and she hoped he knew better.

"In the shed.  With this being a place of business, I didn't think you'd be pleased if I left them out in the open."

"No, I wouldn't have."  She took a bite of the chicken spaghetti she'd fixed.  "Thanks for putting them away."

"I do want to make you happy," he told her.  "Sometimes I'm just a bit clueless as to how to go about it."

"You're a good man." 
And that's why this conversation is going to be so difficult.
"I want to talk to you about something, and I want you to hear me out.  Let me tell you everything before you get mad."

Trey frowned.  No good conversations ever started with a warning like that.  "What did I do?"

Cindy reached out and squeezed his hand.  "You haven't done anything wrong.  I promise."  She closed her eyes, searching for the right words.  "But I feel like I have."

"What do you mean?"

She sighed.  "I told you my grandpa was a preacher, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, he raised me to never be alone with a man.  I went on one date while I was in college that wasn't a group date, and none in high school.  I haven't dated at all since high school.  So really, other than that creep in Ohio, I've never been alone with a man I wasn't related to until we got married." 

"Really?" he asked, not understanding why she was telling him all this.  "Does that mean you've decided not to be alone with me anymore?"  His eyes were filled with humor as he asked.

Cindy shook her head.  "Of course not.  We're married."  She took a deep breath.  "I think we should get to know each other a little better before we continue our sexual relationship, though."

He blinked a few times, trying to work out her reasoning.  "Are you serious?"

"Yes.  I know it sounds crazy, but I grew up knowing I would only give myself to the man I loved after we married.  Last night, when you said that you were in lust with my body, it really hit home what we were doing.  I mean, I enjoy making love.  Please know that.  But I feel like the only way we know each other at all is sexually.  I think we need to get to know more about each other before we can continue the sexual aspect of our relationship.  It just doesn't feel right."

He sat back in his chair, staring at her as if he'd never seen her before.  "But we're not doing anything wrong.  We're married!"

"I know that on one level, but on another, I feel like we are.  I know more about how you kiss me than I do about your likes and dislikes."  She raised her hands with the palms up, imploring him to understand.

"And how long is it going to take to get to know each other?" he asked, keeping his voice as calm as he could.  He wanted to jump up and shout at her, but more than anything, he wanted to understand what he'd done to make her not want him anymore.  He'd tried so hard to be good enough.

"I wish I could put a time frame on it.  I mean, we just met three days ago."

He nodded stiffly.  "I'll start sleeping on the couch in the office."

"No!  You don't have to do that!"

Trey took a deep breath and looked at her, the hurt showing in his eyes.  "There's no way I can sleep beside you in the bed where I've made love to you the last three nights and not touch you.  I'll sleep in the office."  He pushed away from the table and got to his feet, taking his empty dish and putting it in the sink.  "In fact, I'm pretty tired now.  I'll see you in the morning."

Cindy sighed heavily as she stood and cleaned the kitchen.  She wanted to chase after him and apologize, but she had done what she felt was right.  She didn't want to take it back, and let things go back to the way they'd been.  No, she'd find a way to smooth things over again.  She hoped.

Chapter Seven

Cindy cried herself to sleep, unsure if she'd done the right thing or the wrong thing, and her eyes hurt when she woke the next morning.  She went to the kitchen and poured her first cup of coffee as usual before starting to throw together a breakfast casserole that she'd serve with pancakes.  One of the hardest things about being in business for herself was having no one to do the tasks when she didn't feel up to it.  And she did not feel up to doing anything.  Her head hurt from all the crying.

Trey came into the kitchen as she was finishing up the first of the pancakes.  He looked as exhausted as she felt, and she resisted the urge to throw herself into his arms and beg his forgiveness.  No, she needed to stand her ground. 

He sat down at the table, watching her work, so she took him a cup of coffee.  "Good morning," she said softly.  "I missed you last night."

His eyes met hers.  "You made the choice, not me."  He was still hurt by her decision, but he was angry as well.  If she'd told him on their wedding day she wanted to wait to make love, he wouldn't have been thrilled, but he had expected her to do just that, so it wouldn't have hurt him.  Now that he'd gotten used to sleeping beside her, and making love with her, he just wasn't sure where to go from there.

She bit her lip, not wanting to fight with him.  Instead, she put pancakes on two plates and turned the stove off.  She'd cook the rest after they'd had their breakfast.  She put the plate in front of him and sat across the table, looking at his unyielding face.

She wanted to cry some more, but instead, she kept her voice cheerful.  "Tell me something I don't know about you!"

Trey looked at her as if she'd lost her mind.  "Why?"

"The whole purpose of this is to get to know one another better.  I want to get to know you, the man, not just your body."  She blushed as she said the words, surprised they'd come out the way they did.

He sighed.  "Fine.  I'll play your game."  He wracked his brain for something to say to her.  "I've always been a nerd.  All through school I never had a girlfriend.  My sister, Penny, was constantly trying to set me up with every girl she knew, but none of them were interested.  If they agreed to go out with me, by the end of the night, they told me they never wanted to see me again.  I had my first kiss in college, and it was more of a dare than anything else."

Cindy nodded, acknowledging his words.  "Thank you.  I had my first date and first kiss in college.  His name was Mike, and he was in my math class.  It started with him needing a math tutor, and I volunteered.  During our first lesson, he asked me to go to a movie with him.  We went to dinner and a movie, and when he took me back to my dorm room, he made it clear that by paying for the date, he thought he should get a whole lot more than my company.  He forced a kiss, and I kicked him.  That was the end of my dating, and the end of my tutoring him."

"What was your favorite subject in school?" Trey asked, wondering at her tutoring math.  She didn't seem like a math person to him.

"Oh, English.  I used up all my electives on literature courses.  My major was management, though."  She took a bite of pancake, thrilled they were having a normal conversation. She hadn't been certain they'd be able to do that again.  "What about you?  What was your favorite class?"

"Computer science.  I toyed with engineering for a bit, but I just wasn't as interested as I should have been.  Computers suck me right in and I never want to walk away."  He paused for a moment.  "I'm not the kind of man who would ever stray, but you might sometimes feel that I'm cheating on you with my computer.  Between gaming and working, I spend twelve hours per day in front of it."

She reached out, taking his hand in hers across the table.  When he didn't pull away, she breathed a sigh of relief.  It wasn't much, but maybe they were getting somewhere.  "As long as you understand that sometimes my hours are long as well."

He nodded briefly, wiping his mouth on a napkin before standing.  "I'm going to go shower and get ready for my day.  I'll see you later."  He paused at the doorway.  "Are you having lunch with Cissie?"

"No.  Why don't I stay home and we can have lunch together today?"  She had to make him understand he'd always come first in her life, even though she'd disappointed him so badly.

He shook his head.  "No need.  I'll make myself something.  You have fun with your friend."

Cindy wanted to chase after him, but she knew she needed to have breakfast ready before the guests started to come down.  She shook her head.  She should have closed for a week as they worked through things like this.  Maybe she should call Lachele.

*****

Shortly after lunch the doorbell rang, surprising Cindy.  She didn't have any guests scheduled to arrive that day, and this wasn't the type of place people just dropped into.  She hurried to the door, opening it to see two women who were both around her age.  "May I help you?"

One of the girls brushed her long dark hair out of her eyes.  "I'm here to see my brother."

Cindy shrugged.  "I'm sorry, I don't know who your brother is."

"Are you Cindy?" the girl asked.

Cindy nodded warily.  "Yes, I'm Cindy Lambert."  She shook her head, blushing.  "I mean Cindy Zayne.  It's hard to get used to having a new name."

The girl held her hand out.  "I'm Penny Zayne.  I'm here to see Trey."  She pointed to the girl beside her.  "And this is Jean Stewart.  I've hand-picked her to marry Trey.  They're perfect for each other."  Her eyes stayed steady on Cindy's, as if daring her to argue with her about it.

Cindy blinked a few times.  "You realize that I'm married to Trey, right?"

Penny swept past her into the house.  "I know you guys had a ceremony, but I'm sure you haven't let him in your bed yet.  He can get an annulment."  She looked around the room like she was the queen of the world, her lip curling a little as she examined Cindy's home. Cindy wanted more than anything to slap her, but she resisted the urge. "Where do you want us to stay?"

"I only have one empty room right now," Cindy said, unsure of how to respond to her new sister-in-law.  Was she for real?  Who announced that a married couple hadn't had a wedding night?  She felt like telling her she'd had a wonderful wedding night, but she bit her lip.

Penny crossed her arms over her chest.  "We can share." 

Cindy didn't know what the protocol was.  Did she ask them to pay?  Did they get a free room?  How was Trey going to feel about this?  Cindy walked to the counter she'd had put in that acted as her front desk and moved around behind it, finding the key to the only available room.  "You'll be in room six."

"Where's the elevator?" Penny asked, her lip curling.

"We don't have an elevator here.  If you want an elevator, you'll have to stay in a hotel.  We're a bed and breakfast.  Would you like me to give you directions to the nearest hotel?" 
Oh please let me give you directions to the nearest hotel.
  She didn't want either of the women in her home.

"We'll make do."  Penny took the key and walked toward the stairs with Jean trailing behind her.  "Have our luggage brought up."

Cindy stared after the two women for a moment before hurrying to the office to talk to Trey.  The door was locked, so she knocked and waited for him to open it.  She had to pound on it three times before he heard her, and finally came to the door.  "Who's there?"

"It's me.  Cindy."

Trey opened the door, standing in front of her in a pair of boxers.  She couldn't take her eyes off him for a moment, and just stood staring at him.  He grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the room, closing the door behind her.

Without thinking she took a small step forward, her hands going flat on his chest.  She stood on tiptoe and pressed her lips to his.  It was like coming home after a long time away.

His arms came around her automatically, and he backed toward the couch, pulling her down onto his lap, straddling him.  He stroked his hands over her shoulders, grasping her thighs to pull her more closely into contact with him.  "What changed your mind?" His mouth kissed a trail across her cheek and down to the side of her throat.

Cindy tilted her head to one side so he had better access to her neck.  "Changed my mind?" she asked blankly, so involved in what he was doing, she couldn't think. 

"What made you change your mind about making love?"  Trey knew he shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, but he needed to know. 

Cindy pulled away.  "I never meant to do this.  Oh, Trey, I'm sorry."  She scrambled off his lap, blushing profusely.  "I came to tell you your sister is here, and she brought some girl she wants you to marry, even though we're already married, and she said that she knew we couldn't have had sex yet, and that we could get an annulment, but I don't want an annulment, and I didn't mean to lead you on, and I'm so sorry."  She finished in a rush, knowing she made little sense. 

Trey took huge gulps of air, trying to calm his body.  He knew she could tell how turned on he was, and he just didn't care.  It took him a minute to realize what she'd said.  "My sister?  Penny is here?"  What could she possibly want with him?  He was married now, and she only ever talked to him to set him up with a new girl.

Cindy nodded, running her fingers through her hair as she did her best to calm down.  She sat beside him on the couch, her hand going to his, and she squeezed it tightly.  "She brought someone named Jean with her.  Do you hate me?"

Trey looked at her for a minute before putting his arms around her and gathering her close, in a purely non-sexual way.  "I don't hate you.  I'm a bit frustrated at the moment, but I'll live."  He kissed the top of her head.  "Tell me again why Penny is here?"  It just wasn't making sense to him.

Cindy wiped away a tear leaking from her eye.  "She said she brought you a girl to marry.  I told her we were married, and she said she was sure I wouldn't have slept with you yet.  Which kind of reinforces what I was saying about how we should have gotten to know each other first."

"Don't worry about that part of it.  Is she still out there?"  He looked toward the door, half expecting his sister to pop in at any second.

"I put them in room four.  She acted like she expected to stay, and she even told me to take her bags upstairs."

Trey groaned.  "Crap.  Please tell me you charged her triple."

Cindy giggled.  "No, I couldn't charge your sister."

"Oh, yes you could have! And should have!  Especially with her dropping in unannounced."  He looked down at her.  "What are we going to do with them?"

"The bowling alley does karaoke on Wednesdays.  We could take them to karaoke."

Trey nodded after a moment.  "Penny gets a headache when people sing off key.  That's perfect."

"I only fixed enough dinner for two.  Should we give it to them and eat at the bowling alley?"

"Absolutely not!  If anyone is eating bowling alley food, it's them.  What did you cook?" he asked, his hand skimming down her side as he leaned forward and kissed her softly. 

"Just sloppy joes.  I have the meat made up in the crock pot."

"Sounds good to me.  We'll tell them since they were so rude as to come all this way without letting us know they were coming, or even being invited, they can eat at the bowling alley."

"Why would she think it was all right to try and set a newly married man up with her friend?  That's not...normal."  Cindy had never dreamed she would be in a situation like this, and she hoped it would be resolved quickly.  She and Trey needed to adjust to each other without family influence.

Trey sighed.  "Penny is ridiculous.  She thinks whatever she wants will magically happen, just because she wants it.  I haven't been able to convince her otherwise yet, but I will."

"So, you're not going to annul our marriage and marry Jean?"

He laughed.  "I think we're past the point of an annulment, and I've never met Jean." He dropped a sweet kiss onto her lips.  "I want our marriage to work.  I've come to care about you."  He was amazed at how much closer he felt to her now that they had a 'common enemy.'  Penny was good for something it seemed.

Cindy smiled at him, thrilled by his words.  They weren't the declaration of love she wanted, but they were better than nothing.  "I want it to work, too.  I'm sorry I've been difficult."

He sighed.  "I think I understand now.  Oh, and I'm going to take you up on your offer since Penny is here.  Do we know how long she's staying?"

"No idea how long she's staying.  What offer?"  She wanted to climb right back onto his lap and offer him everything, but she didn't think that would be smart at the moment. 

"The offer to share your bed. I don't want Penny to realize we're sleeping apart."  He skimmed his hand over her hair.  "And I missed you last night.  Even if we don't make love, I want to be able to hold you while we sleep.  And I miss hearing the soft sounds you make while you sleep."

"Soft sounds?  Are you accusing me of snoring?"  She frowned at him.

He shrugged.  "Maybe a sweet, friendly snore."

She made a face.  "Cissie said that in college too, but I was sure she was lying."

He grinned.  "Nope.  But I like it!"