Rosalie had never felt so protected and embraced during orgasm. Perhaps that was why it lasted longer than usual; she burst through it for long moments, gasping for breath, jerking her hips a few times, pressing closer to Alex.
At last, she was released from the clutches of her climax and came panting down, a string of breathy expletives landing against Alex’s neck. Rosalie felt Alex smiling against her cheek. After a few moments, she was able to draw back enough to see Alex smiling up at her. Rosalie fell into that smile, giving Alex a sloppy, grateful kiss that lasted until she needed to catch her breath. She drew back, pulling errant strands of hair out from between their lips.
Alex studied her, removing her hand from between Rosalie’s legs, wiping her fingers on the sheets before cradling the small of Rosalie’s waist again.
“I was not expecting that,” Alex said with a smile.
Rosalie giggled, relieved. Alex had liked her unexpected assertiveness. She had no idea where it had come from, but judging by the smile on Alex’s face and the ripples still coursing through her own body, it was a welcome surprise.
“Me either,” Rosalie admitted.
“Do you not usually finish?”
“I do,” Rosalie said, realizing she hadn’t been clear. “But I’m not usually so...active.”
Alex lifted her eyebrow over a wicked smile. “I don’t mind.”
Rosalie loved the playful look on Alex’s face. This was the hidden part she’d hoped to find in Alex when they’d first met, a part that was smiling and carefree, unabashedly girlish and light. She wanted to encourage it.
“Are you a secret pillow princess?” she asked, teasing.
Alex chuckled and made a halfhearted attempt to roll Rosalie onto the mattress. “You wish.”
“Maybe I do wish,” Rosalie said, holding firm with her hands against the pillows.
Alex kept grinning and reached up to draw Rosalie’s head down to meet her lips again, lulling in their playfulness before rolling Rosalie over onto her back with force. “I can totally top.”
Rosalie giggled, surrendering as Alex gave Rosalie more sweet, gentle kisses to help her come down. They rested in the warm quiet, bodies still humming with satisfaction. Rosalie tangled her arms around Alex’s neck, and the sheets rustled as they tried to get closer and closer to each other, the softness of their flesh the sweetest sensation of all.
At last, they were resting in the sheets, quiet and warm. Alex shifted onto her stomach, propping her head on her arms, while Rosalie lay on her side, staring down Alex’s body, admiring the slope of her back as she lay on her stomach. She ran her hand down it, feeling how strong and warm Alex was.
“I’m so happy I’m here,” Rosalie mumbled absentmindedly.
“I’ll take ‘Things I never thought I’d hear Rosalie Campbell say about Ashhawk’ for six hundred,” Alex said with a soft smile.
“I meant with you, silly.”
“I know.” Alex puckered her lips, and Rosalie shifted forward to meet them. They kissed for a moment before settling back into the pillows.
“I really, really like you, Rosie,” Alex crooned.
In another life, Rosalie would have asked why Alex liked her, why she was so willing to bare herself after Rosalie had behaved so badly in previous weeks. Another, quieter part rejoiced in the affirmation she was lovable.
Yet the only thing Rosalie felt the urge to do was to return the compliment as genuinely as she could.
“I really, really like you, too.”
Chapter Fifteen
Pillow Sweets
Alex rolled toward Rosalie in the early morning light of Rosalie’s room. Stirring, Rosalie grinned, sliding closer to Alex, meeting her kisses with a closed mouth before apologetically excusing herself to pee and brush her teeth. After washing her face and taking a large drink of water, she offered Alex a spare toothbrush. They settled back into the bed, smiling at each other. In the light, Rosalie felt even more clear-headed about her relationship with Alex.
What she wasn’t clear on, she realized, was Alex’s past.
“I don’t know anything about the other people you’ve dated,” she said, twirling a strand of Alex’s hair that had flown free from her ponytail against the pillowcase, tucking it over her ear.
“What do you want to know?”
“Who was the last person?”
“Her name was Yvonne. We were together for five years.”
Rosalie was surprised. Five years was a long time, and Alex had never mentioned her.
“She moved to Chicago four years ago,” Alex explained. “I haven’t dated anyone since.”
Rosalie was stunned, and it must have shown on her face. She couldn’t fathom how someone as great as Alex wouldn’t be coveted by every lesbian in New Mexico. “Why?”
Alex gave a calm, slow smile. “I feel the same way about girls as I do about speaking.”
Rosalie thought back to one of their first dates and how Alex had said she felt people should only speak if it improved on silence. Rosalie tried to connect the sentiment to dating, but Alex beat her to it.
“Only be with someone if it improves on being single.” Alex’s brown eyes sparkled as they bored into Rosalie, explaining how highly she regarded her.
Rosalie melted into the bed, a puddle under Alex’s flattery. She thought back to the relationships she’d been in and how so few of them truly improved on being single. They hadn’t been bad, but she would have been as satisfied with her life without the presence of the other person.
But Alex was different. Rosalie’s life was exponentially better with Alex in it. Alex’s quietness, her laughter, her generosity, and her affection made Rosalie’s life better.
“You make my life better, too,” Rosalie murmured. “So much better.”
Alex grinned and rolled toward Rosalie, pressing her back into the bed, a smother of welcome adoration.
“I never got to meet your girl friends,” Rosalie said when Alex pulled back. She recalled their previous conversation about Alex’s friends and how she’d avoided discussing their status as mates. She decided to make it up to Alex. “Aside from myself, of course.”
Alex quirked an eyebrow.
“Your girlfriend,” Rosalie clarified. “I want you to call me your girlfriend.”
Alex shifted, tightening her arm around Rosalie’s back. “Okay, girlfriend.” She leaned in for a kiss. “I’d love for you to meet my friends who are female.”
Rosalie felt something shimmer and fan out inside her, a giggle of joy coursing through her. She pressed her lips to Alex’s, thanking her for her patience.
“When did you know you liked girls?” Rosalie asked, smoothing her hand over Alex’s hair. “I mean, I know you came out when you were sixteen, but when did you know?”
Alex smiled, lazy against the pillow. “Remember how I told you I lived on a Navajo reservation when I was thirteen?”
Rosalie nodded.
“There was this girl there…” Alex trailed off, and Rosalie let her lie in the quiet as she collected her thoughts.
“Her name was Alison. At least that’s what I called her because she didn’t tell me her Navajo name when we first met. We got close. Maybe too close.”
“Too close?”
“Her dad figured out something was happening.”
“And…”
“He was concerned, but he didn’t tell my dad or anything.”
Rosalie realized things could have gone badly for Alex under the circumstances. She didn’t know how any of the local Native cultures felt about homosexuality.
“How is that usually received by the Navajo?”
“It depends how Catholicized they are,” Alex said. “Very few tribes practice pure Native spirituality anymore. But Native Americans are the last people to try to regulate and monitor other people’s rights. So unless you’re two-spirit, they look the other way and let you do your thing.”
“Two-spirit?” Rosalie had heard the term once before but hadn’t k
nown what it meant.
“Some Native American cultures believe some people are born with the wisdom of both male and female souls. They’re revered in Navajo culture, like priests or healers.”
Rosalie hummed and nodded.
“I thought maybe I was two-spirit for a while. I figured since Alison was so girly, I must be two-spirit if I felt that way about her. I’d only ever seen girls and boys together. So I thought maybe the male part of me was connecting with her femaleness. But I don’t feel like I’m half man. I may not like dresses and heels, but I’m a girl.”
Rosalie leaned forward to kiss Alex and run her hand over Alex’s hip.
Naked in bed like this, Alex seemed strikingly feminine, as though her clothes and hobbies were intended to throw everyone off. Rosalie loved the delicate balance of Alex’s femininity.
Alex met Rosalie’s lips appreciatively, smiling as Rosalie pulled away.
“I guess when you feel something for a girl for the first time like that and you’ve never been around someone who isn’t straight, you try to make sense of it as best you can,” Alex said. “I needed something to make sense.”
It was silent, and Alex stared at the sheets intently.
“You loved her, didn’t you?”
Alex looked at Rosalie with a soft smile. “In that crazy, thirteen-year-old way, yeah.”
“Back before you know what can happen,” Rosalie said with a sigh. “That’s the best way.” She stroked Alex’s arm and remembered how she’d felt about Perene.
Alex nodded faintly against the pillow. “When you don’t know what getting hurt feels like, you can love as big as the sky.”
Rosalie breathed with Alex. “Do you think we ever get it back?”
Alex shifted, twisting her torso closer to Rosalie. Her face was serious. “I hope so.”
It was quiet, and Rosalie felt overwhelmed by the intensity of Alex’s gaze. Alex was saying so much with those three words: that she wanted to be able to love that big again, that she wanted to forget their mutual ability to hurt, that she wanted to give Rosalie the sky.
Rosalie scrunched her body closer to Alex’s, wiggling as though there was space between them she wanted to extinguish. Maybe if she burrowed close enough, she’d blend into Alex to the point where she could hear her thoughts. She pressed as close as she could, closing her eyes and breathing, listening as best she could.
“You know what’s unfortunate?” Alex asked a few minutes later.
“What?”
“At some point, we’re gonna have to get out of bed and run this hotel.”
Rosalie whined, only to have it cut off by Alex’s mouth. She didn’t want to leave the room, let alone the bed and the endless combustion she felt was possible in its sheets.
“Can it not be today?”
“Call Shelley,” Alex mumbled.
Rosalie reached blindly behind her for her phone, feeling for it on the bedside table without removing her face from where it ghosted in front of Alex’s.
Shelley answered right away, more than happy for the extra hours. Rosalie had barely hung up before she was smothering Alex with kisses again.
“Remind me to give Shelley a big Christmas bonus,” Rosalie hummed.
Alex hummed in agreement, already drawn back into Rosalie’s lips.
Rosalie met her, only mildly distracted by her worry about what would happen when Shelley found out why she’d been spending so much time with Alex lately.
Chapter Sixteen
Housekeeping
Rosalie slid into the lobby, hoping Shelley wouldn’t look up from where she was perched proudly behind the desk. But of course, Shelley was an excellent desk clerk, and her head snapped up as soon as the door opened. She gave Rosalie a strange look. Rosalie was wearing nothing more than a bathrobe, her hair piled on top of her head until she could comb the sex knots out of it.
“Morning,” Rosalie said, as though nothing were unusual.
“Morning,” Shelley responded, tracking Rosalie as she walked around the counter and opened a file cabinet.
“Just getting some files,” Rosalie said cheerily. Her voice was forced and dared Shelley to ask questions.
Shelley responded with an uncertain smile. As Rosalie walked out, she said, “Let me know if you need anything.”
Rosalie pretended she hadn’t heard, hoping Shelley wouldn’t let her curiosity linger too long. Rosalie paid her to sit at the desk, not to wonder what Rosalie was up to.
Still, she was glad Shelley hadn’t asked any questions or noticed Alex going into her room the night before. Her relationship with Alex was so new and tender, she didn’t want to expose it to anything outdoors that might weaken or crack it in the harsh light and heat.
But at the same time, there was a seed of guilt and worry in her that echoed everything that had happened with Perene. Her refusal to be open, her insistence on keeping their relationship secret, had cost her the thing she held most dear. She felt stuck between two difficult things—losing her safety and losing her heart. She couldn’t decide which was more valuable.
Luckily, that was a problem that could be put off for another day or week or year. There was another that couldn’t.
She opened the door to her suite and was greeted by Alex, leaning back in her chair in the lounge room of Rosalie’s suite. The late morning sun streamed through the blinds, making it feel airier. Alex was wearing a pair of boxers and a black tank top with no bra.
Rosalie set the files down on the table and slid her chair closer. She plopped into it, feeling a few sore spots in her legs from where she’d exerted herself. It was a good sore, one she knew wouldn’t linger once her body got used to regular sex.
“This meeting of the managerial staff of Hearth Inn is officially called to order,” Rosalie said, thumbing through some papers.
“Managerial staff?”
“As the director of maintenance, you are a manager.”
“How many people am I managing?”
“Yourself.”
“I see. And how’s my managerial performance so far?”
“Excellent.”
“Good. I’ve been working on managing myself.” Alex took a sip of her coffee and grinned, balancing her ankle over her knee. “I haven’t been in a lot of business meetings, but this is my favorite so far.”
Rosalie glanced up with a smirk. She knew it was laughable to have a business meeting in bathrobes and underwear, but one of the perks of being her own boss was being able to do such things.
“Will you be able to focus?” Rosalie teased.
“Depends how tightly that belt is tied.”
Rosalie waggled her eyebrows at Alex and started to draw one side of her robe out to expose a breast before tugging it tighter across her chest and looking back down at the papers. Alex huffed in mock exasperation and leaned forward, examining the papers upside down.
“So what’s going on?” Alex said.
Rosalie picked up the deed to the Cocheta property along with the proposal George Tackett had given her.
“Shaylin Development wants to buy the land from me to build a distribution center.”
“And they’re willing to pay market value?”
“Yep. And they intend to hire local guys to do the construction.”
Alex gave Rosalie a look.
“And girls,” Rosalie added quickly. “But not you because you’re spoken for.”
“Damn right, I’m spoken for.” Alex grinned.
Rosalie lifted out of her chair enough to kiss Alex briefly on the lips.
Alex smiled at her, then let her gaze fall back to the papers. “And once the distribution center is built, what happens?”
“There will be more trucks coming in and out of town. Standard distribution center stuff.”
“Truckers who might need a place to stay.”
“Probably. And they’ll hire locals to work in the warehouse.”
Alex nodded slowly, trying to piece together Rosalie’s dilemma.
“Indeed I would.”
Alex hunched forward, squinting at the papers. “Explain the problem because I’m not seeing one.”
“That’s the thing,” Rosalie said, glad someone else was as confused as she was. “I know it would be good for the town and for Hearth and for me. But maybe there’s a reason Gran didn’t want to sell. Maybe she doesn’t want a big corporation to come in and change everything.”
Alex chewed her lip, brow knitting as she tried to consider Rosalie’s point. “It could have something to do with Marvin,” Alex offered. “Maybe she felt like selling it would make his death more permanent.”
Rosalie hadn’t considered that. Knowing how deeply Gran loved, it was possible she had clung to the empty property like a beloved photograph or sweater.
“Maybe.”
There was a pause.
“I’m using Gran as an excuse not to make a decision, aren’t I?”
Alex only bit her lip in agreement.
Rosalie sighed. “It’s a really big decision.”
Alex gave a gentle bob of her head. “Is there a reason you feel like you have to decide whether or not to sell right now?”
“George Tackett only gave me another week to consider their offer.”
“Ah,” Alex said.
“It’s not much time when you consider how many meetings I need to have with my director of maintenance.”
Alex looked confused for a moment, then realized Rosalie meant she would rather spend her time having sex than try to make a decision about the Cocheta property.
“The director of maintenance does like to have ‘meetings,’” she said with feigned commiseration for Rosalie’s imaginary frustration. “But she’s also invested in making sure you have all the support you need to run this place.”
Rosalie relaxed back in her chair. Alex always calmed her.
“And the good news is you do have a week to decide,” Alex pointed out. “I’m sure you’ll know what you want to do by then.”
Hearts Inn Page 26