Until You Believe Me (12 page)

Connor didn't say anything. He just laid and held me. After I had no tears left to cry and calmed down I finally spoke.

"I'm sorry. That wasn't about you, or what just happened. I just needed to."

He hugged me closer to him. "I understand. You may be broken Madison, but it isn't something I'm not willing to help you fix. If you talk to me and are always honest I will always, and I mean always try to understand."

To hear his voice back to normal relieved me. I let out a huge breath, believing that he understood I wasn't crying because of him or what we did.

"That's why I love you. You just understand and care unconditionally."

"I can only do that if you let me." He wrapped his arm around me and that's how we fell asleep.

Chapter 15

I woke the next morning just as the sun was beginning to rise. I was about to get out of bed until I realized I had no idea where my clothes were. Connor was fast asleep next to me. I quietly and carefully slid out of bed, grabbing the closest articles of clothing I could find. Luckily one of those articles was my panties. I slid those on and grabbed Connor's T-Shirt that was laying on the floor next to them. Sliding that on I slipped out of the bedroom and closed the door quietly behind me.

There were soft rays of light coming into the house and I once again looked around the house in awe. It was so beautiful and so, elegant that I couldn't get over it. I padded off toward the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. I searched through the fridge and pulled out some things to make breakfast with. I was surprised I had woken before Connor, but decided to get breakfast together before he woke up.

I made scrambled eggs, and bacon and just as my first batch of toast popped up I heard shuffling feet followed by a yawn. I couldn't help but smile seeing Connor standing in the middle of this beautiful kitchen in nothing but a pair of boxers, sleepy eyes and completely disheveled hair.

I poured a cup of coffee and kissed his cheek as I handed it to him. "Good morning sunshine." Connor just gave a non-committal groan and took a sip of coffee. Not five minutes later he came up behind me, wrapping his arms around me and hugged me to him. "Good morning baby. I must say my T-Shirt has never looked so sexy." He kissed my cheek and let go, pouring another cup of coffee.

I blushed as I put his breakfast down in front of him.

He smiled as he ate. "I could get used to this. Waiting at home for me on Friday night, wearing my T-Shirt on Sunday morning. I think I'm dreaming." He gave me a silly grin and I couldn't help but smile.

"I'm going to shower. I'll be back. Finish your breakfast."

When I returned from the shower Connor was on the phone in the kitchen.

"Yes...Three weeks tops...I'll owe him if he does me this favor...Tell him I'll give Donna first pick here." He smiled when he saw me. "Yea...just get him on board. I'll check in tomorrow...bye."

"Are you working on a Sunday?" He smiled at me.

"Wouldn't dream of it. Just have to make sure I get a few things on the right track. What's our plan for today baby?"

I shrugged. I was content hanging around a beautiful house with an amazing man.

"While I shower, come up with something. Anything you want to do."

As I was cleaning up the sugar and cream from our morning coffee, I heard a strange beeping. I stopped and followed the sound to my purse. Opening my bag I pulled my cell phone out. My phone was just about dead and I had forgotten my charger. I saw the notification light blinking and saw that my screen was full of notifications. I had twelve missed calls and twenty text messages.

"Shit." I said aloud. I had ten missed calls from my mother, two from Ben. My mother had texted me well over a dozen times and Ben was not far behind.

I noticed my voicemail symbol on my screen and held one until m messages started up.

"Madison, John Collins said his daughter saw you and Brad and some strange man at a restaurant in town and that there was a scuffle. Are you ok? Call me."

Shit. I hadn't thought about mom hearing about the episode in the restaurant. I didn't even bother to listen to the rest of the voicemails. I knew that they would go down hill very quickly.

When Connor emerged from the bedroom I told him that we had an errand to run and I would need his help in order to survive.

The ride to my mother's was much shorter than from my own house. I gave Connor the directions as needed until we were sitting at the curb in front of my mother's house.

"Ok. My mother is going to be pissed. My phone was on silent and I never heard her call. She heard about the restaurant and I'm sure she's crazy as all hell right now. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if the police had a stake out somewhere waiting for us. Just let me do the talking. Just look charming and smile a lot."

Connor just laughed as we got out of his truck.

I slowly opened her front door, listening for sounds of the crazy woman. I heard voices coming from the kitchen. I walked quietly into the kitchen and was surprised to see Ben standing with my mom.

He noticed me first and ran to me, picking me up. "Madison! Where the hell have you been?" He was angry. Relieved, but that relief was very quickly being replaced with anger.

My mom ran to me and hugged me ten times tighter than Ben had.

"Ma, I'm fine. I swear."

"You've had me worried sick, I heard there was an issue then I couldn't reach you and-." Her eyes had found Connor and she quit speaking.

Ben's eyes got big when he saw Connor as well. Both of them were just staring at him, unsure of what to do next.

"Uhhh, Ma, this is Connor. Ben, you know Connor. Umm, Connor this is my mother, Andrea."

He smiled his most charming smile and put out his hand. He shook her hand gently and said what a pleasure it was to meet her. He shook Ben's hand as well, nodding.

"Madison...I don't quite understand."

I laughed. "Ma, Connor is the one doing the university remodel. We had gone to dinner last night and had a bit of a run-in, but Connor saved the day. I've been at his house, with him. My phone was on silent, I didn't even think about it after everything happened. I'm sorry." I looked between my mother's face and Ben's. Ben seemed relatively unimpressed while my mother was unreadable.

She stood for a minute and then ran to hug Connor. She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him like only she could. "Thank-you for looking after my daughter. I was so worried she was hurt, or worse."

Connor looked extremely uncomfortable and I couldn't stifle my giggle.

"No problem Mrs...Umm...Andrea."

She pulled away and wiped a few stray tears from her eyes.

"Mom, I'm really ok. I swear. I'm better than ok." I went and stood next to Connor and he wrapped his arm around my waist.

"Well thank heavens. You sure know how to scare the living hell out of your mother. I had Ben out looking for you around the university, your office, and anywhere else I could think."

I smiled apologetically at Ben and he shrugged.

"Well now that you're safe you have to stay for lunch. I'll go throw something in for lunch. Go sit in the living room, I'll be right there. Connor I'll get you something to drink, what would you like?" She called from the kitchen.

"Water is fine. Thank you."

I rolled my eyes up and Connor and gave him an apologetic look. He smiled and rubbed my back as we walked to the living room. He sat next to me on the couch, not worried about being near me around people he didn't know.

Ben walked in the living room looking less than pleased. When he spoke it was a whisper.

"What the hell were you doing Madison? Your mom has been frantic since she heard last night. What happened with Brad?"

I sighed, was the story that hard to follow? "I told you, I turned my phone on silent, I did it when we got to dinner. Brad showed up, it turned into a big scene and then it was over. I stayed at Connor's and never thought to turn my phone back on after we got back." I whispered back to him, hopefully getting the point across that my mother did not need to be involved in another retelling of the story.

Ben looked between Connor and I. Like he was trying to figure something out that he couldn't quite grasp. Before he could say anymore my mother came into the room with a armful of glasses of water and tea.

"I put a chicken in the oven and some potatoes on to boil. We'll eat in awhile. Connor, I've heard so much about you, how did you come to save my daughter?"

I rolled my eyes, knowing my mother was just digging for information.

"Well...um...We just..." He hesitated and ran his hand through his hair. He was unsure how much information he should reveal.

"We had made plans to meet for dinner and we met there and he made sure everything was ok." I abruptly butted in to get Connor off the hook. His arm squeezed me tighter around the waist, almost as if to say thank-you.

My mother's eyes were searching Connor and I for something unknown like Ben had. What the hell did I have a 'I had sex and may have said I love him' sign on my forehead?

"I'm going to show Connor around Ma, we'll be back."

As soon as we reached the end of the hallway at the back end of the house I threw my head back and groaned. "I'm so sorry. I have a feeling this is going to be the worst experience of my life."

He smiled and kissed me softly. "Show me around." I showed him the den, the two bedrooms, explaining that one of them was mine until I went to college. I explained that I was trying to get my mother to move out and closer to me to no avail.

We returned to the living room. My mother was in the kitchen cooking and Ben was sitting in the rocking chair watching TV. "I'm sorry she bugged you Ben. I appreciate you being with her though."

His mood had started to soften, but not by much.

Connor cleared his throat and excused himself to use the restroom. When he was barely out of the room Ben let me have it.

"Is this for real?" He said, nodding towards where Connor exited.

"What? Connor? Yes, he's for real."

"Madison, your mother thought you were hurt, or worse. She was so upset, what the hell was so important that you couldn't let her know you were ok?" He was angry and it started to grate on my nerves.

"I told you exactly what happened Ben. I was not thinking about my cell phone ringing right after I had been scared to fucking death by someone who has really hurt me before. Now what the hell is your issue because I will not revisit this scenario."

He rubbed his hand over his face. "You've disappeared Madison. I haven't had a decent conversation with you in a couple weeks now. Are you where you want to be? Is this what you want?"

"If you're talking about not seeing you, no, that's not what I want. Am I happy to be seeing Connor regularly? Absolutely. Ben, I've never been so happy, I lo-." I was cut off by my mother coming into the room and having a seat on the love seat. Connor wandered back in and resumed his place next to me.

Ben continued to look at me. I knew he understood what I was about to say, he was just processing it.

My mom started talking about something she had seen on the Food Network and I couldn't help but laugh. Connor was giving her his undivided attention and asking questions at just the right time. When I looked up I saw Ben was gone. I thought for a moment to go search for him but decided against it. He was being very strange and I wasn't appreciating it.

Mom got up to set the table, leaving Connor and I alone together. We relaxed on the sofa and Ben walked back in. There was a noticeable change in his attitude.

"So, Connor. Who is that hot little blond that was hanging around last week?" His voice back to normal and if he was hitting on a woman, that meant he was starting to come around.

Connor smiled. "Probably Chantel, she's the interior decorator for the admin building. Sorry buddy but she's engaged and he's actually a really good guy." Connor shrugged and smiled a small smile.

Ben shrugged. "Well, I'm sure she has some friends, I might have to introduce myself and see just how attached she is." Ben wiggled his eyebrows which made me laugh out loud.

It wasn't long before Mom called that dinner was ready and we sat and ate. The conversation flowed and I realized that I was quite enjoying myself. My fear of the awkward meeting of my mom was gone andd I was warmed by Ben's change in attitude.