My moans grew louder, and every slip of his tongue against my sensitive nub quickened and intensified.
I didn’t know how much more I’d be able to take.
I grasped at him, thinking maybe he should stop, as if I would be stopped at a single orgasm and would get no more.
Nothing stopped, and soon I found myself rising higher and higher to the peak of ecstasy. Down I tumbled, my voice crying out in abject pleasure as my body wracked with pulsating muscles like I’d never felt before. I swore Henry grinned against me, but still his tongue reached out and slid against that nub that was now so sensitive, the softest of touches felt like wildfire.
“I can’t, I can’t…” I said, breathless and without energy as my body collapsed from the exertion of such explosive spasms.
Up Henry sat, his tongue sweeping at the dampness on his lips as he grinned fully down at me. “Guess your ex never did that for you, did he?”
Several times over I blinked before I merely shook my head.
“Should’ve done that sooner, if I’d known you’d react like that.” He looked way to pleased with myself, and usually I would have thrown some great comeback his way, but I was just too exhausted. I’d never felt so physically drained from an orgasm before, though I’d never had one quite so mind numbingly good either.
Henry sat up, still fully clothed as he draped my legs across his lap. I watched intently as the pad of his thumb drifted along the soft skin on my thigh. Somehow, he seemed totally taken with that simple motion, he didn’t even push for anything more.
Hesitantly I asked, “don’t you want-”
“It’s fine,” he said, and usually I would have thought anyone saying such a thing was lying, but there was something in his tone that made me believe him.
Still, “are you sure?”
“Yeah.” The smile he cast my way could have lit up the darkest of rooms. “I mean, have you seen yourself? I’m pretty damn proud, if I do say so myself. If that ain’t a satisfied face, I don’t know what is.”
Whether he’d done it for me or merely to be proud of himself I couldn’t say, but I felt a warm smile adorn my face as well. “Good, because I think I’m too tired to move. I mean, at all.”
That only widened the size of his grin. “Are you trying to stroke my ego?”
“Do you need me to?” I asked with a half-cocked grin.
“I mean, I ain’t stopping you.”
Laughter rolled off of my tongue as I nestled further into the pillow behind my head. It was a bit odd, no, a bit out of place feeling so perfectly comfortable lying naked across Henry’s lap. “Okay fine. That was…”
“Amazing? Incredible?”
“Mindblowing,” I finished, and his eyes that had already looked bright with mirth seemed to glow further.
“You know, I’ve been thinking about something…” he said, his voice trailing off before he’d made it any further.
I pulled myself upright and lazily reached for my shirt. “Yeah? What’s that?”
Several times over his lips began to part before he waved it off with a simple brush of his hand. “It’s nothing.”
“Henry,” I pressed, knowing he wouldn’t bring something up for nothing. “What is it?”
“Really, it’s nothing.” Up to his feet he jumped, but not before he grabbed the rest of my clothes and dumped them in my lap. “You hungry?”
My lips curled. “Not pizza, right?”
“Nah, I actually went out and bought food.”
My eyes widened enough to make him laugh.
“I know, I know. So you hungry? I’m cooking.”
“Yeah,” I said with a smile, “yeah, I am hungry.”
9
My hands were covered in dog shampoo and fur when my phone started to ring in my pocket. I grumbled quietly to myself, and hoped whoever it was would leave a message. Had the dog I was washing been as easy going as Max or Prissie I could have answered the call no problem, but this little shih tzu was a nightmare.
I’d been coming to this house up the street from my old high school twice a month now to groom their little dog Heather, and before I met her I had never once hated a dog. Somehow, she made the task of it easy.
I was nearly finished and just needed to finishing rinsing her but she wasn’t making it easy. At every turn the rascal nipped at my fingers and tried to leap out of the wash pan. Big dogs I could handle any day, but these little ones…
Again my phone rang, the sound only adding to my aggravation. In a hurry I made sure the last of the shampoo was off of Heather before I snatched up my phone and answered without even looking at who was calling.
“Hello?”
Taking the moment of uncontrolled action, Heather shook and doused me completely in the scent of wet dog.
“Hey,” I immediately recognized the voice as my brother. “Have you heard the news?”
“What news?”
“Dad didn’t call you?”
“Uh… no? What’s going on Tal?” I was starting to imagine all of the horrific things that could have happened. Did someone die? Was there a car accident? Did I need to rush to the hospital?
“Dad decided he’s going to sell the restaurant.”
The news immediately lifted a huge weight from my chest I hadn’t realized I’d been carrying. “That’s… great!” At least, I hoped that’s how our dad saw it. “Do you know why?”
“I don’t know, I guess because he couldn’t find someone to take it over?”
“Yeah, I guess.” Yet I can’t help but feeling grateful that Henry won’t feel pressured into it any longer.
“Anyway, I guess it’s a good thing I called, he would lose it if you weren’t home for dinner tonight. Celebratory and all.”
“Yeah okay, I’ll be there,” I said in hopes we could end the call soon. Heather was getting antsy, and when she got too antsy her teeth chomped even harder. Fortunately, or unfortunately as it were, my brother hung up without even saying goodbye.
“Dick,” I grumbled, as I settled back in and began drying off every inch of Heather’s wayward fur. A short while later, after I’d returned the angry dog to her owner I sat back in the truck and was about to text Henry when I decided maybe I could just call instead.
It rang several times before he answered, a bit short of breath.
“Hey, what’s up Gator Girl?”
I groaned at the name. “Have you heard the news?”
“What news?”
“My dad decided to sell the restaurant.”
The phone went so quiet I wondered if the call hadn’t dropped.
“Henry?”
“Yeah, sorry, it’s just real busy over here today. Hey, could you meet me after work?”
“I can’t, I mean, not really. I have to be home for dinner tonight. I could meet you at the riverfront right after?”
“No no, meet me at my house?”
It would really be cutting it close with the timing and all, but something in the joy of his voice makes me agree. “Yeah, okay, I’ll be there.”
“Hey, gotta go,” he said with a scratching muffle of his voice, “see ya.”
“Bye, Henry.”
I dropped the phone back into my pocket and sighed, a bit happily. Now my dad wouldn’t have to worry about the burden any longer, and Henry would be free to continue doing what he loved without the pressure to change. All in all, it seemed a great thing to me.
The rest of my workday was somehow agonizingly slow. I only had a couple more appointments and with none that far from one another it was difficult to fill up the day. I was so incredibly bored, and I really wished leaving early was an option. Hell, I would have chosen helping Elizabeth do more planning over sitting around in a mobile grooming station just wasting the day away.
Eventually though, my time was up and I was free to head out. I parked the truck back in its usual place and hurriedly jumped in my car. I wouldn’t have a ton of time to go see Henry before I needed to be home for dinner, so I made
my way over to his house in record time. His truck was already in the driveway, so I bounded excitedly up to his door.
I was happy for him really, about the restaurantand all.
The door swung open before I even reached it.
“Hey, what-” the swing of Henry’s arms raked me in and silenced me with a series of rapid, almost excited kisses. He was like some repetitive machine that wouldn’t stop, and while I loved seeing him so incredibly happy, I had to find out exactly why.
“Henry!” Several more times his lips caught mine, while the last kiss lingered just long enough to set fire to the embers that laid in wait in my belly.
“Yes?” He asked while grinning like a bob cat.
“Why did you want me here so bad, Henry?”
“What, a guy can’t call a girl over to kiss her?”
My hands planted solidly to my hips. “That’s not why you asked me to come over.”
“Okay, maybe not, but it was a nice addition.”
“Henry,” I scolded.
“Okay, fine. I had already heard about your dad’s decision before you called.”
“Okay, and?” My brow arched in question, what did that have to do with anything?
“Well, he shouldn’t sell.”
That confused me more than anything, and fizzled out that very ember he’d set fire to. Now, I only felt worry inside. “Why is that?”
“I want to sign the papers, to take over the restaurantlike he kept asking me to,” he says, and while I know he’s expecting some immediate excited response out of me, he won’t be getting one. Instead, I stood in stunned silence. “Marissa. Why aren’t you at least smiling?”
My lips barely moved beyond a flat line. “Why after all this time would you want to do that, Henry?”
He looked kind of shocked at my response. “Because it’s a good idea! You wanted me to do take the deal for so long.”
That was true, and now I sort of hated that I’d pressured him at all. “But you didn’t want it Henry.”
“So? I’ve changed my mind.” Had he been anyone else, I may have been tempted to believe them, but when Henry Brown set his mind on something, it never changed.
“But you love working at the golf course!” That he would ever give up something he loved just because someone else wanted it for him astounded me. I glanced over to the coffee table, and the stuffed animal I gave him was still sitting there. I imagined if Teddy were still alive and could talk, he would have told Henry he was being an idiot. “Don’t do this just because it’s the last chance, and it’s already too late.”
“No, no it’s never too late.” Henry rushed around the front room, grabbing up his wallet and keys.
“Seriously,” I said, my voice solid as concrete that made him take pause, “why would you want to leave the golf course? You love it there.”
“Come on, Marissa, seriously? You wanted me to think about this more than anything and now that I’ve made up my mind you want me to change it again?”
“No, it’s not that, it’s just-”
“Then stop trying to change it. I want to run the restaurant, okay?”
“Okay, but-”
“No buts.”
“No, Garret, really, but-”
“Stop.”
I was about to blow a gasket and spat out in a hurry, “I think it’s already sold!”
That caused him to halt right where he was, rigid as a statue. “No.” He sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than me as he reached for his phone. “What time is dinner at?”
“Six.” It was already 5:45, and if I didn’t leave that instant I would be late.
“Come on, let’s go.”
“What? Where are we going? Henry, I have to go home.” I could barely believe how he was acting, and really didn’t like that I couldn’t make sense of any of it.
He took hold of my head, cradling it firmly in his hands and plastered another solid kiss on me. He couldn’t have looked happier, and I wished beyond everything that I could have felt the same way.
“I’m taking you to your parents house,” he said as he burst out the door. I was left scrambling after him in confusion.
“Wait, what do you mean? Why?”
“So we can make all of this right!” He jumped up into his truck and cranked the engine before I could even reach the passenger door. The rattling power of the truck made my fingers tingle as I grasped the handle for support and hurled myself up inside.
“Henry,” I said more softly this time, “I think it’s too late.” Now, I really hoped that was all there was to it, so that Henry wouldn’t make this rash decision and later regret it. I know I would feel horrible guilt if that were to ever come to fruition. I supposed though, that’s what years of pressure did to a person.
“It’ll be fine. We’ll fix it,” he said in reassurance, but it only made my stomach turn.
The truck lurched into reverse, and in a hurry we were out of the driveway.
“You really don’t think you’ll miss the golf course?” I asked. If I only had the fifteen or so minutes it took to reach my dad’s house, then I was going to use every single one of them. Unfortunately, from the increasing speed of us hurtling down the road, it seemed that Henry was going to shave a few of those minutes away.
His head shook in response, but he had nothing else to say about it. That was enough to leave me worried that he was most certainly making a massive mistake.
“You don’t have to do this,” I said.
“You think I don’t know that? How many times did I say no before?”
“And now you suddenly change your mind.”
“It’s not that sudden. I had all those times before to think about it, okay?”
That wasn’t really something I’d thought about before, and it was enough to silence my effort to convince him otherwise. Per usual, once his mind was set to something, that was it.
In record time we reached my parents house, and though I’d earlier been excited about the celebratory dinner, now I felt all too sick with worry. Henry jumped out of the truck, and just as I joined him, he came running around to my side. I wondered for a brief moment if he was going to feign being a gentleman and open the door for me, but it was too late to find out.
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” I asked him with a single glance up at the house.
“Yeah, it’ll be fine.” His hand wrapped around mine, the warmth anything but comforting as he pulled me up the front path. The moment his finger hit the doorbell my stomach fell out from beneath me. Yet, it all got worse.
The door swung open, and there my dad stood.
I grinned, sheepish as could be at Henry’s side. “Hi, dad.”
10
Never had I seen my dad look quite so confused and anxious about whatever was about to come out of Henry’s mouth. He hurriedly tried to stifle his startled expression, I assume out of a desire to not be rude that I’d for some reason shown up with unannounced company.
Except, it hadn’t been my idea at all.
“Hey sweetheart,” my dad murmured my way, as he gained control of himself and planted a sweet kiss against my cheek. “I haven’t seen you since the corner roast, how have you been?”
“Good,” I said, as my cheeks threatened to heat up over the thought of what I had actually been doing. Henry.
“And, Henry,” my dad went on as he reached out and shook his hand in that manly vye for dominance I would never understand. “I wasn’t expecting you.”
“Yeah,” a faint smirk settled on Henry’s face, “I really wanted to come see you.”
I already felt like I was going to be sick.
“Okay, well,” my dad pushed the door open and ushered us both inside. “I’m sure there’s plenty for one more.”
My nerves twisted themselves inside out as my dad gave me an inquisitive look on our way to the dining room. All I could muster was a shake of my head to let him know I had nothing to do with this. I didn’t want to be in t
he middle of whatever storm was about to come. Though, I had a feeling I had no choice.
Roasted garlic and melted cheese had my feet moving more quickly only to find that my father had made one of my favorites. It was his signature alfredo, made completely from scratch, and it was far better than anything I’d eaten in months. My mouth was watering the moment I saw Tal come around the corner with a bottle of beer. His eyes narrowed dangerously at Henry.
“What’s he doing here?” The showdown hadn’t even begun yet and already my brother was on the attack.
“Tal,” I chided, but it almost looked as if my dad took my brother’s side. Beside him he stood, with his arms locked across his chest. Both stared intently at Henry, and I took a couple of steps away and tried to shrink into the background.
“Okay, look,” Henry began with his hands moving wildly to his words, “I’ve finally decided you were right all along Mark. I should have taken up your offer on the restaurant.”
“No shit,” Tal muttered loudly.
Henry seemed unperturbed. “I know what I need to do now, okay? I’m ready to-”
“You are such an idiot, you know that?” Tal blew him off and sunk around the corner into the kitchen, though I knew from the drift of his forceful sigh he could still hear everything. My father on the other hand, was eerily quiet.
“Henry,” I pleaded, “please just stop. We already talked about this, it’s-”
“I’m ready to move on,” Henry continued as he looked straight to my father and ignored my desperate plea. “I’m ready to give up my simple life for something more. The golf course… it’s a dead end job, you know? Just because I’ve loved it doesn’t mean it’s the best thing for me. There’s always been something better out there, and now I’ve finally figured out what it was.”
Several times over my dad’s lips parted but no sound came out. He was as dumbfounded as I was, and I’d already heard it once before.
“I’m ready to take over the restaurantMark, I’m ready to do it.”
Tal came storming back out of the kitchen with anger blazing in his eyes. “You dumb shit, it’s already finished! The paperwork has already been signed!”
Hard Wired: A First Love Second Chance Romance Page 6