Chapter 14
Nick
Seated together in the back of the small ride share, the most we did was let our hands touch. Of all the days for Henry to take an Uber. We both had a lot to say, but neither of us wanted to talk with the driver sitting inches away. By the time we reached his condo building, I was ready to burst.
“Order Door Dash, or should I cook?” Henry asked as we walked toward the entrance.
I checked the time on my phone, and shrugged. “It’s a bit early for take-out, but I don’t want you to go to the effort of cooking.”
“Pasta with pesto from a jar, one of those take-and-bake loaves of bread, and salad from a bag is hardly a lot of effort.” He shrugged. “I never said I was anywhere close to as good a cook as my cousin.”
Henry didn’t seem to mind cooking, and I could help. Eating in meant he wouldn’t pay for dinner. “I’m good with that, but I can help. Trevor trained me well in the art of being a chef’s assistant.”
“I’ll never turn down help.” Henry punched in his code and held the door for me.
I did a stutter step when I took in the swanky lobby.
The gray marble floor was polished to a high shine.
The modern sofas easily cost more than all our furniture combined.
To the left was a staircase with glass sides.
It led up to a space that looked like a coffee bar.
The man behind the desk nodded at Henry as he led me to the elevator to the right.
Henry swiped his card again, and tapped the “10” on the display.
We didn’t wait long for the doors to open and once we started to move, Henry angled his body so he was facing me.
“Nick, I really am sorry about last night. I wanted us both to smile when we remembered our first time, but I said it wrong.”
The sincerity of his apology made it hard to be mad at him. I might be upset about other things, but not because he waited until I was sober. The number of times I’d been dumped conditioned me to flee at the first sign of rejection.
We reached his unit, but before he opened the door, I grabbed his hand. “Henry, I’m sorry how last night ended too. I’ve been on the wrong end of so many breakup speeches, I rushed to conclusions and assumed I was about to hear another.
“It wasn’t fair to you, especially with how sweet you were… are. If you’re willing to forget what happened, I’d like to get a redo.”
Henry’s expression went from ready to argue to big goofy grin. “Redo works for me.”
He leaned and kissed me softly on the lips. It was brief and practically chaste, but it set off fireworks in my brain. “Great,” I said in a breathy voice.
I walked into his condo and gawked like a fool. Admittedly, my experience with swanky interior design was limited, but Henry’s place was amazing. It was like he pointed to the high-end furniture in the lobby and said, give me the high end of that.
The floor to ceiling windows had a view of downtown.
Silver Spring wasn’t New York or even D.C.
, but it wasn’t run down or shabby. The dark hardwood floors sparkled, broken up with area rugs in front of the furniture.
A breakfast bar fronted a granite and stainless-steel kitchen that would make Trevor drool.
Around the corner, I saw the edge of the elegant formal dining room.
“They’re just things, Nick,” Henry said. He’d come up behind me and put his hands around my waist. “If you’re not comfortable here, I’ll replace them with furnishing you can live with.”
The offer came from a good place, but it was borderline insulting. He didn’t know what it was like to struggle to pay bills or buy things.
“You’re over thinking this,” Henry whispered in my ear, His warm breath sending chills down my spine. “You sit on couches, you eat at tables, and you walk on floors. It doesn’t matter what they cost. Use them and don’t worry.”
It was scary at how well he read me. “I’m not sure I can stop worrying, but I promise I’ll use them.”
Henry kissed my cheek and walked around me. “Let me put your stuff in my room.”
I handed him my bag, and it almost felt like we were back to where we’d been before we hit a speed bump.
Watching him walk away, I still couldn’t figure out why he wanted to be with me.
I was no one. He was insanely hot, and I was the guy no one wanted to date.
My apartment wasn’t bad, but every dollar I earned in a year wasn’t enough to pay for Henry’s place.
Standing awkwardly in his foyer, I realized we were exactly back to where we were in Frederick. He was Henry, and I was out of my league.
“Hey.” He stood a few feet away watching me, almost frowning. “What’s wrong?”
Lost in my thoughts, I didn’t hear him come back. I’m sure I had that busted look I had when I was a kid trying to sneak a cookie. “Nothing.”
“You’re wrong,” he said, coming into my personal space. “You have no idea how amazing you are, Nick. Don’t measure your worth in dollars, or material things.”
He cupped my face, and kissed me. It was gentle yet strong, just like Henry, and my body shook with nervous energy. After a second, he pulled back and brushed my cheek with his thumb.
“I wanted that kiss last night so badly,” he said. “Thank you for giving me a second chance.”
He’d been right when he said I was drunk and we should wait. I wanted to remember every first we had together. “You can have as many as you like.”
“Remember you said that when I wear out your lips.”
The image of us engaging in a marathon make out session made my dick stir. I needed to clear my brain or else I’d embarrass myself. Instead of doing that, I doubled down. “Challenge accepted.”
Henry smiled and kissed me again, but with more heat this time. I parted my lips and he ran his tongue between them. My legs trembled and for the first time in my life my knees went weak.
We broke apart and he pressed his forehead to mine. “Wow.”
“Yeah,” I responded because I was so articulate. “You’re an amazing kisser.”
“Glad you feel that way,” he said taking my hands in his. “Because I like kissing you.”
I expected him to dip his head and kiss me again, but he didn’t. Instead, he tugged me toward the kitchen. “Let’s make dinner. It’s a work night and you need to get to bed early.”
He said the last part like I was a naughty child who stayed up too late most nights. I didn’t want to jinx things by pointing out that going to bed probably wouldn’t result in a lot of sleep.
Whether the night ended like I’d hoped or not didn’t matter anymore. The way Henry kissed me gave me the reassurance I needed.
Henry opened the small pantry off the side of the kitchen, pulling out all the ingredients he needed for dinner. He hadn’t lied when he said it was a simple meal. I stood there with nothing to do long enough it got awkward. “Can I set the table?”
“Sure. Let’s use the breakfast bar,” he said. “Plates, glasses, utensils.” Henry pointed to a different cabinet or drawer as he spoke.
Following his directions, I found everything needed to set two places for dinner.
“I was planning to have wine,” Henry said. “Not too much, of course. After all, it’s a—”
“—Work night.” I made a face. “I know. Wine is fine.”
“Good. The wine glasses are in the cabinet around the corner.”
I walked to the cabinet, still thinking about the way Henry watched over me.
It was nice, but it fueled my insecurities.
The cabinet with the glasses was a beautiful piece of furniture.
This was probably an example of what Henry told me in Frederick about antiques.
If I had to guess, he liked it and it had value.
Henry adulted at such a higher level than me. It reminded me of the inequity in our positions and how I didn’t measure up. He’d never said anything to make me feel that way, but my dating history was filled with hot guys telling me they could do better.
I tried to push away those thoughts, but they refused to leave. As much as I wanted to trust he was different, knowing he kept secrets gnawed at me. He’d been so nice, if he kicked me to the curb, it was going to hurt like no one else.
The lights flickered and I jerked my hand in surprise. The glass I’d been holding shattered in my hand. I let out a yelp and stumbled back, staring in shock at the blood spreading over my palm.
“Nick!” Henry’s voice was sharp with fear. A moment later, he was by my side. He had a dish towel over his shoulder, and he yanked it down and gently put it under my wrist. “What happened?”
There was no rebuke, only concern, but that didn’t quell my fears. “I’m so sorry. I… I don’t know what happened. The light… my hand jerked. I’ll buy you a new one, Henry. I didn’t mean….”
“Shh,” he whispered. “Let’s wash this.”
He guided me to the bathroom, and ran the water until he was satisfied with the temperature.
I stared at my hand in disbelief. This was not the evening I had imagined.
The warm water flowed over the wound, washing away the blood.
Henry held my palm steady under the faucet, his expression unreadable, but there was something careful, almost focused in the way he moved.
“It’s not bad,” he said calmly. “Just a small cut.”
As the water ran over my hand, something odd happened.
The wound, which moments ago was fresh and bleeding, slowly started to close.
My heart thudded in my chest as the skin knitted itself back together.
A small, nearly invisible shard of glass twinkled in the light before it fell out of the wound, and washed down the drain.
“What the hell?” I muttered, more to myself than to Henry, because how could I possibly explain what I had just seen?
Henry broke through my swirling thoughts by lifting my now fully healed hand to his lips. He pressed a soft kiss to where the wound had been moments before.
“All better.”
His voice was low and calm, as if nothing weird had happened. My mind scrambled to make sense of it. I tugged my hand back and flexed my fingers, staring. “How…?”
Henry smiled and kissed my cheek. “I need to make sure the pot doesn’t boil over,” he said, and left me alone in the bathroom.
I felt that something big had just shifted between us. This felt like another secret Henry wasn’t ready to reveal. For the first time since he told me he wasn’t being honest, I didn’t want to ask for more.
Shaking it off, I returned to the main room. Henry was already cleaning up the glass. “I can do that,” I said.
“Already done,” he said with a smile. “And so is dinner. Let’s eat.”
Over pasta, bread, salad and wine, I had the best dinner date of my life.
Soft jazz played in the background and we chatted like we had on the ride to Frederick.
This time we avoided heavy topics and talked about what things we could do together in the coming weeks.
The conversation eased my doubts about Henry’s sincerity.
He made it clear he planned to stick around for a long time if I let him.
And I had every intention of keeping him. I still had a lot of questions, but for once, I allowed myself to take things as they came.
We cleaned up, took our wine glasses to the couch and settled in next to each other. I’d never felt so comfortable just being with someone without talking or doing something. He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me into his side.
In the dim light, enveloped by soft music, I felt a rightness I’d never known. It was like I belonged here, with Henry. My brain told me to slow down and keep some distance, but I couldn’t find a good reason to push him away. Not even a little.
“It feels good here.” I hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but I wasn’t sorry I did.
“It feels good having you here,” Henry said.
There was a small catch in his voice that sounded like regret.
To my core, I knew he wanted to tell me everything, but I couldn’t press him.
If I made him choose, he might not choose me.
Not yet anyway. Despite his secrets, I trusted him, which scared me.
I also knew if I gave into those fears, it would push him away.
I opted to stay the course and wait until he was ready.
We stayed like that for a while, just holding each other. Eventually, the closeness led to soft kisses that spoke more than either of us had the courage to say.
The rising temperature between us created a flicker of anxiety that caused me to hesitate. I trusted him, but I needed to protect my heart. If he needed time to be able to tell me, I needed time to be sure we were going to make it to that point.
Henry must’ve sensed my doubt because he pulled back. His fingers traced the curve of my cheek. “We can do as much or as little as you want. I can wait.”
That was the thing about Henry. He could wait. He wasn’t here for just the now. Knowing he’d be there tomorrow, I decided being with him was enough for now. I pressed my lips to his again, more firmly this time. “I’m tired. Would you be upset if we just went to sleep?”
“As long as I can hold you, not even a little bit.”
He said it with a sincerity that made me question my fears. It also thrilled me to know he wanted so much more than sex. “Let’s go to bed.”