Chapter 19 Henry
Chapter nineteen
“Henry, can you help me please?” Katarina calls from her suite.
She’s been quiet, but not avoiding me as judiciously as she was during Thanksgiving, so I’m hopeful that some girl time helped after the gala fiasco.
Walking into the closet, I see bags strewn about from the shopping trip she indulged in with Margot and Sloane.
“Katarina, where are y…” I freeze mid-sentence when I see her, facing away from me on her tiptoes on a step stool, reaching for a box on a high shelf.
She’s wearing clothes that I’ve never seen her in, high-waisted, cutoff jean shorts with what looks like one of my dress shirts.
Her sleeves are rolled up, and the hem is tied tightly around her waist. With her braid trailing down her back and her muscular legs shown to every advantage while she stretches, she looks exquisite.
“I can’t quite reach this box,” she says, then gasps as she begins to tip over backwards.
Rushing to her, I catch her bridal style with time to spare, relishing how light she is in my arms and seeing the lacy bra she’s wearing under my shirt.
Before I can react to having her in my arms again, she pops out of them to stand beside me and point.
“It’s that box. Can you get it for me, please?
” she asks sweetly, and I oblige, moving the unnecessary stool out of the way to grab what she needs from the high shelf.
Handing it to her, I see it contains…sex toys?
All shapes and sizes. One looks like it might be a tentacle, Jesus.
Before I can ask her about them, she’s in her bathroom, shutting the door with a breezy, “Thank you!”
Time for another cold shower.
“What are you doing?” I ask as my wife bends over to place her hands on her ankles, feet spread wide, and forehead almost to the floor.
I came to the pool this morning to find her wearing what can barely be called a swimsuit while she pornographically presents herself to me.
I swear I can see her pussy lips around the scrap of fabric.
“It’s Pilates! I’m trying to incorporate more functional movement.
You know I love swimming, and I don’t plan to stop, but I want to keep my flexibility and mobility into my old age, so I’m going to diversify my fitness,” she says brightly, deepening her stretch.
“I’ve been working on my splits, and I’m really close! ”
Jesus Christ.
“You’re nineteen years old. I don’t think old age should be on your list of concerns.” I sigh, preparing to dive in and hoping the water will distract me from all of my blood rushing south to my dick.
She pops back up with enough momentum that I see her full breasts bounce. That top is nowhere near sturdy enough for her to swim in.
She drops down into a deep squat, pulsing and shifting her hips back and forth as if sitting on a low bouncy ball. Or my dick…
“Fair enough!” she says. “But Sloane also said having mobile hip flexors really helped her bounce back after giving birth, so I just figured it was prudent to start working on it now!”
I gawp at her for a long second before turning and diving into the pool, finding absolutely no respite from my dick or thoughts of the siren on the bank full of my baby.
Fuck me.
“Henry!”
I sprint to Katarina’s suite, her scream pulling me from sleep at two o’clock in the morning. Bursting through her door, I see her sitting in bed, pointing at the corner, terror all over her face.
“What is it, Kitten?” I move to the corner in question, ready to kill.
“A spider!” she says with a shaky voice. “A big one. I saw it scurry all the way across my ceiling and over there!”
I look thoroughly, and finding no spider, turn to reassure her that there’s nothing when I see her sleeping attire.
High-waisted thong, barely there tank top, nipples poking through the thin material.
All in her perfect shade of periwinkle. She’s looking at me with tears in her eyes, shining violet in the moonlight, so I press a chaste kiss to her forehead and shuffle quickly to the door to hide my immediate erection.
“No spider. You’re safe. Go back to sleep.”
Fucking hell.
“Shhh,” I hear softly as I walk into the den after coming home early from work.
Sloane must have dropped LJ off for some “Aunty Kat” time today, because my wife is rocking my nephew as he sleeps, drool visible on her shoulder.
“I just got him asleep. He was fussing,” she whispers, before looking down adoringly at the little blond Sinclair.
Rooted to the spot, I watch them rock for the next thirty minutes, Kat closing her eyes and humming, a serenity about her that resonates in my soul.
Finally, I run a hand through my hair and move from my spot, heading straight for the shower.
God. I. Am. Fucked.
“Brother, I think we have enough wood to last all winter. Even if we lived in Alaska, which we do not,” Ledger observes, sipping his cider and watching me work.
Jack agrees. “Yeah, man. Are you working to chop some for like an old lady around here, or a homeless shelter, or something? My schedule is full because your sister is pretty fucking insatiable, but I can probably find some time to help for a good cause…”
Thwack.
Leaving my axe deep in the log I’m currently working to split, I observe my pile as I pull down my suspenders to take off my shirt underneath.
As soon as I do, I see steam rise from my skin, hitting the cool crisp air, and a cheer rises from the deck where the women are sitting around a firepit sipping their drinks.
Luckily, they’re too far away to hear us as I turn to threaten Jack.
“If you keep making jokes about fucking my baby sister, so help me, these babies will be the last you ever give her,” I say menacingly, but Ledger already has him in a light chokehold.
“You still can’t talk about her like that, man, even if I am happy you’re together,” Ledger says, before releasing Jack.
“Fine, fine. But my question stands. Why so much wood? Are you trying to prove to Kat you can provide for her? Show her what a daddy you can be, taking care of things?”
Picking my axe back up and brandishing it briefly at Jack to shut him up, I resume my chopping, enjoying the burn in my muscles as I get a steady rhythm going. I decide to cut straight to it.
“Your wives are ruining my life,” I say.
“What?”
“How?”
“My baby angel would never…”
I push through the log, finally, and turn to grab my scotch off a stump.
“Your wives took Katarina shopping after Thanksgiving, and since she got back, she’s been flouncing around my house in scraps of clothing.
Doing stretches. Holding babies, for fuck’s sake!
” I polish off my scotch before moving to take a seat across from the guys around the smaller fire we have burning away from the house.
They both stare at me for a beat before bursting into laughter.
“Oh, I wondered when you would come to us for help, big brother,” says Ledger. “I didn’t expect you to be down this bad when you did, though.”
Jack stops laughing first, but only to make more jokes at my expense. “Are your joints starting to creak from trying to keep up with her? You might need to join her for daily stretches.”
“Did she finally tell you about her student/professor fantasy? She told Sloane she was nervous to bring it up, but…”
Perhaps sensing that I’m seconds away from reaching for my axe again, Ledger elbows Jack, and they give me more sober looks.
“Really, bro. Sloane and Margot told us a decent bit about their time with Kat. Are you planning to be celibate forever? Are you punishing yourself or her at this point?” Ledger asks.
Sighing, I realize I could use some perspective and decide to be honest.
“It’s not about punishing either of us. It weighs on me a bit.
The age difference. I told myself I wouldn’t give anyone a chance to say anything untoward was happening.
To make sure she was comfortable here and with me before I tried anything.
I wanted to make sure she wanted me, and not just fleetingly or for sex.
I want her to need me. For everything,” I say, and neither of them is looking at me like I’m crazy. Yet.
Jack speaks up first, and being with my sister seems to have made him at least a little wiser. “Margot made it sound like you guys have become really good friends first, which is always a good thing. Not as good as childhood best friends, but…ow!”
Ledger’s smack shuts Jack up before he gets himself hit, but he echoes the same sentiment.
“We all know you aren’t just interested in her physically, man.
She’s clearly super fucking smart, and it’s cute that you guys do all your little nerdy stuff together.
She seems extremely mature for her age. Where’s the problem?
Something happened at the gala, Sloane said. But she wouldn’t give us details.”
Well. Might as well lay it all out there, even if I’m about to sound like a giant douche.
“At the gala, Katarina overheard two of my former submissives discussing our marriage, my disdain for intimacy, and some of the intricacies of our contracts…” I begin.
“Yikes, dude.”
“Damn.”
Ignoring their interruptions, I soldier on. “After she came back from the bathroom, she said she didn’t feel well, but I didn’t pry. The two women in question came over, and I introduced them as old friends. She recognized their voices and knew who they were.”
“Jesus Christ, brother.”
“Yeah, you might have to go the masked route, man. I suggest a full face balaclava and…ow!”
This time, it’s my hand to the side of Jack’s head that shuts him up, but I continue.
“She got upset even though she’s known about my history for a while, and I gave her the chance to ask any questions she wanted. I think it just reminded me of how young she is, this flash of immaturity.” I sigh.
Ledger speaks up next, and I’m surprised by his serious tone.
“Her reaction has absolutely nothing to do with her age, Henry. Come on. Any woman would have reacted the same way. I mean, at least tell me you ran after her when she went to make you jealous. How did she do it? Dancing with other men? A little flirt with the bartender? Sloane dancing for even one second with one guy at Rendezvous was enough to make me lose it after we had a similar fight.”
“What are you talking about?”
“After Kat got jealous, the natural response is to try to make you jealous, you know, a taste of your own medicine. What did she do after the women left?” he asks.
I pause, thinking back to that night. “She stayed quiet during the ceremony, then told me she wasn’t feeling well as we started dancing, so I brought her home. She went straight to her room. I assumed she was sick until she came to mine and told me how she felt.”
Two sets of eyes stare at me, blinking like owls in the night.
“What?” I ask.
Jack shares a look with Ledger before scratching his stubble and answering.
“Well, it’s just that it seems like a kinda reasonable response, you know?
You guys were in public, and she got faced with your experience, which is always different from talking about it.
She held it together as long as she could, asked to go home, then came to you to talk about it. ”
Ledger rolls his eyes to the sky. “Dude. Sloane tried to get revenge when this happened to us. She went to grind on some asshole on the dance floor! I had to drag her out, then grovel on my knees. It sounds like Kat’s maturity is not a real problem.”
Well, fuck. That makes me the problem. I shouldn’t be surprised since I don’t exactly have experience navigating meaningful relationships, but I’m thirty-seven years old. I should have been able to react to Kat’s feelings in a more reasonable way.
“Let’s say you guys are right. My wife is perfectly mature, and I’m not in danger of taking advantage of her. Now what? I’ve rejected her too many times. Now she’s just teasing me to torture me?” I ask.
“I don’t think that’s it, bro. I think she still wants you. But she wants you to want her more. It takes two to tango. I think it’s time to give as good as you’re getting,” Ledger says.
I raise an eyebrow.
Jack explains, “It’s time to get back to the pursuit, Henry. Before you fucked it up. But not just seduction. Sexually, mentally, physically, emotionally. All of it, man. And you cannot reject her again. You need to be ready to finally kiss her. And for God’s sake, fuck her.”
“Don’t say fuck and a pronoun referencing my wife in the same sentence, Carter!” I stand and make to grab him, but he’s a hair faster, running back to the deck and the women.
“It’s Sinclair now!” he yells over his shoulder, and I shake my head as I pull my shirt back over my head.
“I have faith in you, Henry. You’ve already let her past so many of your walls, and I don’t think she’s let you down yet,” Ledger says, pausing as we make our way back to the house. “I do think Jack was right about one thing, though, brother.”
“What’s that?”
“I think you give off big daddy energy. And with the age gap, come on. It’s right there. You’d be a fool not to at least give it a try. Here, let’s try. Hi, Daddy,” he says, in what I assume is meant to be a seductive voice but sounds like a drowning, high-pitched rat.
He gets a step on me before I can goose him, and we race back to the house.
Seeing my wife laugh with Margot, Sloane, and Jack as Ledger hides from me behind a chair fills my heart.
I can see now the game she’s playing, with her tight periwinkle sweater and sweatpants, a sliver of her abdomen teasing me.
If that’s what she wants, she’s gonna have to earn it.
Game on, Kitten.