21
“You really don’t have to come with me,” Jia said over her shoulder as she made her way to the kitchen at the back of the
community center.
She would just need one minute on her own to catch her breath. To make sense of what Henry had said about her. To remind herself
that he didn’t really know her at all.
But he wouldn’t let her go alone. He wouldn’t let her escape him and his surprisingly kind words.
“You said you were getting ice, and I’m coming to help you carry it out,” he said.
“I’ll be okay. I promise I’m capable of carrying a bag of ice.” The final word caught in her throat. She wasn’t sure why she
was getting so emotional. Maybe because she wanted to believe the things he said about the Jia there in the desert. That maybe
he was wrong about the Jia he terminated back in New York.
Henry’s hand wrapped around her arm and gently tugged at her to turn to face him. “I know you can get ice on your own, Jia. I’m becoming well aware of what you’re capable of. And it’s so much more than you give yourself credit for.”
She shook her head as he spoke. Jia was nice. She was kind. She was a good time. She made people happy. So she could plan
a party. But none of that mattered. When she met someone new, and they inevitably would ask What do you do?
When she filled out job applications, and they asked What’s your experience?
And if she wanted to have a voice, speak up about how maybe what had happened to her when she was fired wasn’t entirely fair,
no one would listen.
“Hey,” Henry said, blocking her path, stopping her in her tracks. He put his hand under her chin and lifted it so her eyes
were forced to meet his. “Listen to me. I don’t know what lies you’re telling yourself right now. But I’m telling you, I see
you, and this is what I know. And I don’t give out compliments or even bother to say kind words to people that often.” He
smiled. It was shy, self-effacing, so unlike the confident and stern Henry she was so used to seeing. It made her want to
listen.
“You’re incredible. Possibly the most capable person I’ve ever met. You’re capable of loving freely,” he said. His voice was
so gentle she almost didn’t believe she’d heard it. “You’re capable of making anyone feel seen and heard,” he added. He lifted
his hand and reached past her face, tucking an errant strand of hair behind her ear. “You’re capable of giving people their
value and their confidence back,” he said as he stepped in closer to her. “I’ve never been the type of person that usually
even notices these things. But with you, it’s like a billboard hangs out above you with shining lights announcing that someone’s
here to take care of everything, everyone. You, Jia, you take care of everything.”
She shook her head, trying to not let his words take residence in her brain. Jia Chung was a screwup. She let people down. And a few weeks out in the desert having some fun with old people didn’t change that.
Did it?
She still didn’t have a job. She still didn’t have prospects to set her up for her future. She still had bad credit. She still
had no health insurance. She could go down an entire list of things she didn’t have.
But Henry stood here trying to convince her she was more than enough. Could she believe him?
Henry crowded Jia closer until her back hit the wall. He reached out an arm and leaned it against the wall, blocking her in.
She didn’t know why she’d ever said it. She was not choosing the bear over this man.
He smelled impossibly good even through the scent of disinfectant and bleach in the community center’s kitchen.
“Actually, I was wrong, Jia. You’re not capable.”
There they were. The words that she knew would eventually come. He realized the truth.
She dropped her head and could not look at him. But his fingers gently propped below her chin, once again lifting her head
up to face him. “You’re so much more than that. You’re extraordinary.”
A tear pooled in and eventually dropped from her eye down her cheek, and he bent a little closer to her. His lips met it with
the gentlest kiss. She let out a sob.
“Sweet Jia, please don’t cry because someone, anyone, made you believe you were less than amazing,” he whispered into her
ear. “Especially if that someone was me.”
He pulled back and looked at her. His gaze was tender and pleading. His hands had grabbed her arms with just enough grip that she felt . . . grounded.
“Henry—” It was the only word she got out before his lips were on hers. They were but a whisper of a touch at first. Like
he was asking for the permission to kiss her. She placed her hands on his hips and pulled him until their bodies were flush
against each other. “Yes,” she said as she pulled back for just a second before pressing her kiss to him, harder than he had.
She had no hesitation. She wanted him.
And that was all he needed.
His mouth hungrily took over. He reached down, grabbed both her hands, and then lifted them above her head, holding them there
against the wall with one of his while his other arm wrapped around her waist. His upper body leaned in, pressing her back,
while his arm pulled her hips toward his.
Henry’s lips moved to her neck and then her ear. Jia’s head was spinning with desire, but she wasn’t able to reach for him
while he had her pinned. Jia didn’t usually like being overtaken, but with Henry, it felt safe. Like she knew how much being
in control meant for him, so giving him this felt like her own level of satisfaction.
The hand around her waist lowered, reaching down under her dress, lifting up the fabric to expose her from the waist down.
She felt the coolness of the air-conditioned chill and shivered.
“Open your eyes, Jia,” Henry commanded. She didn’t realize they’d been closed.
“I want to watch you,” he said.
Jia felt Henry’s hand tug at her underwear and pull it to the side. A long finger dragged along her fold, until it reached
the top and pressed against her clit.
Jia cried out at the pressure.
“You are so fucking wet and hot down here,” he growled.
For a brief second, Jia’s thoughts centered on how she’d never once heard Henry swear. Knowing she was the one to make him
lose that control made her smile.
“You like that, do you?” he said.
“Yes,” she said breathily.
The tip of his finger rubbed along her pussy until it found the opening. Henry’s eyes focused on hers as she felt his finger
enter her. Jia’s eyes fluttered closed at the penetration.
“Open,” he reminded her.
She quickly opened her eyes back up to look into his. His pupils were blown, and the look he gave her was so lust-filled she
felt more wetness flood between her legs.
“Fuck,” he said. He pressed his finger in again, dragging as he pulled it out. He added a second finger, and Jia felt the
stretch along with the faintest burn.
She wanted more.
“Henry, I want you,” she said.
He moved his fingers faster. “Baby, I’m gonna make you come just like this.”
She thrust her hips to meet his hand as he pumped harder. “I want you inside me,” she pleaded. She needed more. She wanted
the burn of being stretched, filled.
“Not here, not where I can’t take my time with you,” he said. He bent down to kiss her again, his tongue pushing into her
mouth, taking control, moving at the same pace as his hand. In and out.
Jia knew what Henry was capable of if they had more time. She’d had him before. She needed him again.
The mere memory of his cock inside her had her clenching, the pulsations of desire grabbing his fingers, letting him know how much she wanted him.
“Tonight, I make you come on my fingers, and I’m gonna lick every last drop of you off them. And clean your pussy up with
my tongue.”
“You recite legal briefings with that mouth?” she asked with a wicked smile.
Henry’s eyes flared, and the corner of his mouth lifted. “I’m gonna show you everything I can do with this mouth,” he whispered
into her ear.
God, Jia needed more of this man. She hungrily leaned in for his mouth, and he kissed her back, all lips, tongue, teeth. No
finesse, just a passionate ache to connect.
She reached down for the button of Henry’s slacks and pulled them open, dragging the zipper down with it.
Henry’s cock strained against the cotton of his boxer briefs, and Jia wanted to take a look. But that would require disconnecting
from Henry’s mouth, and she wasn’t ready for that yet. He tasted so damn good.
Instead, she let her hand do the exploring.
Her fingers found the waistband and pulled, giving her space to get her hand in and find its prize.
He was long, thick. She remembered how perfectly he had fit inside her, the stretch of when he entered, the fullness of when
he planted himself and then moved with precision.
Jia loved the feeling of him in her hand. She dragged her thumb across the tip of his cock. The wet of his precum making the
motion slick.
“Fuck,” Henry hissed at the contact.
As if Jia needed any more encouragement. But damn, hearing Henry cuss, losing control of his carefully chosen vocabulary, charged her.
She wrapped her fingers around his shaft and applied pressure.
His breathing sped up, and so did the thrusting of the fingers inside her.
Henry grabbed and lifted one of Jia’s legs and wrapped it around his waist, drawing them impossibly close at that angle. She
began to pump him, and as she did, her own motion dragged across her clit. His fingers on the inside, her own fist on the
outside, bringing both of them pleasure.
He angled one of his fingers and hit something inside her that triggered every nerve ending and made Jia gasp. “Oh god,” she
groaned.
He pressed his body closer to hers, each of them with a hand working toward the other’s pleasure trapped between their bodies.
She moved in tandem with his body rubbing, pumping, receiving the thrusts. She felt completely out of control and had no idea
how she was still standing.
She tightened her hold on him, and he growled in her ear, “Don’t you fucking dare make me come before you do.”
And as if he decided to release the secret weapon, his thumb pressed down on her clit. That was all it took. Jia felt like
an explosion had gone off within her. Waves of pleasure caused her to pulse between her legs. It was as if she was outside
of her body hearing her own voice scream Yes, yes, yes in a way that would give any porn star a run for their money.
She had no idea how she managed to keep holding on to him, but she circled his dick with her thumb and forefinger, dragging them along his shaft from tip to base.
When she’d stopped pulsating, he moved his fingers from her and shoved his hand down his pants and wrapped it around her hand.
His was wet from her orgasm. And the two of them together picked up the pace.
Henry quickly pulled his cock out of his briefs and his pants, turning at a slight angle as he came all over the wall next
to Jia. His hand held on to her shoulder while the last of his own thrusts and squirts emptied out of him.
Next thing she knew, he laid his head down on her shoulder.
There was something so intimate and tender about the position. Jia turned and softly laid a kiss on top of his head.
Jia felt Henry shift as he readjusted himself. He pulled up and managed to zip and button his slacks and then turn toward
Jia, helping straighten her skirt. He reached around her for the stack of napkins on the counter and gently cleaned their
hands and wiped down the wall.
“Probably gonna need some disinfectant for that,” he said.
He hadn’t looked at her once.
“Um, everything okay?” she asked.
She waited the second it took for him to respond. He straightened up to full height and then bent his head to look down into
Jia’s eyes. The intensity shocked her.
“You and I are going to fuck, for real, soon. And I mean it, Jia. I’m not waiting. I have to get inside you again. We’re figuring
out a when and a where, understood?”
As if she needed the encouragement. She nodded her head enthusiastically. She liked the sound of that.
He placed a surprisingly gentle kiss on her mouth and then her cheek. “We’re making a plan before the night is done. I’ll
fuck you in the back of my rental if I have to.”
The desperation in his voice charged her. She wanted it too. So much. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down for another kiss. A promise. Next time they’d do it for real. And soon. She shivered with the anticipation.
Jia pulled back, and Henry gave her a last kiss on the top of her head.
“We should probably get back out there,” she said.
He nodded. He took one more second and breath to gain his composure, and then he opened the door to the kitchen and led them
back out to the party.