25
Jia was, on most days, a people pleaser. She liked making people happy. She rarely minded if it came at the cost of her own
comfort or convenience. And the other upside was that this approach helped her avoid the one thing she hated: conflict.
When it came to pleasing Henry, it offered Jia her greatest satisfaction. She squeezed her legs together, pressed her bare
knees into the thin rug at the foot of her bed, stretched her jaw as wide as she could, and took him all in. And she loved
it.
“Fuck, Jia,” he said as she opened up her throat to take him farther.
“Jesus Christ,” he swore when she added pressure with her lips as he slid through till they met his tip.
“Baby,” he groaned as she took his balls into her hand and gently massaged them to the rhythm of her mouth around his dick.
She was in heaven. Henry’s pleasure was her singular focus.
“Jia, wait,” he said. He pushed her shoulders gently, his cock pulling out of her mouth with a pop. “Come here.”
“Is something wrong?” she asked. Her mouth turned into a frown. She was having fun.
“I’m gonna come if you keep going on that way. And I want to be inside you when that happens,” he said.
“Oh,” she said and turned that frown right around. “Yay!”
He laughed as he sat up and took hold of both her arms and guided her off her knees and onto the bed. He pushed her down and
rolled on top of her. “Now, this is better.”
He grabbed the hem of the enormous muumuu and easily pulled it up and over her head. He threw it off to the side of the bed.
Henry stared down, running his gaze from her head to her toes. He was completely still except for his head moving as he took
in her body, and yet his breathing labored, like controlling himself in this moment, taking his time, spent energy akin to
a workout.
Henry reached his fingers down between Jia’s legs. “You’re so wet for me,” he said. There was a sense of awe in his voice
that humbled her.
“Henry,” she whispered, “I need you.”
Those were all the words he needed to hear. He scrambled off her and reached over the foot of the bed where his shorts had
been stripped off and left on the floor. He fumbled around and came back holding a condom between his fingers. “Got it,” he
said, his face beaming with pride.
“Why am I not surprised that you came prepared?” Jia teased. “And thank god for that.”
He tore open the package and quickly rolled the condom on himself, returning to his position above Jia.
“You okay?” he asked.
She nodded. “Yes, better than okay.”
He lined himself up at her entrance and pushed slowly.
Just a little bit to start, gauging Jia’s body’s ability to stretch around him, to accommodate his size, to take him.
And then he pushed some more. They’d only done this once before, but as he made his way into her fully, they both moaned their pleasure in unison.
She felt impossibly full.
And she needed him to start moving. She lifted her hips to encourage him, and that was all he needed.
Henry pumped in and out of Jia, slow, small movements at first. But then he picked up his pace. She wrapped her legs around
him, holding on and encouraging him to go harder.
“You feel so good,” he said.
“Henry, I want you deeper,” she told him. She pressed down with her hands, trying to bring his body closer.
Henry was, Jia was finding, incredibly responsive to her sounds and her needs, both her encouragement and her begging. He
dragged himself out almost completely before pressing himself back in, hard. He did it again, and the delicious push and pull
of him ignited all of Jia’s nerve endings. She felt it in her toes.
Henry lifted one of Jia’s legs and placed it on his shoulder, the position causing her to rise a little onto her hips. The
angle felt completely different and reached new, hidden parts inside her she didn’t even know could be touched. He pumped
into her at an angle, their bodies slapping each time they came together with his thrusts.
He buried himself as deep as she could take him and then slowed down to small movements. Henry moved his hand from her leg
down to her clit, and with each thrust of his penis, he pressed against her most sensitive spot.
“Oh god,” she cried out. “Henry, I think I’m close.” He’d already made her come once with his mouth earlier. She couldn’t believe she was already there again so quickly.
He wrapped his arms around her and turned them, flipping them so that Jia was now on top. “Ride me, Jia. Ride me until you
come,” he said.
She placed one hand on his shoulder, and with the other, she lined him up and then lowered herself onto him in one move.
He groaned so loud she felt the vibration in his chest. She lifted herself up and pushed herself back down. Over and over,
each time slightly rubbing her clit against his body. The friction and the fullness were all she needed. Jia’s pussy tightened
as the orgasm rippled through her, wave after wave. “Oh god,” she cried out. “Yes, god, yes.” It felt like it went on forever,
a pleasure almost to the point of pain. Jia couldn’t imagine surviving it.
She hadn’t realized she’d shut her eyes. But when she finally opened them, it was just in time to watch Henry’s neck cord
and his entire face freeze in pleasure. He pushed up into her one, two more times before he stiffened and yelled “Fuck, Jia.
Fuck yes.”
He was beautiful. And in that moment of completely spent bliss, she thought to herself that she would be willing to do whatever
it took to see Henry’s face, unguarded and completely released, whenever she wanted for as long as she could.
The first time they had hooked up, when they were nameless and unknown to one another, Jia had snuck out of his apartment
in the middle of the night. She’d felt a bit of regret about it. Not because she owed him to stay longer, but because she’d
actually kind of wanted to.
This time, they had all night. And she was surprised to find that Henry was a cuddler. She was thrilled by this.
Jia’s legs tangled with his, his arm casually draped over her body holding her close as they faced each other. He looked at
her, his expression soft, and she watched as his eyes examined every part of her face. She wiggled her toes a little, and
he met her movements with his own. They sat there quietly, just enjoying each other’s presence.
“I have to go back to New York in a couple days,” he said, breaking their safe cocoon.
Jia knew that Henry’s time at The Sunset was coming to an end. She just didn’t realize it was so soon. She nodded. “I figured.”
The mention of New York changed Henry’s face, hardening what Jia had just come to see of his soft edges. She could spend hours,
days, years, longer if he’d let her, learning all the expressions of his face, his body, his heart.
But she couldn’t even let herself think of that without finally telling him what had been on her mind.
“Henry.”
He raised his eyebrows and tightened his grip on her hip in reflex.
“I need to tell you something. And I, well, I need you to tell me what you think I should do,” she said.
She saw it . . . the flare in his eyes, how he shut down his features and put them on lock. He knew. He must have known all
along.
“Jia,” he stopped her from going further. “We can’t talk about this.”
“But I think we have to,” she said. “I’m confused, and I’m not sure what to do. And since you’ve kinda, sorta been involved—”
“Stop. Don’t go on.” Henry moved to sit up, and she immediately missed his body on her. He lay back against the headboard
and looked straight ahead. “Jia, it’s a conflict of interest. I can’t talk to you about this. I can’t talk to you about the
company. About what happened to you. About this lawsuit.”
“You know,” she said. Of course he knew it. But hearing it come from his mouth, knowing that they’d both held it in the entire
time they were together tonight just so that they could have this before whatever happened next, broke her heart. “I’m sorry.
I didn’t mean to put you in a bad position by bringing it up.”
He turned his face to look at her. He reached his arm out and invited her to come to him. She snuggled closer, laying her
head on his chest as his arm wrapped around her, cocooning them in. She listened to his heartbeat, steady and strong.
“I don’t know what to do,” she whispered.
“Jia, you have to do what’s right for you. Not what you think someone else wants. Not what you think other people need. What
do you need? That’s what’s most important. Whatever happens, whatever you decide, that’s all that matters.”
Had anyone ever given Jia permission, encouraged her even, to make a choice completely for herself, without anyone else to
consider? Had she ever allowed herself this choice? Did she even know how?
She turned and kissed Henry’s chest over his heart. Then she rested and let his steady breathing lull her to sleep. She’d
decide tomorrow what to do.
Tonight, she’d go on pretending that it didn’t matter.