Page 33 of As They Are (Strawberry Springs #2)

“Are you? Yesterday was a dumpster fire.” In more ways than one. My emotions felt more tangled than my hair after a roller coaster ride.

“I took the whole day off. Rest does wonders.” His eyes went down to my ankle. “And I’m pretty sure you don’t need to be running on a freshly healed sprain.”

Something in my chest loosened. He was back.

“I was making sure my boyfriend wasn’t doing something dumb,” I said with a roll of my eyes.

“That’s my job.”

My jaw fell open. “Are you roasting me right now? Who are you?”

“We can switch it up,” he said with a smile. “Now, go back over to what you were doing. I have something to give you, and Madison will come after us if it’s not on camera.”

I blinked, realizing he had something behind his back. “You’re killing my curiosity.”

“It’ll only take a few minutes.”

“That’s forever,” I moaned as I returned to my contractor. It was hard to talk about crack filling while I knew Henry had a gift for me, but I did my best.

It didn’t take much acting for me to be happy to see him. Or for me to run up and kiss him. In fact, I would have done that any day. Especially now that I knew how it felt when he?—

My thoughts flew out of my mind when he brought out a massive blue hydrangea. “This is for you.”

I stared at him in awe. “This is ... Wow, are you sure you don’t have a secret florist connection?”

“No, they’re from my house. I grew it.”

And I killed any plant I touched. “Thank you,” I said, looking at the fluffy flower. His gestures had been so sweet that I decided to dry all the others he’d given me. But for a flower this massive, I’d need to figure out how to do the same thing.

“I can open the clinic a little later if we need to do that interview.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. I figured it out.”

“Cut!” Madison yelled. “No business talk!”

“I’m not gonna apologize for communicating!” I snapped back.

“So, you’re still being difficult?”

I rolled my eyes and turned back to Henry.

“I have a feeling things didn’t go well here yesterday,” he said.

“Most of it was fine, so don’t even try to feel bad.”

His cheeks went red. “How did you know?”

“I might do dumb things sometimes, but I know you. And I’ll tell you later.”

“I can come by. I have an evening appointment, though.”

“I’ll be here. I have to deal with a few things now that I’m fully healed.”

“ Mostly healed.” He looked at me pointedly. “Don’t overdo it.”

“I guess you’ll have to make sure I don’t,” I said with a wink. “See you tonight?”

He pressed a kiss to my lips. “I’ll look forward to it all day.”

My stomach did a flip, and as he walked off, I had to remind myself exactly what this was.

I had a feeling I would be doing that more often.

Thankfully, I was pulled into work, which kept me busy. Though I gave Henry shit for it, I did try to not go too overboard with all that was on my list. My ankle was doing well, but it would hurt if I kept at it for too long.

Everyone left at five, and I took off my mic before going back inside to work upstairs. About thirty minutes later, the front door opened with a creak.

“Wren?” Henry called. “Are you here?”

“Yeah, give me a second!” My voice echoed off the walls as I finished what I was working on and started to slowly get up.

A hand helped me up halfway. “Still working?”

“I was doing easy stuff. Planning out tile.” I gestured to the ground where I’d laid out a few samples. “What do you think?”

“I don’t miss the old carpet,” he said. “Are you making this similar to the color scheme downstairs?”

“I am.”

“It’ll look great,” he replied. “Now, what happened yesterday?”

I blew out a breath. “I did the interview with Jude. Madison insisted on it.”

His brow creased. “I didn’t realize he cared for the town.”

“He doesn’t. He just pretended, which is what he’s good at. At the end of it, he put his arm around me and made this weird comment.”

Henry’s shoulders tensed. “Did he now?”

“Yeah. Don’t worry, I shut it down. No need to get fake jealous for me.”

“I’m not fake jealous. It’s very much real.”

Jealousy wasn’t an emotion I usually liked, but him feeling it for me sent a thrill down my spine. “Really?”

Henry brushed a strand of hair over my shoulder. “Yeah. I don’t like the idea of anyone making any moves on you. Not while I have you.”

I waited for him to clarify. To say that he only had me when we were in public. But the correction never came.

And I didn’t want it to.

I was tempted to ask what he was thinking, but for just this moment, I could let myself pretend that this was all real. He was mine. I was his.

The fantasy was too good to ruin with reality.

“I think he’s gonna keep trying, though. On Madison’s orders.”

“We’ll only wind up disappointing them.”

“My thoughts exactly. With that and ...” I trailed off, thinking of what Mollie asked me. “Some stuff at the farmhouse, a lot is on my mind.”

“Stuff at the farmhouse, huh?” He raised an eyebrow. “Does that have anything to do with Mollie being pregnant?”

“You know?” I asked.

“I do. I saw her rushing to the toilet after you fell off the ladder.”

“It’s pretty easy to figure out, isn’t it?”

“Very. And it’s also easy to see that you have mixed emotions about it.”

“I’m happy for her,” I insisted.

“I know you are, but it’s normal to feel uneasy when friends have major life changes.”

I shook my head. “I’m not upset about that either. She deserves this, and I want her to have everything she wants.”

“So, what are you upset about?”

I could lie. Say it was nothing. Henry would see right through it, though.

“It’s just that ... life didn’t end up the way I expected, I guess.

It’s hard to accept, but it’s not her. And honestly, I don’t want her to see anything other than happiness, because that’s what she deserves.

” I shook off thoughts I didn’t want to have.

“It just keeps coming up. Sometimes work helps, but now there’s all this stuff with Jude, and even being here feels wrong.

I need my brain to shut off for a while. ”

“Need another task to do?”

I laughed. “If you say it as an order, it might actually work.”

Henry went rigid, and I realized what I had said.

“That was a joke. A bad one, obviously. Ignore me. I know the rule.”

And he didn’t break them. Ever. I might have loved the sex. He did too, but it was over. Our one time was spent.

“A joke?” he asked. “You didn’t mean that at all?”

I winced. Of course he would want to know if I meant it.

“It was a joke with a nugget of truth in it. I do like the way your voice sounds when you tell me what to do. Especially when I make you get really firm. And when we had sex, it felt like I didn’t have a problem in the world.

My brain was quiet. But that’s over, and we’re back to friends.

I guess I’ll figure something else out.”

“Don’t.”

“Don’t what ?”

“Figure something else out. If it works, it works.”

“Are you suggesting that I annoy you enough to order me around?”

“I’m suggesting that we explore this.”

“This as in us ?”

“Yes.”

“But there was a rule.”

“Rules can be changed.”

Somehow, this was the most shocking thing he could have said. My eyes grew wide. “You’re suggesting we bend the rules? You? ”

“It’s new for me too. But you make me want to.” His hands were in his pockets, but his eyes were firmly on me.

I couldn’t believe this. He was willing to change rules. For me .

Had anyone done that before?

It was tempting to stare at him forever, to memorize this moment.

But he needed an answer before he changed his mind or took my silence as a no.

“You said we would explore this. Explore it as in it’s another one-time thing?”

“Honestly?” He shook his head. “I don’t know if it can be.”

“Me either.”

“We should still have some rules, though.”

I nodded. The idea of it was a little comforting. My Henry was in there somewhere. “Please don’t tell me you’ll only be nice.”

He laughed. “No, not that. But this is ... risky. I want to be sure we don’t have regrets when it’s time for you to go back to Nashville.”

I nodded. I’d be back to visit Mollie, but the point still stood. I would be living in Nashville and spending most of my time there. “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.”

“We still fake date. We’re still friends in private, with the added benefit of ...”

“You telling me what to do while you give me orgasms?”

“Exactly,” he said with a smile. “And not at our houses. That’s a slippery slope. At least for me.”

I nodded, trying to hide my disappointment. I still wanted to see every part of him. And that included where he lived.

But he was right. I was leaving, and getting our wires crossed was a bad idea.

“And if you ever wanna change things, you can tell me at any time.”

He said it like I would want to. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t. “Okay,” I said. “I’ll let you know if things change. Anything else, Mr. Rule Man?”

“That’s Doctor Rule Man, and no. That’s it.”

“All of that sounds good to me.” I stepped close, running my hand up his tie. “Are you open to some exploration now?”

“I’m up for it any time I’m with you.” Henry’s hand traced my cheek. “And I have an idea for the desk that’s just over there.”

He didn’t have to say anything else. I was running for it the second he suggested it.