Page 45 of As They Are (Strawberry Springs #2)

“Not for me.” I shook my head. “I like it all.”

“I didn’t think it was possible for someone to.” He pressed a kiss to my lips. “Now I see I was wrong.”

I could have stayed there all night in his embrace, but I also knew I had more house to see.

“How many bedrooms?”

“Three.”

“That’s a lot of space.”

“Most of the houses here were built for families. I use one to store my massive collection of sweaters.”

“Seriously?”

The corner of his mouth quirked. “No, I just use the closet.”

Henry led me to the bathroom, which was also original. I couldn’t help but notice every single part of him everywhere, including the aftershave he used and the razor on the vanity. This was his life, and I finally got to see all of it.

“You know, if you’d met me when I first got here, I would have said a lot more needed changing. But after living in Mollie’s house, I like the history. This house has it too. What matters is that you like it.”

“I do,” he said. “But we could make it work if you did have changes.”

“How long do you think I’m staying for?”

“As long as you want,” he replied.

“I would take you up on that, but I do have projects lined up. Huge ones. Three hours away.”

“I know. We can make it work. How long will they take?”

“A few months.”

“And then what?”

“Then I find the next thing to fix.” I shrugged. “Or at least, that was the plan. The show was supposed to allow for bigger and better things, but after this ... I don’t know if I can keep going.”

“You don’t have to. You could come here.”

I thought about it. Mollie was here. Tammy was here. Henry was here. “You’d really be okay with that?”

“A lot of people would,” he said. “More than you know.”

“I always thought my life would be fixing things. And I still love it but ... maybe it doesn’t have to be all work.”

“It doesn’t. You could spend it doing other things.”

It was a future different than I thought possible.

But I wanted it.

I brought him back to me, kissing him only for me. No one else. And I liked it this way.

“You know, the one downside to this surprise trip is that I don’t have any extra clothes.”

“Wear mine,” he said as his hands roamed up my sides. “You can have anything of mine, actually. Though the pants might be a little long.”

“I’m not that much shorter than you.”

“You’re not at all, but it makes your cheeks go red whenever I remind you that I’m taller than you.” He pressed a kiss to my warm skin. “It’s my favorite color.”

I thought I was adjusting to the guest room of the farmhouse, but it didn’t compare to the night of sleep I got at Henry’s.

His room had the most comfortable mattress I’d ever put my body on, and he only had on low lights to read.

I wanted to talk to him more after my shower, but the second I lay my head on his shoulder and he started rubbing my back, I’d passed out.

I’d been in a lot of houses, but they never felt like homes . Henry’s did.

Natural light was what finally stirred me the next morning, as well as Henry’s soft breathing next to me.

He was still in the position we’d fallen asleep in, me on his shoulder and him on his back.

His book was on the nightstand next to him with his glasses on top, and I wondered if he’d even moved before joining me in sleep.

I curled in tighter, trying to take in the moment. My leg hiked up, only to hit something very hard as I did so.

My eyes popped open. I’d barely woken up yet, but already my mind was flooded with all of the things we could do. My hand trailed his stomach as I tried to wake him up. He didn’t stir.

But my pinky grazed his warm skin, and God , he felt so good.

My leg was still pressed against his cock and he let out a sigh as his hips jerked up for friction. I bit my lip and gave him what he obviously craved. His brow furrowed as his eyes finally opened.

“W-Wren?”

“I really hope you weren’t expecting someone else.”

“Absolutely not. I was making sure I wasn’t still dreaming.”

I sat up and swung a leg to sit on top of him, his erection pressed against my ass. “Nope, but you have my mind on one thing. I hope you can handle me messing with your schedule.”

“Fuck the schedule,” he said, reaching for my cheek to pull me down into a kiss. He rarely ever cursed, but it sounded incredible. I’d done that to him. I’d made him do something new. As my lips moved against his, I shifted downward, rubbing against him.

I hadn’t slept in much. The lingering heat outside made me turn down the sweatpants Henry offered, and I’d made it work with my underwear and his shirt. I’d thought I would have stayed away long enough to enjoy my outfit choice with him the night before, but this was just as good.

“It’s like you were made for me,” he murmured into my skin. “Only me.”

His words felt so good, almost too good. But I took them in, remembering that Henry was like no one else I’d ever met in my life. He was incredible in every way, and he’d asked me to be his.

Nothing else mattered.

“And you were made for me,” I said.

I craved friction as our mouths met again. The kiss turned dirty as I moved, letting myself get lost in us.

His cock felt so good on my clit, even when we were separated by clothes. My hands tightened on his shoulders as I chased after the feeling I needed.

I came when he cupped my breasts under his shirt. His palms rubbed against my nipples and I cried out, body tightening as my vision went dark. Heat poured from my core into the rest of me. Henry pulled back, his eyes tracing every one of my features as I came down from it.

“You’re so beautiful every time you do that,” he said.

“Is that why you always make sure I come?”

His expression went flat. “No. I make sure you feel good because I want to. This is just an added bonus.”

I sat back, eager to feel more of him.

“Do you have condoms here?”

“I grabbed a few when you were in the shower. Check the nightstand.”

Sure enough, they were there, and I grabbed one. I fumbled with his boxers, but I freed his cock. After the condom was on, I moved my underwear to the side before guiding him to press into my opening.

His hands tightened on my hips. “Go slow, buttercup. Don’t rush this and hurt yourself.”

“I’ll do what I want.”

“Don’t make me flip you over,” he warned.

I stilled. I was tempted to make him order me around, but we had time for that. We had time for a lot.

“Fine, but only because I really like being up here.”

He pulled me in for another kiss as I pressed downward. My body was ready for him in most ways, but he’d been right. I always underestimated how long it took me to fully let someone in, and that went for multiple things in my life.

I was lucky Henry was so patient. We were both breathing heavily when I finally had him all the way inside of me. This position was like nothing else we’d been in, and he felt deeper than he’d ever been before.

Taking one experimental jerk of my hips, he somehow went even deeper, causing both of us to groan.

My hair was falling down on him. His eyes cut to it once and then twice before he grabbed it and wrapped it around his fist. “I wanna only focus on you, and this is distracting.”

His hold made my body heat up. “No, fuck , this is good. I love this, actually.”

“When are you going to stop being perfect for me?”

Despite how good every part of my body felt, my stomach flipped. When had I been perfect for anyone? “Hopefully never.”

His hand drew circles on my hip. “I can agree to that.”

He jerked up this time, making me bounce on his lap. I let out a gasp as he did it over and over again, pounding into me while I sat atop him.

Maybe this was my new favorite thing. Maybe he was my new favorite thing.

Henry fucked me like this for what could have been seconds or minutes. I couldn’t think of anything else but how he felt while moving inside of me.

One of his hands pressed to my clit, eliciting a groan. That was exactly what I’d needed to climb one last peak while he fucked me.

“H-Henry, yes .” I gasped. “Just like that.”

He kept the pace, eyes on me as I chased after the feeling. I crashed over the apex of another orgasm, body stuttering as that familiar heat took over.

“Fuck,” he said as he slammed into me once more.

“That gets better every time,” I said, still out of breath.

“Agreed.”

I rubbed my eyes, feeling my stomach rumble. “So, what’s next on the list?”

“Well, there’s only one thing to do. Breakfast?”