Page 43 of Beautiful Trauma
The expression in Henry’s eyes turned from lustful to daring in a blink. “Not a chance.” Henry loosened the towel from around his hips and let it fall to the floor. It was doing a poor job of disguising his growing erection anyway. “How about you, Ezra? It’s been nearly a week since you’ve touched me. What would happen if I were to decide that watching movies with clothes on was overrated? Could you make it to the credits without pinning me to the couch and taking me?”
I sat up quickly then flung my legs over the side of the bed to stand up. “I guess I need to level the playing field then.” I hooked my thumbs in the waistband of my sweats and pushed them down my hips. I watched Henry’s eyes track their movements down my legs until the sweatpants pooled at my feet. “Now we’re even.”
Henry’s gaze snapped up to lock with mine. “Let the games—I mean, movie—begin.”
I’d never stood in my kitchen buck-ass naked before, and any awkwardness I might have customarily felt was negated by the sight of Henry’s pert ass on display when he rose up on his tiptoes to reach the popcorn bowl in the cabinet.
“Need a hand?” I offered. “I’m only a few inches taller than you, but sometimes a few inches are all you need to get the job done.”
Henry smiled at me over his shoulder. “Bringing out the big guns, I see,” he said when his gaze landed on the erection jutting out from my pelvis. Henry winked playfully then added, “You just keep your inches over there.”
Fuck, I loved the banter we shared. Our playfulness extended to every form of communication between us—talking, texting, and even sex. Henry just made my heart happy.
I wrapped my hand around my dick and stroked twice. “If you don’t need me, then…”
“Oh, I need you all right, but it’s going to wait until Vinny saves the day.”
“Henry, this movie better be amazing.”
He turned fully, the popcorn bowl temporarily forgotten, and placed his hands on his hips. A slow smile—confident and curious—spread across his face. “Or you’ll do what?”
“I guess you’ll just have to see, won’t you?” I quipped.
Henry’s head fell back, and joyous laughter echoed around my kitchen. “What you meant to say was you don’t know, but you’ll have nearly two hours to come up with a plan if I should resist your tempting body.”
“Okay, you have me there, but I’ll come up with something you won’t ever forget.”
“You do realize you’re only adding fuel to my determination to resist you until the credits play,” Henry asked. “I mean, I’ll get to watch a movie I love, and I’ll get whateverpunishmentyou dole out if you don’t like the movie. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I kind of hope you hate it.”
The microwave pinged, signaling the popcorn was ready.
“Grab the bowl, Henry.”
Henry’s mouth fell open and a soft gasp escaped him. “You use that same voice when you tell me to grab my ankles.”
A low growl rumbled in my chest. “Henry.”
“Oh, God. That’s the one you use when I’m about to come, and you want me to hold it.”
“Christ,” I gritted out.
“Okay, that’s better,” Henry said, smiling impishly. “Annoyed professor voice to the rescue.” He pivoted around and got just enough of his fingertips on the bowl to tip it toward him.
Whether to ward off the chill from the air-conditioning or because I wanted to up the stakes and make resistance more difficult, I wrapped the chenille throw blanket around us, forming an intimate cocoon. With Henry’s body pressed firmly against my left side, I balanced the large bowl of popcorn on our thighs. Resisting his nakedness was going to be the biggest challenge I’d faced, but I was determined to do it. Until Henryaccidentallydropped a few pieces of popcorn that just happened to land between my legs.
“Oops,” he said, not even bothering to hide his evil glee. “Let me just get that. We don’t want to waste any popcorn.”
“It would be a travesty,” I said as the opening credits began rolling. An evil smile curved on my lips as I recalled the terms of our agreement.
Henry’s fingers danced between my thighs, teasing a path toward my balls where the popcorn conveniently rested. “Aha! Found them,” he announced, making sure to fondle my sac. I tightened my thighs, trapping his hand. “Surrendering already, Ezra?” he asked breathlessly.
I picked up the bowl of popcorn and set it on the coffee table. “Not at all. I’m just taking advantage of a loophole. You said credits but didn’t specify opening or closing.” I pushed him to his back, and Henry eagerly parted his legs to make room for me. “Rule number one: be precise when issuing a challenge. You lost; I won.”
Henry’s vibrant eyes were a kaleidoscope of emotion and color as he studied my face. He raised his hand and traced my jawline with his index finger, stopping to tap the dimple in my chin. “I’m not sure there’s a true loser here, Ezra. I think we can admit we’ve both won.”
Shaking my head, I said, “Nope. The current score is Henry: twenty-five; Ezra: one.”
Henry snorted. “How the hell do you figure that?”