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Forty-Three

Henry

Jade’s acting strange today, so when Reed asks her to go downstairs to get the turkey platter he forgot, I say I’ll help with the excuse of being taller than her so I can reach it.

Once we’re downstairs and in the unfinished storage area, I press up against her back, moving her hair out of the way and kissing her shoulder. “In twenty-four hours, I’ll be inside you.”

My hands toy with the hem of her sweater, lifting it and slipping underneath, feeling her smooth, soft skin under my fingertips.

Her hands stop mine right before I cop a feel. “Someone might come in here.”

Usually once we’re alone, she’s all about how much we can get away with before someone comes.

“What am I missing?”

“Nothing. You don’t want Bodhi to catch us, right?”

I place my hands on her hips and turn her around. She won’t make eye contact with me. “Jade, what’s going on?”

She throws her hands in the air and steps out of my grip. “Why don’t you want anyone to know?”

I shake my head. “What?”

“About us? Why are we a secret?”

I glance at the door and see that we did shut it. “We agreed. You said you were okay with it.”

“What was I going to say? I… are you…”

I step forward, not liking the space between us. “What assurances do you need from me right now?” Before she can answer, I add, “Is this about the mom thing? I knew I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s just hard, Jade. I want us to fast forward time. I don’t want to do this dating thing. I want to pack your bags and take you home with us where you belong. But I’m trying to be respectful of you.”

She inhales a deep breath and lets it out slowly.

“Say something.” I need to know what’s bothering her.

“Are you afraid I’m going to leave? Are you afraid that I’ll hurt Bodhi?”

I run my hand through my hair and rock my head back. “No… but… I mean, it’s a concern, but that’s not why I wanted to keep us a secret.”

“Then why?” I can tell she’s losing her patience, the same way I was a minute ago when she wouldn’t tell me what was going through her head.

“I didn’t want to scare you off. It sounds great, but it’s not easy being a professional hockey wife. Between our schedule, the press, the fucking puck bunnies. And we have all of that on top of the pressure we’re putting on ourselves to make this second chance last. We have so many people watching us, questioning our actions. I didn’t want the pressure of you possibly hurting Bodhi in the equation on top of all the hockey shit and our past. So, I figured I’d use our time sneaking around to show you how good it is between us, and it would solidify us so that we could handle the other stuff.” There. All my worries are out on the table.

“So, it’s not because you don’t trust my decision about staying? You’re not worried I’m going to be gone one morning?”

This is a tricky question because I don’t want her to think I don’t trust her. “I don’t think you’d ever run away in the middle of the night. I don’t think you’d ever hurt Bodhi on purpose. And I think you have figured out that home is where you need to be. The happiest I’ve seen you has been these last three days with Bodhi and me. I can’t deny there’s an underlying fear, but it’s not about you running. It’s about the possibility of having to live life without you.”

She walks over to me, and I open my arms, bringing her in for a tight hug. “I love you, Henry, but this whole secret thing is making me feel like we’re not real. I get the Bodhi thing, I do, but…”

“No, you’re right.” I pull back and cradle her chin in my finger and thumb. “Let’s tell Bodhi. I know he’ll be happy about it, and then we can tell other people, okay? I was wrong to make us wait this long.” I place my lips on hers, and she presses her body against mine. “I’m sorry.”

I wish we’d had this conversation tomorrow night at the hotel so I could show her how much I want this to work. That I never wanted her to feel bad about hiding our relationship.

Turning us around, I step us back to the wall, taking her head in my hands, and I devour her mouth. I slide my tongue between the seam of her lips, and as always, it’s only us, leaving everyone and everything else to disappear. Unable to get enough of her, I unclasp her jeans and lower the zipper.

She strips her mouth off mine. “Henry, what if someone comes in?”

I slip my hand in under the elastic waist of her panties. “God, you’re so wet. Always so fucking wet for me.” My finger slides from her clit to her opening and back, coating her wetness over her swollen nub. I massage her clit in slow circles. “I can’t wait to see my cock stretching your pussy tomorrow night.”

“Presumptuous much?” Her head falls to the wall when I use two fingers and rub them against the inside walls of her pussy.

“I know you want my dick.” I draw back and smile at her and run my fingers back up. I’m going to spend the entire day, the entire night, and tomorrow’s entire game with a raging hard-on for this woman.

“I do, I can’t deny it.”

I continue teasing her opening and her clit, listening to the sounds of how wet she is.

“Henry,” she pleads, so I rim the opening of her pussy with my finger, splaying my palm over her clit, pressing her back to the wall. “Oh, god.”

“Shh… baby.” I press my lips to hers, and she dives her tongue into my mouth.

She reaches around the back of my head and pulls at my hair. Things get heated, and I swallow her moans, pushing my fingers in and out slowly. When I curve my fingers to hit the spot I know she loves, her legs widen, and she grinds her hips up, pressing her mound harder onto my hand.

“I love watching you come. I love how swollen you get when you’re turned on. How wet you are right now. You’re fucking beautiful under my hand, and I can’t wait to see you with my dick inside you.”

She grips my sweater at my shoulders and the walls of her pussy clench, squeezing my fingers as she comes on a silent cry. Then her body relaxes, and all the tension that was consuming her only minutes ago is gone.

I kiss her one last time, slowly moving my fingers out of her, then I slide them into my mouth, tasting her and wishing we had all day to explore one another. Her eyes hood with lust watching me suck her essence from my fingers.

“You still taste fucking divine.”

She pushes me away. “Shit, Henry,” she says and buttons and zips her jeans. “Do you think anyone heard us?”

I shrug. At some point, I think I was too enthralled in the act to care honestly. “It doesn’t matter because we’re going to tell everyone, right?”

“Telling everyone we’re seeing each other and them hearing you finger-fuck me in the basement are two different things.”

Right before we walk out the door, I run my hand behind her head and kiss one last time in secret before we tell everyone. Here we go.