Page 45 of Resilience on Canvas

Chapter Twenty-Three

Robert

Later that evening, once the sun was starting to dip below the horizon, Robert and Henry were cuddled together in the bed of Henry’s truck, their heads resting on a shared pillow while Henry shyly held up one of his spiral-bound sketchbooks, one he hadn’t yet opened.

Henry blew out a nervous-sounding breath.

“What are you so worried about?” Robert whispered. “Do you really think I’ll criticize you? I can barely even read my own handwritin’.”

“No, it’s not that. It’s... I should probably tell you that the, uhm, the subject of some of my—”

Robert snatched the book. “Lemme see.”

He opened to a random page, and before Robert could even make out what—or who —was the subject of the work, Henry turned to smush his face into the pillow.

“Good God, it’s the most humiliatin’ one,” Henry said, his voice muffled.

Robert snorted. He wasn’t sure what Henry was saying because the drawing was nothing short of spectacular.

It was of a shirtless man standing in a lush field swinging a mowing scythe.

Maybe Henry was feeling bashful because the man’s muscles were clearly meant to be the focus of the piece.

But it wasn’t no surprise to Robert that Henry found the male form exciting.

So, then, why was Henry being like this?

Just then, Robert noticed the unmistakable mole on the man’s upper left shoulder.

Laughing warmly, Robert said, “Hey, this is supposed to be me, ain’t it?”

Henry simply groaned into the pillow. Robert’s smile broadened. Pride and elation flared to life in his chest, both feelings intensifying as he studied the picture some more.

After spending a few more seconds admiring that first drawing, Robert started to flip through the book, and though there were sketches of other things, too—farmhouses and plants and even food—many were of him.

“Hen, this is... wow,” Robert said, continuing to flip through. “What a talented son of a bitch you are.”

Henry turned to kiss Robert’s clothed shoulder.

“Don’t you think it’s strange of me to have been obsessin’ over you like that?”

Robert shut the book and set it aside. He rolled over to face Henry.

“Strange?! Of course not. It’s flatterin’.” He touched their lips together. “Really. I love it. Did you really think of me that much?”

“Gosh, constantly.” Henry squeezed his eyes shut.

“It’s embarrassin’ how much time I spent thinkin’ of you.

Even that first picture you saw took me hours to draw.

Hours I spent by myself in my room...

thinkin’ of you... imaginin’ you workin’ on your farm.

.. rememberin’ that I saw you without no shirt on. ..”

Henry shifted his hips forward, pressing his hardness to Robert’s thigh as he hitched a breath. Robert’s stomach tumbled.

“Jesus Christ, Hen.” He felt himself becoming hard now too. “Did you touch yerself? While you were workin’ on that one?”

“Uh-huh,” Henry said, rolling his hips some more. “More than... more than once, too.”

Robert mumbled a soft “fuck” before catching Henry’s mouth in a passionate kiss.

He scrambled to unfasten Henry’s belt. Henry’s hands found Robert’s belt, too, his previously shallow breathing becoming fast and ragged.

In only seconds, they were yanking each other’s pants to their knees, followed by their briefs.

Robert took Henry’s hardness in his hand, and Henry let out a moan into Robert’s mouth. Slowly, Robert began to stroke him, enjoying the feel of moving Henry’s foreskin over his precum-moistened head. Robert’s own cock started to weep, begging to be touched.

“What if someone sees us?” Henry wondered between kisses, his fingers brushing Robert’s shaft.

“It’ll be night soon,” Robert said, tilting back to look at the sky, which was awash in pinks and purples and blues. It would be completely black before long, except for the splash of stars. “Besides, we’re far enough from the road.”

Well, he had to hope that was true. Still, not one Goddamn thing could have stopped him from enjoying Henry’s company in exactly the way he wanted to right then. Him and Henry had been keeping things innocent enough for the last few weeks. Robert was ready for them to touch each other some more.

Or, Christ Almighty, maybe . . .

All of a sudden, the image of Henry sucking on Robert’s finger flitted into Robert’s mind.

Excitement shot through him, and he kissed Henry more forcefully, letting the feral need he felt to have that strange fantasy fulfilled take over.

He began pumping his fist faster, his strokes becoming rough, and when that beautiful, sinful image flashed in his head once more, he took Henry’s tongue into his mouth and sucked.

Fuck, how he wanted them to taste each other .

Henry let out a low chuckle and pulled back, releasing Robert’s cock from his hand.

“Goodness, Robert, I’ll finish even though we’ve barely started if you keep that up.”

Robert stopped moving his fist and let his hand fall to the floor of the truck bed.

“Dammit, Hen, I’m sorry,” he said. “I lost myself for a minute there.”

“We have the whole night. Ain’t like I’m tired or nothin’.

Heck, I spent half of today’s drive sleepin’ on you.

” Henry kissed Robert’s cheek. Somehow, even though they’d been kissing passionately only seconds before, the feather-light feel of Henry’s lips brushing his skin was making Robert’s stomach somersault some more.

“What had you so fired up? Did you miss touching me that much?”

“Well, yeah, but it’s somethin’ else too. I was thinkin’ of somethin’ I’ve been wantin’ to try together.”

“Yeah?” Henry’s eyebrows rose. “What?”

Robert’s cheeks began to burn. “Maybe we could...” His eyes flitted to Henry’s cock and then back up to meet his eyes. “Maybe we could taste each other.”

“Taste each other?” Henry’s brows furrowed in confusion, but then not one second later, his eyes widened. Had there been more sunlight, Robert knew he’d have seen that Henry was blushing, too. “Goodness.”

Before Robert could confirm that Henry might be interested in trying what he had proposed, Henry’s lips crashed into his. He began kissing Robert so forcefully, it had Robert wondering whether Henry might be leaving a bruise. Robert started to laugh.

Henry was practically panting when he pulled away.

“Who first?” Henry said, his words tumbling out so fast, Robert could barely understand them. “Me or you? ”

“Ah...” Anxious excitement swirled in Robert’s stomach. “Either.”

Henry began pushing on Robert’s shoulders, coaxing him onto his back.

“Maybe me? I mean, maybe I can be the one to kiss you? Down there?” He started kissing Robert’s neck and then traveled lower. Robert’s breath caught when Henry reached his chest. Even feeling Henry kiss him over the fabric of his shirt was exciting. “Can I?”

Robert huffed a laugh, the sight of Henry’s mouth moving toward his waiting cock making his heart hammer so hard, it seemed as though it might break free of his rib cage.

“Jesus, wait for me to respond, will ya?” Robert teased. Henry stopped kissing his stomach and looked up expectantly, his eyes large and hopeful and filled with lust. Robert ran a hand through Henry’s hair. “Yeah, you first, little wolf.”

Henry went right back to kissing Robert, first lifting Robert’s shirt and focusing on Robert’s stomach and then moving over to Robert’s bare hip. Finally, Henry stopped to hover that perfect mouth of his—those beautiful, plump lips—right over Robert’s waiting cock.

Henry then pressed a soft, wet kiss to the head, and Robert nearly came on the spot.

Somehow, by some Goddamn miracle, he managed to hold himself back.

Henry licked his lips, letting out a low hum like he was savoring the taste.

Robert’s eyes rolled back, and then he shut them with a moan.

Jesus Christ, that was the most fantastic thing he had ever seen.

Before Robert could even reopen his eyes, he felt Henry’s mouth on him again. Henry wrapped his lips around the entire head of Robert’s cock, and the sudden warmth sent a surge of pleasure pulsing through Robert’s veins, pushing him close to the edge .

And then Henry sucked. Just the tiniest bit.

Holy. Hell.

Another rush of pleasure, one stronger than Robert had ever felt in his life, coursed through him. And then he was coming, hard and fast. Only one or two pulses of ejaculate made it into Henry’s mouth before he pulled off, leaving Robert to finish the rest onto his own stomach.

“Sorry,” Henry said before licking his lips in that sinful-looking kind of way one more time. “I wasn’t expectin’ that.”

“Neither was I,” Robert said, covering his face with his palms, his cheeks burning from the mixture of being both embarrassed and enthralled by the whole thing.

“I must have really worked myself up before, because the moment I felt that mouth of yers on me...” He came out from behind his hands and let out a long, exaggerated breath. “Christ Almighty.”

Smiling madly, Henry came up beside him and nuzzled Robert’s cheek. After Robert cleaned himself off with a little ratty towel he found nearby, he turned to kiss Henry and then silently urged him onto his back.

“It’s my turn, little wolf,” he said. “Can I try that on you now?”

“God, Robert, of course you can.”

Robert kissed a trail to Henry’s beautiful cock, which was standing straight out with the foreskin barely covering the tip.

If only they hadn’t lost most of the day’s sunlight by now, Robert would have spent more time savoring every feature, from the particular shade of pink that colored the head of Henry’s cock to the little freckle toward the base of the shaft.

Because every inch of Henry Sherwood was perfect. And these six were no exception.