Page 38 of Stronger Than Fate

We stood staring into each other's eyes, or rather, challenging each other with our gazes for a full minute. He was the one who broke the silence, though not the eye contact.

“Let's go to your suite,” he ordered.

“Henry, I don't know if you noticed, but I was on my way out.”

“At this hour? Where to?” he asked, with a serious look.

I exhaled with resignation; I had no choice but to have a long conversation with him.

When we entered my suite, Henry tugged at my arm and pulled me into his arms.

“You didn't even greet me,” he said, looking at me seriously from just inches away from my face.

“You didn't greet me either, you just confronted me with that expression,” I said, pointing at him, as he was still looking at me with a frown.

“This is my face, not an expression,” he responded. “But let's fix this situation,” he stated, and lowered his lips to mine and kissed me.

His kiss silenced all my thoughts. I wrapped my arms around his neck and surrendered to that kiss with passion. Our tongues danced together, seducing each other with caresses. My heart rate increased considerably and my nervous system alsoaccelerated while I delighted in his taste. It was a dangerously seductive kiss. Henry pulled away after nibbling on my lower lip.

“Now I can consider myself properly greeted,” he stated.

I was trying to catch my breath and had remained frozen in place while he walked naturally and went to sit on the living room sofa.

Damn you, Henry Woollardy!

“Tell me the reasons for your visit,” I said, sitting on the same sofa as him, but at the opposite end.

“I already told you, I didn't like that you cut off the call that I made with the intention of checking in on you and talking.”

“I hung up because I had another call, and besides, it seemed to me that we had already said what we wanted to say. I told you about my lunch with my brothers, and you told me about having lunch with a friend,” I stated, looking at him seriously.

“Aaaaah, I see. It bothered you that I had lunch with a female friend,” he stated.

“Yes, it bothered me. And to be clear, it's not because I don't want you to see your friends. I can understand that because I also make a habit of it and I understand that it makes us happy. We need the support, laughter, and unconditional understanding that friends provide. The problem I have is that I don't know your female friends and I don't know if you've had or have some kind of romantic or sexual relationship with them, whatever you want to call it, and in that case, it is difficult for me to handle. And I say this because we proposed an exclusive relationship.”

When I finished my explanation, I waited for some comment, but he just looked at me seriously, though it seemed his mind was working at full speed.

“Well?” I asked, not hearing anything coming from his mouth.

“What do you want me to say?”

“Let's start with you telling me if with the friend you had lunch with you have...”

“Yes, I've had sex with that friend,” he interrupted.

Silence again. Without taking my eyes off his, I continued asking:

“Did you have sex with her today?”

“Today we just had lunch,” he responded, evaluating me.

I took a few minutes while he continued to evaluate me.

“You know, Henry, this isn't going to work between us,” I finally said.

“Why? I think we were working very well last night.”

“In bed, but I want more than sex,” I stated, having decided to make things clear.