Page 114 of Tease Me

“Wow.” I nodded in agreement. Once again, Henry had shown me something extraordinary about myself, and I’d be forever grateful.

“Are you okay?” He reached for my hand and entwined his fingers in mine.

Was I?Whilstmy mind wanted to deny it, my bodywas sayingthe opposite.Henry had introduced me to anal sex in a way that had made it gentle,interesting, and undeniably erotic. That orgasm had been unlike any other—it had been extraordinary. Finally, I nodded. “Yes, I’m fine.”

“I’m glad.” He reached for the champagne bottle, topped up our glasses, and handed one to each of us. “You’re extraordinary, Jane.”

I sipped my bubbles. “As are you, Henry.”

“Thank you,” he said, and we both laughed.

We sipped our drinks in silence, and I noted once again how comfortableitwas with him. As I processedthrough my brainwhat he’d just done to me, I wondered what he was thinking.

“Have you done that before?” I wanted to slap myself at my nosiness. “Oh God, sorry. You don’t have to answer that.”

“It’s okay.” He touched my arm. “You can ask me anything.”

I gulped a big sip of champagne.

“When my wife and I first got married, we had amazing sex. She was adventurous, just like you.”

Sensing he wanted to tell me more, I put on my therapist’s hat and sipped my drinkin silence.

“As the years went by, Helen lost her confidence. She was constantly worried about how she looked. But I didn’t care—I loved her.I loved her body, and after she had our beautiful children, I loved her even more.”

“What happened?”

“She started to push me away.Alwaysworried about her weight and the stretch marks that came with childbirth. If we did make love, she wanted the lights off, and it was always me driving the passion, never her. She fell out of love with me, and I have no idea why.”

“Oh, Henry.” My heart crumbled at howforlornhe looked.

“We went for months without sex, then it became years.”

Knowing howamazingHenry was with a woman’s body, I couldn’t imaginewhat her reluctance was.

“One afternoon, she was out with her girlfriends—well, supposedly—andon a whim,I decided to drive around to my mate’s place with a six-pack of beer.He didn’t answer the door, but figuring he was out on his boat like he usually was, I went around the back.And that’s when I saw them. Caught them right in the middle of sex.”

“Oh, Henry. How horrible.” I squeezed his hand and felt every bit of his agony.“I know exactly how painful that would have been. Andprobably still is.”

“It was . . . until I met you. You taught me how to feel again.I’d become stone cold inside. Blocked outmy ability to feel love and passion.”

I leaned over and kissed his cheek, and he curled his arm around my shoulder and drew me next to him.The warmth of his bodywas like a familiar blanket.I rolled my head onto his shoulder, and as I listened to his breathing, little stars slowly dotted the evening sky.

“Your story is almost exactly like mine.”

“Really?” Frowning, he blinked at me.

“I caught Alexander with my best friend having sex in his car.”

“What’s wrong with these people?”

“You know what the worst thing was?”

“Worse than that? What?”

“They tried to say it was my fault that he’d slept around. We had a huge screaming match during which he told me all the other women he’d had sex with while we were engaged.Apparently,every one of them was my fault.”

Henry curled his hand to my cheek and drew his lips to mine. The kiss was sweet and delicate. “It was never your fault.”

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