Page 82 of Mr. Broody

I hear him get out of his chair. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Then how did you mean it? Did I give you the impression that I didn’t know Bodhi is the most important thing in your life? Or are you just making sure I don’t flake out on you? That I realize the importance that Bodhi’s heart not get broken? Because?—”

His hands lightly grip my arms. “That’s not it.” He shakes his head and stares at me. “But it was a test. I see that now. I’m just scared. But that’s not on you.”

“It is a little.” I cross my arms and turn back to the skyline.

Henry wraps his arms around my stomach, and I lean into his chest. “I’m already invested, Jade. I’ve never not been invested in us. Even over the last eight years, you’re still the one I think about all the time. Day or night, it’s always you.”

Kyleigh’s words flow back through my mind. He’s been waiting.

I cover his hands with mine, unsure how I can convince him that I’m here and I’m not going to leave.

“I’m scared I’m not enough,” I whisper.

He sighs and kisses my temple. “You are. Of course you are.”

I wish I had the confidence his tone conveys I should have. We stay there for a few minutes, just holding one another.

“I love you, Henry, but how are we going to get past these fears and just be with one another without feeling the threat of it ending?”

His arms tighten, his fingers weaving through mine. “I think we just need time. Eventually the scars will heal as long as we stop picking at them.”

I nod, unsure if we can get over the wall to another life, one where we’re secure with each other. Turning in his arms, I wrap my arms around his neck. “What else do you have planned?”

The corners of his lips tip up, and he kisses my forehead again. “Movie time.”

He leads me by the hand to the couch, and as I wait for him to turn off the lights and click on the movie, I realize he’s right. We have to stop harping on the past and just enjoy this. Let our wounds heal. We aren’t going to have a typical courtship like two strangers. We have a lot of moving parts in our relationship, and we have to be okay with that.

Henry pats the spot next to him, and I slide over, nuzzling his chest. I can’t deny how right it feels to be with him.

Midway through the movie, my hand slides under the hem of his sweater, feeling his muscled chest, and his hand runs under the hem of my sweater along my side, running up and down my ribcage. Tension builds in my core, and my breasts grow heavy against the confines of my bra.

His breath hitches when I hook my fingers into the waistband of his jeans. “You’re playing with fire,” he says.

I draw back and lift one leg over his lap, straddling him. “I know. Do you want me to stop?”

He shakes his head, and his hands fall to my hips, his thumbs sliding through the belt loops of my jeans, tugging me closer to him. I gasp when I feel the hard ridge of him between my thighs, then I rub my core along the bulge in his jeans.

“I promised myself no sex tonight.” His voice is strained.

I laugh, trailing my finger down his chest. “We don’t have to have sex.”

“True,” he says, his fingers slipping under my sweater again, and he drags his knuckles along my ribs. “You’re so soft.”

I do the same as him, running my fingers down his abs. “You’re so hard.”

He teases me when his finger grazes over my breast. I suck in a breath, and he takes that as permission to dip his fingers under the cup of my bra until he secures it under my breast. Then he palms me, his thumb running over my nipple.

“You’re hard places too.” With his free hand, he weaves his fingers through my hair and brings my mouth to his. We’re both breathing hard when he pulls away. “You’re testing my willpower.”

“I’ll make sure there’s no sex.”

He gets me on my back, guiding my legs—one over the couch and the other on the floor. “So that’s the deal then? You stop us?”

“Sure.” Hopefully I have the willpower.

He falls on me, his lips crashing to mine, and I inwardly rejoice at having his weight over me again. All the doubts of whether we’ll we make it vanish.

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