Page 106 of The Last Dance

29

Gone Viral

Ambri

I wake up to a pounding on my front door. Henry pulls me against him, kissing my lips sweetly. Last night was easily the best night of my life. It was so perfect.

Today, I’m going to be a nervous wreck though. I’m nervous for the video to release today. I know they worked on it for hours after the concert. We saw the final product, late last night, via email. I was so mesmerized by it I might have watched it a hundred times in a row. I cried through the whole thing like it was happening all over again. It’s absolutely beautiful and surprisingly not at all what I expected when he finally let me in on the big secret. It wasn’t just Henry and me, but also video of them working on the song, Henry included. It’s that love song every woman wants someone to write for them, only better.

‘Ignore it…’ he says between kisses, as the pounding continues.

‘I want to, but I can’t. I’m supposed to leave for California today. Claire volunteered to come with me at the last minute so it’s probably her.’

He groans as I get out of bed, grabbing pieces of clothing off the floor from wherever they ended up last night. I pull on my sweats and Henry’s T-shirt and make my way to the door as the banging gets louder.

I jerk the door open to a smiling Claire and Ben. She’s holding a tray of Starbucks coffee, Ben holds a pink bakery box in one hand, the handle of a dark blue rolling suitcase in another.

‘We’ve been looking for Henry. You wouldn’t happen to know where he is, would you?’ he asks as they force their way into my living room.

‘Haha. It’s seven-thirty in the morning. We don’t have to leave until nine-thirty…’

Henry makes his way into the living room, in his boxers only, making my heart dance in my chest. ‘Is that my suitcase?’ he asks, glancing between the three of us.

‘Oooh, isn’t this a treat? Good morning, sexy…’ Ben says in a husky voice, slapping Henry’s ass on his way into the kitchen.

‘We might need to set some boundaries,’ Henry says to me with a small laugh. ‘Whyare you guys here so early?’ He takes the coffee Claire is now holding out for him.

‘Change of plans for today. Ben and I have decided to have a little second honeymoon. It’s been a while since he made me feel the way Henry made you feel last night so he’s got some work to do.’

‘Told ya you were only making my life harder…’ Ben says to Henry as he flips him the bird from across the room.

‘OK…?’ I say as I sip my coffee.

‘That means, I won’t have time to go to LA after all. We were thinking, maybe Henry should go with you?’

I glance over at him and he grins. If I’m honest, I was dreading leaving him here to go to California for two days after last night.

‘I mean, you two could probably use some alone time more than you and I could, don’t you think?’ Claire asks.

I shrug, unsure if that’s even something he wants to do.

‘Wait.’ Henry holds up a hand as he makes his way to his suitcase, not even a little bit concerned that he’s half naked. ‘How did you get this out of my hotel room?’

‘Ah, you’re cute.’ Ben grabs a donut from the box, patting Henry’s cheek as he walks past him into the living room. ‘You underestimate my deceitfulness, my friend. It was pretty easy, actually. I told them that I’d stayed the night with you last night and snuck out while you were in the shower this morning, only to realize I’d left my car keys in the room. They bought it because they saw me with you yesterday. Remember?’

Henry nods, a hesitant, almost irritated smile on his face.

‘Then I convinced them that for me to see you again would be mortifying after whatwe’ddone last night.’ He raises an eyebrow. ‘Especially since I’d kept from you that I was married… to a woman.’ Ben laughs as if what he said is absolutely hysterical.

Claire sighs. ‘I’m such a proud wife.’

‘They didn’t even question it once I started in on the details of our highly erotic night together. I think they just wanted to shut me up, so they buzzed me in, I packed up anything I could see, and voilà! Here we are.’

‘You told them I was gay?’ Henry asks, his jaw dropped open in shock.

‘Well, I didn’t usethatexact word. But I did let them come to their own conclusion.’ He flops down on my couch, a coffee in one hand and a donut in the other. ‘But yeah, they undoubtedly think you’re gay.’ He laughs. ‘There’s nothing wrong with that, you know.’

Henry nods. ‘You’re right. Absolutely nothing wrong with being gay, except for the fact that I’m not.’

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