Page 43 of Binding Their Hearts

Henry closed the gap, clasping her face in his hands. His caress warmed her. She couldn’t escape from his concern—his love—by going it alone. She couldn’t run far enough to make him stop loving her. That lesson she’d learned again and again in the last year.

“Then we shall design a solution”—tipping his head, he captured her skittering gaze—“that will allow you to perform your duties without requiring all of your time and your peace of mind.”

Yeah, because that would be so easy. Why hadn’t she thought of that?

A wry smile twisted Henry’s mouth. “You are more than capable of mastering complex problems, my dear.”

Oops. Her sarcastic head-voice must’ve been showing on her face. “I know, I’m sorry. I’m just…” She took a deep breath and sighed, letting her shoulders sag. “Exhausted.”

“You don’t have to be.” Jay came in fast for a hug—then scooped her into his arms and curled her against his chest. “See? No walking all the way down the hall. One problem solved. You want to fall asleep before we get to bed, go for it. I can get your clothes off in a heartbeat, promise.”

He winked so sweetly that she had to laugh. “You gonna brush my teeth for me, too?”

“If that’s what you need, yeah. All part of the service.” He glanced away, and the light changed—Henry making sure they could find their way. Jay walked slowly, his careful steps barely shifting her. “What else can I do for you? I hate how stressed you are. I know it’s a lot with work and house-hunting and planning a wedding. I want to make it easier. Just tell me and I’ll do it.”

Nothing. An absolute blank filled her head, a growing panic that she should know. She should always know what Jay could do, always have encouragement and a task to hand him. He showed his love through service, and she was failing her end of the bargain. Did her love show at all?

“I’m sorry, Jay. I love you, but…” Well that was an awful sentence. Her thoughts kept emerging crooked and jumbled tonight. This morning. Dammit. “I don’t know that you can help. Either of you. My brain can’t think anymore.”

“Sleep is the gift we can give Alice tonight, dear boy.” Henry flipped on the bathroom light, and Jay set her gently on her feet in front of the mirror. “Take care of what you need to, Alice, and then allow us to lead you away to the land of Nod.”

She blinked at herself: the dullness of her eyes and the darkness beneath, her rucked-up half-unbuttoned shirt, the two men flanking her—one fully dressed, the other entirely naked—as though she might fall over any second. “That sounds awfully nice.”

Henry straightened her shirt and fished the buttons free. “Does it?”

Jay wet her toothbrush and squeezed a dollop of minty white swirl on the tip. He raised her right hand and closed her fingers around the handle. “All ready for you.” He pressed his face against the side of hers and blessed her cheek with a kiss, his mouth soft and warm with sleep. “It’s okay, Alice. You don’t have to have all the answers all the time. Sometimes you just have to let people help you.”

Chapter twenty-one

Jay

Jay set a speed record for his morning shower, hauled on his clothes, and cruised into the kitchen before breakfast hit the table.

“Where’s the fire, stud?” Alice, a teeny bit less bleary-eyed than she’d been six hours ago, sat in her seat with a steaming cup of tea at her elbow and last night’s origami cat in her hands. “Thank you for the kitten. She’s adorable, especially the little nose flap.” Alice booped the nose and smiled. “I’ll add her to the collection.”

The pieces he’d given her so far lived on the dresser in the second bedroom, a mini paper army in neat rows. Very Alice—she’d organized them by species or something.

“I’m glad you like them.” The way she went straight to the table every night to see what he’d left her lit him up inside. But this morning he’d been struck by idea lightning, and he needed to share before his brilliance flamed out. “I want to talk about the wedding. Commitment ceremony. Whatever we’re calling it.”

Henry set a casserole dish on hot pads in the center of the table. Not a typical Thursday breakfast, but they’d had extra time while waiting for Alice last night to put together baked French toast covered in raspberries and granola. Little pots of maple syrup and Greek yogurt followed.

“Yummm.” Alice inhaled and moaned convincingly. Too bad they couldn’t go back to bed—they’d crashed hard after she finally got home, all sleep and no sex. “As long as I’m eating that, we can talk about anything you want.”

Inviting them to dig in, Henry took his seat at the head of the table and spread a napkin across his lap. “You have some thoughts about the ceremony, Jay?”

So many thoughts. In fact—shit, he’d left his phone somewhere on the couch last night. He couldn’t start a running notes file without it. “Well, I know we should get going on planning, since we don’t have a lot of time, and I figured out how I can help lower the stress.”

Henry and Alice exchanged a glance. Confusion dominated her face, probably from being tired. Henry wore his neutral dom expression, but with one eyebrow up.

“It’s not a sex thing.” Safer to say so up front, since sex lowered stress, and he did love serving them that way. “Promise.”

“When you say we haven’t much time”—Henry folded his hands in front of him—“what do you mean by that?”

“Since we have to be out of the apartment.” He loaded up his plate; he’d dig for the phone in a minute.

“Did you want a private ceremony in the apartment, my boy?” Henry hadn’t started filling his plate at all. Alice either.

“No, I was—” Well, the three of them had started their relationship together here. Maybe Henry and Alice wanted the ceremony to be a happy send-off for the apartment. “I mean, unless you want to have it here.”

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