I glanced up at my man, taking him in one more time. “Henry?”
“Hmm?”
“You know I do, too, right?”
“Oh, I know,” he said, his cocky arrogance on display, and where once I thought I hated it, all I could do now was hope he never changed so I could drown in it and him forever. He pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “Don’t worry, Phoebe. I’ll never hurt you.”
“Promise?”
“On my life.”
“You’ll do anything to make me happy?”
“Anything and everything I can.”
“Good. Because I’m heading to the nearest hospital, and guess what? It would make me really, really, really happy if you were to come along with me and get checked out.”
Henry pulled back and looked down at me, his brows rising. “Woah, woah, woah. Hold up?—”
“Yousaidanything and everything, Henry. That couldn’t possibly have been a lie so soon into this new relationship of ours, right?”
He stared at me, mouth agape. “Did… you just… manipulate me?”
I fluttered my lashes like a damsel in distress. “I have no idea what you mean.”
“Damn.” He shook his head. “So, this is how it’s going to be now, huh? Well, shit.” He growled, pulling me into his strong chest again, the sound of his beating heart reverberating through me, waking me up in ways that made me feel like I never wanted to sleep again, no matter how tired I should have been.
With him, I didn’t want to waste another second of my life ever again.
The older man with our friends, it turned out, had been James—Andy’s and Henry’s father—and he insisted Bailey, Rhea, and I stay with the Hydes for the night before making the journey back to Matlock the next day. Considering our lack of sleep since leaving Mykonos, we accepted his offer, with them all going ahead to the Hydes’ home while Henry and I made our way to a local hospital not far from where they lived.
I’d expected Henry to grumble the whole way through his triage and when talking to the doctors and nurses, but surprisingly, he’d been exceptionally compliant. Whenever the blue curtains were closed around our cubicle and we were alone, he reached out for me, desperate to have me closer, claiming he didn’t need any X-rays, bandages or medicines to make his pain disappear. All he needed was my touch.
I’d spent a lot of time with him over the last two weeks—probably the equivalent to months of dating in the real world—and it killed me to play it cool, but I made it clear that until I knew for certain that there wasn’t a broken bone in his bust-up body, he didn’t get to play around when the doctors weren’t looking. I didn’t want it on my conscience if I were to touch him the wrong way in the wrong place and cause him further injury.
However, once the doctors finally gave him the all clear, we’d barely slid into the back of the taxi and told the driver where to go when I fisted Henry’s T-shirt and brought his mouth to mine.
His moan of satisfaction came immediately, climbing up his throat without any reservations as he pressed his hand to the back of my head and held me to him, not letting me escapethis time. Without his family and our friends watching on, I struggled to hold on to any control I’d tried to cling to over the last few hours.
I hitched a leg up over Henry’s waist, despite the not-so-subtle cough from the driver, who pulled out into the street without saying a word. Before long, Henry and I were both breathless and ready to take things much further than we had any right to… until I tightened my grip on his shirt to pull him even closer, and a squeak of pain escaped him.
“Sorry,” I whispered against his mouth, pulling back and panting.
“Ignore it,” he said with a strained voice. “You didn’t hear anything. Nothing hurts.”
“You’re a bad liar.”
“Yeah. I know. So, how about you just give me what I want so I don’t have to do it again.”
I raised a brow before I slowly began to peel myself away, doing the exact opposite of what my body wanted me to do. “I’ll give you everything you want… once you’re better.”
“I’m fine. Better than fine. I’m actually great.”
I laid a look of disbelief on him, and Henry fell back against his seat with a frustrated groan.
“Don’t sulk. You’re a grown man. You can wait.”
He turned to me with sad eyes and pushed his bottom lip out.
