“How are you feeling?” I ask her.
“I’m fine, dear.” She waves me off like she always does when I ask her that. Like it’s absurd that I care about her wellbeing. “Why don’t you boys eat? I’m sure you’re hungry after your flight.”
“Thanks, Auntie.”
She disappears, probably going to lie down.
Henry and I eat a little bit before I put the rest away in the fridge. Then I take him outside to show him around and introduce him to the animals, especially Aggie, who’s already waiting for me when we step out onto the porch. He isn’t all thatthrilled or excited to meet them, but I figured he wouldn’t be. It took him nearly a year before he warmed up to my cat, and I swear, that’s only because he doesn’t have any fur so there’s zero chance of it getting on Henry’s expensive suits. Speaking of suits, he looks comical out here on the farm, even more out of place than even I do. Thankfully, I convinced him to at least change into a pair of rubber boots, otherwise he’d probably chew my ass out for the mud ruining his shoes.
“This is what you’re doing every day?” he asks as we walk out of the barn. “Hang out with these animals, and clean up after them?”
“Well, I mean…yeah.”
He pins me with a look. “Your aunt seems fine, Xan. You can probably come home soon. You’ve been here almost a month.”
“Henry, she’s healing from a hip replacement.”
“Again, she should’ve hired somebody.”
I blow out a sigh, my frustration growing. “Can we not do this again? She’s my family, and you take care of your family.”
He shakes his head, and I’m sure he has so much he wants to say, but instead, he pulls out his phone. “I’d like to take you to dinner tonight,” he says matter-of-factly. “Somewhere nice. Is there anywhere around here like that?”
“Not really. There’re a few diners, but not really anything up to your standards.”
Henry looks appalled as he glances over at me. “Nowhere?”
“Not in town, no. We’d have to drive back to Cheyenne.” I take him by the hand, leading him back inside. “Come on, let’s go lie down together.”
Exhaustion has hit me strong out of nowhere—probably because I was up half the night worried about him being here, and somehow finding out about the almost-kiss—and nothing sounds as good as a nap does right now. I highly doubt Henrywill take a nap, but hopefully he can do some work on his phone or something so I can get some sleep.
For as weird and distant as things have been between me and Henry lately, it feels oddly comforting to lay my head on his chest and have him wrap an arm around me. I’ve always been a cuddler, physical touch very much my love language, so when I don’t get that, it’s easy for me to feel a deep void between me and my partner. Cuddling and being intimate are very important to me, and they help me know things are okay.
It's been well over a month since we’ve seen each other. He was in New York on business when I left for Copper Lake, so everything going on with me is most likely just from that. I need this—this cuddling, this reassurance that everything is okay. It’s nothing more than that. It’s where my misplaced feelings for Cope came from. I just need to feel connected to my boyfriend, that’s all.
Peering up at him, he glances from his phone to me, and he smiles. It’s warm and genuine.Yeah, I just need to feel an emotional and a physical connection to Henry. That’ll make me feel better.I reach up, cupping his cheek in my palm as I press my lips onto his. He turns his body so it’s facing me a bit more, his hand coming to my hip to hold me close. When his lips part, I slip my tongue inside, brushing along his.
I’m so right. I don’t have a crush on Cope. No matter how nice, cute, and smart he is. He’s just a guy. A hottie cowboy in tight Wranglers and boots. Heis notmy amazing, successful boyfriend, who is here, and who loves me.
Henry tugs on my thigh, bringing me onto his lap as he positions himself onto his back, and it’s like my body is coming alive. For someone with as high of a sex drive as me, it’s been a long time since I’ve had sex. Sure, I have my hand, and that works fine, I guess, but it never beats the real thing.
Fingers drifting down the front of Henry’s shirt, I slip each button through the holes until his chest is exposed to me. My hands roam the wide expanse of flesh and muscle. Henry’s hands round my hips until they’re palming my ass, and I groan into his mouth as I roll my hips into his. Suddenly, the memory of how calloused Cope’s palms felt, a vision of how they’d feel gripping my ass, similar to how Henry is doing it right now, pops into my mind. I bet he’d be rougher with me, his grip bruising as his full pink lips would devour mine.
Fuck, that image is hot. My dick thickens as I think about what else he could do to me. An erotic movie plays through my thoughts—Cope bending me over the bales of hay in the barn. Cope fucking me in the bed of his truck, or letting me suck his cock while he drove down the backroads.OrCope lettingmefuck him. How tight his ass must look outside of his jeans, how thick and muscular his thighs have to be from riding broncs all the time. He probably looks heaven sent without his clothes on.
Henry glides his hands from my ass up my back, underneath my shirt. The softness of his palms is like a bucket of cold water on my fantasy. The guilt builds all over again that I’m thinking about another man while fooling around with my boyfriend. God, what the hell is wrong with me?
His lips leave mine, trailing down to my neck. I’m trying my hardest to be in the moment with Henry, not in my head, thinking about Cope. It’s not working.
This is so fucked up.
A loud crash sounds from somewhere in the house that causes us both to pause. “What was that?” Henry asks, his lips still hovering above my throat.
I jump off his lap, feet pounding against the floor as I reach for the doorknob. “I don’t know.”
Without thinking, I take a right, somehow knowing it came from Aunt Colette’s room. My heart thunders in my chest as I reach the closed door, my fist coming up to knock.
“I’m fine,” my aunt grumbles from the other side. She’s full of shit.
