CHAPTER EIGHT
Days passed, and they followed more or less the same routine. They shared lovely nature walks and healthy homemade meals, which worked hand in hand to strengthen her body. Henry helped her study for the GED test, and she was progressing rapidly through the material. Through it all he teased and flirted outrageously, but he never pushed her for intimacy.
She gradually began to drop her guard during the day, and she began to wonder exactly why she was rejecting his advances, especially given how drawn she was to him. The man was like a sex magnet, and sometimes she wanted to launch herself across the room and tear off all his clothes. Still, there were other moments where she found she was too nervous to even look him square in the eyes.
It was a hot mess, but she had no idea how to remedy her numerous woes. She took out her hormonally charged frustrations on her learning. She became obsessed with making and studying flash cards. Fortunately she’d discovered early on that Henry had a fully stocked office, and as with everything else he was happy to share whatever he had to offer.
Given the fact that she wasn’t having to work for a living she was making her way through the units at an impressive pace. She’d finally unleashed her inner geek, and boy did it feel good. Now that she’d gotten started she could see that it was something she could have done all along, although it would have been at a much slower pace if she was still waiting tables during the day.
Henry had left early that morning to mitigate some sort of clan dispute, and Grace wasn’t handling his absence well. Without him there to distract her she felt anxious and jittery. She studied for a while and then she gave up and decided that she would make a special dinner to show her appreciation.
She had to do something, because thoughts of her pill stash kept popping up in her thoughts. It seemed unfair that her own mind would conspire against her, but such was life. She didn’t want to give in to her destructive impulses. She simply refused to stop now, not when she was finally making some progress. It was like the future she wanted was finally within reach, if she could only stay the course. Too bad it was all easier said than done.
“Must keep busy,” she murmured.
He was always cooking for her and she wanted to do something nice for him for a change. There was only one teeny tiny flaw in her plan . . . she knew absolutely nothing about cooking. But how hard could it be? Then again, he had no microwave and she didn’t even know how to light the stupid stove.
***
Henry was exhausted and all he wanted to do was get home, eat something, make sure Grace was okay, and go to sleep. He’d spent all day dealing with a dispute between two neighboring shifters over property lines and an ugly old fence that looked so weak that a good stout wind would send it toppling like a stack of toothpicks. To make matters worse, he’d been separated from his mate all day and that made for one grumpy bear.
His sensitive nose caught the burning smell even before his ears picked up on the blaring squeal of the smoke alarms. GRACE! He tore open the front door, feet barely connecting with the floor as he scurried towards the source of the fire. He never should have left her alone! What had he been thinking?
The sight that met him wasn’t at all what he’d been expecting to witness. Grace stood poised precariously on the counter, trying to extend the dull end of a butter knife high enough up to turn off the blaring smoke alarm. But it was poised just out of reach. Now that he knew she wasn’t in danger he took a moment to examine the scene before him.
Chaos reigned all around her, and there wasn’t a single surface that wasn’t covered with flour or burned baked goods. Looking closer he saw that the woman herself was no exception. Flour dotted her cheeks, and there was a white dusting that he’d eagerly have offered to clean up off her chest. He resisted the urge, because he knew that his actions would likely wind up getting him slapped in the face. A lot of men would have been angry about the mess, but he was just happy she was okay.
She squealed when he lifted her up and she began to struggle until she realized he was just helping her to reach the alarm. She held down on the little red button for several seconds, and when she lifted her finger back up she held her breath as she waited for the terrible noise to commence one more. Fortunately for both of their ears, silence prevailed.
“What’s for dinner?” he asked deadpan.
Had he known it would unleash an army of tears he would have kept his dumb mouth shut. He wrapped his arms tight around her, cradling her close as he wordlessly hummed her song. Eventually her sobs subsided into hiccups and he realized he was in big trouble when his bear began to rumble contentedly from inside his chest.
“Are you purring?” she asked, leaning her head against him so she could hear better. Leave it to Henry to take her from crying to curious in ten seconds flat. The man was incredible. The old Grace would have been upset about her kitchen fiasco for days or even weeks, but he always helped her to see the big picture.
“No,” he said defensively. “Bears don’t purr.”
“Sounds like purring to me. What’s that song you were humming? I could swear I’ve heard it before.”
“Nothing,” he lied, and trying to change the subject he impulsively pressed his lips against hers. He wasn’t about to admit that he’d written her a sappy love song and that he sang it to her every night to soothe her nightmares. He ran his tongue across the seam of her mouth and she parted her lips to welcome him inside.
Much to his surprise she didn’t try to hit him. She didn’t bite his lip or snarl at him to back off. He moved slowly, afraid to rush her. The last thing he wanted to do was spook her. He wanted to touch her everywhere, to explore all of the hidden hills and valleys of her body.
When he scented her arousal he knew he was hands down the luckiest man alive. Grace moaned when he severed their kiss and slid his lips over the outer skin of her ear. He licked it, and then breathed warmly over the surface. The moment was erotic in ways she couldn’t possibly have explained. No one had ever bothered to kiss her ear before and she’d had no idea it was such an erogenous piece of skin
She’d wanted the man for days, but her pesky brain had gotten in the way. It had warned her not to trust him, because men simply weren’t trustworthy. Then it had cautioned her to keep him at arm’s length, because her life was finally going somewhere and what if sleeping with him ruined everything? It was hard to remember why she could possibly want to stop him, so she struggled to focus on her reasons.
Would he suddenly stop helping her study once he achieved what he wanted? What if he told her to keep her mouth shut and sent her packing? He’d said he couldn’t let her expose the shifters’ secret, but that didn’t necessarily mean she needed to be under his direct supervision. Her thoughts began to spiral, and part of her wanted to slap his hot hands away from her body while the other part wanted to claw him in closer. She was at war with herself.
But Grace had realized something important during the long hours she’d spent alone . . . and it was big. She had put two and two together, and discovered that she didn’t want to plan a future that didn’t somehow include Henry. It was one of those earth shattering revelations that simply changed everything. She’d also learned that she was the worst cook on the planet. And being as Henry had both eyes and a functioning nose, he was now aware of this fact as well.
She looked up, but he wasn’t looking at her with censure. His eyes didn’t say “you messed up my kitchen and wasted my groceries,” but instead seemed to say “kiss me.” The lack of judgement proved to be the ultimate aphrodisiac, and suddenly she’d had her fill of self-recrimination. She wasn’t going to try to resist the magnetic lure that was Henry for one more second. She was ready to take action, and seize life by the horns. She felt safe with him, so safe that she was ready to take a risk and move things to the next level.
Now all she had to do was keep him from ever learning about the darkness of her past, because if he did, his passionate pursuit of her would come to a screeching halt. He’d start treating her like the leper she really was. The things she’d endured, well they weren’t exactly happy little bedtime stories. They were the type of nightmares that would send any sane man running. But she didn’t want him to leave. He was good, and kind, and wonderful and she wanted to keep him around for as long as possible. So all she had to do was make sure that she never let her guard down, that she never gave in and used again. Easy peasy, right?
Once she’d made up her mind to go all the way with Henry it was as though a heavy burden had been lifted up from off of her shoulders. Feeling a new sense of freedom she began to excitedly undo the buttons on his shirt. She was by no means virginal, but she still hadn’t had a lot of experience with undressing a man. The guys she’d been with had been so impatient that they’d either hurriedly gotten naked, or removed the bare minimum of clothing necessary to perform the act.
But Henry didn’t seem like he was in a rush at all. The fact that he hadn’t removed a single stitch of her clothing made her feel warm in a region that she strongly suspected might be her heart. She wasn’t entirely sure, because she’d never felt anything like it before. It wasn’t that he wasn’t totally into the moment, it was more like he actually thought she was worth the wait.
When she’d managed to free the last button she tugged his shirt all the way off and sighed at the glorious sight of his finely honed chest. It had been like unwrapping a present, and she still didn’t understand what she’d done to deserve the gift of Henry, because it wasn’t even remotely close to her birthday yet.
“Now that you’ve got my shirt off, what do you intend to do with me?” he teased. He set her down on the messy counter and held his hands up in mock surrender.
Feeling bold she leaned forward and licked a path down his chest, reveling in the faintly salty taste of the warm man poised before her. She savored every ridge and dip of his muscles as she made her way down his ripped torso.
“Woman, you are going to be the death of me,” he groaned as she plunged her way down his happy trail, not stopping until she ran into the rigid obstacle of his belt buckle.