Page 32 of Glitter

“I’m a lost cause, Henry.” With my head still down, I shook my head, cutting him off. “That’s why I live where I do. I can’t afford to live anywhere else. It’s a slum, I know. Everyone who lives there knows it. The police get called there at least once a week. There are fights almost every night. People getshot, Henry. I’m so sorry I let you come and pick me up. I should have met you here. You shouldn’t have been there. I should have kept you away from all of that.” I sniffed as I could feel myself growing more upset, sure that I was making Henry hate me. “You’re a good man. Such a good man. You deserve someone far more put together than me. You deserve to be with someone who won’t put you in danger just by coming to pick them up for a date. Someone who will tell you ahead of time that you’re walking into danger.”

“Blue—”

“Friday night was the best night of my life,” I continued, talking over him once more, needing to get this out while I still could. “The sex was out of this world, but I’ve also never been so comfortable sleeping next to someone. I’ll cherish that more than you’ll ever know.” Putting the cloth napkin down, I placed my palm on the table before looking up at Henry, knowing that this would be the last time I would see him outside of work. “Please don’t tell Amy what I’ve told you. I’ve lost enough friends over the past few years to relationships, marriages, and children. I don’t want to lose her to pity.” When a single tear finally pushed past my eyelid and trailed slowly down my cheek, I took the opportunity to rise from my seat, more than ready tohead home. The astonished look on Henry’s face let me know everything I needed to know. There was no coming back from this. “I’m sorry I made you waste three hundred dollars on nothing.”

Taking a step past him, I jolted to a stop when I felt Henry’s fingers grip my wrist. He tugged me awkwardly into the booth next to him, sliding over to make room for me, then twisting in his seat to face me, never letting go of my wrist. He stared at me before lifting his free hand to carefully wipe the tear from my cheek. “Oh, angel. Don’t cry. You’ll mess up your makeup.”

A sob broke out of me before I could swallow it down. How could this man be so utterly and unbearably sweet?

He grabbed his napkin and started dabbing it at my cheek. “I don’t care, Blue. Not about any of what you just told me.”

The tears just fell faster. “How can you not? Everyone else does!”

He paused to think, then shrugged and softly patted at my cheek again. “None of it is insurmountable to me. I like you foryou, Blue, not where you live or how much money you have.”

I shook my head slowly, barely able to comprehend what he was saying.

He let go of my wrist and placed his palm against my chest, above my heart. “Thisis what’s important, angel. What’s in here. Not material possessions.” He pressed his palm firmly against me, driving his point home. “Thisis who you are.Thisis what I’m interested in.” He cupped my chin with his other hand, his thumb softly gliding over my cheek to wipe away my tears. “You have a light that shines so very brightly, angel. Don’t let it fade.” Slowly, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine in a chaste kiss.

Gripping his shirt in my fists, I held onto him for dear life. When his lips parted, I deepened the kiss as much as I possiblycould, considering that my nose was stuffy from all the crying I was doing.

He moaned and matched my desperate heat with his own, darting his tongue out to taste mine before pulling back to rest his forehead against mine. “Stay with me tonight, Blue. Like we planned. We’ll figure the rest out tomorrow.”

Somewhat dazed that this night wasn’t going at all the way I thought it would after telling Henry about my past, I nodded.

He drew me into a tight hug, one palm on the back of my head, the other on the small of my back. “We’ll make it work, angel. I promise,” he murmured as he snuggled into the crook of my neck.

A quiet cough broke us apart, and we looked up to find a somewhat sheepish Quinn standing at the edge of our table, looking embarrassed, concerned, and a little turned on. “I’m so sorry to interrupt you both, but I should ask if you would like to order or if you need some more time to decide?”

Henry looked at me with a sly, yet cheeky grin. “How about it, angel? Would you like to stay and eat here before we head back to my place? Or take our food to go and head back to my place now?”

I laughed wetly and looked at the man I was quickly finding myself more and more enamored with. “Are you sure?”

“Never been surer.” Henry gently smiled at me, his eyes sparkling from the overhead lighting.

“Can we eat here?” I asked, still nervous. If he wanted to head back to his place now, I wouldn’t argue, but I needed some time to settle. Eating at the restaurant would help with that, especially if I was sitting in the same booth as Henry, facing away from the rest of the patrons.

“Of course, Angel,” he said, his smile growing bigger and brighter. He ran a finger along my hairline to tuck a strand behind my ear. “Whatever you need.”

“Thank you,” I whispered to him before turning to Quinn. “Can we please have another minute?”

Quinn inclined his head, a soft look on his face as he gazed at both of us. “Of course. Take all the time you need.” With his hands still clasped loosely behind his back, he turned and walked towards the kitchen.

We shifted in our seats to look at the menu sitting in front of us together. Henry’s hand moved to sit comfortably on my thigh, his thumb gently stroking. “What do you think you want?”

I chuckled as I stared at the menu. “Honestly, I don’t know. I can’t pronounce most of these dishes.”

“Neither can I.” He laughed alongside me and leaned over to nudge me with his shoulder. “What say we try to purposely butcher the names and see if we can get Quinn to crack up?”

I leaned happily against him, my head settling onto his shoulder like it was always meant to be there. “That sounds perfect.”

Chapter Ten

Henry

“Henry…”Mytwinbrother,Daniel, sounded exasperated with me. I wasn’t all that surprised, as it was a common state of being in our interactions. I knew he loved me dearly, but he tended to be a tad overprotective. Not that I could blame him, given how he’d beat up anyone who had made the mistake of bullying me when we were both in high school. “Don’t you think you’re taking things too fast?”

I rolled my eyes, thankful that he couldn’t see me. He was literally halfway across the country, but we made do with ad hoc phone calls at least once every week. He was a single dad to an adopted twelve-year-old daughter who lived to push his buttons, which I took great delight in. Couple that with working on his small farm out in South Dakota, and he didn’t have a ton of spare time on his hands. We spoke to each other when we could. I’d tried to call him yesterday morning, but he’d been too busy until now to chat, so I’d taken the opportunity to go for a quick walk down the street from Eckersley’s. “Honestly? I don’t think I’m taking things fast enough.”

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