Page 71 of Resilience on Canvas

Robert smiled a bit and squeezed Henry’s hand right back. “Yeah, I remember.”

“And, uhm, that means we have this whole place to ourselves.”

Robert’s small smile broadened, turning playful. “Yeah, that’s true.”

“No one knows we’re back in Guymon either, so... maybe we can stay here tonight?”

Robert yanked Henry close. His eyes went wide and wild and full of that fire Henry loved. Henry’s stomach tumbled from the sight. He released Robert’s hand and instead took Robert by the shirt collar to pull him in for a hard, passionate kiss. Robert placed his hands on Henry’s shoulders and pushed him back a half step.

“Do you want to... see my bed?” Robert asked,slightly breathless.

Henry blinked a few times, needing the extra seconds to let his mind catch up.

“Yeah,” Henry finally replied. “Yeah, I, uhm, I forgot what it... what it looks like.”

Robert made a sound somewhere in between a hum and a laugh. He took Henry by the hand and started toward the bedrooms, urging Henry to follow.

Henry’s stomach was somersaulting like mad by the time they reached the threshold. Gosh, he had been thinking about Robert in a sordid kind of way foryears. Shuffling toward Robert’s unmade bed, Henry realized that he was mere minutes from his fantasies coming true.

Nervousness began to percolate in Henry’s stomach, the pleasant tumbling he’d been experiencing earlier now transforming into something not as pleasant. Goodness, him and Robert were climbing into bed together. Even though they’d only kissed for the first time a few hours before.

When the two of them reached the mattress, Robert stopped and turned toward Henry. The fire in his eyes had been reduced to a few barely burning embers, his forehead creased with what looked to be unease. Robert’s obvious nervousness was like a soothing balm, calming some of Henry’s own fears. Whatever they might end up doing, it would be Robert’s first time doing it too.

Emboldened by Robert’s hesitation, Henry rested a shaky hand on Robert’s chest.

“Are you sure you want to, uhm, to stay here together?” Henry asked.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Robert said. He looked at Henry’s hand. “We can stick to kissin’, though, if you ain’t ready for more.”

“No, I-I’m ready. Are you . . . ready?”

“Yeah.” Robert planted a soft kiss on Henry’s lips. “Yeah, I am.”

“Alright, well, should we...” Henry moved his hand to the top button on Robert’s shirt and tapped it twice. “I can maybe help you take this off?”

He half expected Robert to tell him that he could take off his shirt his own self, but instead, Robert only nodded. Henry popped the first button, revealing a few curls of dark chest hair. Henry’s trembling hands kept working the buttons while his eyes remained fixed on the coarse-looking brown coils, more and more of them coming into view with each inch of Robert’s chest that was freed. God, he wanted to run his fingers through it. Staring, Henry’s breathing became slightly ragged, lurid fantasies running through his mind. Oh, how he wanted to kiss Robert’s chest, to bury his face in Robert’s chest hair, to feel it tickle his nose and chin and cheeks.

When Henry reached the middle of Robert’s stomach, he paused to pull the ends of Robert’s shirt from his pants, untucking it. Heart still hammering, Henry returned his focus to the buttons once the rest of Robert’s shirt was free. And after Henry had unfastened enough of the buttons to reveal Robert’s stomach—the taut muscles that were covered in even more beautiful hair—his knees became weak, those lovely, filthy fantasies fading into a haze as the blood left his face.

Lightheaded, he leaned forward to rest his forehead on Robert’s shoulder.

“Sorry,” he said. “Need a minute.”

Henry felt Robert push his fingers through Henry’s hair. “Take yer time, little wolf.”

After inhaling and exhaling a few breaths to steady himself—concentrating on the feel of Robert’s fingers becoming entangled in his locks—Henry lowered his hands to Robert’s belt buckle.

And he unfastened it.

Henry sucked on his bottom lip, his breath catching from the sound of the buckle’s metallic clinking, which, Lord Almighty, was probably the most obscene sound Henry had ever heard in his life. After managing to unfasten the two buttons on Robert’s pants, his fingers found the first of the two tiny buttons on Robert’s blue-and-white-striped boxer shorts.

“Goodness,” Henry said, his voice shaking. “Look at them stripes.”

Robert huffed a barely-there laugh. “Geez, Hen, if you thinkthoseare interesting...”

Henry smiled to himself, Robert’s teasing sending his heart a-flutter. He tried to laugh, but fear was keeping him from it, and the chuckle became strangled in his throat. Exhaling a shuddered breath, Henry unfastened the first button and then lifted his head from Robert’s shoulder. He wasn’t sure if he could keep going. Not while he was still fully clothed himself.

“Want to take my shirt off first? Before I... you know... see what’s, uhm, what’s more interesting than the stripes?” Henry asked.

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