Page 74 of Shades of Henry
Lance thought there needed to be more. He followed the kiss, harder, parting Henry’s lips and taking his mouth unapologetically. His blood was rushing hard through his veins and a vortex of anxiety was opening up in his chest and Henry was the only thing—theonly thing—keeping him from disintegrating into a puddle of fear.
And then Henry responded like wildfire, sweeping through Lance’s body, consuming him, evaporating the fear and leaving a solar flare in its wake.
Lance moaned and collapsed limply against his chest. “This is so not fair,” he said. It wasn’t. “You’re so good at what you just did. And you need to do it. And I’m going to be afraid every day for the rest of my life.”
Henry regarded him with a faint smile, the lines in the corners of his eyes reminding Lance that he was an adult, and one who had chosen a hard life of service and loved it, and needed the same thing now.
“But will you also be happy?” Henry asked. “Because I’m happy right now. I… I didn’t actually know that a relationshipcouldmake me happy. Is that enough?”
Lance closed his eyes and took his mouth again, pulling back only long enough to say, “Yes,” before he all but devoured Henry against the side of his car.
They finally separated when the heat got too much, and Lance hyped up the AC as they drove through the heart of Sacramento to Ellery Cramer’s office on F Street.
“Hope you’re prepared for a hike,” Henry said. “Ellery has clients right now, and the parking is for shit.” He directed Lance to a spot by a meter on the side of a tree-lined street, and proceeded to be as good as his word by walking two more blocks without another parking place in sight.
“You weren’t kidding about the hike,” Lance muttered. “Yeesh. How far is it to get coffee?”
“Another block,” Henry said. “Jackson has a skateboard that he keeps threatening to use. Ellery tried to pay me to get it out of the back of his car and throw it away, but I’m sort of on Jackson’s side here. I’m thinking I’ll buy one of those razors—”
“And ahelmet!” Lance protested.
“No. No helmet. Anyway, it could come in very handy.”
“You’re going to make me old fast,” Lance said seriously. “Fast. So fast. There’s going to be no milestones. You’re going to give me a heart attack. I’m going to wake up at thirty with gray hair and arthritis and a heart condition and I’m going to say, ‘That’s okay, kiss me again, and at least I’ll die happy.’”
Henry’s chortle as he turned into a parking lot next to a green Victorian that had been converted into office buildings was not reassuring. They took a left and then another left before Henry guided him up a flight of stairs that landed right by the elevator.
“Accessible,” Lance said approving.
“Yup. They’ve worked hard to make it friendly.” There was already pride in his voice.
There were three doors on the second floor, and Henry opened the one leading to the corner offices. Lance entered an obviously newly refurbished space, pleasant, done in muted blues and mauves, with a colorful area rug on a hardwood floor and comfortable fabric-covered couches.
There was a basket of toys in the corner by a sturdy, child-proofed end table, and Lance’s heart did a little stutter. There would be children in this room, hoping their parents wouldn’t be going to jail for most of their childhood. There would be mothers concerned about the adults they raised. There would be hope and despair in this room, just like there was in the ER or the ICU.
This was what Henry wanted to be a part of. Something important.
“Henry, how you doing? Still pissing people off?”
Henry turned diffidently to a stunning and curvy African American woman who sat behind a receptionist’s counter that led to the back offices. She wore her hair in loose waves with bright magenta ends, and was dressed in one of those sleeveless shell/skirt combos that made every professional woman Lance had ever met as intimidating as hell.
“Hi, Jade. We, uh, were sort of tying up a loose end for Jackson. Lance, this is Jackson’s sister and Ellery’s paralegal. Jade, this is my friend, Lance.”
“Friend?” Jade said, her face set into stoic lines. “That’s what we’re going with? I’m so disappointed in you, Henry.”
Lance watched in fascination as Henry’s color went from peach and tan to a magenta very close to Jade’s hair.
“Boyfriend,” Henry mumbled, looking at Lance sideways. “He’s my boyfriend. It’s new.”
Jade’s severe expression melted as she offered her hand to Lance. “So very nice to meet you,” she said. “Are you here to keep Henry in line?”
“Absolutely,” Lance said with his own sideways look at Henry. “He needs someone like that.” His heart beat triple-time, he was so excited to actually hear the word.
“Mm-hmm.” She glared at Henry again. “Tying up loose ends. You do know we can’t pay you yet, right? I mean, not that I mind one less thing for Jackson to do, but—”
“I know,” Henry said, with unexpected humility. “AJ first.”
She sighed. “Well, we might have another path for AJ, so that would put you next on our roster. I’ve got to tell you, I’d rather feed you to the cannons than that kid, so I’m rooting hard for it.”
