Henry shot to his feet, his hands wrapping around the back of my neck. “You don’t need to let go of anything, Catnip.”
“In swimming years, I’m ancient,” I mumbled, my face heating under his warm palms … under the intensity of his green gaze.
Henry shook his head, his thumbs cupping my jaw. “You’re not. You’re better than almost all the freestyle sprinters your age! Working towards the Olympics is your dream, and I refuse to let you give up.”
“I …” I couldn’t find words. Involuntarily I stepped closer, resting my head on his shoulder. His arms came around me. I basked in the feeling of security I got from being in his arms. At least a ‘modicum of distance’ didn’t include comforting me with hugs.
“I can’t come to swim with you today,” he mumbled into my hair, an air of disappointment in his voice. “I’ve got some Zoom calls with the States that I can’t miss. But after last night, I don’t feel comfortable letting you out of my sight without security. I’ll have Lucian?—”
“Not Lucian, he hates me!” I groaned against his chest. The feeling was decidedly mutual, after that disgusted glare he’d shot at Henry when he realised the two of us had spent the night together. Asshole.
“It takes a lot to earn Lucian’s trust when it comes to me. We’ve been through a lot together, and he …” Henry trailed off, and I leaned back to study his face. His brow was furrowed and his mouth was tight, as if he’d just stopped himself from saying something he didn’t want me to hear.
“I trusted you with my stuff last night,” I reminded him gently. “Ithink we need to update our rules. If we can’t trust each other, this isn’t going to work.”
Henry nodded, his Adam’s Apple bobbing. “He warned me about Cadence, not long after I started dating her. He said he thought she was at the very least flirting with other men, and he had suspicions that it was more. I shrugged it off, told him that we weren’t exclusive …”
“Butyouwere exclusive, weren’t you?” I prompted. “You’re not the kind of man to have more than one girl on the go at once.”
Henry’s eyes fixed on mine, his fingers tracing up and down my back. “Catnip, since we’re sharing secrets … Cadence was the first woman I slept with … and you were the second.”
My jaw dropped.
“No,” I breathed. It was the only word that my brain could conjure up.
He nodded, eyes not leaving mine. When Henry gave eye contact, it was intense, and lasting, and it burrowed deep into me. “You just said that I’m not the kind of man to have multiple women on the hook. I’m not the kind of man who ‘has’ even one woman. Not unless …”
No. Nope. I could not have this conversation with him. I couldn’t stand here and listen to him tell me I was special enough to be one of only two women he’d been with, while I’d heard him tell Lucian it had been a moment of temporary insanity.
Henry cleared his throat, eyes flitting away, and whatever he’d been planning to say, the moment passed without him sharing. His hands slid up to my shoulders, rhythmically gripping me there. Grounding himself, with my body.
“Anyway, it turns out that Lucian was right about Cadence, and I wasted four years being faithful to someone who was regularly unfaithful to me—and who decided to throw her infidelity in my face to get me to end things with her—on the night I’d planned to propose.”
I blinked, my head reeling. “What a bitch!”
Henry chuckled mirthlessly. “Indeed. Turns out it was for the best, anyway. If she hadn’t wanted out, I would have married her, and turned my ignorant head when she slept around behind my back … and I wouldn’t have been able to help you with your predicament.”
“Well, thanks Cadence, for being a whorebag, I guess,” I said in a dejected tone that had my joke falling flat. I stepped out of the warmthof his arms. “I’ve got to get to the pool. Can you go make sure Lucian is okay to babysit me?”
I hadn’t meant to sound so sharp. Henry flinched and turned stiffly for the door. “Of course. I’ll have him meet you up on deck in five.”
And then he was gone, and I was breathless, and my chest ached, and my stomach fluttered, and I’d never felt this confused about another person in my life—man or woman.
I found my racing swimmers and tugged them on over limbs that felt numb.
“Two years is not that long,” I muttered to myself. “I can get through it without needing all of him.”
Lying to myself had never been this difficult before.
BREAKING NEWS: HENRI HARD PUBLIC LAUNCH—EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS
Billionaire tech mogul Henry Baxter and his up-until-now-mysterious Tickle-star wife attended their first official public engagement yesterday, and we have finally been able to put a name to her stunning face!
Irina Baxter, nee Rusnac, who has been going by her clever nom de plume, Ru Snack on her Tickle account, cosied up to her husband as they stepped out to attend the launch of YouTuber turned ecologist River Riley’s clothing line, Fluss.
While the media was banned from the event, TechRaker was able to capture some snaps of the pair arriving and leaving. While they seemed fun and flirtatious on arrival, the mood was tense when Henry rapidly ushered his visibly distressed wife from the venue before the official end of the function, almost engaging in a physical altercation with a photographer. Rumour has it the pair exchanged heated words with other attendees.
As for Mrs Baxter, TechRaker has discovered that the Romanian national recently completed a sports science degree at the University of Sydney, and is a record-holding freestyle swimmer who had enquired about training with Swim Australia before her marriage to Baxter. She continues to post regularly under her Ru_Snack_XXXplores handle on Tickle, which suggests that Baxter is happy to show his wife off to her over a million fans.
