“You ready?” His smile felt forced, wooden, and judging by Dom’s expression, he knew it too. But he said nothing, just nodded and gestured for Henry to lead the way.
They walked in silence all the way to the instructor’s hut. Handing over their harnesses took only a few minutes, and Henry felt their time together slipping away like sand through his fingers.
But there was nothing he could do to prolong it.
He had work in the morning.
Dom probably had a million things planned for when he got back.
A week was all they’d agreed to and that was over.
Finished.
With a heavy heart, Henry followed Dom to the path, and they began the long walk back to the car park.
Chapter 8
“I’m parked over there.” Henry pointed to the far-right side of the car park.
Dom offered him a rueful smile and gestured in the opposite direction. “I’m over there.”
Of course he was. Henry couldn’t seem to catch a fucking break.
“Oh.” Henry bit his lip, unsure how to play this.
Do I ask to see him again? Do I just say goodbye and leave it at that?
While Henry had no wish to embarrass himself, he didn’t want his fear of rejection to stop them carrying this on if there was even the slightest chance Dom was feeling the same way.
What Henry really wanted to do was pull him in for a kiss goodbye. A proper one, with tongues and arse-grabbing. But the car park had a steady stream of people both leaving and arriving, so a bit of lip action and some casual groping was unfortunately out of the question.
Henry toed at the dried, dead leaves on the ground as he spoke.
“So, um—”
“Right, I’d better—”
Henry’s head snapped up and he met Dom’s amused gaze. They laughed awkwardly, which struck Henry as a little ironic. He hadn’t felt like that with Dom even when they’d met for the very first time, yet here they were after a week in each other’s pockets dancing around each other like strangers.
Maybe underneath it all we still are?
“Hey.” Dom’s softly spoken word brought Henry back to the present. His hand on Henry’s made his pulse race and hope flare in his chest. “You have my number.” He squeezed Henry’s fingers. “Use it.”
And then with one last smile, he was gone.
Henry stood rooted to the spot, powerless to do anything other than watch Dom walk away.
Right.
He replayed Dom’s words in his head. Torn between a feeling ofyes!andwhat the fuck?
It hadn’t been an outright “no I don’t want to see you again, Henry,” but neither was it a definite “Let’s meet up for a drink next week.” He’d left the ball entirely in Henry’s court, and Henry wasn’t at all sure how he felt about that.
Finally forcing his feet to move, he walked in the direction of his car, mulling over the many possible meanings of Dom’s parting words.
I should have asked him.
Henry grumbled at his inability to act all the way back to his car. As he sat drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, he resolved to take Dom at his word.
