Page 136 of Painted Truths

Tilting my head to the side, my forehead puckers as he just continues to look at me—his chest rising and falling slowly at first, but getting faster and faster the longer he stares.

I shake my head and throw my hands up. “Okay, what is it now? Give it to me straight.”

After the day I’ve had, I’m just glad to be back here, but if there’s something that needs airing, now’s the time to let it out. Henry steps closer, his fists clenching and unclenching repeatedly until I realise, he’s not meeting my eyes. I follow his line of vision to land on my arms, my torso, my thighs—all of which are covered in deep bruising that up until now I’ve not even felt, let alone noticed.

“I want to drag that bastard back from the bowels of hell just to kill him all over again.” His vehement words are a deep growl brimming with frustrated anger, and despite the sudden throbbing ache throughout my body, I reach for him, grasping his t-shirt in my fist to tug him closer.

Running my hand across his temple, I push his hair back from his forehead over and over until I can feel some of the hatred ebb from his body.

“I’m fine, Henry. I’m here. You found me. You got to me in time—it’s a couple of bruises. Nothing I can’t handle.”

Pained eyes meet mine. “I can’t lose you. I don’t think I could survive it. I—I think I know now. How he felt when she died… not that I can excuse his actions, but… I can appreciate how his world ended the day she left. I couldn’t—”

His voice catches and his head drops, unable to get the words out, but I know instinctively what will help him—what will help both of us.

“Will you wash it away? Everything? I need to just erase the past twenty-four hours, okay?”

Turning to the side, I reach for Henry's body wash, but his hand shoots into the open shower, stilling my movement.

"Please, Peach. Allow me."

Ducking down to the cabinet underneath the matching his and her sinks, he returns to his full height, flashing a bottle of shower gel.

My brand of shower gel.

“Lavender and waterlilies. I could never pinpoint it until those days we spent at your place.”

My eyes meet his, the question in mine apparent. Kicking off his shoes, he steps fully clothed into the shower, squirts some gel into his hands before rubbing them together to make a lather, and proceeds to paint delicious bubbles across my chest and abdomen.

"I made a note when I stayed over and had Jas organise to have all of your home comforts delivered here.”

“Who’s Jas when she’s at home?”

He chuckles at my presumption before correcting me. “He is my PA. Jasper Knowles, though he’s been working from home these past couple of months following the adoption of his little girl.”

“Then why would Martha—ooh, yes, right there!”

My train of thought is utterly disrupted when Henry finds a knot at the base of my spine—a knot he’s exceptionally good at working out. He grins down at me, continuing to knead my back until I’m almost boneless.

“You’re much too good at that.”

He narrows his eyes. “Trust me on this—I’ve never massaged a living soul in my life. I just know your body, Peach. Considering it was made to fit mine. Besides, I believe I’ve already expressed my opinion on how we take care of those we care for…”

Excuse me while I swoon—if I had the energy after that massage, I mean.

“I still can’t believe you bought my shower gel. How did you know I’d agree to move in?” I quirk an eyebrow playfully.

“I told you before… I have my ways!” He smiles into my eyes for a long moment, absentmindedly rinsing the bubbles from my biceps, until he sobers, raw emotion manifesting rapidly in his handsome features. “Either way, this is your home now." His voice is low, eyes boring into mine with an intensity that knocks my breath from my lungs.

"For as long as you'll have me and all that comes with me, everything I have, everything I am, everything I want to be… it's all yours, Peach."

At that moment, I don't just feel his love for me. No, his love breathes new life into my soul, filling parts of me I didn't even know existed. And there's just one thing I need to do. That I've wanted to do for the longest time now. Possibly from the night we first laid eyes on each other, as insane as that sounds.

"Meeting you lit a fire inside me, Henry. I tried to extinguish it in the years after, but it refused to die away."

He lifts his suds-soaked hands up to place them on either side of my face as his eyes hold mine deeply, his brows drawn as he listens to my words intently. "When you showed up in my life all those months ago, your presence stoked the fire within me. It fed that fire until my heart became a blazing inferno of unadulterated love for you."

His nostrils flare as his hands on my face stiffen with anticipation.