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“I thought you were off the island, but I guess I was wrong,” she interrupted. A part of him suspected she didn’t even hear him speak, already too revved up and more than ready to spill the words out. “I don’t know if this is some ploy to get me chasing after you, but it’s working. I’m pissed off. I’m not pissed off that I’m chasing after you. I’m pissed off that I’m losing sleep from worrying over you, yet it turns out that you’re fine and didn’t even bother to keep me updated. A simpleyes, I’m finewould have sufficed.”
He opened his mouth, but her searing look told him she wasn’t done. So, he kept quiet.
“I’m not asking for much,” she continued. “I even tried holding off from calling you in the first few days of your disappearance. Ruby told me you were fine when you left and you knew the deal.Iknew the deal, too, so we should have been okay after that. But you decided to shut me out and lately, instead of thinking about the damn job, all I could think about was if you were safe. If you were alive. It’s distracting me so much. Then there’s that night you followed me home. I’m not supposed to think about it anymore, butyoudisappearing without a word made me return to it, and now…”
Guilt pressed over his chest, but her words fascinated him.
“And now?”
“It hasn’t left my mind. It’s all I can think about,” she blurted out.
The confession punched him in the gut, a right hook that was strong and glorious.
“It hasn’t?”
Pearl caught on to his tone and glowered at him.
“Don’t you dare laugh because it’s not funny. It’s irritating. Inconvenient. And it’s not something either of us needs. It’s…”
“Frustrating,” he added softly. “I know.”
Silence. The rant ended and her shoulders slumped, drained. She looked at him once more, this time with a sharper eye.
“For the record, it hasn’t left my mind, either,” he said while he waited for her to finish the evaluation. “There are matters that I have been preoccupied over, but being with you that night wasn’t something I was likely to forget.”
Pearl’s eyes flicked up and met his, confused. Guarded. It made her feel more vulnerable to him, and he hated that that was his doing. Again.
“Personal matters?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“I see.” Pearl straightened, the vulnerability leaving her—or maybe it was just her wall of casualness forming to keep her emotions inside. It struck him just how similar they were in that department—and personally, it would have driven him insane, and hurt him, if she had shut him out without a word after what they had shared, even before the stupendous sex. What that meant about his feelings for her, he didn’t know. He didn’t want to analyze it yet, knowing his new truth changed things drastically. But this was Pearl and she deserved more than what he gave her.
With that certainty in mind, Henry decided to trust his gut.
“I found something out.”
Her brows rose, not expecting him to continue. “The shadow?”
“No. It’s unrelated to the family issue…but it is a family issue.”
“Another one? I don’t think I should get involved then…” Her words trailed off at his silence. For the first time, she looked nervous for him. “Henry, what’s going on?”
Henry took a deep breath and let it out slowly, gathering his courage.
“I think it’s better if I show you.”
Chapter 11
Henry made her close the portal and resealed the house all over again, this time adding another layer, rendering Pearl even more bewildered. Security like that was meant for the highest of threats, or at least something near that level, so it couldn’t be helped that she was wringing her hands while still trying to look confident by the time he was done. When he ushered her to his locked library, her brows furrowed.
“I hope this isn’t some kidnapping attempt, because if it is, Ruby knows of my whereabouts. You’re lucky she likes you and helped me with the potion to get here.”
Something that looked like pleasure lightened his features and made her heart stutter in its beat. A smirk formed on his mouth, drawing her attention there.
“I don’t need to attempt kidnapping. If I wanted you here, all I need to do is call you.”
There was the smug bastard she knew. But the arrogance sparked a heat in her this time, blossoming until she was throbbing all over. Awareness coasted on Henry’s face as if he could sense her arousal. Then his smirk faded abruptly, the wall coming into place and stiffness replacing the smugness.
