" Good boy, give me a high five", Henry said, holding up his hand.
Ethan smacked it. Henry yelped and pretended that it hurt making Ethan giggle. Claire smiled. Henry then lifted Ethan as he stood and brought him over to Claire. She took Ethan from Henry. She gazed up into Henry's green eyes. Damn, he was gorgeous. She reached up and cupped his jaw before giving him a light lingering kiss on the corner of his sexy mouth. Henry sucked in a sharp breath, causing Claire's heart to flutter wildly.
Claire pulled back, her eyes locked on Henry's heavy lidded gaze that was now ablaze with desire. " Thank you for today Henry"
" You're welcome", He replied hoarsely.
" See you in the morning", she said softly.
Henry swallowed hard and nodded.
Claire gathered up all of Ethan's stuff and headed out the door. Her body thrumming. God, she wanted that man. She hadn't had sex in two years. Hadn't really wanted it. She was fine just taking care of herself when the urge became too much. But now, now she wanted Henry. Bad. It was all she thought about whenever she looked at him. Her days in the office were becoming more like torture then work.
Chapter 9
Claire was startled awake by her cell phone ringing. She glanced at the clock, 12:30am. Shit. She's only been asleep for an hour. It's been almost two months now since she spent that week taking care of Henry when he had the flu and when he had to take care of her when she had accidentally taken ecstasy. Their relationship had definitely changed. They were more at ease with each other, definitely closer and more informal. They have even been getting together at least one day of the weekend so that Henry could see Ethan. And Claire was completely head over heels in love with the man. She grabbed her phone off the nightstand and looked at the screen. Speak of the devil.
" Hello?", Claire answered, her voice raspy from sleeping.
" Hey Claire, did I wake you?", Henry asked.
" Yeah, what's going on?", Claire asked, her head falling back onto her pillow.
" I just wanted to tell you that I'm flying out to Chicago tonight and won't be back until Wednesday, I have to meet with one of our major clients", Henry sighed, sounding tired.
" Oh, okay, is everything okay?", Claire asked.
" Eh, I don't know, he's one of my more irritating clients and he likes to meet in person, he didn't say anything was wrong but he didn't sound happy. I got a 2am flight so I can meet with him at 9am"
" That sucks", Claire snorted.
Henry groaned, " I know. I'll let you get back to sleep, I'll give you a call sometime tomorrow"
" Okay, have a good flight Henry", Claire murmured, hating that she was going to have to go two days without seeing him.
" Thanks Darlin', talk to you later", Henry said softly.
They said goodbye then Claire hung up. A knot formed in her stomach. An odd feeling started. Like something bad was going to happen. Claire shrugged it off and told herself that she was being silly. She placed her phone back on the nightstand and went back to sleep.
Claire woke up with that horrible feeling in her gut still. She went about her morning, got Ethan dressed and left for work after her father arrived. As she walked into the office, she felt the tension from everyone. She felt everyone looking at her as she walked towards her office, which was weird but she brushed it off. She had just put her purse in her drawer when an upset looking Asher appeared in her doorway.
" Hey Asher, you okay?", Claire asked, her heart racing.
" Have you seen the news?", Asher asked, his voice tight.
" No, why?", Claire asked, feeling her panic rise. What the fuck is going on?!
" There was a horrible plane crash early this morning, around 2:30am, a small personal jet barely made it out of the airport before coming down in the Delaware river", Asher said, his voice trembling.
Claire stared at him, " So?", she asked, a bit breathlessly.
" They think it was Henry's plane", Asher rasped.
Claire started shaking her head and whispering "no" over and over.
Asher came forward, grabbing her and pulling her into his arms, " They haven't confirmed it and they haven't said if there were any survivors"
Claire clung to Asher. A sob escaped her. Asher's arms wound tighter, holding her upright. Her knees felt suddenly weak. Her knuckles gripped Asher's shirt so tightly that her knuckles were turning white.
" Shit Claire, I'm sorry", Asher breathed.
They both knew it didn't look good for there being a chance of someone being alive. Let alone it being Henry. And now Claire understood why she had been having a bad feeling since hanging up with Henry. Somewhere deep down, she knew, she knew something would happen to him.