‘I did,’ said Henry.
‘Do they have names?’ she asked, as the birds pecked around her.
‘Not yet.’
She walked to the wire fence and put her fingers through the wire, and he touched them with his hands.
‘This is perfect – you know that, yes?’
He gave a shy smile, and she realised he had been unsure.
‘You said you wanted chickens,’ he said. ‘I took a chance.’
‘I did, and this is generous and thoughtful and honestly, just perfect.’
‘I want to kiss you.’
‘Then come into my coop and kiss me,’ she said.
‘There’s an offer I can’t refuse.’
And he did. He kissed her in a way that she had never been kissed, with happy chickens pecking and clucking around their feet.
‘Stay with me tonight,’ Clara said when they pulled apart.
‘Stay with me always,’ he said and she kissed her answer back.
35
Clara stood in her bedroom, trying to work out if she would dress in her sexy underwear, still unworn from when she was with Giles, or if she should just wear her PJs and act as though there were no expectations.
When she asked Henry to stay with her in her room, she wasn’t even sure she meant it as a request for sex. All she knew was that she wanted to be with him every moment.
She could hear him reading Pansy a story and him patiently answering all her questions about the characters and why Moon-Face had a slide in his tree and if they could put a slide in the tree outside.
Clara brushed her hair again, and then ate a breath mint, even though she had cleaned her teeth.
She got into bed, and then out again and then swapped her pyjama pants for tracksuit pants and pulled a sweater over the pyjama top.
Then she heard the door to Pansy’s room close and Henry enter the bathroom.
The nerves felt like Bolshoi dancers in her belly, and she wondered if she should be casual and lie on the bed reading a book – except she didn’t have any books in the room.
Before she could decide, Henry walked into the room and smiled at her and she laughed.
‘I have been trying to work out the best way for you to find me. Should I be casual, or sexy, or chilled or indifferent? It’s been a whole thing,’ she admitted.
‘Be yourself,’ said Henry as he came and sat on the bed, kicked his shoes off and adjusted the pillow so he was sitting up.
Clara did the same and they sat side by side in silence.
‘I haven’t been with anyone else since Naomi.’
‘Me neither,’ said Clara. ‘I mean, not that I was with Naomi but since Giles.’
God, why was she so awkward. Stop talking, Clara.
‘We don’t even have to do anything. We can just lie here and talk,’ she said, and she meant it.
Henry moved his pillow so he was lying down and facing Clara and she did the same.
They looked at each other and smiled.
‘We’re a fine pair, aren’t we?’ he said.
‘How do you mean?’
His feet found hers and they touched and she felt a shiver of pleasure run through her body as they rubbed each other’s feet.
‘I mean, we have both declared our love to each other. The first gift I have given you was chickens and a hen house, and we are living in a house with a hole in the roof and we have done nothing but a few chaste kisses.’
‘It’s very Jane Austen meets Milly-Molly-Mandy.’ She laughed then shivered as his foot ran over her ankle bone.
‘You’re cold – get in, under the covers,’ he said, and they both hopped out and back in under the duvet.
He was still dressed as was she, but it felt intimate under the heavy cover and her foot found his again and they touched.
She saw the desire in his eyes and she leaned forward and kissed him. It wasn’t a chaste kiss now. It was searching and filled with questions that he answered by pulling her to him.
His hands were on her hip and he pressed against her. She heard him moan as she pressed her hips back against him.
His tongue flickered in her mouth and she caught it, sucking on it, thinking she would die with desire. His hand went under her top and the touch of his skin made her gasp with pleasure. His hands were rough and demanding and she felt his thumb brush against the side of her breast. She moved so he knew she wanted more and soon his hands were everywhere.
She pulled him on top of her in the bed, feeling his hardness between her legs, and she moved against him.
God, I haven’t made out like this since I was a teenager, she thought as her legs went around him.
It was exquisite pleasure and she didn’t want it to end but she wanted more.
Henry pushed up on his hands and looked down at her.
‘Tell me what you want me to do to you?’ he asked and she saw he was very serious.
She paused, trying to think. She wanted everything at once. Him inside her, above her, behind her, over her, under her.
‘Everything,’ she simply said and he sat up and pulled off his top.
His body was lovely. Strong with chest hair, which she tugged at, biting her lip as she smiled up at him.
‘God, you’re gorgeous,’ he said.
‘So are you.’
She pulled him down to her and bit him gently on the nipple. Then she rolled on top of him and pulled off her top and smiled as she undid the button on her pyjama top.
‘You are seriously sexy.’
‘Yes, pyjamas are very sexy – the boys love them.’ She laughed as she shrugged the top from her shoulders.
‘You could be wearing a cloak made of feathers and I wouldn’t notice. I just want you naked.’
The desire he had for her was unlike anything Clara had known before. He was raw and primal and she felt
