Chatper 19

"When did you know you wanted to be more than friends?" I ask Henry when I step out of the shower, and he wraps the towel around my shoulders.

"I have been interested in you since the moment you told me that you see me as a human being and not as the actor," he tells me and gives me a quick peck on my lips.

"That was when we met," I say surprised and take the towel to wrap it around my body.

"Yes, but then you said you had a boyfriend and I thought perhaps being friends with you is better than nothing, because you have been a really great friend."

"Except for my rebounds and earthquakes."

"I wouldn't call them that."

"Then how would you describe them?" I ask him and grin as I follow him into his bedroom.

"Well, you went through challenging phases in your life, because of a man who didn't appreciate you and hurt you in the end," he tells me when he comes out of his walk-in-closet dressed in a pair of short sweatpants and a t-shirt. In his hand he has another piece of clothing which I think he grabbed so I can wear it. I make a pout because I was actually looking forward to touching his skin.

"What?" he laughs, when he sees my expression.

"I was enjoying the view. Now it is blocked by this stupid fabric," I answer his question and tug on his t-shirt. He wraps his arms around my body and pulls it against his chest.

"I doubt we could hold a conversation right now, when one of us is naked. Right now, it takes every ounce in my body not to throw you onto my bed and fuck you," he whispers into my ear which makes me shudder.

"I wouldn't mind." I wrap my arms around his neck and look him in the eyes. "But I understand that talking about us is important. Very important."

"Good. Then how about you get into one of my t-shirts and we go downstairs, so we can talk on the couch." I nod and take the t-shirt from him. Carelessly I let the towel fall to the floor and I can hear him taking in a sharp breath when I am standing naked in front of him.

"Charlotte," he warns me lowly and I grin at him.

"What? You clearly appreciate the view, don't you?" I tease him and then slip into his t-shirt.

"I do. A lot," he sighs and shakes his head slightly.

"But we need to talk. Come on let's go downstairs, I want to cuddle with my fluffy ball."

"Am I replaced that quickly? Wasn't it satisfying enough?" he asks me while he pulls me back against his body and starts to kiss my neck.

"No."

"Is that your answer to the first or the second question?" he inquires in between kisses. I move my fingers into his hair and tug on it, so he looks at me.

"The first one. The answer to the second question is that it was very pleasurable."

"Everything else would have been a lie," he smiles and puts a small peck onto my lips. Then he steps back and takes my hand into his. "We really should go down into the living room."

"Yeah, we should," I confirm and then follow him downstairs. Kal immediately jumps up from his bed and walks over to us, demanding being pet.

"I missed you, fluffy ball," I tell Kal and scratch him underneath his chin after I sat down on the couch. Henry is right next to me, and I can feel him wrapping his arm around me. When I turn my head slightly, I notice him staring at me.

"What?"

"I just like it, that you love my dog almost as much as I do." A wide smile appears on his lips, and I can't resist it and smile back. Immediately butterflies flutter through my stomach and need to take a deep breath to calm down my feelings.

"Well, what's there not to like. He is amazing, but I still like his owner better," I tell him and give him a small peck.

"Where do we want to start?" Henry asks me and starts to pet Kal too.

"Why did you never tell me?" I sigh and look at him again while absently scratching Kal underneath his chin.

"That's complicated. When we met, you were in a relationship, and I didn't want to get in between that. At the night of your birthday, I realized that he didn't deserve you, especially the way he treated you. When we had the conversation in my house, I really had to hold back not to say things that would hurt you, because you still liked him, even though of what he said and did to you. All I could think of was that I would treat you so much better an appreciate you in my life. To be honest, I was shocked the next day when you said that you would want to give him a second chance, however I could somewhat understand that you didn't want to throw a relationship away and that is something that I can respect," he tells me in an earnest tone.

"You kind of looked like if you wanted to hit Luke in his face," I ponder aloud when I think back at the conversations.

"I wanted to do more than that, but I didn't, because in the end it would only have hurt you. After our meeting where my assumption about you being Rae Dawn were confirmed, I got to know you better. The more we talked, the more I accepted that I started to like you a lot. Before that I only thought that I was just attracted to you. The night the two of you broke up, and I saw you in the state you were in, shattered my heart and I knew I liked you a lot. I wanted to be there for you, but you made it clear that you wanted to heal and work through your breakup alone. To give you time to heal, I moved back to London and looking back at it, I think it was the wisest decision. If I had stayed there then, I would have tried to be closer to you. And distance was good for both of us. I was able to reflect on my feelings and you were able to heal."

"I always thought that you didn't want to burden yourself with me during that time," I tell him and turn my body to look him directly in his face. He looks somewhat sad, and I put my hand onto his cheek. Immediately the corners of his mouth lift into a smile.

"No, not at all. That would go against what we did. Or didn't we text every single day and talked over the phone almost every other day?" he asks me and takes my hand to place a kiss in the palm of it. I think about his question for a bit and recall all the conversations we had in the three months that we didn't see each other.

"We did," I tell him realizing it now.

"I couldn't let you all alone. When you arrived in London, I was totally egoistic to go out with you every single night. The first time you asked me if there is someone in my life, I wanted to tell you that I am interested in you, but I noticed that you weren't ready yet. I didn't want to push my feelings onto you, and you made it really clear that you only saw me as a friend and nothing else. The night you got drunk, and we were both lying in bed, I had to fight so hard, to roll over and wrap you into my arms. I was awake almost all night." He pulls me closer against his body and I place my head onto his chest. I can hear his steady heartbeat and turn my head a bit to be able to place a kiss on his chest over the fabric of his t-shirt.

"But why didn't you tell me when we were on set? I mean there would have been couple of opportunities."

"You only told me that you were ready when we were in the Dandelion field and then you asked me if I could introduce you to a friend of mine. While I kind of had hope before that day, that sentence killed it. I was really miserable afterwards but didn't let it show. When Charles and Heather arrived and I met with them, my brother was the first to notice it. He pulled me to the side and talked to me and I told him, that I like you. He called me dumb and today he tried to push us together." He shakes his head while talking about Charles. I guess he doesn't like to accept relationship advice from his little brother.

"That's why you were tense when he said that you should help me or if you would join. I thought it was because you didn't want me to be your friend anymore," I say realizing that I was far off the truth.

"Well, are we still only friends?" he asks me and moves my head, so I need to look at him.

"No. This relationship has the fundament of friendship, but we are building a house of love on top of it, aren't we?"

"I hope so, because I will do my best to achieve that," Henry says and puts a peck onto my lips. I look at him dumbfounded, because I am still overwhelmed about how openly he can talk about his feeling and what he wants in a relationship.

"Is something wrong?" he asks me and draws his eyebrows together in concern.

"No, nothing at all. I just need time to get adjusted how easy it is to talk with you about all of this. You don't have another agenda in the back of your head. You don't want to hurt me. You actually want to protect me from everything and that's something I need to get used to," I answer him honestly and he nods slowly.

"I want this to work, Charlotte," he tells me as he pulls me onto his body. I place my legs on each side of his and sit down on his thighs. "I'll be your best friend when you have a rough day. I'll listen to you, and I'll try to support and help you. I want you to be able to tell my anything you want, because I'll do exactly that," he continues and places a kiss on my forehead. "I'll be you lover. I'll bring you flowers. I'll take you out on dates. I'll cherish ever single inch on your body," he adds and kisses my cheek softly. I take his face between my hands and look him straight in the eyes. I am only met with honest, devotion and commitment.

"Thank you, I really needed to hear that," I tell him and place a kiss on his lips which ends when I need to moan as he places his hands on my hips to pull me closer to him. I clear my throat and bite my lower lip.

"Why did you introduce me to David, when it crushed your feelings?" I ask him after a few seconds because this question has been nagging me.

"Because I didn't want to block you from finding happiness. You deserve it after all you have gone through." When I hear these words I sigh loudly, because he did the same as me.

"We are both idiots, aren't we?" I chuckle and shake my head slightly.

"I wouldn't call us imbeciles. We are people who thought that accepting our feeling and telling the other one would destroy our friendship."

"Okay, I take that," I agree and nod my head, before asking him, "Did Peter know?"

"I don't think so. But what makes you believe that?" He leans back against the backrest of his couch and pulls me down with him. I place my chin on his chest to stare at him while he starts to play with my hair.

"The scene that one night when we were out in the woods. It was when I realized that I started to feel more toward you than just friendship. The way you touched me, awoke feelings inside me that slumbered until then." Surprised he raises both his eyebrows and I notice one corner of his mouth twitch.

"Are you telling me, that we could have been together since that night?" he asks me with interest clearly present in his voice and his hands wander from my hips underneath my shirt up to my waist.

"Honestly, I don't know, because I was fighting my feelings. But I think I would have given it a try", I answer him honestly and bite my lower lip again.

"That might explain why you suddenly distanced yourself from me."

"Yes. Now I am glad that I am here, and I think it was the right time for it." I place a kiss on his jawline and he starts to smile widely again.

"I think so too. What else do you want to know?"

"Are we going to consider the day you took me out on your bike and the day in the Dandelion field as dates?", I ask him, and he starts to laugh.

"If you want to."

"Okay, but you set really high standards there," I chuckle, and he looks at me amusedly.

"I did, didn't I? Perhaps I should have thought about that before I gave you the option to decide," he says as he sits up again and lowers his head to mine.

"It's too late now. But whatever we do together, if it is just strolling around in a park or doing something fun, will be great. There is no need to try to top these two days," I tell him as I wrap my arms around his neck.

"I might try though."

"I think I can live with that. Where do we go from here?" I lean my forehead against his and he stops moving his thumbs in circular movements over my skin.

"In the past I had expectations for each relationship I had, but I don't do that anymore. I guess, wherever it leads us and fits us. I just want to spend a lot of time with you, even though it might be very difficult when I need to travel."

"That should be easy as I can work from wherever I want and I actually like London better than LA, even though I have my reservations regarding your food here in the UK," I tell him, and I can hear and feel him breath out loudly. He immediately relaxes and I smile at him. I think that this was one of his biggest fears.

"You would be willing to travel with me?"

"Yes. I always wanted to see more of the world. Until production started, I had never been outside the US. Traveling the world with you on my side is an added bonus," I tell him and shriek loudly when he starts to tickle me.

"Now I am just a bonus," he taunts me as he stops, and I have to take couple of deep breaths.

"No. You are way more than that. You are the man I love."

"I love you too, Charlotte."

"I know, it's hard not to," I tell him, and he starts tickling me again.

"You know you write this completely romantic novels but can be really unromantic when it comes to your own life," he laughs and looks me in the eyes.

"Maybe I need to work on that," I say and pull his face to mine to kiss him feverishly. "I believe we are done talking for now and above is a bed that I want you to take me to, but this time not as your friend," I whisper against his lips. As soon as the words leave my mouth, he kisses me and stands up from the couch with me wrapped around him.