Continued tension

Henry didn’t know just how to feel when he closed the door behind him and heard that the shower was running. Rubbing the thumb and index finger of his right hand against the bridge of his nose for a moment and then kicking off his shoes before making his way into the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee, Henry leaned against the counter and tried not to think of anything for a while. He would be in desperate need of some sleep before long, and now he wondered if he’d actually be able to fall asleep once he got the chance, or if he’d spend hours tossing and turning in his bed, trying to come up with a solution to an unsolvable problem.

Henry opened his eyes again when he heard the shower being turned off, and he shook his head before taking another sip of coffee.

He couldn’t let Natasha go, because that wouldn’t be fair on her and it certainly wouldn’t be fair on Sarah, who shouldn’t be forced to deal with the loss of another maternal figure just because he was unable to keep his sexuality in check. But then of course, it wasn’t merely the fact that she was beautiful that attracted Henry to Natasha, and he realized that even he’d be able to ignore her looks, it was another matter entirely to spend another year trying not to pay any notice whatsoever to her personality.

And then of course there was the fact that his staring at her ass, although it certainly wasn’t something that he had been planning to do, could very well be considered sexual harassment. At the very least, chances were that it would be enough to prompt Natasha to hand in her resignation, particularly when he had come very close to ogling her a second time when she had squatted down to hug Sarah goodbye.

The sound of the bathroom door being open roused Henry from his ponderings, and he felt how his body tensed up as he heard Natasha call out “Henry?”

“Y…” Henry started off, and then closed his eyes as he realized that his voice had barely been loud enough to count as a whisper before raising its volume quite substantially as he replied with a more decisive “Yes!”
At least she hadn’t sounded as though she was angry with him, although there was a definite undertone of something in her voice.

“I’ll just go and get changed,” Natasha informed him from the other side of the wall, while Henry tried very hard not to picture her dressed in nothing more than a towel. He failed, and so had reason to stifle a groan as blood flowed down to his crotch.

“Alright,” Henry kept up the hard work required to sound almost as though everything was perfectly normal.

Shaking his head slowly, Henry listened to the sound of feet moving across the floor as Natasha made her way to his bedroom. The thought of her standing naked in there popped up into his head, and he had a hard time getting rid of it.