“Yes!” she hissed in a serpent-like voice.

“Good!” I said through my teeth. “Now, put on your clothes and get the hell out of my sight or I will be calling the police! You have five minutes!”

Going to Hank’s side, I covered his nude body with a sheet and attempted to bring him back to his senses.

Not saying another word to me, Angie was gone in three minutes.

After I’d helped Hank dress and had driven him home in my car, I had showered him and put him to bed.

I called Tonya at his office and she cleared his schedule for the next two days. With me watching over him, my husband slept away the afternoon. Although I didn’t make him the chicken alfredo that I’d planned for our anniversary, I put together a simple ham and cheese sandwich with a side of his favorite sour cream and onion chips. I served it to him in bed on a tray and he ate every bite.

“Thank ya for coming to my rescue today,” Hank said as I crawled up beside him on our bed.

I smiled at him. “You’ve saved me before. I suppose it was my time to return the favor.”

He kissed me softly on the lips. “I reckon you’re right about that.” He put his strong arms around me. “There’s something that I wanna make straight with ya, once and for all.”

“What’s that?”

“I hope this whole mess proves something to ya.”

I looked into his determined blue eyes. “And what would that be?”

“About me and you,” he began in his deep voice. “I never told ya some things and I wanna tell ya now… When Angie first brought ya into my house, I felt an attraction for ya then and there.”

“Really?” I asked. “I had no idea.”

“I barely knew myself. You were a sweet, tenderhearted boy, and I’d never felt them sort of attractions before. I was a grown man, so I knew that I shouldn’t be feeling that way about a kid so young.” He choked up for a second. “I felt so ashamed.”

“It’s okay,” I insisted. “I was in love with you from the first time I ever saw you and I’ve made no secret about that. Many adults have those feelings, but you didn’t lay a hand on me. In fact, you hid your attraction to me so well that I had no idea.”

“But I was the elder,” he continued. “So I reckon that was why I was distant from ya for so long.” Hank exhaled. “After your momma left, I fell in love with you over those two years, Austin. I fell so deep and so hard... That’s why I never dated. You were all I needed and wanted. I was never gonna force ya to be with me or do anything illegal, so I waited ‘till you were eighteen to express my intentions toward ya.”

“I know that,” I said, touching his handsome face. “Some folks would still frown on me and you, but that’s their problem and not ours. We’ve done nothing wrong! So fuck them if they think we did. You and I know the truth of things.” I paused. “I’d already figured out a lot of this, but you never explained it all to me before.”