Page 17 of Butterflies and Hazel Eyes
I shook his hand in mine. “You’re right, so there’s no sense in worrying about it right now. Let’s get you some breakfast. I hear the pancakes are to die for!”
“I like the way you think,” he said, wearing a grin. “Then we can get the big dog from the office and head back to the campground. I could stand to relax for a few hours.”
I rubbed my hands together and mirrored the smile on his face. I had other plans, but I’d tell him about those later. For now, he needed sustenance. “I like that idea. Let’s get a plate of fresh food.”
“It’s a bit busy right now,” he said after checking the line out. “I’ll have to wait.”
I knew how uncomfortable he was being in the mix with a lot of other people around him. He worried he would trip someone with his crutches, or someone would trip him. Not to mention, he couldn’t carry a plate and use two crutches at the same time.
CHAPTER 5
"You're waddling," he teased as we left the diner and strolled down the street toward Butterfly Junction. Mojo waddled along next to me. I think we both ate too much. “You must be stuffed.”
“Did you see how much I ate? I won’t need lunch or supper. Man, I never want to leave this town. Everything is so plentiful,” I joked.
Gulliver chuckled, but his eyes lit as if I had said the exact thing that he wanted to hear. “Do you think it’s inappropriate for us to be hanging out when we aren’t working?” he asked, his eyes focused straight ahead rather than on me.
“I don’t see a problem with it. I’m not your employee and you’re not my boss. I look at it as helping out a friend while taking some time to recharge. There’s nothing wrong with that. What do you think? Did someone say something to you about us?”
“Mathias,” he said on a sigh. “He said mixing business with pleasure is always a bad idea. I can see his point of view, but we’re adults and can differentiate the two.”
“Why am I not surprised? He comes off as incredibly standoffish with everyone but Honey.”
“Honestly, that’s just the Dane in him. Don’t take it personally. He was raised by a father who was tough, and Mathias has had a lot to live up to. He’s been spiraling out of control lately, though, and I’m worried that he’s going to lose sight of what we’re doing here. Honey has been his best friend for twenty years and even she can’t rein him in. That’s why I’ve been keeping him busy on the weekends. If he’s with me, he’s not out partying.”
“It sounds to me like he shouldn’t be judging anyone else then, Gulliver. You can’t white glove someone else’s house when your own is a pigsty.”
Gulliver stared at me for the longest time and then finally bent over laughing, his shoulders shaking with complete and total amusement. When he stood back up, he was wiping tears from his eyes. “Now that’s some solid life advice.”
I punched him lightly in the arm, and considering my size, he probably didn’t even feel it. “Come on, you’ve never heard that saying before?” I teased, throwing him a wink.
We started walking again while he shook his head. “Not once in my life, but I see your point. As for me, I don’t think it’s a problem for us to enjoy breakfast after working all night or a campfire under the stars after working all day. He’s probably just jealous that the most beautiful woman in Plentiful wants to hang out with me and not him. He’s always the one to get any girl he wants.”
I got a warm sensation in my cheeks whenever he called mebeautiful.I never considered myself beautiful in the traditional sense of the word. Not the way I grew up. I was always the little girl from next door who didn’t wear any clothes and ate like a starving dog. Even later on, after my father died and I had people taking care of me, I didn’t see myself as beautiful. To hear him use the word often in reference to me was new, but I also knew he wasn’t using it flippantly. He really believed I was the most beautiful woman in Plentiful.
“Mathias might argue that Honey is the most beautiful woman,” I said.
He waved his hand when we stopped at the door of the building. “They’re just friends, Charity. Don’t get the wrong idea.”
My eyes rolled so far back in my head I was afraid they were going to get lost. “Sure, okay, whatever you say, but I have eyes. I know what I saw this morning. Are we going into the office?” I asked, pointing at the door to change the subject.
“Would you mind? I’ll take you home after we’re done.”
“I don’t mind at all. What do you need?” I asked as he unlocked the door. I realized it was only nine a.m., and I’d already done half a day’s worth of activities. There was probably a nap in my future. Then again, maybe that was just the pancakes talking.
Once we were in the building, he locked the door again and motioned me toward his office. I pointed for Mojo to stay by Honey’s desk, and he happily lowered his overstuffed body to the floor to sleep off his sausages and eggs.
Gulliver leaned on the edge of his desk. “A little breathing room from the big dog,” he said on a sigh. “I’m always afraid of getting too close to you or startling you and having Mojo get excited and knock me over.”
I stood just inside the doorway of his office rather than get too close to him. I was afraid I might do something I shouldn’t, like throw my arms around his neck and kiss him. “He would never physically harm you unless you were hurting me. I see what you mean, though. He’s big and could easily trip you up and knock you over. I didn’t consider your needs when I insisted he come with me. If you’d rather, I can leave him with Laverne.”
He shook his head with a smile on his face. I noticed every time he wore it, one grew on my face too. “No, I can’t, and won’t, ask you to ditch your protection detail. We’ll make him a bed to hang out on, and he won’t bother us.”
“If you give him a bed, he won’t bother anyone, like, all day.”
Gulliver laughed, his tone rich and deep, unlike the way it was the first time we met. It was like he’d relaxed into the knowledge I wasn’t going to judge him and he could just be himself. “I was wondering if you wanted to help me get the office set up for this week, but then I remembered that Honey isn’t coming back now.”
“She will be, though I could see her being out another week. Once they do the surgery and get it in a cast, she’ll be fine to come back to work a little at a time,” I said. “In the meantime, I’ll just keep doing what I’ve been doing. We’ll still need a desk in here for me to work at when we get going on the website regardless of whether Honey is here or not.”
