Page 26 of Butterflies and Hazel Eyes
My eyes grew heavier with every flip of the page, and I forced my ears to listen for several more paragraphs, but I never did find out if Gulliver got free of his bindings before I dropped off to sleep.
CHAPTER 8
"Charity,” Gulliver whispered as he shook my hip. “Wake up.” I opened my eyes to his smoky ones gazing straight into mine. He pointed up, and I flipped to my back to stare into the night sky. I gasped when my brain registered the green light undulating across the stars, illuminating the sky. The pink and white layers merged with the green, leaving the blackness of the night above it to appear wholly lost in space. The stars were brilliant pinpricks of light, and I was confident I could touch them if I reached my hand out toward the dancing lights. The streaks were vivid but fleeting, while the aurora bounced around us. The lights were quickly chased away by one color, only to return in a breath with a new one.
“This is unlike anything I ever expected.” I sighed with my gaze transfixed on the sky. “I’ll never be the same.”
We sat for the next half an hour in silence, save for an occasional gasp orlook at thatbreaking the silence of the night. We stared into the sky until the lights started to fade and the stars and night stole back their canvas. While the green remained a light hue in the sky, the vividness slowly dissipated. Gulliver was holding my hand as I lie in the sleeping bag and he rested next to me, wrapped up in the spare blanket Laverne kept on the boat. The fire had died down, and now that I wasn’t so distracted, I noticed he had put sand on it to lessen the light on the beach. He let go of my hand and got up to throw fresh wood on the coals until it flared to life again and offered much-needed heat for our chilled bodies. It might be June, but on Lake Superior, summer was elusive.
He sat next to me again and yawned. “What time is it?” I asked, rubbing my eyes.
“It’s a little before three a.m.,” he answered. “I was watching for the aurora, hoping it would pop up so I could wake you.”
“I’d forgotten about it in the insanity of the last few hours, but the northern lights were the last thing on my bucket list,” I said, taking his hand in mine.
He cocked his head at me. “You have a bucket list at twenty-six?”
“Well, yeah,” I said. “Everyone should have a bucket list, regardless of their age.”
Gulliver considered that thought for a moment before answering. “I guess you never know how long you have on earth, so starting a bucket list early isn’t a bad idea. How many things did you have on it?”
“Fifty, one for each state. It’s taken me six years, but now—” I held my arms out as if to say there was nothing left. “I’ll have to do some serious thinking when we get back to shore.”
“Why? Unless there’s a hole in the bucket, you can always keep filling it.”
I chuckled into the night air. “You’re right. Leave it to you to point out the obvious. I added things as I completed others, but I was down to the one last original entry. To see the aurora borealis over the Great Lakes. I avoided taking jobs around this area, so I never thought I’d cross it off.”
“Why did you avoid this?” he asked, stymied. “The Great Lakes are the very definition of Mother Nature. You can visit the Great Lakes once a year for the rest of your life and never learn everything there is to know about them.”
“You’re right, again,” I said, tongue in cheek. “I guess the answer is, as long as the aurora borealis were elusive, then I didn’t have to change anything about my life. See, I made a promise to myself that when I finished the items on my original bucket list, I’d think about changing my lifestyle. Try to make it more permanent. Hunt down that dream job and go for it.”
“Jeez. If I had known how much turmoil they’d leave you in, I would have let you sleep. I had no idea the northern lights held such deep meaning for you.”
I nudged him with my shoulder while I rested my head on his arm to stare up into the night sky. “No, I’m glad you woke me up. It was one of those love-hate things. They were breathtaking. I wasn’t disappointed.”
Gulliver scooted closer to me and wrapped his arm around my waist, tugging me onto his lap. “I was supposed to be reading, but I was watching you sleep for the better part of the last three hours. Mojo was giving me the stink eye the whole time.”
I laughed softly because the dog was giving him the stink eye right now. “Regardless of what happens in the future, no one will take the memory of tonight away from us.”
A smile of agreement and happiness spread across his face. “I’ll remember this night forever. I’m glad we spent it together.”
“Me too,” I said, running my fingers through the hair at his temple.
Gulliver sighed and the sound was weighty and filled with uncertainty. “I know there’s so much more to learn about you. You live to experience life at full speed. Maybe you’ll drive out of my life as quickly as you drove in, but the ride so far has been breathtaking.”
A smile tugged at my lips as I stared into his bronzed eyes. The fire drew out the gold in them, and while the green was still abundant, the gold got to dance for all it was worth. “You’re a beautiful person, Gulliver, and you understand what’s important in life.”
I pulled his lips to mine and kissed him, tentatively at first, until he gave in to my lips and melted against me. God, I loved kissing this man. He gave himself over to me and let me control and deepen the kiss. I let my tongue rove over his lips until he parted them, and I got my first taste. I was addicted in an instant. I had never kissed him with as much hunger and desire as I was tonight, but I couldn’t hold the dam back any longer. Not after the things we’d shared with each other. The moan that ripped from my throat was proof that I’d never found this same level of desire with anyone else before.No commitments, Charity,my inner voice reminded me, but he silenced that voice with a quiet moan and a velvety-soft stroke of his tongue against mine.
♥
Exhaustion had kickedin, and I still had many more hours to go for the night. Once I finished the next order, I promised myself I’d get up and grab another cup of coffee. It was nearly ten p.m., but considering we didn’t get back to the mainland until noon, I was still working in Gulliver’s office. I hadn’t seen him since the moment we got back to the dock. His disappearance was making it difficult to get much done on the website, so I was trying to catch up on all the orders that had come in over the last few days.
A cup of coffee was set down on the desk, and I glanced up, my heart thudding from the intrusion. Gulliver stood in front of me, dressed in a pair of jeans and a polo shirt, his hair still damp. “Hi,” he said. “Figured you might need a pick-me-up.”
“Hi,” I greeted him in return, before sipping the hot brew. “You’re a lifesaver. I was just finishing this order, and I was going to find some coffee. You’ve been busy today,” I said, setting the mug down.
His lips tugged into a grim line, and he motioned at the mess on the desk. “It’s been a long day for both of us, it looks like. I need some food, and I would guess you do too?”
