Page 54 of Butterflies and Hazel Eyes
“I never believed I would experience this kind of love in my life,” Gulliver whispered. “I want you to know how much you’ve opened my eyes to the beauty of the world around me just by being you.”
“Can you fall in love in such a short time?” I asked, my hand stroking his silky beard. “I’ve never been in love before, Gulliver, but if wanting to see you every second of the day, longing to spend time with you, losing myself in your eyes all day and your lips all night is love, then I love you too.”
“It’s undeniable between us, Charity,” he whispered.
“I’ve never spent so much time dreaming about a life with someone before, Gulliver,” I said with tears in my eyes. “When we first met, you were a nut to crack for me. I wanted to know what made you tick and why. I enjoyed spending time with you because you always had something truly thought-provoking to say. I know from experience how uncommon that is these days. Every time you put aside your plans to take me someplace special or to do something I’ve never done before, those three words bounced around in my head, and I prayed you’d hear them. Now I know that you did. It’s why I got upset when you told me to mind my own business. Normally, it wouldn’t bother me in the least, but when you care about someone, you want them to be happy. You want them to find the place in their soul that sings because they’re doing what they love. For you, it’s not research, it’s butterflies. I want you to be happy, Gulliver. That’s all I want for you.”
His eyes glowed with that very emotion as he gazed at me. “You’re right, you’re brilliant, and I hope you’re mine. At least for a little while. Until the travel bug bites again, and you have to climb into Myrtle and find greener pastures.”
I desperately grasped his cheeks in my hands to hold us nose to nose. “I don’t know how to give up that lifestyle, Gulliver. I’m so torn about leaving Plentiful, but at the same time, I’m equally torn about staying. Not because of you, but because of me. I’m not good at staying, and no one is good at staying for me.”
He brought me in against his chest in a hug of fierce love and protection. “I understand that, Charity. I don’t expect you to have everything figured out. All I ask is that you think about staying. Think about finding a permanent place where you can make a life. You deserve that. Whether that’s in Indiana, on the open road, or here with me, all I want is for you to be where your soul tells you it needs to be. I want it to be here with me, but I also know you have a lot of soul-searching to do. I’m not pressuring you to make decisions that you can’t make right now.”
We sat and held each other with no words, just our hearts beating in rhythm as one. Gulliver’s hands caressed my back and drew shivers of happiness and anticipation up and down them.
“Why do you think it’s this difficult for us to know what the right thing to do is?” I whisper asked.
He chuckled, and his chest rumbled against my cheek. “If I were a psychiatrist, I would probably say because we never witnessed love and stability growing up. My mom was a single mom, and your dad was, well, your dad. We didn’t learn the little cues of love and honor the way most kids did. It might be easier to talk about our feelings if we had grown up differently, but I don’t believe we would have an easier time forging a relationship. I think that comes with time, determination, love, and forgiveness.”
I nodded in agreement against his chest. “You’d make a good psychiatrist. I always feared falling in love because of what happened with my mom and dad. They were together until I was five, and then everything changed. Once I was an adult, I realized the honeymoon had been over before it started, but my mom stuck around because of me. Eventually, even I wasn’t enough for her.”
“You had nothing to do with it, Charity,” he said, resting his forehead on mine. “She married someone thirty years her senior. She had some serious issues long before you arrived. The thing is, if we let what happened in the past define our future, we’re never going to live up to our full potential.”
“You’re right. I learned my lesson during juvie. If I left there still carrying the same chip on my shoulder and the same opinion about life, I would be right back in the judicial system. I had to forget the past as much as possible, or I would never be successful. I applied it professionally, but the same stands true in my personal life. At some point we have to say we’ve seen enough, experienced enough, touched enough, and lost enough to understand the only way forward is to make each day better than the last. Even in the darkest hours, the beauty of living is what we have to focus on.”
Gulliver’s hand rubbed my thigh in a way that made me forget where this conversation was going. The warmth of his skin against mine sent tingles of excitement through my body, and the only place I wanted to go was to his bed.
“You have a way with words, Miss Puck. Right now, the most beautiful sight in the world is right before me.”
“Kiss me then, Gulliver,” I begged.
The kiss heated to overdrive almost instantly when our lips touched. There was an electricity between us now that could no longer be contained. SayingI love youput the energy out into the atmosphere instead of holding it inside. The words were the spark to a powder keg, and there was no taking them back. I didn’t want to. I wanted to celebrate the love we shared and let it fill me with joy and a sense of wonder for the rest of my life.
“Stop thinking,” he whispered, his lips still against mine. “Stop thinking about where we go from here and what you’re going to do in the future. Let yourself go and feel my love wrapped around you tonight, Charity. I’m not going anywhere, even if you do.”
When he picked up the kiss where he’d left off, I fell into it, grasping the hair at his temples while I forced his tongue out of the way to make room for mine. “You’re mine, Gulliver,” I mewled before I straddled him to get closer. “I love you.”
♥
Istared at the brightorange and yellow painted lady and the brilliant cobalt morpho butterflies on his mural. My right hand was captured in his while he slept, but my mind wouldn’t let my eyes stay closed.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked, rolling to his side.
My head drifted toward him, and I smiled. “I guess you aren’t sleeping,” I teased.
“I was, but I woke up and decided I’d rather talk to you than sleep.”
His lips found mine in the darkness, and his tongue brushed mine in long, languid strokes. I finally broke the kiss to suck air into my burning lungs. “I don’t think kissing can be considered talking.”
“When you’re in love, it can be,” he assured me, his hands locked in my hair.
“Are you happy, Gulliver?” I asked, my hand braced on his chest. “Like, happier than you were before I came here?”
He sat up and tugged me over his lap so he could wrap his arms around my waist. “For the first time in my life I’m content, baby. I never let myself believe I’d experience this kind of settling in my soul, but being here with you tonight has quieted all my fears.”
His lips took mine hostage, and I wrapped my arms around his neck to anchor myself and let him lead the kiss in whichever direction he needed it to go. It burned hot and intense immediately, his lips trailing their way from mine down to my chest and across my collarbone, where he nipped and licked the skin until I shivered in his arms.
He buried his nose in my neck, and a shiver ran through him as his need grew harder against my leg. “You’re so beautiful, Charity Puck,” he whispered. “I can’t keep my hands and lips off you.”
