Page 56 of Butterflies and Hazel Eyes
He grasped my waist and lifted me over him, settling me on his thighs, his need pressing against my belly. “You control everything,” he whispered before he sucked a nipple between his teeth and suckled lightly. “Whenever you’re ready,” he hissed, my nipple still in his mouth. His instinctive thrust against my belly told me he was struggling to give me the control.
Be bold, Charity.
“You should know that once we’re joined together, nothing can tear us apart,” he whispered. “Not time. Not place. Not anything.”
I had the fleeting thought that it wasn’t true but refused to let it linger and ruin the moment. I lowered myself over him, and he shook with the restraint it took to not overpower me and take everything he wanted in one thrust. He didn’t. He gave me all the power just like he’d promised. He was big, and I was little, but somehow we fit together perfectly. Lost in the sensation of true love, his voice filled my head with lyrics to a song I didn’t know until we found each other.
I sat up half an inch and stilled, my head tossed back until I could see nothing but blackness and the stars that crept in around the edges of it. “No one has ever made me feel this much,” I cried, unsure what was happening to me. “I’m scared,” I whimpered when waves of pure, unadulterated pleasure rocketed through me.
Gulliver held my waist and thrust upward, raising us off the bed as one. “You’re safe,” he promised, his whole body shaking. “Don’t be scared. Let it roll over you like the waves on the shore,” he whispered.
When our gazes locked together, I instantly forgot about the fear and gave in to the power of our love. He grasped my face, moaning my name as he thrust into me, his hips shaking with desire and the need to find that release in the tumultuous waves. My eyes drifted closed as those sensations pulled me underwater into warmth and love.
“Open your eyes, Charity,” he demanded.
I obeyed him, my eyes meeting his and leaving me breathless at what the universe had in store for me there. Our gazes locked together, he thrust one last time, and we both succumbed to the ripples of pleasure pulling us under the waves. When they ebbed, I collapsed on top of him, my chest heaving from exhaustion. He captured me against him and kissed my neck tenderly. “That was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever experienced, Charity. My heart is so full of love for you I can’t contain it,” he ground out before his teeth teased my earlobe.
“I’ve never experienced anything like that until tonight,” I whispered. I was sure he could feel my tears on his chest as they fell from my eyes.
He tipped my chin up and smiled at me the way he had ever since I walked into Butterfly Junction the first day. It was the smile that had drawn me to discover who Gulliver Winsome was. Now I knew. He was mine for as long as I’d have him. He wiped my tears and laid a kiss of satisfaction on my lips. Still buried inside me, his need twitched from the vestiges of our love. “That’s because before, you weren’t with your meant-to-be,” he promised, brushing the hair out of my eyes. “Tonight, you were.”
I caressed his face in a rhythm of satisfaction and love. “Tonight, I found home. All my life I thought home was a place, a town, or a city. Somewhere that you put your things every night. Home is none of those things.”
“What is home then, sweet Charity?” he asked, his fingers trailing up and down my rib cage, leaving goose bumps in their wake.
“Home is you, Gulliver.”
“God, more than anything in this world, I hope you’re right,” he whispered as his arms came around me, and he captured my lips again. His kiss was hot, needy, and I could feel his desire growing inside me again.
I gave myself over to him and refused to concentrate on anything but how wonderful it felt to have a home. I’d figure everything else out down the road.
CHAPTER 17
Last night had been wonderful. We’d made love two more times before the sun came up. We touched, tasted, loved, and trusted each other through the night and into the morning light. It was when we had to leave his apartment that the reality of our lives set in again. We were under lock and key because someone wanted to hurt us. Someone wanted something that wasn’t theirs, and they weren’t going to give up. If that wasn’t enough to worry about, all I could think about was whether I should stay or go.
Normally, the thought of Myrtle brought a smile to my face every time. Now, when I thought about her, I saw a rusting behemoth that was way past her expiration date. The appeal of what she used to be to me had fallen along the roadside somewhere, much like a rusty tailpipe. While living the nomad life had gotten old long before I met Gulliver, I still wasn’t sure how to stop. I had a job waiting for me down south, and if I drove her there, I’d still have the same decision to make. When was it time to let her go? Because letting her go was also committing to staying in one place and forcing myself to make it work. I wasn’t sure I could do that. I also wasn’t sure I could live without Gulliver now, and that scared the crap out of me. People have long-distance relationships all the time, right?
I had hundreds of questions running through my mind, and I couldn’t answer any of them. What if, what if, what if. Those words played like a litany in my head hour after hour with no answers. Life had always been easy for me. Make money, play, go to bed. Rinse, repeat. My time in Plentiful taught me that wasn’t life. That was running. Life was stopping long enough to find what makes you happy. Gulliver made me happy. Butterfly Junction made me happy.
Gulliver had talked with Mathias in-depth today about their current plan and how it wasn’t working. Mathias agreed that I had an excellent point about a product with no home. If they took the time to talk about it now, let the farmers know it would soon be available, and teach them the importance of using it, they’d be further ahead.
I yanked Honey’s middle desk drawer open to search for a paper clip for the order I was working on. Something pinged on the metal insert, and I tugged on my earlobe, realizing my earring had fallen out. I frowned as I pawed through the pens and pencils at the front of the tray, but it wasn’t there. I searched the floor under the desk and found nothing but two breath mints and a paper clip. I sat back down in the chair, my frown deepening. It had to be somewhere in the desk. Carefully, I opened the drawer again, unsure where it could go since the organizer in the drawer was built in. There was nowhere else it could be, though.
I loosened the tabs and lifted the drawer out of the desk, determined to dump it out on the carpet in Gulliver’s office. However, once it was on the floor, I noticed a crack between the drawer and organizer insert. “Maybe it slid down the front,” I said to the empty air as I worked at the insert. But it wouldn’t budge, so I unloaded the drawer and grabbed a screwdriver from the utility closet to pry the insert out. Sure enough, once it was removed, my earring rested at the bottom. I grabbed it and tucked it into my pocket, but something was off about the drawer. I ran my hand over it and realized there was something weird about the bottom. A piece of silver cardboard was made to match the metal, but it clearly wasn’t metal. I knocked on it, and there was a dull thud, which meant it wasn’t empty under there either.
I bit my lip.Do I open it?Honey was trying to hide something, which meant it was likely personal. I tapped my fingers on my knee while I stared at the drawer. What on earth could she be hiding, and why go to this extreme? Why not get a safety deposit box or install a safe at her house?
“Charity? Where are you?” Gulliver called from the reception area.
“In your office,” I yelled back, not making a move to get up or put the stuff back into the drawer.
His crutches thumped on the floor, and in seconds he was standing in the doorway, leaning on the doorjamb. “Are you okay? Did you fall?” he asked, staring at the mess on the floor.
I motioned him in. “Close the door for a second,” I said, my voice low and nervous.
His brows knitted, but he did what I said. “What’s going on?”
I pointed at the mess. “My earring fell off and landed in Honey’s desk drawer. At first glance, it appears the organizer tray is built into the bottom, but it’s not. I took it out and found this,” I explained, knocking on the top of the cardboard. “There’s something else hidden under here. I can’t decide if I should open it or not. Maybe she hides personal stuff there?”
