Chapter 29
Liam
First Day of My Life – Bright Eyes
As soon as I closed the door of the cabin, the heavens opened and started drumming on the roof. Charity was right—it was warm and snug in there, like we were in a cocoon. A bubble of contentment, yet being back in there with her, alone, I felt awkward, and of all things, shy.
“I’ll add more wood to the fire.” Rubbing my hands together, I headed to the fireplace, glad I’d thought to set it going before we’d left for the lake.
“Are you cold?”
When I turned to Charity, she was shrugging off my jacket and it did something to my chest. Seeing her in my clothes felt like a dream I didn’t deserve, a dream that had snuck up on me.
It had happened so fast I wondered whether I’d been drugged somewhere along the line.
I didn’t know what to do with the warmth it sparked in me.
Wanting something good had always meant losing it, so wanting her felt dangerous.
“You should have said,” she continued. “I’d have given this back to you.
” Reaching out for my hands, she placed them between her elegant, dainty ones.
The tan of my skin standing out against the porcelain white of hers.
My calloused fingers a total contrast to her perfectly painted pink nails.
“God, your hands are freezing.” She rubbed them gently, bringing them and other parts of my body to life.
Skin on skin lit an instant spark, and our eyes met through the bolts of desire and attraction.
“You always do that,” I murmured. “Take something numb and bring it back to life.”
Charity’s lips parted, giving me a glimpse of the tip of her tongue. The blue in her eyes looked more ocean blue than cornflower, her lips like the deepest pink roses, her blonde ponytail a golden sheet of silk hanging over her slim shoulder.
“You look beautiful.” The truth fell out of my mouth on a reverent whisper.
“I do?” she asked shyly.
“Yeah, you do. I’ve been trying not to stare at you all day.” I took a beat. “You know, you’re too fucking beautiful to be bothering with someone like me.” The words scraped out of me before I could stop them. I didn’t mean to confess the truth of how small I still felt.
She lifted her fingers and ran them softly across my jaw, her eyes searching mine, almost like she was trying to find the excuse that I hadn’t yet thought of.
I didn’t have any but, closed my eyes against the tenderness in her touch. Fourteen years since I’d let anyone so close, since I’d wanted to be this vulnerable with another human being, let alone a beautiful woman.
“Liam,” she whispered.
I opened my eyes, and my heart missed a beat at the way she was looking at me. Like I was something special to her. Not broken.
“If you don’t want this.” Her teeth caught on her bottom lip. “I understand if—”
“No, Charity.” I brought her fingers to my lips and kissed them gently. “I do. I just never thought…” My voice was rough, barely above a whisper. “I never thought I’d want this again. Want someone again.”
Her cool hand cupped my cheek. “I’m here,” she said simply. “I want to see what we can be. I want to take the risk. If you do.”
“You have no idea how long I’ve been standing on this ledge, too scared to jump.”
The gray, rain-filled sky filtered through the cabin windows casting silver patterns across her skin and I memorized every detail. Especially the trust in her eyes as she let me see all of her and I remembered how much the words ‘I’m here’ could hurt. But also, how much they could heal.
Her hand slid to my chest, resting right over the inked wings that guarded the scarred heart beneath it.
“I do,” I told her, full of certainty. “I really do, but if I screw this up, tell me and I’ll fix it. I’d rather break myself trying than lose you.” Without thinking any more about the what ifs, I leaned in and kissed her.
Not careful.
Not soft.
But not rough either. Just… real.
Her hands slid to the back of my neck, dragging me closer, and I felt something inside me break open.
All the years of hunger for touch, closeness, and warmth—for someone for more than a few hours, poured through me so fast that I had to steady myself on her hips to keep me from unravelling completely.
She tasted like coffee and Baileys, like cool spring air and the kind of hope that I hadn’t believed in since I was seventeen.
“Charity,” I breathed against her mouth.
She pressed her forehead against mine. “I’m here.”
Her words shouldn’t have meant as much as they did, but they hit harder than any kiss or declaration.
I guided her backward, slowly, giving her every chance to stop me. Her mouth didn’t leave mine. Her hands stayed anchored to my shoulders. Her breath mingled with mine.
We made it to the bedroom, and I hesitated in the doorway.
“If there’s anything you don’t want, tell me.
” My voice wasn’t just asking permission.
It was begging for reassurance that I wasn’t about to break something fragile again, this time, inside myself.
I kissed below her ear and felt myself harden as she mewled like a little kitten. “If you don’t want this, tell me.”
“I do.” She stumbled back a step, and I caught her around her waist with my arm, pulling her close until her stomach flat against my dick that was straining against my jeans.
“Good.” I wound my fingers in her ponytail, pulling gently so I could look directly into her eyes. “Because I want to give you it all. Every last bit of me.”
I moved us again until we reached the edge of the bed, a wooden sleigh bed with a quilt folded on the end made by my great-grandmother. The lonely nights I’d spent here believing I was relishing in the peace, yet all I was really doing was hiding away from everyone, including myself.
I gently lowered Charity to the mattress, my lips finding hers, my hands learning the shape of her, relishing in her trust. Climbing on with her, I placed a hand on either side of her head and stared down at her.
I watched the desire grow in her eyes as I ran a hand up her denim-clad leg, tracing the curve of her hip and moving down to the globe of her fucking incredible ass.
Her head lifted, mouth searching for mine, so needy that it made my heart thud hard.
“What do you want, Sunshine?”
“You,” she replied with a gasp. “I want you.”
I lifted to my knees and reached for the button of her jeans, popping it open with one hand.
Then, grabbing the denim at her hips, I yanked them down.
When I got to her feet, I pulled off her boots and threw them to one side before removing her jeans all the way, taking her thick fluffy socks with them.
Looking down on her took my breath away.
Slim calves and toned thighs, shapely hips and the tiniest pair of white lace panties that made it clear she only had a strip of hair.
Her stomach was flat with a hint of muscle, and it was clear that if she didn’t now, she once had worked out—hard.
Her chest was heaving, her nipples tight against the cotton of her pale blue t-shirt, her lips parted on a moan as she arched her back.
She wasn’t just letting me touch her. She was letting me see her.
And God, no one had trusted me like that in years. I hadn’t let them.
I wasn’t even touching her, and she was writhing, desperate for more. Just knowing that made me feel twenty feet tall. It made me feel like the man that I always wanted to be. Big, brave and free.
“Top off, Charity,” I said, gravelly and rough. “I need to see all of you.”
Sliding off the bed, I started to undress, my eyes on Charity the whole time, not wanting to miss a single second or inch of her smooth milky skin.
My dick and balls were aching, my fingers flexing with the need to touch her.
Standing naked at the side of the bed, I thought I might explode as her eyes explored me.
She drank me in, pausing at my chest, at my angel wings and when she licked her lips as her gaze reached my dick I felt my chest swell with pride.
Leaning up on her elbows, she reached up, took the ribbon out of her hair and shook it. It cascaded behind her, the tips of her waves touching the mattress and when she bent one leg and placed her foot flat, she looked like an exquisitely classy centerfold from days gone by.
“Just fucking look at you. So damn gorgeous.” Planting a knee on the bed, I moved next to her, with one arm across her stomach I pulled her back to my front and then snaked the other one underneath.
I spread my hand on the curve of her breast, my fingers teasing at her throat as I nipped at the soft skin of her neck.
“God, I need you, Liam.”
My hand went lower, two fingers sliding through her wetness.
And God, she was wet. As wet as I was hard.
Her chest was rising and falling rapidly, creating the rhythm for my mouth and my fingers.
When I found her tiny bud of nerves, it was swollen and pulsing and as soon as my fingers circled it, Charity groaned and reached up to lace her fingers through my hair.
It made her tits rise and they looked incredible.
I was desperate to be inside her. Desperate to have that closeness that I hadn’t had with any of the hook ups that I’d experienced.
“What else do you want?” I gently squeezed her tit, rubbing a finger over her hard-as-stone nipple, earning a gasp.
“I want you inside me. God, please.”
I didn’t waste any time and reached behind me for the drawer of my nightstand.
Ironically this was the place I always came to alone, yet I had a box of condoms. I think they were a relic of one of Cole’s rare visits and I was just grateful I’d never thrown them away.
It took me no time at all to tear it free of its packet and roll it onto my dick, which was harder than a steel post.
“You sure, Sunshine?”
“God, yes. Please.”
Lifting her leg, I pushed into her, my fingers still splayed over her stomach while my other hand curled around her neck, my thumb and forefinger holding her chin.
That first thrust was like nothing I’d ever felt before. It was slow, but hard, and my ass and hips took on a life of their own as they pistoned together to draw out moans and groans of ecstasy from the beautiful blonde woman in my arms.
My blood felt like it was boiling in my veins.
My balls were tight, and my stomach felt like it was attached to my spine.
My heart felt like it was about to beat out of my chest as a myriad of emotions rushed through me.
Hope. Joy. Excitement. Obsession. I was fixated with this woman.
I couldn’t get deep enough inside her. I couldn’t feel enough of her skin against mine.
Maneuvering us, I pressed her back against the bed and lifted her ass as I slowly rolled my hips, wanting to watch her as I worshipped her. Needed to watch her come apart.
Charity’s fingers gripped my biceps as we moved together, our movements languid and luxuriously intense.
Sweat slicked our bodies as we took what we needed from each other, and then it hit me.
The wave that had been building rose to a crescendo and slammed into me.
I reached between us, ready to press the button that would detonate Charity, but before I could, she screamed and shuddered beneath me, her thighs clenching me tight.
As she gasped out my name, I followed her over the edge and let myself fall into the abyss of exhilaration.
As our chests heaved, as our damp bodies flopped back onto the mattress, and we tried to catch our breath, I knew I was finally starting to live. The world didn’t feel hollow in that moment. The silence didn’t echo. For the first time since Ezra, there was something inside of me other than grief.