Chapter 32
Charity
Dopamine - Robyn
Lazy, content and relaxed had been the order of the day. A lazy lunch after we finally got out of bed, then, totally sated, we sat at the end of the dock, fingers curled around each other’s, talking about life, our favorite films, music and the residents of Sweet Maple Falls.
“I feel kind of floppy,” I told Liam as he yawned and stretched out his legs.
“Boneless,” he stated, then flashed me a wink. “Well, in some places.”
“Liam!” I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help but giggle. It was just another example of how much he’d changed over the last few weeks.
“What? I can’t help it if I’m in a constant state of erection around you.” He cupped himself and groaned. “Seriously, Charity, you're not good for my health.”
Funny, because he was perfect for mine. I’d never had sex like it.
“Every time you look at me like that, I forget how to breathe,” he said.
He forgot how to breathe? What about me?
I’d never been worshipped in bed like that before.
Felt so full. Been so satisfied without having to direct and cajole.
It was as if Liam had been studying me for years and knew exactly what I liked and needed.
And as for him, his body… his dick. I was underselling him and it, if I said perfection.
Sighing, I looked out over the lake, watching the still water catch prisms of light as the sun glinted down. Rings appeared as fish came up for air, and the gentle breeze blew down from the mountains.
“I wish I’d brought a swimsuit.”
“You want to swim in there?” Liam asked, incredulous.
“Don’t tell me you haven’t ever.” I leaned closer, looking into his eyes. “Are you scared of the water?”
“No fucking way.” Thrusting his hands deeper into the pockets of his denim jacket, he chuckled. “I love swimming in there, particularly when it’s freezing. It’s good for the soul. Just didn’t think it would be your thing.”
Shuddering at the idea of freezing water, I looked back out across the lake. “Is it cold now?”
Liam shrugged. “It won’t be balmy that’s for sure, but not freezing either.” He landed me with a playful smile. “Want to get in and see?”
“Like I said, I didn’t bring a suit with me.”
“Don’t need one.” Grinning playfully, he stood and started to unbutton his jacket.
“What are you doing?” When he shrugged it off, my stomach flipped at the sight of his muscles, straining against the arms of his t-shirt. When his hands went to the buckle on his belt my breaths became shallower.
“You want to swim. Like I said earlier, what you want is what you get.”
‘What my sunshine wants, is what my sunshine gets.’ Those had been his exact words. Words that had me wanting to kick my legs like a teenager who’d just been asked to prom by the school heartthrob.
A bird call overhead briefly took my attention but not too long because then I was too interested in the tall, broad man, with messy dark hair standing in front of me and stripping off his clothes.
He reached behind him and grabbed the neck of his t-shirt, dragging it over his head and revealing sculpted abs and perfect pecs with the beautiful angel wings etched on them.
When I licked my lips, Liam smirked, knowing exactly what he was doing to me.
Next his hands went to the button of his jeans, his belt hanging loosely.
“Come on then, Sunshine, get undressed.”
I tore my gaze from him and turned it back to the water. “In there?”
“Yeah, in there. We’re going skinny dipping.”
His jeans fell to the dock with a thud, and my mouth simultaneously fell open.
The outline of his penis was clear against the tight black boxer briefs he was wearing.
The length, the girth, the fact that it was semi-hard.
All I could think about was how damn talented it was—all the pleasures it was capable of.
I wasn’t massively experienced for a woman of my age, but I knew when I’d been thoroughly sexed, and Liam Brown had exceeded all my expectations.
It wasn’t just the incredible orgasms, it was the emotion and feelings that came with it.
My heart and head felt full of words, I wasn’t sure I could convey, or even understood.
Every minute, he’d made me feel safe and desired, and he’d lit a fire within me that I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to go out.
Looking at him in his underwear, I didn’t care that we'd only had sex a couple of hours before. I wanted him again. Now.
“Close your mouth, Sunshine, and get your clothes off.” He winked, dropping his hands to his hips.
“Could we not go back inside instead?” I asked, wetting my bottom lip with my tongue.
Smirking, he shook his head and pointed at me. “Clothes off. Now. You can leave your underwear on.”
My nipples tightened behind the lace of my bra at the tone he’d adopted. I was pretty sure I could develop an unhealthy obsession with bossy Liam.
“I can?” My fingers whispered against the buttons of my jacket, Liam taking a step closer distracting me from undressing.
“Yep, don’t want you getting anything strange crawling up into nice warm places.” His emerald eyes twinkled with amusement.
“What kind of things?” My heartbeat picked up. I wasn’t scared of spiders or snakes, but it didn’t mean I wanted them making their home in my body.
Liam chuckled. “You’ll be fine, but to be honest, you naked in there might be too addictive.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
He leaned down and kissed me softly. “My greedy little Sunshine,” he said, his voice low and gravelly with a hint of want and need. Swallowing hard, his fingers moved to the buttons on my jacket and slowly popped one open. “The sooner you get in that water, the sooner you’ll get fed.”
The double meaning hit home, and suddenly I couldn’t undress fast enough.
I hesitated on the dock, toes curled into the cold wood, a tremor running through me before I’d even touched the water.
Liam was already waist-deep, his breath coming in visible bursts, his laughter rough and wild. “It’s not that bad,” he called, but his teeth were chattering. “The longer you take, Sunshine, the harder it will be.”
I burst out laughing, pointing at him. “Are you sure it hasn’t disappeared instead.”
“I can assure you it’s fine.” He wiggled his eyebrows and shoved his hand down his briefs. “Want to come and check for yourself?”
Rolling my eyes, I tentatively dropped my toe into the water—as soon as it washed over my feet, it stole my breath. It was like liquid ice, and every nerve inside me screamed. It wasn’t even close to gentle as it bit at my skin.
Liam held out his hand. “Come on, keep coming. You’ll feel better once you cover your shoulders.”
“I’m not sure I believe you.” I was already starting to shiver.
“Wouldn’t lie to you, Sunshine.”
Dropping down to my ass on the dock, I slowly lowered myself in, my body screaming with each inch of the ice-cold water. He damn well lied.
I stood waist deep, gasping, with my arms out wide—wondering if I’d ever been so cold.
“Duck under,” Liam said, his laughter a deep rumble.
“I think I've changed my mind.” I turned back to the dock, but it was too high for me to push up onto. I had zero upper body strength. “Shit.”
“Looks like you have no choice.” Standing with his hands on his hips, it was annoyingly clear that he wasn't feeling as bad as I was.
“Here goes nothing,” I muttered, dropping under before I could talk myself out of it.
The water hit me like a thousand needles of ice, stealing the breath from my lungs as it closed over my head.
My skin burned with the cold, every nerve ending screaming in shock.
I surfaced gasping, almost ready to wade back to the shore, but then I saw Liam had moved closer to me.
Hair slicked back, water running down his shoulders, grinning as bright as the mountain sky, and suddenly the cold didn't matter.
The cold became like electricity, bringing me to life.
“It's invigorating.” My breath came out in small clouds above the surface, mingling in the chill air.
I could smell the pine and the snowmelt from high up in the mountains, and it felt like the earth was waking up to the idea of moving from spring to summer.
He reached for me, his hand was freezing, yet in the middle of that icy water, his touch set me on fire.
“Want to try something?” he asked, pulling me closer.
“I don’t want anything crawling up my vajayjay.” I wrapped my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck.
He leaned back, frowning at me. “Your what now?”
“Vajayjay. Did you never watch Grey’s Anatomy?” He shrugged. “When Miranda gave birth?” He shook his head before nipping at my earlobe. “I’m still scarred from Dr. McDreamy dying.”
“I have no fucking clue what you’re talking about, but I’m guessing your vajajay is currently rubbing up against my stomach.”
Giving a little wiggle, I nodded. “So, what do you want to try?”
Liam’s emerald pools looked over every inch of my face, as he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. It had escaped from my ponytail, held in with a blue band. I couldn’t even consider using the red ribbon for anything else after earlier, it was too special now.
“Want to try that lift from the movie?” he asked.
Blinking slowly, my legs gripped tighter. “Dirty Dancing?”
“If that’s what it’s called.” He smirked, like he knew exactly what it was called.
“Really?”
A large palm slid down to my ass and gave it a squeeze. “It might be fun.”
“I might die.”
“I won’t let you. I swear I’ll catch you.” His voice was gentle but confident. “Trust me. I’d rather go under than let you fall.”
He looked so earnest, his mouth a little pout that was the cutest thing I’d ever seen. I squished his lips together between my fingers. “How could I refuse that face?”
His smile was brilliant, and when he walked us back closer to the shore, the thrill of the day made my heart thrash around my chest. This wasn’t just about a silly movie scene, it was about trust, about letting go and believing that he would catch me.
“If I die, though, I’ll haunt this lake forever.”
He chuckled, moving us into even shallower water. “First you need to get a running start. Well maybe a little swimming, too. Then when you reach me, put your hands on my shoulders and I’ll lift you up.”
“That’s it?”
He shrugged. “How hard can it be?”
“You do know they were trained dancers, don’t you?” When he raised his hands to the sky, I couldn’t help but laugh at the confidence of the man. “Okay. Let’s do it,” I said and backed away from him.
“That’s far enough,” he called and positioned himself, arms ready. “I’m good if you are, Sunshine.”
I took a deep breath and then pushed forward through the water as fast as was possible, which wasn’t very. As I reached him I tried to place my hands on his shoulders, but I misjudged the distance and crashed into him instead, sending us both under the surface in a tangle of limbs.
We came up spluttering and laughing.
“Maybe not as easy as I thought,” Liam gasped, wiping the water from my eyes. “But we’re not giving up. Come on, let’s go again. We’ve got this.”
Our second attempt was marginally better, because that time I managed to get my hands on his shoulders at least. When he tried to lift me, though, I panicked and grabbed onto his head instead, dunking him under the water again.
“Sorry,” I called as he surfaced, his hair plastered to his head.
“My ears are full of water,” he said, tilting his head and shaking it as he jumped on one foot.
“You look ridiculous,” I laughed.
He grinned, eyes sparkling. “Thanks. Come on then, Sunshine. Third time’s a charm.”
That time I ran with more determination but misjudged my speed and hit him like a torpedo. He went down with a spectacular splash, probably scaring every fish within a mile radius.
When he resurfaced, I studied him carefully. “I think I might have given you a black eye.”
“Nah, just a bruised ego.” He slicked his wet hair back from his face. “Maybe I was too harsh on that Swayze guy.”
I barked out a laugh. “So, you do know what the film is called?” When I splashed him with water, he winked and positioned himself again. “You sure you don’t want to stick to swimming?” I asked, starting to feel guilty about nearly drowning him each time.
“One more try,” he insisted. “But this time don’t come at me like you’re a linebacker.”
Blinking, I threw my hands on my hips. “Did you just say I’m built like an NFL player?”
“No,” he cried, amid a deep laugh. “You just have the enthusiasm of one.” He raised an eyebrow. “Sunshine, I’ve seen gentler freight trains.”
I splashed him again. “Fine. One more attempt but if this doesn’t work, I’m blaming the movie for false advertising.”
This time I approached more slowly, placed my hands carefully on his shoulders, and when he lifted me, I actually stayed up for a glorious three seconds before toppling sideways into the water with all the grace of a falling tree.
“We did it,” I shouted triumphantly. “Did you see? I was practically flying!”
“You were magnificent.” As he reached for me, the way he looked at me made my heart skip. It looked like wonderment to me.
“We were magnificent,” I whispered.
“Told you I’d catch you. Not just out here… anywhere.”
And then I kissed him. Wrapped around him, shivering with cold, and exhausted from our efforts, I didn’t think I’d ever felt so happy.