“Sorry,” she said when she realized she had gotten his bed so unfathomably wet. “I’m…”
“You have nothing to be sorry about.” His finger lingered in her mouth, making her finally taste his seed on his skin.Fuck. Yes.Eden relaxed back into the bed as his head searched for her pussy. Before she knew it, his tongue was inside her, lips sucking her clit and taking her to a place that utterly ruined her.
But she liked being ruined, didn’t she?
“Don’t you dare leave this bed, angel,” Benson said when his face finally rested on her stomach. “I finally have you for the night. I’m going to sleep with you in my arms.”
She breathed in deeply. “I’ve gotta leave this bed to go to the bathroom, Ben.”
“If you insist.”
He followed her in, which was nice in that she needed some assistance standing, but she was a bit nervous about him possibly watching her take care of herself. But she should have guessed that his en suite had a separate area for the toilet. As she finished up, the bath turned on. When she stepped out of the water closet, still as naked as when he left her, she was alone with only a couple of candles on the counter to illuminate the way to the running water in the clawfoot tub. The bedroom door swung open. Benson had changed out his duvet with another, lighter colored one. He motioned to the bathtub. They were getting in together.
“I’m not letting you out of my sight until the morning,” he said.
“Why not?” she asked.
He peered at her from across the bathtub. “Because I finally have the Butterfly in my net.” He stood in front of the candles, their flames flickering between him and the mirror, illuminating his figure and highlighting the lascivious gaze in his older face.
“I…” She pulled her hair back over her shoulders, showing him her full figure. “That’s what you’ve always wanted, huh?”
“Not until I met you.”
She stepped into the hot water under his watchful gaze. Soon, he’d get in with her, holding her in the water as they indulged in the quiet afterglow of such heated lovemaking. They would share tender kisses and speak softly of nothing in particular, but one thing was revealed.
Benson didn’t really think of her as a Butterfly anymore. She had truly evolved into another winged creature. Brim was a Butterfly; Eden was an angel.
And he couldn’t wait to show her more of what the carnal world had to offer.
Chapter 8
Liam
“This place is so cool.” Eden peered outside of their booth, taking in the “spooky” décor of their corner of the bar. “I didn’t know this existed. How did you know about it?”
Liam happened to catch the holographic eyes of a picture that “followed” the gaze. So did another guest, who laughed so hard that her tipsy friend had to help her stand up straight on the way to the women’s restroom down a long hallway. “It belongs to someone I helped invest in way early on in my career,” he explained. “As you can see, he was quite successful. This is his third bar, but the first one to have a haunted house theme.”
Their goth-clad server came by with their drinks: Liam had ordered a “Vampiric Ward,” which was a herbal concoction mixed with vodka and light-up ice cubes, and Eden sipped a “Bloody Daiquiri,” which came with half-crushed raspberries along the rim. She plucked one off and nibbled at it while Liam described how investing in Connor Graff’s crazy pub visions hadpaid off enough that he could go on to invest inbiggerthings, eventually snowballing into his cozy little angel investor empire.
“So, an angel investor is someone who invests a lot?” Based on the twitch of her mouth and the cock of her brow, Eden was concerned that she sounded ditzy asking that.
“Kinda?” Liam motioned for them to swap drinks for two seconds so they could try out each other’s orders.Rum. Just like we’re back in the Caribbean.At least Eden had good taste in cocktails. “An angel investor just means we’re an integral part of the process. Sometimes that means we sweep in at the last minute to invest the last few million dollars necessary to get a project off the ground. Sometimes we’re the whole reason the project even starts, and in exchange for the risk, we have an ownership stake. These days, we mostly help startups from people with proven track records. Or, you know, people we like. But we also do last-minute investing, too.”
“We?”
“My partner Wyatt and I. He’s good at gauging the risk and funds, while I’m the one who brokers the deals. Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m quite outgoing.”
“And charming.”
“Oh, you flatter me.”
They reclaimed their original drinks, although Liam kept a raspberry for himself.My ownership stake.He was paying for this date, after all.
This wasn’t their first stop of the night. They originally met up for dinner at a cozy Italian hole-in-the-wall famous for its Sicilian cannoli. Together, they shared one glass of white wine because Liam promised better, more fun drinks at their after-dinner stop, which was here.Poe’s Place.Liam hated the name, but it had been successful. And a life-sized replica of its namesake hung out on a ledge where it looked like he playeda piano covered in candelabras.People love Poe.Especially in Yankee country.
He knew Eden would be amused by this place. Liam paid the hostess a generous tip to ensure they were in a quieter corner where they could sit in a rounded booth with comfortable padding and their own tiny chandelier that flickered with fake flames. Eden was emboldened to remove her coat and hang it on a hook on the outside of the booth before snuggling close to Liam, who complimented her little black winter dress before they ordered their drinks.
Now that they were on a proper date, she was much more relaxed and open to his humorous affection for the world around him. That included his mild flirtations with their server, whose cobweb manicure and white face paint he complimented with gusto, and quips about the haunted house music on the speakers and the goofy-ass names for things on the menu. They shared a dessert called “Ghost Giblets,” which was really just pieces of white cake topped with white frosting and chocolate chips.