I'll Be Dammed

by Mandy Rosko

  Time to see if he really could read her the way he claimed he could. He certainly was looking at her hard enough to suggest he could. He frowned a little, tilted his head to the side, then shrugged before reaching back and turning off the oven.

  “Well, all right then,” he said.

  Beverly had no idea what that was supposed to mean, not until he turned back to her with that same hungry expression. Her excitement mounted when he approached, his eyes glowing with that intense inner fire.

  He grabbed her by the waist, his hands strong and hot, but when he pulled her closer, her body flush against his, she realized he had an inner strength that was even hotter than the grip of his hands.

  She was a little delirious when he finally pressed his mouth to hers.

  Hot, powerful, and hungry.

  His hands roamed everywhere, leaving burning trails across her skin, but it was good because it felt like exactly where she was supposed to be.

  As though her body had been touched and kissed like this, by him, thousands of times before.

  She wanted so much more.

  The heat of his breath ghosted across her neck and collarbone as he kissed his way down, nipping her slightly at times, sending a thrill through her whole body.

  “I missed you so much,” he said, a vulnerability in his voice she hadn’t expected, but then it was gone as his hand gripped the back of her neck in a reckless gesture, pulling her for another claiming kiss she could hardly keep up with.

  It seemed her bookish Owlbert could rock it in bed with her. He could be dominant and possessive in all the right ways, and she was going to let him because this was fan-fucking-tastic.

  Every time he pulled back for breath, she lifted her lips back to his in a begging invitation.

  He accepted every time, kissing and pushing her backward to the living room.

  The backs of her knees touched the couch just as he pushed her down, his eyes still glowing, determined and animal-like as he crawled on top of her, pushing her thighs apart and settling between them.

  Was he sure he wasn’t a wolf?

  He looked at her as if he wanted to eat her.

  Actually, that still made sense, what with him being a rodent-eating owl and her a giant rodent and all. The thought made her smile.

  “What’s funny?”

  “Us,” she said. “We’re ridiculous.”

  His eyes filled with an amused, yet curious glint. She could almost see the question mark floating above his head before she pulled him back down by his ears and kissed him again.

  That seemed to be enough to make him forget all about the strange things she said. She curled her legs around the back of his thighs.

  She couldn’t have been any more inviting, and thankfully, she didn’t need to be.

  He massaged her breast while kissing her throat, her collarbone, then between her breasts as he looked up at her. Beverly arched closer, wanting the fire of his mouth to graze every inch of her.

  As if showing off his mind-reading skills, he made his way down her body, until he was entirely off the couch and kneeling on the floor.

  “Love it when you wear these,” he said, pulling her cotton boy short panties off.

  Beverly huffed a short laugh, trying to sound as in control as possible when she was so close to flying apart. “I had a feeling.”

  He didn’t ask her about that. He just got right to work, kissing her folds, making her sigh with the instant pleasure that shot through her. The touch of his mouth to her sex made her toes curl, made her nerves clench as though an electric shock had pushed through his mouth and into her pussy.

  Beverly released a helpless sigh, feeling the excitement rush through her body as he used one hand to trail sensuously up and down her thigh and stomach and waist. The little hairs all over her body stood up, and she moaned aloud when he used fingers from his other hand to push inside of her, filling her while his tongue continued to flick her button.

  Beverly arched up, kept down on the couch only by the firm press of his large hand. “Oh God,” she sighed, hardly able to get even that small cry out of her mouth as her lungs struggled to pull in every breath.

  His fingers pushed deep. Her sex clamped down around them. The heat built up inside her like a savage wildfire, taking control of every inch of her body. Clenching her legs and curling her toes as much as she did started to give her a bit of a cramp, but it wasn’t enough to take away from the sheer pleasure she received.

  The noises she made were downright embarrassing, but hot damn, Albert was an Olympic champion when it came to going down on a woman.

  She felt the rising intensity of her orgasm coming onto her a lot sooner than she thought it would. Beverly gasped and panted for breath. She may have gripped Albert’s hair a little tighter than she needed to, but he didn’t make any complaints.

  She came on his tongue.

  Holy shit. Had she really just done that? And he was still rocking her world, easing her through all the tremors, pulling her down from that incredible high.

  She didn’t quite stop pulsing or gasping for breath when he pulled back, but the sight of him wiping his mouth on the back of his hand made her want to jump his bones.

  “Jesus, is that what you do every time?”

  “Not really,” he said, straight-faced and shrugging. “I toned it down a little for now, seeing as how you still don’t remember what it was like.”

  She was incredulous. “Toned it down?”

  Okay, that was it. She grabbed him by the back of his head and yanked him up and on top of her. She kissed him hard. It didn’t even matter where his mouth had just been.

  If anything, that made it better.

  Right, they were definitely going to finish this.

  Eight

  Albert didn’t need Beverly to twist his arm to give her what she wanted.

  What they both wanted.

  He stripped his wife naked, worshipping her body with his mouth, taking in each little mewling sound of pleasure he was able to give to her.

  He’d thought he was never going to have this again, and though he’d wanted to wait until she remembered more, there were only so many times he could back off.

  He was still a man with limits, and if anything, this was a good thing.

  If she needed to feel him again, something familiar and right, then he was only helping her on the road to recovery by letting her experience something they had both regularly enjoyed and were very, very good at.

  “Make it just like we always did it,” she said, lifting herself up onto his lap, holding on to his shoulder.

  Albert held her waist, staring into her determined eyes.

  “I want you to show me exactly how it used to be.”

  He nodded. “I think I can handle that.”

  He knew every inch of her body. He knew when she liked to be kissed and where. He knew exactly how to fuck into her to bring her orgasm about. Even the fact that she’d just come wasn’t a worry for him because he could bring her off again with few troubles.

  This was his wife, and he just knew her that well.

  Lining up his cock, Albert made sure to look right into her brilliant brown eyes. Whenever he looked this close, he could see little flecks of gold in them, just as he did right now.

  His favorite thing to look at.

  He pushed inside her, watching those gleaming eyes widen as her plump pink mouth parted in a pleased groan. Her head fell back, exposing her long, lovely neck to him.

  “That’s...” She breathed deeply, her eyes closing as she slid up and down him. “Exactly what I wanted.”

  “Good,” he said, canting his hips, holding tightly to her waist and matching her movement. “Because there’s no damn way I’m stopping now.”

  The house could be on fire and it would have taken him a minute to snap out of it.

  Beverly opened her eyes, looking back into his. She curled her arms around his shoulders, meeting his thrusts. Their bodies moved slowly at first, but sh
e seemed determined to pick up the pace.

  Albert followed her lead in that, taking the hint and meeting her fervent passion.

  The only sounds in the room were their heavy breathing and the slight rocking and squeaking of the couch as they let their bodies reunite.

  Remember me. Remember us.

  He wanted to say it, to make her remember, but the mood was so good, she was so good, that he didn’t dare voice his wish in case he destroyed the moment. Their child was gone, and she was changed, but she was still herself. She was still his Beverly, and Albert felt it now more than he had yesterday.

  They were going to survive this.

  “So good,” Beverly whimpered, wetting her lips before biting down on them, an invitation for him to kiss her.

  He did, pulling her closer, her perfect breasts pressing wonderfully against his chest.

  “Like this every time,” he promised. “Every time with you is always better than the last.”

  Beverly’s cheeks progressively turned a dark shade of pink as she rode him and found her rhythm. Then she smiled. “You’re making a whole lot of promises here. You sure you can deliver on them?”

  “Very sure.” He angled his hips and thrust in just the way he knew she liked. He watched with a different kind of pleasure as she clenched her eyes shut and moaned softly.

  “Did that feel like I could deliver?”

  She pressed her lips together, and in that instant, her gaze was suddenly more vulnerable and open than he was used to as she nodded.

  He made her moan for him, and as he circled his hips, he barely cared about his own pleasure anymore. He wished he could ignore it entirely so he could put his whole focus on her.

  But she did something to him that brought out an intense urgency within him.

  He needed this, needed her, more than she could know.

  She stoked his fires without doing a thing. Then it was too much; he couldn’t hold back.

  Shit! He wanted this to be for her. He wasn’t supposed to come first.

  Beverly held tightly to the back of Albert’s head, her gaze becoming intense with desire as she stared at him.

  “Come inside me,” she said, her voice a low, breathy caress over his face and down his neck. Warm and inviting. “I want to feel it.”

  Well, if the lady insisted.

  He held her tight, tight enough to leave bruising as he fucked into her, being a little rougher than he would have under the current circumstances but still just the way he knew she usually liked.

  The soft sounds of her moans as she tried to hold back on him were their own special elixir that kept him going just long enough to see the look in her eyes.

  She threw her head back, a helpless mewling noise escaping her throat as her sex clenched around his cock, pulsed around him. Liquid heat soaked him, pulling him along with her until he spilled every ounce of his soul into her.

  And it was perfect.

  Except maybe not entirely. He expected her to collapse on top of him and then apologize for crushing him, like she normally did. He usually followed that by grabbing her and holding her close, reminding her that she weighed nothing and he was strong.

  But none of that happened. Instead, she stared straight past him, a frown on her face.

  “Bev? Hey, you all right?”

  She didn’t seem to see or hear him. Her lips slowly parted, and as Beverly inhaled a sharp breath, Albert thought his damned heart was going to stop.

  “What? What’s the matter?”

  He looked up and around, half expecting to see an intruder in the house with them.

  There was no one. Just them.

  “Beverly!”

  She blinked, finally, inhaling a deep breath and coming out of whatever the hell that trance had been. “Oh shit, I’m sorry. I think I was miles away.”

  “No kidding.” His heart still pulsed like a damned bird’s. A tiny bird, not a strong one like himself. “Please don’t do that when I’m inside you.”

  “No, I won’t,” she said, sounding a little too far away again.

  He was severely worried now. Albert moved her off him and reached for the knit throw over the back of the couch. He pulled it around her. “What happened? Are you remembering?”

  That was the most likely scenario and one he realized he dreaded.

  “I think so,” Beverly said, sounding unsure once more.

  Albert watched her, waiting.

  Beverly rubbed the back of her neck. “I...last night I dreamed about what happened before I was taken. The students who were with me.”

  “You saved them. They were questioned, and they all said the same thing. You took care of them when there was a panic and ran out to help.” He wished she wouldn’t have done that, weapon in hand or not. But pointing it out likely wouldn’t have gone over well, and it was too late to do anything about it anyway.

  Beverly seemed to be punishing herself enough. “I was thinking about it, about how I probably should have stayed with them. Maybe I wouldn’t have been taken if I’d just—”

  “Don’t even say it. What’s done is done. That was not on you. You understand me?” He grabbed her shoulder, gripping it tight. “Look at me and tell me you understand.”

  Beverly wet her lips. “I...I understand, but I just thought of something else. I mean it just came back to me. I dreamed about running out of the science room when the attack happened, but just now, I remembered something else.”

  “What? What did you remember?”

  “One of the students followed me out. I think they were in on it, that they snuck up behind me and, I don’t know, knocked me out long enough to get me out of the academy and do this to me.”

  She touched the side of her head that was missing some hair.

  Something hot and mean welled up inside Albert’s chest. Something that demanded he find the thing that made that feeling and kill it.

  “Who? Which student followed you out? Did you actually see her following you?”

  “I’m not sure. I think the lion girl did. She followed me out. I told her to stay back. She seemed so scared. I can’t remember anything after that.”

  Albert nodded. People could fake feelings of fear when it was useful to them, and this wouldn’t be the first time someone had infiltrated a FUC facility.

  “We’ll find her, ask her some follow-up questions.”

  “I know it probably won’t lead anywhere since I can’t remember much of anything, but I just have this feeling—”

  “That’s all I need, sweetheart.” He rubbed her shoulders. “I believe you.”

  “But it’s so little to go on.”

  “It doesn’t matter.” He smiled, wanting to lighten the mood and bring back pleasant memories. “You’ve had a few gut instincts before that turned out to be right. All the way from moving into this house with me to being my wife. We’ll look into it.”

  That was, apparently, the right thing to say, because her eyes softened, as though he’d just pulled a great weight from her shoulders, and then she fell against his chest, holding him about as tightly as he held on to her.

  Nine

  Her memories were so strange. Beverly seemed to know some things based on instinct alone, like how much she loved Albert, how familiar this place was, but there were other things that shocked her.

  As though they couldn’t possibly be real.

  That he could just take her word for it when she had nothing to go on seemed...at odds with what she expected.

  It should have been a good thing, and it felt good, but she could not ignore the niggling feeling that itched the back of her neck as she left Albert to get dressed and call the academy to let them know what she’d possibly remembered.

  She was cleaned up and dressed and back downstairs before Albert was finished with his phone call.

  “Right. We’ll be there in less than an hour.” He handed her a microwave re-heated plate of bacon and eggs and popped down some fresh toast. “We just want to talk to the lion gi
rl again. What’s her name on the file? Natalie, right, okay. Right. See you in a few minutes.”

  He hung up just as the toast popped. Grabbing it quickly, he set it onto her plate. “I wish this was a little fresher, but we gotta go.”

  “I’d eat a horse right now if I had to,” she said, immediately ignoring the fork and knife to load the eggs and bacon onto her toast, mashing them together in a yolky sandwich and chowing down.

  “Natalie was her name?” Beverly asked, her mouth full.

  Albert nodded. He had a travel mug of coffee in front of him, but he was apparently choosing not to eat. “Yeah. She dropped out of the academy right after the incident. We can go and speak with her once we go over everything that happened at the school. Compare notes, find a possible motive,” he assured her.

  Beverly grabbed for the paper towels, wiping her mouth with one, and she thought she might have finally understood what her issue with this was.

  “I don’t want to treat her like a guilty party before we have more evidence.”

  “We won’t.”

  “We’re talking about going to her house and questioning her again. I’m not even so sure she did anything to me.”

  “You don’t need to be. I just had Alyce confirm that Natalie did not mention she had followed you out of the lab. There’s nothing at all in her statements about that.”

  “Oh. I suppose that does change a few things.”

  Albert looked at her, briefly pressing his lips together before he reached across the table and took her hand. “I know you don’t like this. You’ve never been one to accept proof without evidence. That’s what makes you good at your job and why I respect you, but we have to look at what is here. You think she followed you out. If she did, and she wasn’t the one who attacked you, she’s still hiding something. We have to look into that. It doesn’t mean we stop looking for anyone else who might be involved or that we lock her up and throw away the key. All right?”

  Okay, now she was starting to feel a little better about this. Beverly nodded. “Right.”

  This wasn’t an accusation of guilt without evidence. They were gathering more information and filling in a few blanks.