Beastly

by Laura Belle Peters

  As I got closer, I saw that he was hooked into an IV, but each wild motion of his arms almost yanked it out. I was afraid that he'd finally manage to do it, and spray the poor nurse with blood as she tried to soothe him back into bed.

  "Cory Pittman," I yelled.

  He froze.

  "Get your ass back in bed and stop letting it flap in the breeze," I said. "Your gown is five sizes too small and you're practically nude in front of the whole world."

  "Oh, good," he said. "Tabitha."

  Fortunately, the orderly nearby was ready, and reached out to catch him as he fell, easing the big man into the hospital bed.

  I crossed quickly to the other side and stood by his head, reaching out to stroke his hair.

  "I was worried," he grumbled.

  "I know," I said. "Now quit being silly and let them do their jobs, okay?"

  He nodded.

  "Promise," he said.

  His eyes flew open again.

  "Tabitha?" he asked. "You're okay? Not hurt?"

  "I'm fine," I soothed. "Go to sleep. I'll sit here, okay? They've got magazines. I'll be right here."

  Unfortunately, I didn't get to just sit down and read magazines. A doctor and nurse descended on me, too, and within five minutes I was in the bed next to Cory, hooked up to an IV of my own.

  “You were dehydrated, and you're still not where we want to see you,” the doctor said. “We want to go ahead and give you some muscle relaxers, okay? You were so cramped for a while that we want you to just lay still and let your body relax and heal.”

  I submitted to their care, even when they told me that I couldn't read magazines because it might hurt my fingers, which they were very worried about.

  Finally, I did what I told Cory to do, and succumbed to sleep.

  The next morning, Cory and I were both awake.

  The nurses refused to move our beds closer together, saying that it was a fire code violation, but they moved the curtains so that we could easily see each other but still have some privacy.

  All the staff were encouraging us to eat, and apologizing in the same breath for the horrible hospital eggs that we were given.

  I didn't know if I could choke them down, until Kandy swooped in like an angel of mercy, carrying two enormous greasy bags of Bojangle's.

  “I wasn't sure what y'all'd want,” she told us both, “So I got a little of everything. I figured the nurses could have the rest. It's always a good idea to feed your nurses. Remember that if you're ever going to go back to the hospital.”

  “Oh my god thank you so much, ma'am,” Beast said, his mouth full of chicken.

  I chose a sausage and egg biscuit and sat up in bed to eat it.

  My fingers were having a little trouble responding properly, but I managed, only spilling a little bit of scrambled egg down my front. Progress.

  Kandy glanced over her shoulder a few times while she was fussing over our food, and finally, I asked her what she was looking at.

  “The girls aren't allowed on this ward,” she said. “They're sitting out there coloring pictures for you. I'll give them to you before I head out.”

  “Hell with that,” I groaned, flinging the blanket back and swinging my legs off the side of the bed.

  “Tabitha,” Cory said, warningly.

  “Hush, you. I'm not the one who had surgery yesterday. I'm fine. Stay put.”

  He subsided, mostly.

  Kandy offered me a hand, but didn't say anything about the pajamas I'd been in for two days, or the IV I was pushing along with me. This was a side of her I hadn't seen a lot of before, and I wondered if I had been inventing her obsession with appearances. Maybe it just came out around my father.

  “Stop there,” she said, pushing me gently into a chair by the window.

  I obeyed.

  Even though I didn't want to admit it, I could use the rest. My muscles were sore, my hands hurt. Walking across the long room in one go was a little much for me.

  My stepmother reached in her big bag and took out a makeup kit and a comb, running the comb through my hair a few times before pinning it back with a few sparkly clips. I didn't protest as she brushed blush over my cheeks and gloss over my lips.

  “There,” she said, happily. “Much better. That's got a little color in your cheeks.”

  Okay.

  I wasn't nuts. Kandy was still Kandy.

  I walked out to greet the girls, bracing myself for too-tight hugs on my aching bones, filled with joy at the thought that my father was finally going to be brought to justice.

  I was free.

  ONE YEAR LATER:

  My phone buzzed and I glanced at it. Just Kandy reminding me not to forget about Krystal's school play. As if I could, the girls talked about basically nothing else.

  They didn't realize it had been a year since I'd been kidnapped. I had wanted them close, thinking that the anniversary would be tough to get through, but it was just another day, after all.

  My father was still locked up, and that was all that mattered. It didn't look like he'd get free any time in the next twenty years, even if he was on his best behavior.

  With him in jail, most of my fear… melted away.

  I got up. It was difficult, but not impossible. The only thing keeping me back was how cozy I was on the couch, under Cory's mother's quilt.

  On my way to the kitchen, I snagged my empty hot cocoa mug.

  Seeing Cory in front of the sink, I patted his ass absentmindedly as I squeezed between him and the table, to put my mug in the dishwasher. A few drips of chocolate landed on the open door, and I bent to wipe them up with a handy cloth.

  “I thought I was supposed to do that,” he said. As he turned, the light caught his eyes, making his smile shine bright.

  “Do what?” I asked, leaning against the counter by him. “Clean up the cocoa?”

  “Smack your ass while you do the dishes,” he said.

  “Oh, right. Clearly, I'm a failure of a girlfriend.”

  “I think I'm the failure,” he said, his smile spreading wider. “I should have just sent you into the kitchen to make me a sandwich.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “How do two small girls make such a big pile of dishes?” he asked.

  “Well, they wanted to bake brownies,” I said.

  “And neither of us can tell them no?”

  “Something like that,” I admitted.

  He smiled fondly at me.

  “They're good girls,” he said. “We don't need to tell them no much. They listen well. I hope our kids are just like them.”

  “So, you want little girls?” I asked.

  “I can't make up my mind, let's just have ten kids so we'll definitely have both.”

  I couldn't help but laugh at him.

  “That's not how it works. Like, at all. Besides, I don't think I want ten kids.”

  “Fine, fine. Eight kids. Final offer.”

  “Three.”

  “Deal.”

  He reached out to sweep my hair out of my eyes.

  “It's really not how that works,” I said. I apparently couldn't just let it go. “You can have ten boys or ten girls just as easily as having both. Okay, maybe not just as easily. There's a little difference. Depends on the odds of the sperm carrying the right-”

  He cut me off with a kiss.

  “I'm so, so happy that you love your Biology classes, but I do not want to hear about chromosomes when I'm doing the dishes.”

  “Hah! I hadn't said chromosomes yet. You're learning.”

  “Heaven help me, I am,” he said, throwing his hands up with a dramatic gesture, and returning to the dishes.

  “Feeling good about your major?” he asked, as I grabbed a dishtowel and started to wipe down the counters.

  “For sure,” I said.

  I had transferred to the local state college this fall. Majoring in Biology. There were so many jobs I could get, and it was fascinating.

  “Hey, Tabitha,” Cory said, closing the dish
washer. “I have something to say.”

  “Okay,” I said, turning around, sticking the dishtowel half-in my pocket so I didn't lose it.

  “I have had a project for a while, and the girls have been helping me,” he said.

  “Okay...” I said, a little dubious. I loved my sisters, but I wasn't impressed with their ability to make decisions that didn't revolve around cake or princesses.

  “I bought you something, if you want it, but I had to figure out just the right way to give it to you.”

  “Okay,” I said again, still wary.

  “Then I decided that that wasn't right. I didn't want to give it to you because of the special times. I wanted to give it to you because of the ordinary times, you and me in the kitchen.”

  I stared at him, mouth open, as he got down on one knee and fished in his pocket for a little bag.

  “I don't have a fancy box for it,” he said, “But Kandy helped me pick the ring, and Karla and Krystal chose the bag.”

  When he handed it to me, I could see the influence of my little sisters in the pale pink embroidery on the white bag. It was dainty and beautiful. Definitely something that they thought a princess would have. My eyes burned with happy tears.

  The ring was simple, fortunately. One diamond flanked by two diamond chips, in a little gold setting.

  “It fits perfectly,” I said, my voice barely audible.

  “Will you marry me?”

  “Yes, yes, YES,” I shouted, going to my knees to throw my arms around Beast. I loved how he felt against me, all strong arms and broad chest. The thought of spending the rest of my life with him made me feel as light as air.

  He laughed, standing up holding me tight to him and spinning me around.

  “We're engaged!” he said.

  “We're gonna get married!” I said.

  “Okay, serious question,” he said. He put me down on the counter and pressed his forehead against mine, staring into my eyes.

  “Yeah?” I asked, starting to get nervous.

  “Should we go out to dinner to celebrate, or go have wild monkey sex?”

  “First the sex, then the dinner,” I said.

  “Sold.”

  He carried me into our bedroom and tossed me on the bed, taking care to be gentle. As soon as I landed, I sat up on my elbows and watched him strip off his clothing, enjoying each new piece of him as it was revealed to me.

  I loved Cory naked.

  There were still scars, worse scars than his face in some places, but more importantly, there was muscle, there was lean tanned skin, there was everything that made a man sexy.

  He was already hard and aching for me, and I slipped out of my clothing and tossed it towards the hamper. Even before he touched me, I shivered with anticipation of what was to come.

  I leaned over and took his length into my mouth, teasing and sucking and licking, while his broad hand found its way between my legs, to tease me in turn.

  I gasped around his shaft and he grinned at me, looking unbearably smug.

  It didn't take long for him to bring me to the edge, writhing against his wicked fingers, nearly ready to beg him to fill me with his cock.

  He lay on his back and I swung my leg over his hip to straddle him, rubbing his cock between my legs, riding him without riding him, tormenting him and me equally.

  “I don't know how much more teasing I can take,” he said, voice low and rough with desire. He rested his hands under his head, something I'd seen him do dozens of times when he was restraining himself from rushing me.

  I relented, raising my hips up to allow his cock to slide inexorably inside me.

  We both groaned when I was full to the base.

  He took hold of my hips, thrusting up inside me over and over until I was so close I could hardly stand it, I wanted nothing more than to finally come.

  All it took was him brushing his thumb over my clit, and I gasped with release, grabbing hold of him and bending over his chest to ride out the aftershocks.

  The feel of my walls against him as I found my bliss sent him over the edge and he spent within me, clutching at my hips.

  Laying together, in the warm afterglow, I traced patterns on his bicep with one absentminded finger.

  “What's so funny?” I asked.

  He shook his head, and I nudged him once with my elbow.

  “I'm just happy,” he said. “You're going to be my wife.”

  Thank you for reading my second novel, my first NA Romance! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, and I'd LOVE to hear from you – I read every e-mail and every review personally.

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  laurabellepeters@gmail.com

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  Beastly was inspired by the classic tale of Beauty and the Beast, but somewhere along the way, Tabitha got a life of her own, and I knew that the book couldn't conform to the story any more… but I kept the title as an homage.

  There are a lot of little points of reference – some very obvious, some less so. See if you can find them all!