by Sable Hunter
“Yes.” She thought she did. “Always and forever.”
“Good girl.”
***
“You need to see this doctor. He’ll answer any questions you have.” Jacob gave him Scott Walker’s card. “I’ve already called him about you. I did that before we even went to Mexico after you. He’s the best. If there’s anything that can be done about your memory, he’s the man for the job.”
“All right. When’s my appointment?” He had found Jacob rocking BT by the fireplace. Aron couldn’t wait for the day he could use that old rocker for the same purpose. For just a split second, he saw the image of his mother in the chair, holding Nathan.
“Tomorrow.”
“The day after Christmas? I’m impressed.”
Jacob laughed. “You should be. I had to bribe him.”
“I’m grateful.” He stood up. “Well, I’m tired, I think I’ll find my woman and head off to bed. It’s been an exciting day.”
“I agree. We’ve had too many of those lately, it seems.”
Bidding his brother goodnight, he went to the kitchen to find Libby. Aron was so worried that she would never be fully able to accept his memory loss. He intended to do everything he could, daily, to make her feel comfortable and adored. But the stress she was under was taking its toll. When she’d casually mentioned earlier that she was having slight cramps, that had been the last straw. “Ready to go to bed?”
“Yes, please.” She was standing at the kitchen counter, still in her bridesmaid’s outfit. The slight swell of her tummy drew his eye.
“You’re gorgeous, did you know that?”
She blushed. And yawned. “No, but I like to hear you say it.”
“You’re going to the doctor for me, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I will. I’ll call and try to get in tomorrow, if it will make you happy.” Libby couldn’t help but pause and just look at him. It was only a couple of days since he’d been home, but he was looking better, more rested. Now all she had to do was fatten him up. But even his leaner body took nothing away from his male perfection. Her husband was to die for. Taking his hand, they climbed the stairs.
“Good, I’ll feel better if you do.” As much as he wanted to, he didn’t make love with her that night. Oh, they’d kissed and hugged and cuddled, but he wanted to make sure everything was okay. “If there’s something wrong, we need to know. Those cramps make me nervous. I don’t want to take any chances.” He held her tight as they lay in the bed Christmas night. He stroked her hair, counting his blessings. “In fact, I’d like you to get a thorough check-up.” What he feared most was her leukemia flaring up, and stress was one of those things that could potentially trigger all sorts of problems. If there was anything he could do to make her life less stressful, he was willing to do it.
What she didn’t really understand was although he despaired over his memory loss, he was improving day by day. Building new memories, learning things about her and his family. He was repairing his life bit by bit. But he wanted to do more.
“I think I’m okay, Aron, but I’ll call Doc Gibbs in the morning early.” She nestled into his warm body. Remembering her conversation with Cady, she longed to assure him that all would be well. “Just think where we were this time last week. We need to be thankful.”
“Oh, I am, believe me.” He pulled her over on top of him. “Lie here, I need to feel your body against mine.” She giggled and wiggled and he had to give his cock a serious talking to, to bring him under control. “I’m going to the doctor tomorrow, myself. Will you go with me? I might need you to hold my hand.”
Her head popped up like a jack-in-the-box. “Of course I’ll go with you. What kind of doctor?”
“A neurobiologist, Jacob wants me to get checked out and make sure there are no lasting side-effects from whatever drugs I was given.”
Libby shivered, instantly feeling the weight of her selfishness. Placing her hand on his jaw, she stroked the precious rasp of his beard. “I just want you to be okay. That’s all I want.”
Sleep was not long coming and they rested peacefully in one another’s arms.
***
Libby did as she promised. She called her doctor, a man who had known and treated her for years. He told her to come right on in. Aron’s appointment wasn’t until after lunch, so they decided to make a day of it. When they came downstairs the aroma of sausage and biscuits filled the air. Noah saw them. “Hey, come on in the kitchen. Grub’s about ready.”
“We don’t have much time,” she protested.
“Oh, we always have time for a biscuit.” Aron’s sincere appreciation for food made Libby smile.
“All right.” When they all gathered around the table, the laughing and talking was chaotic. Jessie had cooked and she made gravy to die for.
Pointing at Cady and Joseph, Isaac smirked. “Last night was your wedding night. What are you two doing up so early?”
Cady blushed and Joseph winked at her. “I always am ‘up’ early in the morning when Cady is around.” He kissed her, then looked down the table at Jacob. “Actually, it was that little bruiser on Jacob’s shoulder who woke me up. That boy has a set of lungs on him!”
Jessie set another pan of biscuits on the table. “If you think he was loud from where you were, you should have been in the same room with him.”
Jacob patted his baby boy. “That’s okay. You won’t have to put up with us much longer. Jessie, BT and I will be moving into our own house before you know it.”
“I don’t know if I like that idea,” Libby said. “Our being together is important.”
Joseph laughed. “It is. And I want us to eat as many meals together and visit as much as possible. But can you imagine this house after your babies are born and ours?” He waved his fork around. “And who’s to say how many more McCoys there’ll be as soon as Isaac and Noah get busy.”
Everyone agreed the house wasn’t quite big enough to house their burgeoning family. “But no one is to go far. Tebow is big enough for a dozen ranch houses.” Libby was adamant.
“My little mother-hen.” Aron patted her knee.
Libby stared at him, wondering if he knew he’d called her that many times. “Yes, that’s me. I can’t help it.”
“What do you all think about calling everyone and arranging that party we talked about, to celebrate my great escape.” Aron looked all around the table.
“I want to do that,” Jacob said. “As soon as possible.”
“Me, too,” Aron agreed. “Let’s split up the names and try to give everybody a call tonight. Libby and I have a couple of doctor appointments, but we’ll be back before supper.”
On the drive into Austin, Aron surveyed the countryside. “You know, it’s strange. I didn’t forget everything.”
He immediately got her attention. She’d been sitting there thinking about taking down all the Christmas decorations before the party. “What do you mean?”
“Well, I could picture the Guadalupe and I knew everything I’d learned in school. It seems I didn’t lose knowledge or personality traits, I just lost people and events. And when things started to come back, I knew I was from Texas and I could remember there was someone in my family who loved computers and one who hated shots, but I just couldn’t grasp the details.”
“Maybe the doctor can help explain that.” She hoped so.
There first stop, with Doc Gibbs eased their mind. After examining Libby and doing some blood tests, he assured them that all was on course. “I don’t see any cause for concern.” He had been ecstatic to learn that Aron was home. “I saw you on the news. You’ve attracted a lot of attention these last couple of months.” Writing on her chart he kept talking. “The two of you have been through a lot, worry and fretting can put undue stress on Libby and the babies. So my advice is plenty of rest, lots of kisses and pampering.”
“How about sex?”
Libby gasped at Aron’s frankness.
“Oh, Libby knows how I feel about that. I’d catch
her reading romance novels all the time. When her remission came, I told her to get out there in the world and make one of those books come true for herself.” The old man patted Aron on the shoulder. “And she did. Do you remember telling me the difference between romance and erotic romance?”
“I do.” Libby turned beet red.
He wrote on a pad with a flourish and tore off the page. Here’s my prescription. “As much erotic romance as you can handle.”
Aron grinned and pocketed the paper. “I’ll see about filling this prescription personally.”
When they left Doc Gibbs, Aron was in high spirits. “Let’s get a hamburger at Kerbey Lane.”
“You remember Kerbey Lane? That’s good.” Every little thing he could recollect seemed like a triumph. They had gone to the diner just off the Texas campus and enjoyed a meal. Libby couldn’t help but notice how the college girls eyed him. She felt a little big and clumsy. Did he still find her attractive? Insecurities were the bane of her existence. If he had his memory, he would have the image of her when she was at her best to fall back on, but here she was swollen and pudgy and not nearly as beautiful as he was.
But to give the man credit, he didn’t look at any of the coeds, not even once. He seemed to have eyes only for her. For that, Libby was grateful.
When they arrived at Dr. Walker’s office, Aron didn’t know what to expect. “Come on in Mr. McCoy.” He was younger than Aron expected and seemed to smile at Libby a bit too wide for his tastes. “How are you feeling?” Before he could answer, the good doctor was pulling out a chair for Libby and asking her if she wanted coffee. A flare of jealousy swept over him.
“I’m feeling like I could whip a bear, or a doctor,” he drawled.
Dr. Walker had laughed. “That has to be a good sign.”
Libby listened as he asked Aron questions. She learned some things about his time away she hadn’t known.
“I had intense headaches after the surgery. And night terrors.” He shifted in his chair, a little embarrassed. “I’d dream about Libby, but I couldn’t see her face. Some nights I’d wake up in a cold sweat and feel an overwhelming sense of panic.”
She covered his hand with hers. Libby hadn’t realized the full extent of his suffering. She ought to have known, her own time apart from him had been such a misery.
“I need to get my past back. It’s important to us as a family.”
Scott Walker studied the couple in front of him. “There is an experimental procedure we could try. But I have to tell you, it’s dangerous.”
Libby tensed, but Aron spoke up, “Tell me about it.”
“It’s invasive.” The doctor set up. “We’d have to do brain surgery. The operation would entail opening up your skull, performing a craniotomy. We would push electrodes into the brain and stimulate the hypothalamus with electric shock. This has proven successful in causing patients to regain memories which have been lost.”
“No!” Libby interjected with force. “No!” He was doing this for her. “I do not want Aron to have one more minute of pain or surgery or…” She got up and fled, tears running down her cheeks.
“Excuse me.” Aron went after her, finding her already in the hall, staring out a window. “Hey, what’s the matter, love?”
She turned in his arms. “I want you just the way you are. No more risks. No more pain.”
“But what if I can remember?”
She put her hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eye. “I want you. What if something went wrong and you died or what if you lost more memory.” She shook her head from side to side. “I don’t need for you to remember me to be happy.”
Aron understood. He kissed her. “Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere.” He led her to the waiting room. “I’ll be back. Let me have another word with the doc.” When she looked alarmed, he promised. “No surgery.”
When he returned to the examining room, he explained, “I don’t think we want to go that far.” Aron told Walker a little about their situation and Libby’s condition. “So, whatever you can do for me, otherwise, I’ll take it.”
Walker thought for a minute. “If you can find out who the chemist was and what they gave you, maybe we could go from there.”
“I like that idea.” Aron stood. “Let me see what I can do.”
***
Things seemed to get easier for them. Libby relaxed and let herself enjoy just being with Aron again. He placed a call to Brock, but had trouble getting through. They escaped to their room to rest and he entertained himself by reading the book she wrote.
Libby enjoyed watching him read. She could tell when he came to a risqué part, because his eyes would get big and he would shift on the bed. There were one or two things she had left out. At the time, they seemed too personal to share, even with a pad of paper. But there was enough detail there for him to get a sense of what their life had been like. “Did we really make love on my horse?”
“Yes.” She grinned. “And you didn’t even drop me.”
He chunked the book on the end of the bed. “Wanna ride me now?”
“I want to do everything with you.” She pushed him flat on the bed. Of course he let her do it. Aron was a mountain of a man next to his petite wife. “Do you know what I missed most of all?”
“My massive manhood?” He teased.
She appeared to be thinking. “Well, there’s that.” Then she grew serious. “But I really missed you in the bed with me, how you used to cuddle me all night. Like you couldn’t stand to be without me for even a second.”
“I’ve held you every night, darlin’. And not only since I’ve been back.” He unbuttoned her shirt. “While I was gone, I ached for you. Maybe I didn’t know your name or your face, but my soul did.”
She slid the shirt off, and he unclasped her bra. “I hugged your pillow every night. It was the best loved goose down in the world.”
“Well, I’m here now. And I want to play.” He took her by the hands and flipped her, reversing positions, almost bouncing her off the bed. Libby squealed, elated to see him in such a good mood. In one smooth motion, he took her hands in his and held them above her head. “Keep them there.”
“Oh, I like the sound of that.” She watched his gorgeous face as he stuck the tip of his tongue to the corner of his mouth in concentration. “Do you know, before we were married, we started experimenting…”
He raised his eyebrows. “Oh, really? With what?”
“Hmmmm, I’m not sure I should tell you.”
He goosed her a little. “You better.”
“Well, I don’t know if you remember about Isaac being a Dom and how upset it made Noah because of Harper.”
Aron laughed. “What did you say? Dom? Isaac? Dang.” He traced the tip of her nipple with his finger. “Tell me more.”
She tried, but he kept kissing her warm, supple lips drifting over hers in seductive, teasing kisses. “Well, uh...we decided to see if we could put a little bit of kink into our lovemaking.”
“Oh, really?” Aron kissed the corner of her mouth and mapped the seam with the tip of his tongue. “And did it work?”
“Yes, Sir,” she whispered huskily.
“Damn, I’m gonna love being married to you.”
“You said that on our honeymoon.” Libby parted her lips, inviting a deeper kiss.
“I plan on saying it often, just to let you know I appreciate you.” He gently nipped her bottom lip, taking it between his and tugging. When she whimpered for him, he didn’t just kiss her, he devoured her. His hands were everywhere—on her tits, shaping her belly, caressing her thighs. And all the time his cock was slapping against her middle while his tongue thrust in and out of her mouth in a full-blown sexual feast of a kiss.
Libby was literally squirming with need. She kept her hands where he’d told her to, but the rest of her body went into overdrive. She arched her back, thrusting her tits up toward him as his mouth traced a hot trail down her throat and straight to her breasts. “All the time I w
as reading that hot stuff you wrote, I was dreaming about your tits. Last night, I had a hard-on the whole time, just thinking about waking you up so I could get my mouth all over these.” He looked at her through half-closed lids, the most wickedly sexual look he’d ever give her. “Did we do this a lot, Libby? Do you like me to suck your tits?”
Libby shook. “It’s my favorite thing.” She pushed them up, offering the quivering mounds. “I missed this so much.”
“Tell me if I do it right.” He bent to the task, licking and sucking at her right nipple. He played with her, not taking it in his mouth, just tormenting her with nibbles and laves. His hands weren’t idle, they plumped them together, molding them, lifting them, using his thumbs to sweep across her tender flesh.
“I think you got it,” she muttered. “Almost.”
He snorted against her tit. “Let me try harder.” Placing his mouth over the nipple, he sucked, hard. Libby groaned. He didn’t slow down, but sucked with long, hard pulls, giving little stinging nips which caused the cream to flow unbidden from her pussy.
“Damn, McCoy,” she moaned as he changed breasts and gave the other one equal attention. Raising up, he admired his handiwork.
“So, pretty, pink, swollen. Want more?”
“More.” She bucked her whole body, almost displacing him.
“Hold on.” Then he just threw himself into the task, suckling, massaging, licking, biting until she was so turned-on she came right there, no stimulation to her clit or her vagina. Just his mouth on her breasts.
“God, Aron!” Her cries were a testament to his manhood, he felt like a damn conquering hero. Sliding down her body, he kissed a path past her navel and over her protruding tummy, his longish hair forming a curtain around his face. She couldn’t take her eyes off of him. The sight of Aron McCoy going down on her was a thing of beauty.
“Open up.” He sat back and let his eyes have a party. Stroking the inside of her creamy thighs, he lowered his head and went to work, using his tongue to tickle her clit. “You taste so good.”