Even Villains Fall in Love

Even Villains Fall in
Love

Breathless Press

Calgary, Alberta

www.breathlesspress.com

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or
are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any
resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or

persons, living or dead, is entirely
coincidental.

Even Villains Fall in Love

Copyright© 2012 Liana Brooks

Published by Breathless Press at
Smashwords

ISBN: 978-1-77101-077-1

Cover Artist: LFD Designs

Editor: Deadra Krieger

All rights reserved. No part of this book may
be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written
permission, except in the case of brief quotations
embodied in reviews.

Breathless Press

www.breathlesspress.com

A special thanks to:

The Slackers, Dreamers, and Tweeps who
helped me get this far
my four ice cream minions whose antics inspire me daily
my husband for always being my hero

Chapter One

I knew from the first time I saw my
wife that I wanted her naked. Of course, seven minutes later I
wanted revenge. It wasn’t that she had handed me my first defeat or
ruined my chances for world domination that year, it was the way
she kissed me good-bye. She sent my head spinning, then walked away
as if I were the least important person in the world.

Once my arm healed, I stole some new
equipment, cloned some new minions, and I felt a little
different.

I wanted revenge, with a side order of
naked.

***

Across the dinner table, Tabitha devoured him
with dark, ocean-blue eyes. She put a bite of lettuce in her mouth,
full lips pursing around it. Eating salad never looked so good. Her
tongue darted out to lick away a stray drop of dressing. She winked
at him, promising with every move to do the same to him. “It’s
almost bedtime,” she said, her voice husky and luscious.

“I don’t wanna go to bed!” one of the quads
screamed.

“What about cake? Don’t we get birthday cake?”
another asked.

Evan winked back at his wife from the far side
of the table, separated by a few feet and four, precocious
just-turned-five-year olds, all as stunning as their mother with
big, round eyes and honey-colored hair that fell in loose curls
meant to trap hairbrushes and sticky substances.

He had to peek at the eyes to see who was
talking. Maria had green eyes, Angela’s eyes were blue like
Tabitha’s, Delila’s eyes were brown like his, and Blessing—their
stillborn who miraculously survived—had purple eyes. The waif in
question had blue eyes.

“Angela,” Evan said, “after dinner it’s pajama
time, and then story time.”

“Mommy doesn’t have a bedtime!” Angela
wailed.

Tabitha winked at him again. “Tell you what,
tonight Mommy will go to bed the same time you do. Right after we
eat cake.” She leaned over to give Angela a hug.

All Evan could see was the deep V plunge of her
tight blue shirt. Oh, yeah. Crime didn’t always pay, but altering
someone’s moral compass sure put the O’s back in the bedroom.

The cake was split into fourths, equal parts
purple, white, green, and blue so each girl could have her favorite
color in the cake. Baking four cakes was unreasonable, there
weren’t any grandparents left to celebrate with, and neighbors had
an annoying habit of asking uncomfortable questions. Saying little
things like, “You look just like Doctor Charm! Do you remember him?
Whatever happened to that guy? Do you know how hard it is to put
together a good Villains Vs. Heroes fantasy league without him?”
made for awkward evenings.

So they had a quiet family party. Cake,
then presents, after which he hurried the girls off to bed so he
could read
Dilly Duck’s ABCs
in
record time before rushing to the bedroom, hoping to catch Tabitha
still in the shower.

She was already out and wearing a blue satin
robe that caressed her skin in exactly the way he wanted to.
Rose-scented candles cast sensuous shadows on the walls.

Tabitha turned, lips curved in an inviting
smile. Long fingers twined with the sash of her robe. She tossed
her honey-blonde hair in the way she always did when she was about
to argue, posing with feet apart and one hand casually resting on
her waist. “Sweetie, we need to talk.”

Evan wiped grease-stained hands on his jeans as
he forced a smile. “Sure, babes, anything you want.”

“Really?” She slunk forward, all sinewy limbs
and doe eyes. “Promise?” Tabitha nuzzled his nose. One hand flirted
up the back of his neck to play with his hair. The other traveled
downward, right to his zipper.

Oh, yes, the little Morality Machine in the
basement was working just fine. Another thirty, maybe forty years
of this and he’d consider retiring. Or turning the machine down so
his wife wasn’t quite a sex kitten every day of the week. Maybe
only days with Y in them.

“Sweetie?” She nibbled his ear. “I want to go
back to work.”

“What?” Evan actually pushed himself away from
her, something he wasn’t sure was possible in any other
circumstance.

Tabitha tucked her chin and pouted.

“Tabby-cat, I love you, but work? I’ve got
my...stuff...in the lab. I’m busy. And we can’t afford daycare for
the girls. We’re barely making ends meet as it is. Do you really
want to go back to being Zephyr Girl? Crime fighting is a game for
the young, baby. You’re not nineteen anymore.”

“I’m twenty-nine. A very—” Her hips pressed
against his tight jeans just so”—very healthy twenty-nine.”

He shivered at her touch. “You’re cheating.”

“I want to do this, Evan.” She ground against
the thick denim.

“You can do me all you want, baby.”

She stepped back, frowning. “I’m serious.”

“So am I.” Evan sighed, reaching for his wife.
“Sweetie, I love you, but what’s the point in being a superhero?
The government stipend barely covers the dry-cleaning bill. If it’s
money you want, write another tell-all superhero book. The Spanish
Mask sold his third last month.”

Tabitha crossed her arms. “I don’t want to write
another book so we can live off the royalties while you’re between
jobs.”

He waved a finger at her. “I’m not between jobs.
I work freelance in the computer business. I’m self-employed.
That’s not the same as being between jobs.”

“Between paychecks then.”

“We will have a solid income. This project I’m
working on, Tabby-cat, it’s going to set us up for life. We’re
never going to worry about money again. I promise. Give me a couple
of weeks and everything is going to be perfect.” He caught her hand
and pulled her into his arms. The faint scent of her spicy perfume
left him dizzy with need.

She rested her head on his chest. “I want to
save the world. Have you seen the news, Evan? An entire town in
Kansas held hostage for a week by a bomb scare before a superhero
was able to get in to defuse the situation. A week! I could have
that done between grocery shopping and paying the bills. Ten
minutes, no pulling punches.”

“I know, baby. No one is better at this stuff
than you. But I need you at home, Tabby. Having you out there
scares me. I’m terrified I’d lose you. Why don’t you wait until I
finish this project? I’ll be done by the time the election rolls
around. Two more weeks. Once I get paid we’ll look at this again. I
have that armor design for you, I just need some time to put it
together.”

Tabitha sighed. “You’ve been saying that since
we got married.”

“Well, my nights are busy.” He nibbled her ear
as he tugged her sash loose. “Are you complaining?”

Tabitha stretched against him, sending a
delightful frisson of lust up his spine. “I thought you gave up the
super villain schemes.”

He twitched. “I did, baby. Of course I did.”

“But you’re keeping me here. Isn’t that a little
selfish? Just a teeny-tiny bit super villain-ish?” She slipped her
hand between his pants and his skin.

“Ah!” He caught her hand so he could think
clearly. “Not selfish. Necessary. Like oxygen or sex.”

“Don’t you mean water?”

“No, definitely sex.” Evan slid the blue robe
off, tossing it into the corner. “Come here, Tabby-cat, I’ll make
you purr.”

She tugged at his shirt, pulling it up and off.
The shirt joined the robe on the other side of the room. “What are
you doing down in that lab?” she asked as her hands drew lazy
circles on his back.

Ten seconds, that’s all he’d need to get
her panties off. Three more to drop his pants.
Mmmm
. “What was the question?”

“What are you doing in the lab? What’s this
project?”

“Oh, computer stuff. I told you. To help tally
everything on election night. I’m trying to make the process run
smoother so we don’t have to worry about recounts.”

“Hmmm.” She gave him a dubious frown.

Tabitha was built like a supermodel and had a
superhero name straight from Campy Comics, but her brain was Mensa
all the way. “And this computer program has nothing to do with
world domination, or get-rich-quick schemes?”

Evan contrived to look wounded. “Tabby-cat, how
can you ask that?”

“Because you spent ten years as a villainous
criminal mastermind?”

“I wasn’t a mastermind, I was a super villain,
there’s a difference. Masterminds are just thugs with money. My
crimes had artistic flare. I was practically Robin Hood! Robbing
from the rich and scandalous, and giving to me.”

“Robin Hood gave to the poor,” Tabitha said with
a laugh. “You were never poor.”

He caught her hand, pulling her close. “Poor is
relative. Besides, I’m reformed now. You showed me the error of my
wicked ways. Although—” he leaned in for a kiss— “if you’d like to
remind me why I gave up a lucrative life of crime, I have the
evening free.”

Chapter Two

Someday, I know the kids are going to
ask for the story of How I Met Their Mother. Every kid asks; it’s a
rite of passage like losing a tooth or learning to ride a bike. I
just don’t know how to tell them without losing their
respect.

The truth is, Tabitha broke into my
lab and kicked me and my minions clear into the next time zone. She
can move at sonic speeds even when she’s not flying. She blew past
my machines like they weren’t even there. Embarrassing, of course,
but that wasn’t the worst part. No, the part that will make my
daughters lose all respect for me is how, while their mother was
kicking my rear, I couldn’t take my eyes off hers. Not when she
wore a skin-tight white bodysuit and bustier on the verge of a
wardrobe malfunction. Any man who can think straight when
confronted by that must have a wonderful boyfriend at home, because
I’ve seen drag queens hand in their Prada kitten heels for a shot
at Tabitha.

***

Evan woke up relaxed and ready for another dose
of marital bliss. Let the bachelors have their one-night stands,
lost to the alcoholic haze of the weekend. Married life meant
getting lucky three or four times a day, when dentist appointments
and world domination didn’t demand his full attention. He rolled
over and reached for Tabitha.

She wasn’t there.

“Tabby? Babes?”

“In here!” she called from the closet.

He relaxed back into the Tabitha-scented
sheets.

“What do you think?” she asked, stepping out of
the closet in her white Zephyr Girl bodysuit: reinforced leather
leggings, gloves, and bustier. Knee-high, steel-capped boots and a
sky blue cape completed the outfit. Tabitha hovered, the air around
her seething with the aurora borealis that always accompanied her
use of super powers.

“You look amazing.” She’d looked like that first
time he’d seen her. “Come here.”

She flew to him, settling over the bed before
dropping the last centimeter. “It still fits.”

“I know.” He caught her lips, tasting her.

“Do you know where my trench coat is?”

“In the hall closet.” He reached for her hair,
but she was already gone.

A breeze slammed the bedroom door open and shut.
Tabitha cinched the belt to her white trench coat around her tiny
waist with a smile. She sauntered away, hips swaying, to pull her
purse out of the closet along with a pink scarf.

He shook his head as she slipped past him to the
door. “Wait! Tabitha, where are you going?”

She froze in the act of putting on sunglasses.
“Work, remember? We talked about this. I’m going to work; you’re
going to take care of the kids. Right? Good. I’ll try to be home by
seven. Make sure dinner is ready.”