I'll Remember You (Hell Yeah!) (28 page)

Libby touched his hand. Just like the first time, she felt an arc of energy. “What you must have gone through.” She kissed his hand. “I nearly died when you didn’t come up out of that water.”

Aron swallowed a lump in his throat. “If I could turn back time, I would. You don’t know how often I’ve fought and struggled and agonized over not remembering you or our life.” He took her hand. “But if you ever say that you’re out of my league, again.” He got right in her face, smiled, kissed her nose, then frowned again. “I’ll spank your sweet ass.”

Her eyes grew wide. “Gee.” She laughed. “That almost sounds like the Aron I know.”

“I am the Aron you know. I just need you to help me find myself.” Holding up the coin, he showed it to her. “Best I can piece together, I found this while we were diving.”

“Gold?” She took it from his hand.

“Yea, best I can tell, but that’s not what makes it valuable.” He touched her cheek. “Look at the image on it.”

Libby stood up and went to the light. Amazed, she looked again. “It favors me?”

“Yes, it does. I held on to that coin. Even when I didn’t know anything about home or you, I held on to that coin.” 

She smiled at him. “That makes me feel better.”

“It should, shows that you were on my mind at some level.”

“Hmmmm.” She nestled against him.

“Don’t hmmmm me.” He pulled her close, going back to the photos. Laughing, he pointed at one picture. “What are you doing here?” He found one of her racing across the pasture, looking back, and smiling.

“You’re chasing me.”

“Did I catch you?”

She rubbed her tummy.

“What do you think?”

He put the photo album down and went to his knees by the bed. Laying his head on her stomach, he said, “Tell me about them.”

“Boys. Two boys.” She hesitated, but couldn’t stop herself. She ran her fingers through his hair. “They’re due in a few months.”

He kissed the swell. “What are we naming them?”

“Well, we hadn’t picked out names. I was planning on talking about that on our honeymoon. But I like Colt and Case. When you think of some, I’d like to hear your suggestions.”

“I like your choices.” He turned his head sideways and Libby worried over the marks on his neck.

“You’re tired. Why don’t you take a shower and get in your bed.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” He rose and began to undo his clothes. She helped. When they got his shirt off, Libby gasped in horror. “Oh, my god.” She looked at the scars and marks from the whip. “What kind of monster did this to you?”

“A crazy woman, Libby.”

She stepped back in horror. “A woman?”

“Yes, that was the whole problem.” He began to relate the tale. “I had met Martina Delgado years ago. And apparently she developed some kind of crush on me. When she found me floating in the water off Seven Mile Beach, she decided it was a sign. She lied to me, told me I was her fiancé.”

Libby closed her eyes. Stop it, she told herself. Your prayers have been answered. Your husband is alive. This woman had nearly killed him. There was no place for jealousy in any of this. “Is she still alive?”

“Yea, Jacob handcuffed her to the table after she tried to kill us and I suppose the authorities have picked her up by now. I put together a tidy case against her. Why?”

“I am thinking about whipping her ass.”

Aron barked his laughter. “Like the barfight?”

She perked up. “You remember?”

His smile faded. “No, baby. The guys told me on the way back. They told me everything they could think of. Trying to acclimate me, I guess.”

“Go take your shower. I’m going to go get some salve to put on your sores.”

He thought about asking her to join him, but he couldn’t find the words. What was the proper etiquette for amnesiac husbands?

Libby slipped downstairs. Thankfully, everyone had retired to their rooms. She was trembling, vacillating between elation and worry. Aron was back! He was alive! That was all that mattered. Checking in the guest bathroom, she found the ointment and returned upstairs. Just knowing her husband was in the shower, in their bedroom gave her an enormous feeling of well-being. She had to stay positive.

She also had to stay realistic.

Sitting on their bed, she waited. Listening. The water turned off. She closed her eyes. He was stepping out of the tub. Toweling off. God, he was a gorgeous man. “Whoops.” She forgot to send him in some clothes. Digging in one of his drawers, she pulled out a comfortable T-shirt and some lounge pants.

The door opened. And out he walked in just a towel.

Lord have mercy.

“Here.” She gave him the clothes. “I hope you sleep well.” She went to him and went up on tiptoe, kissing his cheek. “You’ll never know how thankful I am to have you home, alive and well.” She started for the door.

“Where are you going?” he asked dryly.

“I’m going to sleep in the guest room.”

“Why?”

“Because….” She stopped. “Well, because…”

“Because why?”

She put her hands on her hips. “You don’t know who I am! I can’t sleep with a stranger!”

“I’m not a stranger to you, Libby. I’m your husband.”

“But I’m strange to you!” She fumed.

“Just a little.” He teased. When she turned to go, he said, “Get that sweet ass back here, Libby-pearl.”

With mouth wide open, she whirled. “What did you call me?”

He looked at her blankly. “What?” He hadn’t noticed.

“You called me Libby Pearl!” She flew to his side, very careful of his injuries. “That was a thing between us.”

He still looked confused. “The nicknames!” She emphasized. “You always called me Libby-mine, Libilicious, Libtastic, Libby-boo.” By the time she finished, they were both laughing.  

“See, I told you, I’m still me.” He pushed her hair behind her head. “Just give me a little time. I’ll remember you, Libby. I promise. I’ll remember us.”

***

They didn’t make love that night, but it wasn’t because he didn’t want to, he did. But it was just too soon. Aron could see it sticking out all over, he was gonna have to woo his Libby again. She loved him, he had no doubt on that score. But she had lost her confidence in their love and it was his job to give it back to her.

During the night, he bonded with her. Oh, she wasn’t awake to know it. But he stayed up most of the night just looking at her and touching her. He traced the line of her arm, loving the smoothness. He stole tiny kisses from her neck. He smelled her sweet scent. And he relearned how she slept on top of him. God, he loved that. While he’d been gone, he knew his nights were cold and lonely. Something was missing. And here it was, it was her. She used him as her security blanket, one arm across his middle, one leg across his. Sometimes her head was on his chest and sometimes it was on his arm. He didn’t care. He loved it all.

Deep in the night, he lifted her sleep shirt and rubbed her back. One of the few times when she was on her back, he picked up the shirt and kissed her belly, letting his babies kick him in the cheek. She needed her rest, but he got something he needed to. He used those twilight hours to relearn his wife and what he found was beyond rubies.

In the early morning hours, he looked around their room. Their wedding portrait stood proudly on the dresser. He picked the photo album back up and finished looking at every picture. They had been together only a few months, married only one day when they had been parted. But as far as he could tell, they had packed a lifetime of living in that little space of time. Some of his sculptures set around the room. As he looked at them his fingers itched. Soon, he’d have to go outside and try his hand at it, see if the skill would resurface.

On the bedside table, he found a book by Sable Hunter. Who? Hmmm, he opened and read a few pages. “Damn.” He grinned and read a few more. “My baby’s been reading sexy stuff.” Opening the drawer, he saw some massage lotion. Interesting. He took it out and smelled of it. Chocolate Cream. 

“Aron,” Libby whispered. “Aron, I love you. Come home,” she whimpered.

He realized this was probably nothing new. His baby had missed him. She had cried for him. He nuzzled the side of her face. “Sweetheart, I’m home.”

With a cry, she threw her arms around his neck. “You are, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am.” He held her close, rubbing her back. “Don’t you cry. Everything is going to be all right.”

“I know,” she whispered. “It was just a bad dream. I had a lot of them while you were gone.”

“Lie on your tummy and let me give you a rubdown.”

“What?” She pulled away a little bit. “We shouldn’t.”

“Why not? You’re my wife, I’m your husband. We’re in the privacy of our bedroom. Take off your top.” He coaxed. Waiting, he held his breath.

When she finally eased the shirt off, she kept herself facing away from him. God, he wanted to look at her. Touch her. Lord, look at that. Libby’s bare beautiful arms, smooth back, all naked for his enjoyment.

She lifted her head. Her eyes glancing back over her shoulder. “Aron, I’m—“

“Let me, please.” He unscrewed the lid and took a dollop of the creamy liquid on his fingertips. “You’ll enjoy this, I bet I’m good at it.”

“You’re good at everything,” she grumbled.

“Really?” he snorted. “Do tell.”          

He saw a blush rise in her skin. “I didn’t mean that.”

“You didn’t?” He began to rub her shoulders. “I’m gonna start at your shoulders and then head south to…parts south.”

“This is your rodeo, Cowboy.”

“And don’t you forget it.” God, she was so soft. As soon as his hands touched the naked skin of her back, his cock went hard as a rock. “You’re so warm. Sweet.”

“Hmmm.” He heard a little purr.

“So, am I?”

“What?” His hands were amazing. She wanted to writhe under his touch, but she forced herself not to react. She didn’t want him to know the effect he was having on her.

“Am I good in bed?”

Libby was afraid to move. He would know. She began to tremble. He would know how much she wanted him. “You don’t know?”

“No,” Aron spoke softly. “How could I? I’ve lost my past.”

“You don’t remember Sabrina?”

“Who?” Aron frowned at the name.

“Arg!” Libby buried her head in the pillow. “Your former wife?”

“What?” Aron yelled.

“Shhh.” Libby would have giggled had it not been so sad. “You were married before me, but she was a horrible, money-grubbing leech.”

“Did you ever meet her?” This was sort of entertaining. He could tell she was jealous.

“That’s who I beat up in the bar fight,” she muttered under her breath.

“Oh, you doll.” He wanted to ask more questions, and he would, right after he touched her some more. She was laid out in front of him like a sumptuous banquet, and he was a starving man. Lust began rising in him like a tidal wave. Working the oil into her skin, he loved the way she sighed and moaned. Promising himself he would use his tongue next time, Aron massaged her tense muscles, working his way down her back. Straddling her legs, he got down to the swell of her ass, then smiled when she began to arch up to meet his sensual strokes.

“Aron…”

Leaning over her, he asked again, “Am I good in bed?”

“Maybe.”

He smiled against her neck, taking the time to pepper kisses all along the curve of her shoulder. “Don’t torture me, Pretty Girl.” He continued his mission of seduction, rubbing and mapping ever muscle, every bare curve. When he noticed she was clutching the sheet with white knuckled fingers, Aron knew he was getting to her—big time. His cock was throbbing with need, but he wanted her to beg him. He needed her to make the first move. He had this desperate need to know he was welcome. And wanted. Valuable.

“Please.”

“Please, what?” Progress, they were making progress. When he’d lavish attention on one area, Aron would finish off with open-mouth kisses all over her silky flesh, before finding another spot to tease. When she began to raise her little bottom up and down, seeking him, he wanted to shout. And when he got a whiff of her arousal, Aron lost it.

“Please touch me.”

“I was gonna die if I couldn’t,” he confessed. Here she was on her stomach, he couldn’t even see her breasts or her womanhood, and she was still able to turn him inside out. “Raise your bottom.” She complied. He slipped her panties off. “Now, spread your legs.” Open, wide. “That’s it.” Aron dipped his fingers between her thighs and almost came himself when he felt how creamy and wet she was for him. Taking the pads of his fingers, he swirled through her honey, stroking her slit, slipping a finger into her pussy.

“God, that feels so good.”

Satisfaction filled him as she began to move, pushing back against his hand, grinding her vulva against his palm. “More?”

“I’ve craved your touch, yes, more!” She almost shouted and he chuckled. He rubbed her labia, played with her clit and pushed a finger in and out of her rhythmically.

“Faster? Harder?” Aron was lost in lust. “I want to be inside of you so much. Can I?”

Libby would never deny him. He was her life. Instead of answering, she rose on all fours and tilted her bottom up to him.

“Fuck,” he whispered. Standing, he jerked off the lounge pants and rejoined her on the bed. Curling his hands around her hips, Aron angled her pelvis. “I want you so much, Libby. I dreamed about you. I didn’t know your name or exactly what you looked like, but it was you.” Taking his cock in hand, he rubbed the head up and down, dragging it through her sweet, thick cream. “You’re so wet. You want me don’t you?”

“God, yes,” she whimpered.

“So, I’m good in bed?” He sought reassurance. Not everything he knew made sense. Instincts that had no memories to back them up made him feel helpless, but there was one bit of sure knowledge—this woman could make him burn for her. Aron had a ragged need to be inside of her. It had been too long.

“The best,” she confessed. Reaching beneath her, he found her tits. They hung down like lush, ripe fruit. Aron groaned as he cupped them, weighing them, massaging them, rubbing the puffy little nipples. “I’m dying, Aron.” She panted.

Keeping hold of one breast, he took the other hand and guided his big cock head to the small opening. Taking care, he began to work his way in, but when she moaned, he surrendered and thrust deep, all the way to the hilt, balls deep. He mounted her.