Chapter 22
Chris
“I keep thinking about Winston.” Daphne chewed on her lip.
“Winston’s perfectly safe in the lab.” I turned the wheel sharply to the left. “I made reservations at The Tennessee for later. They have the best wine list in town, but if you’d like something else—”
“Anywhere’s fine,” she said distractedly. “I trust you. Eating out for me is fast food, so I don’t know any of the right places.”
“Anywhere’s the right place with you, sweetheart.” I lifted her left hand to my lips and kissed the vintage gold band I’d placed on her finger less than an hour ago. She wanted something simple that she could work in. I’d relented and given her simple.
She didn’t know it yet, but tonight, I was also giving her a four-carat, Gilded Age emerald and diamond “engagement” ring; a piece straight out of an Edith Wharton novel—along with some other vintage jewels—a diamond collar of stars that reminded me of our first night together, Mikimoto pearls in the same lustrous gray as her eyes, plus a first edition of The Age of Innocence . Once I’d realized how much fun it was spending my money on my wife, I’d gone a little overboard at the New York auction houses.
“But I’m not taking you to McDonald’s for our wedding reception.”
“Huh?”
“Nothing,” I shook my head, smiling. Nothing could diminish the joy I felt this evening. Even work. “What exactly are you thinking about the skull?”
She gave me a worried glance. “Do you recall a Starving Time in Tennessee history?”
“What do you mean? Like a Jamestown situation?”
She nodded slowly. Intuitively, I knew what she was reaching for, but it was way too high on the shelf. “I was reading an article earlier and it triggered something.”
“You were reading an article about starvation cannibalism on our wedding day?”
“No, I was reading an article about prion diseases on our wedding day and it made me think about the Russian famine, which of course, led me to starvation cannibalism in general. What else was I supposed to do while getting my nails done?”
“The idea is to relax.”
“Reading is relaxing—”
“About the Russian Famine?”
“That part wasn’t relaxing.”
I chuckled and changed lanes. I knew exactly where this conversation was heading and there was no way I wasn’t giving in to those big round eyes of hers when she inevitably asked if we could go to the bone lab instead of our wedding dinner.
Her phone buzzed. She looked down and dropped her phone back in her purse. “Decca’s mad we didn’t invite her.”
“She didn’t invite me to her wedding either.”
“There’s recent DNA evidence to suggest that our uncanny ability to resist prion diseases is because cannibalism was a lot more common throughout human history than we think,” she said.
“That’s only a theory,” I said.
“So is gravity. No scientific theory can really be proven. But if it was common in human history, maybe it’s not as taboo as we like to think it is. Maybe we’ve just stopped looking for evidence.”
I sighed. “Cannibalism as the cause of natural resistance to TSEs needs a lot more study.”
“You’re only guessing the skull is a century old, meaning Winston has been deceased for that long.”
“The soil samples might tell us more,” I said. “Nothing’s been run yet. Still on break. Remember?”
She paid no attention to my not-to-subtle hint that we should be on break as well. “One hundred years puts us at the Depression. That might account for it,” she said to herself. “Besides, there are always people who snap and do crazy shit.”
“Say it. Say it out loud. The thing you’re thinking.”
“You’ll make fun of me.”
“I might tell you it’s wishful thinking that your first grad school case could end up something this... monumental, but I’d never make fun of you for throwing yourself into academics. I’d be a hypocrite.”
She took a deep breath. “The marks on the temporal bone—if you think about it, that’s the muscle insertion for a real meaty part of the face—the more I think back, the more they remind me of the serrations on Jane’s mandible—Jane the cannibalized skull they found in the archeological dig at—”
“I know Jane.”
“I know it’s ridiculous, but I think Winston was also a victim. Is there any evidence of ritual cannibalization in North America?"
“Ritual? Not really. There’s hearsay about certain Iroquois tribes practicing warfare cannibalism, but we only have secondhand accounts written by colonizers, most likely propaganda to vilify Native Americans. Even if it were true, it has no bearing on Winston. In this soil, he’d most likely be dust if he were that old. You’re more on track with Jamestown.”
Great. Now she’s got me going with this insane hypothesis. “It’s a stretch to assume those marks were made with the intent to consume. We’ll never prove it. Jane had a lot more circumstantial evidence.”
“I don’t need to prove it. Just position it. Maybe an archeological team can find some circumstantial evidence.”
I sighed. “If you’re right, I can’t wait to see the look on Decca’s face. She’s going to shit herself for giving up this case.”
“We’ll be sure to credit her in the paper.”
I laughed. “That’s my girl.”
“Always, Daddy.”
Fuck. She was going to get massacred tonight. My brain was already dulled from postmarital bliss, and it was supposed to be getting even duller after feasting on a good steak, great bottle of wine, and Daphne’s juicy pussy. Ignore throbbing cock... ignore throbbing cock.
“First we need isotope dating to pinpoint the year,” she said.
“The center’s never going to fund that.”
She smirked and waggled her eyebrows at me. “For headlines about cannibalism, they will.”
“Shrewd. But you’re getting too far ahead of yourself.”
I pulled into the parking lot of the last place I thought I’d end up on my wedding day.
“Really?” her eyes popped open. She must have just figured out where we’d been going. “Are you sure? Chris, you don’t have to do this. I was just talking out loud.”
“Are you going to be disappointed if your findings don’t support your hypothesis?”
“Probably.”
“I’ll rephrase. Will you still let me take you to dinner if your findings don’t support it?”
“Regardless of what we find…” her hand slid up the inside of my thigh, “I’ll let you do a lot more than that, husband.”
“I like that suit on you,” she said, as we strolled hand in hand down the halls of the academic building.
“Thank you.”
“Very ducal. But I like everything on you.”
Her heels clacked on the terrazzo floors. Until today, I’d never seen her in heels. Only combat boots and the ratty pair of sneakers she wore during her morning runs.
She ran in the mornings. Like me.
She’d called it her medicine. If she didn’t start her day without some kind of endorphin-dopamine cocktail, her cognitive skills were mush until she got some oxygen into her brain.
I loved finding out these things about her. And since I’d only known her a little over a week, I’d be finding them out for a very long time.
Eight days.
That was how long I’d known her. My wife, as of... I looked at my watch... forty-three minutes ago.
God, this was weird. Weird and good and it all still felt like a dream.
“I like that dress on you.”
“It’s not too short?”
A sound came from the back of my throat. “I don’t know. I’ll have to take another look.” I dropped her hand and stopped. I nodded for her to stand in front of me. “Arms at your sides.” She giggled and stood with her body erect, her arms straight as arrows. “Hm. Clearly that hemline doesn’t come anywhere close to your fingertips. I’m going to have to punish you, Ms. McKinnon.” I closed the gap between us slowly, taking my time, staring covetously at her thighs.
“I’m sorry, Dr. Carter.” She bit her lip, stepping back as I advanced. “I’ll be a good girl next time.”
“Promise?” My fingertips brushed the satin hem. The silk flirted with her skin as I inched the fabric up and up, just barely brushing, dancing over the tops of her stockings.
“What are you going to do to me?” Her back hit the wall and I braced my forearm next to her face.
“That depends. Was it your intention to give me improper thoughts?”
Her eyes were big and wide, shining up at me. “No. I had no idea.” She giggled as my hands found her ass. I slid my fingers under her panties and kneaded her muscle.
“You had no idea how uncomfortable it would be for me in these pants? Anyone can see what you do to me.” I pressed my hips against hers and lifted her leg, tucking it around my thigh to open her up further.
“Dr. Carter, someone could see us now .” Her pupils were blown wide the fuck open and there was a hitch in her voice that made me know she liked the idea.
I rolled my hips against hers. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? To be caught with a professor. You’d have so much leverage.”
She shook her head.
“Tell me, do you want to be caught, sweetheart? Or do you want to be watched? Are you a little slut, Ms. McKinnon?” She gasped. I smiled as I said it. It was getting harder to play this role and not just give in to wanting her, but I’d play as long as she wanted.
“I’m a married woman.”
“A married woman who leaves the house in a dress that short? For your husband’s sake, I’m sorry.” I rolled my hips again. “You were asking for this. You know that, right? Teasing me. Tempting me. Knowing I’m off limits. A married professor.”
“I didn’t mean to, but maybe… you’re right. I am a slut. But only for you.”
I dropped her leg and straightened my body, exhaling like I had control over any part of this.
“But—” she complained.
“Bone lab,” I breathed.
“Are we...?”
“I need a minute.” I braced my hand against the wall and nodded, my gaze trained on the floor. I was one squeeze, one swish, one kiss away from coming in my pants. Straightening, I grabbed her hand and pulled her down the hall and into the empty room.
Everyone was gone between semesters, and it was mostly clean. The postdocs were always good about keeping the lab clean. And anyway, cleanliness wasn’t my top priority right now. I’d fuck her in a public bathroom if I had to. Hell, I’d fuck her if there were students here watching. Okay—I probably wouldn’t follow through in either one of those scenarios, but she made me feel like I would. She made me crazy with need for her.
I pinned her against the door, kissing her glossed lips and reaching under her dress to pull her panties down.
She moaned into my mouth. “God, yes.”
“What do you want, sweetheart?”
“Put your fingers inside me.”
I slid easily through her lips and groaned. I’d never get used to how wet she got. “You’re already leaking all over my hand.” I pulled it away and licked her off my fingers, then pushed back into her pretty pussy, back farther this time, inside her. “I love the way you taste. Like a storm on the ocean. Briny and sweet. Dangerous.” Her eyes widened and she inhaled a gasping breath, rocking herself on my hand.
“I don’t… Fuck, Chris, I’m gonna...” She held my wrist still, panting. “I don’t want to come on your nice suit.”
I needed her. Now. I loved her like this, slutty and squirting for me.
“Turn around,” I said.
“But—” she started to protest but did it anyway.
I lowered the zipper of her dress and carefully lifted it over her head. Underneath, she was bare. Just stockings and heels. I hadn’t realized she wasn’t wearing a bra.
Her back was lovely and she shivered when I traced my finger up her spine, reaching around to cup her breasts and pull her against the front of my body. Her hair cascaded over her shoulder in a stream of silver. “You want to make a mess, baby?” I whispered in her ear.
She nodded and rocked her head back against my shoulder as I cradled her long arcing neck in my hand. “Please.”
“Stay here.”
She whined when my hands slid away from her body.
In the massive shelf-lined room in the back, I brought down the box I’d logged earlier. Case number 24-126. Winston.
“I’ll let you do the honors.” I said, referring to the box on the table.
“Can I have my dress back?”
“You said you wanted to make a mess. I don’t want you to ruin your wedding dress.”
“Chris! That's not what I thought you meant and you know it.”
“But it's what I meant." I smirked. "I brought you an apron.”
“It’s see-though.”
“The more you talk, the longer it’ll be until we both come, so find me some evidence of cannibalism.”
“Yes, Daddy.”
“We’re supposed to be flying to New Zealand tomorrow,” I said, pressing the ignition. The car purred to life.
“Yeah, about that.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“I’m sorry.”
“If this is the discovery you think it is, this is career-making. History-making. Besides, we have the rest of our lives for you to fuck up our travel plans.”
“Thank you… I think?” A devious smile spread across her face.
“I wish I had fucked you in the lab. Who knows how long I’ll have to wait after your big discovery.”
“Dr. Carter,” she said. “If you think any old bones are going to keep me from boning you—probably several times a day—you’ve got a shock coming.”
“That right?”
She climbed over the console and threw a leg across my lap and rocked her hips against my already hard cock. Of course it was hard. “I might have a lot of work to do, so I’m going to need your full support.”
“I intend to give it.” I adjusted my seat back as far as it would go. If this is what she had in mind, we needed the interior to be a lot bigger than this.
“I expect you to take care of our meals, because you love cooking and I hate it.” She raked her teeth over my earlobe before sucking it into her mouth. Oh, heavenly… I was melting into the seat.
“I want to finish my program without any interruption.”
“Of course, I—”
She pressed her index finger against my lips. “That includes you making excuses for me to your friends if I’m sick or late with an assignment. No donations made in my name to get me out of class. No easy grades. Not from anyone. I still need to prove I belong.”
“You do belong.” I captured her fingertip between my teeth, playfully, but of course she thrust her finger in deeper, making me suck on it.
“If I ever have a free weekend, or time off between semesters, I want to go sightseeing. I want to stop at every stupid kitschy roadside attraction along the way.”
With her finger still in my mouth, I started to protest, but she only laughed, which made the angle of her hips shift even lower against my cock, aching to burst free.
“More than anything, I want you naked in our bed every night.” She reached down and stroked me through my pants. “I want this cock rock hard and leaking for me.”
“Darling—”
She kissed me. It was messy and fast and needy. Drunk on power, love, and an upcoming life-affirming, career-gold win. And I answered every desperate little groan of hers with one of my own.
My hands met her hips, grinding her body on my cock.
“We haven’t..." she panted. “We’ve spent so long in this car and we haven’t even—”
“Too small. Won’t work.”
“I’m limber.”
I groaned. “Fuck, take me out.”
Her hands were already unbuckling my belt as I fought the seat controls, moving the seat back and reclining as far as it would go, looking for every extra inch of space.
Before I had a chance to process, she’d squeezed herself into an impossibly tight space and took me into her mouth. “Oh, yes, sweetheart.” I lovingly brushed her hair out of her face as her eyes met mine. She swirled her tongue over the tip, collecting the pre-cum that was leaking copiously. “That feels so good.”
She popped off my dick and used her saliva to stroke me, moving my foreskin up and down as she watched. “I love your cock. It’s so much fun to play with.”
I laughed. “I’m a big fan of it, myself.”
“I had a question to ask, but now I forgot.”
God, even her hand felt fucking amazing. It was hard to think straight. “Ask when you remember.”
She leaned in and licked a path from my base to the tip, swallowing me down. I groaned. “God, you’re good at that.”
She popped off again. “Oh! I remember now.” Lick. “Remember in the building..." Lick. Swirl. “When you called me Ms. McKinnon?” Lick. Swirl. Suuuck.
“What? Uh... oh, fucking hell. Uh. Yeah.” I was about to come and when I did it would spurt everywhere. Jesus.
She bobbed her head a few more times, swirling her tongue in a way that was making my eyes roll back in my head. Then she was pulling away again, using her hand as she thought aloud. “I think I want to change my name.”
“What?” I was in a daze. Was she speaking words? Oh. Oh, yes. Name change. “To what?”
“Yours, silly.”
“Oh.”
“Would that be okay? I don’t have to.”
“Wait. What now? You want to be… Jesus, had I heard her right? Mrs. Carter?”
“Does it sound too much like your mom?”
“No!” I shouted. “Sorry, I just never expected... yeah, my God, yes. I would be honored if you took my name.”
“Really?”
“Of course. I mean, fuck, that’s..." I brushed my hand over my face. Incoherent as fuck. I didn’t know why it felt like she’d given me a gift, but it was powerful. It reached into the recesses of my psyche and squeezed that shameful, deep caveman urge to possess and claim her.
Everything about Daphne turned me into a beast.
“Come here, baby.” I brushed my thumb across her cheekbone. My touch was gentle, my tone was anything but.
“Yes, Daddy.”
My cock pulsed.
Daphne climbed into my lap and held herself over me on her knees. She bent forward to kiss me sweetly. Achingly sweet. Just the lightest touch as she strategically planted kisses across my parted lips. I let her do it, not forcing anything, just savoring the feel of being cherished and cherishing her in return.
Her new perfume blended with the intoxicating, heady scent of her arousal and it was perfect. I knew she’d be wet even before I touched her, but when my thumb brushed through the cleft of her pussy, she was already flooding my fingers. Every slight amplification of her body was another twist of the key, winding me tighter and tighter. So tight I was going to burst.
“I need to be inside you, Daphne. Can you take me like this?”
“I think if I..." she shifted off her knees and onto her feet so she was squatting over me. “Oh, I think that might work. I like that.”
“Where are your panties, sweetheart?”
Her cheeks reddened. “I never put them back on after the lab. Just in case.”
“I love your contingency plans.”
Her clit was so hard I knew I had to touch her delicately, or the stimulation would be too sensitive, but just below, in that slick smooth place between her clit and her vagina was exactly where she needed to be stroked.
I lined my cock up just there, massaging that place with my head until her cunt was dripping down my shaft.
She moaned when I slid through her wet folds and sank into her.
I forced my eyes open, watching her face soften our joining. Even rutting in a car was profound and sacred. We were meant to be like this.
“Daphne,” I said.
But it was all I could manage to say.
“Me too,” she said back.
Neither of us moved until she did, just to lean forward, resting her knees on my thighs. Closer. Close enough to feel her breath on my cheek, her fingers in my hair. Still enough I could count her heartbeat by watching the pulse in her neck.
I pulled her forward to kiss that spot. That warm, soft spot that smelled of ancient florals and sweet hay and her own delicious sweat. I devoured that scent, licking it up and scraping my teeth across her pale skin.
She whimpered. I had to move. I thrust my hips up, pushing myself in deeper before withdrawing. My dick glistening with her slick need. I did it again. “Oh, fuck,” she cried. “This feels so good.”
I held the back of her neck as I did it again and again. Slowly fucking into her perfect cunt and dragging my cock back out, each time slicker than the one before. “Oh, sweetheart. You’re so fucking... I can’t... Fuck.”
“Harder. More.”
“Oh, God, I can’t... I’m gonna…” I thrust my hips against hers. “So deep. Darling. Are you okay?”
I was only half coherent. It took everything to hold myself back. The windows were covered in a haze of fog. My glasses were even half-fogged. Even in the cold car, our heat was too much. Sweat slicked the skin at her neck. I felt it sliding down my back as my hips pistoned into her wildly.
“Yes, yes, yes, like that. Harder, Daddy. Fuck me harder.”
“Stop. I can’t... hear... I’m too close…”
Her eyes and mouth popped open. “Oh, fuck, I’m coming. Oh, God oh God oh God. I’m sorry. I forgot. It’s so…” she gasped as she squirted all over the front of me, flooding my cock and my pants and my shirt.
“Oh, shit. Daphne..." The sight was enough to make me come right along with her. I sank into her completely, pulling her as close as possible as my orgasm sent me into another dimension.
My sight was gone. Did I even need it anymore? I could only vaguely hear the sound of our breathing, but it wasn’t immediate. Instead, it seemed to be coming from another realm. I was a cock. That was the only part of me that existed anymore. Maybe some other pieces would reattach, but as I lay there, unable to move, unable to do anything but feel my orgasm still coursing through me, my cum pumping deep inside someplace warm and happy.
“Oh, Chris, I’m sorry. I ruined everything. My dress. Your suit.”
I said nothing. Still incapable of speech, or thought. I pulled her down farther and pressed her chest into mine, holding her against me. Mess or no mess, I didn’t care. No. That was wrong. I did care. I loved her messes. “My darling.” I wiped an errant strand of hair away from her face. “I wouldn’t have you any other way. Because this is something spectacular your body does for me.”
“Are you sure?”
“Fuck, it’s such a turn-on. It makes me hard again, immediately after. You’re going to kill me. Between making sure you eat during study breaks and being your on-call sex slave, you’re going to fucking kill me.”
“At least it’ll be a good death.”
“Mm,” I murmured into her hair. Miraculously, I was softening inside her. I could go to sleep like this every night. “Promise not to consume the remains.” She laughed.
Neither of us made a move to leave. “The holidays are over,” she said.
I nodded. “You can’t say we didn’t make the most of what was left. I’d say a wedding anniversary is a pretty great holiday tradition.”
“Chris, there is one more thing we haven’t done that would make this year complete.”
“What’s that?”
“Well... I still haven’t driven your car.” She lifted her head and batted her eyelashes at me. “Please, Daddy.”
“Did you fuck me so you could butter me up to ask?”
“No. I just thought I’d take advantage of the timing.”
I sighed. “Daphne. Have I ever said no to you?”
I could see her running through the events of the past week before biting her lip and smiling with anticipation. “No.”
I grabbed her by the ass and hoisted her off me, plunking her back into the passenger’s seat, half wincing, half proud at the fluids dripping out of her along the way. I winked at her shocked face.
“There’s a first time for everything, sweetheart.”