I swept my tongue over her cunt, letting her taste drip to the back of my throat, then lapped noisily at her clit, my fingers tightening on her ass. Fuck, I could do this forever.

A guttural sound rumbled up my throat when her hips started to twitch, her fingers clenching tighter in my hair and her moans getting louder and more desperate.

“Don’t stop,” she panted, shoving my snout deeper into her pussy. I moaned desperately against her. “You’re making me come. You… Greid—”

She cried out, legs trembling wildly as her clit pulsed against my tongue. I licked feverishly, a groan vibrating in my chest, and gentled my tongue when her hips began to jerk with sensitivity. Loosening the clawing grip on her ass, I nuzzled the tip of my snout against her clit.

Beryl twitched with a hoarse moan, fingers moving restlessly in my hair. Concentrating, I shifted back to my humanoid form and grinned up at her.

“One more?” I kissed her damp curls before sucking her clit into my mouth.

“Fuck.” Beryl jerked, but pushed my head closer. “One more. Harder.”

More than willing to obey, I increased the suction on her clit with a moan. It didn’t take long for Beryl to start shaking again, a hard groan leaving her as her hips jerked against my face. This time, when the orgasm hit her, her knees did buckle, and I quickly wrapped my arms around her to keep her upright, my mouth still latched on to her pussy.

“O-okay,” she panted, using her grip in my hair to gently tug my head back. “Jesus, Greid.”

Grinning in triumph, I kissed her pubic mound, then quickly pressed a final kiss to her swollen clit before she could stop me. She jerked with a chuckle, taking an unsteady step back.

“God, I need to lie down.” She stumbled over to the bed and collapsed onto it face first.

I followed, slinking my way up her splayed body, kissing the swell of her ass, her spine, the back of her neck. I couldn’t wipe the big grin off my face, and I knew Beryl felt it, because she chuckled as I buried my nose against the bend of her neck.

“Pretty pleased with yourself, huh?”

“Just wanted to show you how much I love you too.” I didn’t think I’d ever get used to being able to say that.

With a little grunt, Beryl twisted onto her back within the cradle of my arms as I leaned over her on all fours. She grinned at me, reaching up to cup my cheeks and squish them. “You’re the best.”

“At eating your pussy?” I asked eagerly.

She laughed, wrapping her arms around my neck. “Yes, but also just in general.”

“Aw, shucks.” I gave her a kiss before flopping onto my back beside her, tucking my hands behind my head. “I mean, I am a Greater Being, right?”

“You’re a great big dork.” She curled into my side, resting her head on my shoulder.

“Sex wizard?”

After a moment of silence, she grunted. “I’ll let you have that one.”

Chuckling, I wriggled an arm around her to play with her hair. “So, did you seriously leave work early just to tell me you love me? That’s like next-level romantic shit. Which is making me super horny again.”

Beryl laughed, but I felt her grow a little tense against me. “Well, actually I… um, I met Agma.”

I went still. That was the last thing I’d expected to hear, so my brain was struggling to process it. “Huh?”

Beryl rose on an elbow to look at me. “She came into the bar for a drink. She overheard me telling Mani about our weekend and clocked that I was talking about you. Then when I served her, she asked me if we were dating.”

“Wow.” I shook my head. “That’s… super weird.”

“Yeah.” Beryl pursed her lips, absently trailing her fingers over my chest. “I, uh, tried to be polite but… we may have ended up arguing a little. Well, it was more like me… telling her off.”

“What?” I burst out laughing. “You told off Agma? About what?”

“About what she did.” Beryl’s eyes were hard as she looked at me. “I told her that telling her friends stuff about you was a shitty thing to do. I didn’t go into specifics, but she obviously knew what I was talking about.”

I sobered, insides squirming with… something. I wasn’t sure how to react to that. “Oh.”

Beryl sighed. “She said she made a mistake. She got drunk and told them after you split up. But that’s not an excuse, and I said as much.”

My breath left me in a sharp puff. “Oh. Right. Okay.”

“I’m sorry, Greid.” She lowered her eyes. “I shouldn’t have—I just got really angry. But she was actually kind of… remorseful, I think. By the end, at least.”

“Well she’s not, like, an evil person, I guess,” I said uneasily. “And you don’t need to be sorry, Beryl. The thought of you defending me like that is actually kinda hot.”

I grinned at her, wanting to erase the uncertain look on her face. After a second her mouth twitched as she rubbed my chest.

“Yeah, well, Mani overheard and took me up to the roof.”

I stared at her. “Eh?”

“She and Ron have a terrace up there. We had a beer and she asked what had happened. And then she…” Beryl shifted uncomfortably. “She told me she knew about the cult.”

“Oh. Shit.” I wanted to grab Beryl and hug her tight, hating the thought of her being upset. I knew how much she worried about the new people in her life finding out about the cult. “Berry—”

“It’s okay, Greid.” She smiled at me. “It was okay. It was… good, actually. It’s kind of a relief.”

“Yeah?” I asked cautiously.

She nodded. “She was really nice about it. She said she doesn’t care at all. But, yeah, she let me go home after that. Which worked out great.” Beryl leaned in to nuzzle my face. “Because I was desperate to come home and tell you I love you.”

I grinned, tugging her closer. “Well that wasn’t exactly what I was picturing, but still romantic.”

“What were you picturing?”

“Maybe like… you ripped off your apron in the middle of your shift and climbed onto the bar to announce that you had to go home right that second to tell your amazing boyfriend how much you love him. And then everyone clapped.”

Beryl burst out laughing. “I can go back and do that if you really want. I’ll get Ron to film it for you.”

“No.” I yanked her closer and started pressing kisses all over her face. “Don’t go anywhere. I got you Chinese food.”

“Is that what’s on the front of your onesie?”

My ears fluttered. “Okay, look, I wasn’t expecting you home so early. Trust me, you could’ve walked in on a far worse sight than—Oh shit, wait.” I peered around. “Where’s my phone? I actually had a text from Agma, which makes more sense now.”

Beryl reared back, leaning on my chest. “She texted you?”

“Yeah, but I haven’t read it yet.” I looked at her. “I could just delete it without opening it.”

She made a face and sat up. “Greid, you should do whatever you want.”

“Well, I don’t really care about what she has to say, but…” I struggled upright and slid to the edge of the bed to stand. “I guess we could read it.”

After retrieving my phone from the living room, I launched myself back into bed and wriggled as close as possible to Beryl as I opened my texts and tapped on the waiting message from Agma.

I met your new girlfriend. I’m sorry for the way I acted about certain things during our relationship. And I’m sorry for telling my friends private details as well.

I didn’t feel much of anything as I read it, before handing the phone to Beryl. “She apologised.”

“Well that’s something.” She glanced at me. “Are you going to reply?”

I made a face and took the phone from her to dump it somewhere on the bed. Then I lay down and tugged her on top of me, making sure the sheets were bunched at my hips because I was definitely going to get hard again.

“I’d much rather use my hands for something else.” I waggled my eyebrows at her suggestively. “If you catch my drift.”

She wrinkled her nose with a laugh. “Shockingly, I do, despite the very subtle way you’re squeezing my ass.”