The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance (20 page)

Somehow, he’d managed to pull them on to their sides, but he was still inside her, still contracting with the most intense sensations of pleasure he’d ever felt.

“Wow ,” she whispered.

He swallowed.

And he knew he couldn’t go back to his own time . . . unless Erica came with him.

She looked up at him. “I . . . I’ve never felt like this. Meeting you, making love . . .
amazing
.”

Sean could only nod. It wasn’t just the sex. It was as though she had opened another dimension to him, a dimension that had been hidden away all his life. He and the rest of humanity had become so accustomed to the monofilaments of their world, and he suddenly understood the diverse filaments that were possible. There were colours and textures and smells that had been lost over the centuries. Even the sounds of their language had changed. They no longer used names for each other, but cold, raw numbers. They did not relate as human beings, but almost as machines.

“More than amazing,” he said. “I’ve never experienced anything like this day.”

She nodded against him.

He withdrew from her body, closing his eyes and relishing the sensation. He tucked her against him.

“Have you ever been in love?” she asked.

“No. Not until now,” he said bluntly, and she lifted her head to look at him.

“I wouldn’t have believed it, but yeah. Me, too.” She spoke with wonder in her voice, as though she were stating the impossible.

He needed to talk with her, to make his proposal and discuss what he hoped they could do. But it could wait until the morning. For now, he just wanted to hold her until she slept.

Then he would use the tempis-disc to send Sandino and his vehicle to some distant place where he could never bother Erica again.

Eight

They got up early every day for a week, making love in the morning before Drew woke up, and sipping coffee together in the intimacy of her tiny kitchen. Erica didn’t know what the future would bring, but she did know that she would have to return to the Purple Moon at some point. Sean wasn’t going to like it, but she couldn’t let him pay her bills, and Drew’s inhalers were almost empty.

Drew liked Sean, and the two of them got along amazingly well. Both of them seemed to enjoy their jaunts to the park and the occasional quiet hour watching Nova or the History Channel on television. Erica’s heart contracted with cautious optimism. There hadn’t been much that had worked out for her in the past few years and she was afraid to count on this.

“You always look as though you’ve never tasted coffee before,” she said, casting off her doubts and worries as Sean savoured each sip. She finished spreading peanut butter on toast and set the plate on the table.

“I haven’t,” he said, slipping his arm around her waist and pulling her close. He breathed deeply, as though he could inhale her with one breath.

She laughed, enjoying the intimacy of the morning. Idiot that she was, she’d fallen in love, and it had happened overnight. Or rather, it had happened in the span of about five minutes. She’d looked out at him that first night from onstage, and wanted to dance only for him. And when he’d carried her away from the stage and out of the club, she’d been hooked.

“I know you’re from Atlanta, but they’ve got coffee there!”

“I’m not actually from Atlanta.”

“I didn’t think so.” She laughed, completely unconcerned that he hadn’t been honest. She knew there had to be a reason for his little deception, maybe something embarrassing.

She didn’t care. He was strong and utterly male, yet sweet and thoughtful. He’d savoured every kiss and every caress they’d shared, and yet everything,
everything
seemed new and different to him.

He wasn’t very forthcoming with information when she asked him about himself, always turning the conversation to her or to Drew. Erica wondered if maybe he’d been in prison. Or raised in Tibet or something.

He raised his eyebrows and then shrugged, a gesture she’d come to love during the past week. “My home is so different from everything I’ve encountered here.”

Sensing that he was ready to open up about himself, she sat down next to him at the small dinette table in the kitchen. “Where are you really from?”

He reached under his sleeve and removed a black metal disc from a strip fastened around his upper arm. Placing it on the table, he turned it so that she could see small silver markings on its surface.

“What is it?”

“We call it a tempis-disc,” he replied.

“Tempis . . . temporal? It has to do with your profession?”

He nodded. “I am part of the team that works on wormholes, time shifts, spatial distortions.”

“Time travel? It must be top secret.” She picked up the disc and looked at it more closely. The metal was unlike any she’d ever seen before, but she was no geologist. It could be highly polished . . . anything.

“Careful,” he said, and she set it back on the table.

“What does it do?”

“It brought me here. To this time and place,” he said. “Which turned out to be an error.”

“What do you mean?”

“I came from another time.”

Erica gaped at him, incredulous. She was a scientist. She knew what was and was not possible. And time travel? Not possible.

“I know it must be difficult for you to believe.”

Erica frowned. Sean wasn’t a kook or a flake. She’d learned that very well during their week together. He was well grounded and possessed a tremendous sense of scientific curiosity. She knew that there were breakthroughs in science every year, but moving through time was more science fiction than science fact.

He broke into her thoughts. “Would you like a demonstration?”

She nodded and he stood. “Come here.”

He picked up the black disc and Erica stood beside him. “I’m going to move your chair five minutes into the future.”

Erica watched as he pressed a tiny button on the disc and a small window opened. He scanned the chair, then used his thumb to push several symbols that appeared on the screen. “Now watch.”

She looked at the chair and observed as it disintegrated before her eyes. “Impossible,” she whispered.

“Maybe for the science of this age. But in my time—”

“What is—
When
is your time?”

“Twenty-seven forty-three.”

A giant hole opened in her stomach. “That’s more than 700 years from now.”

He nodded. It made a strange kind of sense to Erica. He’d seemed like such a stranger to her world, so amazed by everything he saw and smelled and tasted. “We’ve made progress, Erica. Energy, technology, medicine, culture . . . Things have changed radically, and now that I’ve been here, met you, seen your world, I know that it’s not all to the good.”

“I’m not sure I understand.”

“Our race is dying out,” he said. “And it’s attributable to a form of genetic manipulation that will be discovered and implemented in your time.”

“And you came to stop it?”

“Yes.”

“Won’t that cause a whole avalanche of repercussions in the future?” she asked, realizing that she had accepted his theorem. She actually believed he was a time traveller.

“We hope so. I was sent to interfere with the scientist who develops the process that causes our world to become physically and culturally sterile.”

“How?”

“Any way necessary. Even kill him.”

“Kill? As in murder?”

He nodded. “But I’m no killer, Erica. And I certainly can’t kill a child.”

“What?
You’re scaring me, Sean!” she said, just as the chair reappeared. She sat down on it, hard. “What child?”

His jaw clenched and he looked away. “We had the dates wrong. We thought he would develop his devastating procedure in 2015. I came to intercept him a few years early – or so I thought - just to be on the safe side.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of stones that glittered in the light.

“Are those diamonds?” Erica asked.

“Yes.” He dropped what had to be a hundred diamonds on the table. “I didn’t know how long I would need to stay, and we knew diamonds have value in your time. I sold one the day I arrived. That’s the reason I have some money, how I was able to buy these clothes.”

The diamonds were astonishing. Erica didn’t know a lot about jewellery, but all of Sean’s were larger than any engagement diamond she’d ever seen. “These must be worth a million dollars.”

He shrugged. “When I first met Drew, I knew I’d come far too early. He probably developed Fusion XJ in 2035, not 2010.”

“Wait. Drew?
Drew
is the scien—”

She stood abruptly, her heart in her throat. She’d never believed the damn thing could break. But now she knew differently.
“It’s Drew that you. . .
Get out! Get out of my apartment, now! I can’t believe I ever—”

“Erica, wait. I’m not going to hurt Drew. I couldn’t hurt your son. I have a plan.”

Her eyes welled with tears, but she brushed them away and marched to the front door. She felt defeated inside, as though he’d just crushed every one of her newly rejuvenated emotions.

But when he came to her and embraced her, Erica found she didn’t have the power to resist. She’d been so sure they’d connected in an elemental way. She closed her eyes and tried not to feel the overpowering sense of belonging, of security, in his arms.

“Come to the future with me. You and Drew. He can grow up there and pursue his scientific career far more effectively in my century. You both can.”

He eased away from her slightly, and put a couple of fingers under her chin. There was an intensity in his eyes, a look of restrained passion. “I love you, Erica. And I’ll always want you.”

He kissed her lightly, then released her and returned to the table. Gathering up the diamonds, he brought them back to her and poured them into her hand. “These are yours to keep. You can stay and finish your studies here in 2010 without financial worries.”

She bit her lip as she gawked at the incredible wealth in her hand.

“Or you and Drew can come with me, to a world that will be new and different for all of us. Because, yes – what I’m doing now will have repercussions for the future.”

She glanced over at the strange, incredibly advanced black disc that rested on her ridiculously commonplace Formica table, and then up at Sean. She knew there was no question of what she would do.

She hugged him close, then slid her hands up to his neck and pulled him down for her kiss. “I love you, too.”

He held her close and returned her kiss, and Erica felt him pour everything he had into it before easing away. “Let’s go and wake Drew,” he said. “We ’ve got a big day ahead of us.”

Sandra Newgent

One

“The game’s Texas hold ’em. Are you in, little lady?”

Startled, Camille Desmond stared at the grey-haired gentleman seated behind the green felt-covered table. With swift movements, he flipped cards to the group seated. His soft brown eyes fixed on her. “Ante up?”

Cami shook her head. “I . . . ah . . . no thank you. I’m n-not playing.” She’d never played poker before and didn’t want to start now in Atlantic City.

She took a step backwards and bumped into her best friend Gina.

“Oh, come on Cami.” Gina grabbed her shoulders. “Play poker with me. I’ll teach you the ways of the world.” Gina winked at her as she snagged an empty chair.

“I
know
the ways of the world. Remember? Roger cheating? Leaving me in debt up to my eyeballs? Besides, I’m saving any spare money to open a Warner school.”

“But you should be celebrating your financial freedom. You just paid off Mr Mistake. Try investing a little time in yourself. Find Mr Right-Now, let loose and have some fun.”

Cami’s face burned hotly in the over-air-conditioned casino. “Gina, I can’t ignore the past. And now I’m ready to go home. I’m not about to blow the rest of my money on a silly game of cards and a one-night stand.” Cami softened her tone, not wanting to ruin Gina’s fun. “You stay. I’m not ready to ‘let loose’. I’ll window shop or take a walk on the beach.”

Gina nodded. “OK – for now – but I’m not giving up on you.” She squeezed Cami’s hand. “See ya later.”

Cami left the card pit and wandered through the crowd surrounding the huge array of slot machines. Looking at the spectacular show of flashing lights, this was certainly the place to let loose. The casino of the legendary Caesars Hotel was pulsating with people willing to take any risk.

“Would you care for a complimentary drink?” Cami turned and ran her eyes over the blonde-haired server. The swooping neckline of her skimpy cocktail dress was only outdone by her black fishnet-clad legs and heavily made-up face.

“No thank you.” Cami watched the woman walk away, her voluptuous hips swaying with feline grace. A pang of jealousy tweaked her. The woman was obviously comfortable in her own body and sensuality. Cami peered at her own wavy reflection in the shiny chrome side of a slot machine.