Just in Time: Portals of Time (11 page)

Alisha elbowed her, then said, probably to bait him, too, “So, Luke, you wanted to know about the social customs of our time.”

“You betcha.”

Having arrived just in time for the meal, David nodded. “I do, too. I’m still bummed by the absence of religion.”

Alisha scoffed. “I don’t see what good it does except to give people false hope.”

A benevolent smile came from David. “It’s good to know you have God on your side.”

“If you believe god exists.”

Luke intervened. “I’d like to know about the dating and mating rituals.”

Oh, no, Dorian would not discuss
that
with him. Her attraction to him was increasing daily, and talking about men and women joining would exacerbate that.

“Isn’t it indelicate to talk about those things with men and women in the same room?” Celeste asked.

Luke scanned the group. “Anyone object?”

Jess, whose arm was draped around Helen’s chair, shook his head, the expression in his eyes mischievous. “Not me. Dorian, you told me you don’t date when you asked about Luke’s situation.”

Now Luke winked at her. “You wanted to know about my love life, babe?”

Dorian knew he was trying to upset her. “I used you as an example of how someone copes with his sexual urges without a spouse.”

“I do just fine.”

David asked, “You don’t
date
in your time?”

“No,” Alisha said matter-of-factly. “We spend our free time with those of the same sex if we are attracted to the opposite one.”

Celeste put in, “And if someone is monosexual, she actually befriends those she joins with. Most people, I hear, are satisfied with that, but I don’t understand it.”

“So,” Dorian added, “We don’t
socialize,
as you call it, with men.”

“No wonder we can’t get along.” Luke’s sarcasm made everyone laugh. Except Dorian. They’d get along well in bed, she knew.

David was wide-eyed. “Let me get this straight. You don’t socialize with prospective spouses or partners. How do you meet someone you might want to marry?”

“There is no marriage in our time.”

His fork clattered to the plate. “Seriously?”

Alisha seemed puzzled. “Earnestly. I do not joke.”

“None of you do.” Luke again. “That’s obvious.”

“I jest,” Celeste put in. “I’m known to have a…what do you call it, Lisha?”

“A sense of humor. Most sensitives do.”

Helen smiled at Celeste. Dorian could tell the two women had taken a liking to each other, which was perfectly normal.

“In any case,” Luke continued, “what
do
you do for physical companionship.”

Enough! Dorian spoke up because she wanted to put the infuriating man in his place. “We have a SexLine. When we are in need of joining, we go on to the computeller, find a person in our geographical area who is also in need and meet in one of the structures created for the contact. Here you call them hotels.”

Luke, who’d taken a swig of his beer, spit it out all over his plate. After he mopped up, he stared at her agape. “You sell yourself online and meet at a brothel?”

Alisha’s eyes widened. “We do
not
sell ourselves. And I have no idea what a brothel is. We simply…hook up at a convenient spot. Think of it as an extended version of your online dating.”

David shook his head at this revelation. “Isn’t it…hollow to have sex with someone you don’t know?”

“We achieve sexual release.” Dorian turned a hot gaze to Luke. “Several times.”

He looked as if he might choke again. “A modern man’s fantasy.”

“Not mine.” Jess tugged Helen to him. “I can’t imagine it. Helen and I are so close.”

“Women are close to women. There’s a deep love bond between them. Men feel the same about men. We garner emotional support that way.” Celeste looked to Jess. “Much like you and Luke.”

“Still,” David mused. “That’s so foreign to me. I believe sex should be an emotional connection as well as a physical one.”

Alisha snorted. “By the godheads, wouldn’t that be messy?”

Luke chuckled when he looked at his brother. “I’m not touching that one with a twenty-foot pole.”

Rolling her eyes, Helen changed the subject. “So, when you could have children, how were babies born?”

“In my generation, it’s rare,” Celeste explained. “But in my donor’s time, children were conceived in produceries. A man’s genetic material was combined with a female’s, and the fetus was conceived. The child was nurtured and grew in a large container similar to your incubator. When the fetuses were viable, they stayed at the producerie for a few years, then went to live with their donor until they became adults. But basically, raising younglings was everyone’s responsibility.”

“Which donor?” David asked.

“A male child lived with a man. A female child lived with her female donor.” Celeste smiled. “I love my donor, Rhea. And I miss her.”

Always the minister, David laid his hand over Celeste’s. “We sort of met her. On the video she sent to convince us that you’re telling the truth.”

“It pains me to watch it. I’m glad I was sleeping.”

Helen, who’d shoveled food into her mouth continuously, pushed her chair away from the table. “No wonder you want to change the future.” She put her hand on her stomach. “I’m tired now. I’d like to lie down.”

Jess stood, too. “I’ll come with you. Luke, would you clean up the meal?”

“Sure. Go rest.”

David asked, “Alisha, can we discuss religion—or the lack of it—a bit more?”

“Of course. Let’s go for a walking.”

Celeste added, “May I accompany you?” She faced Luke. “Unless you want me to assist you. I love putting my hands in water.”

“No, Dorian can help.”

“I—”

“Come on, see what it’s like to socialize with a man. We’re not so bad.”

“That’s debatable. But I will help.”

He gave her a sly smile. “You can tell me more about this joining.”

She felt her face heat. Because, as he teased her, the feelings of need came back even stronger than before. She swallowed hard, hoping to ease the desire that slammed into her.

“ISN’T THERE
a machine to purify those?” Dorian asked the question because Luke, who had rolled up the sleeves of his light blue shirt and tied a drying cloth around his waist, was about to fill the sink with precious water.

“I like to wash the dishes by hand. It reminds me of my mom and dad. They got to be alone in the kitchen every night this way.”

“Are your donors still alive?”

“No. They died within six months of each other a few years ago.”

“I’m sure that was sad.”

“It was, but Jess and I had a storybook childhood. That’s why he’s so well-adjusted.”

“What about you?”

“The jury’s still out.”

Instead of asking him to explain the idiom, Dorian stared at the water, which gushed out of the faucet when he turned it on. “You had so much, but you squandered it away.”

Immediately, he sobered. Some things you just didn’t joke about. “I know. I’m sorry. It must be hard for you to see what we do to the environment.”

“It is.”

“Maybe you’ll change the results?”

“I hope so.” She leaned against the counter. “So, you believe me now?”

“There doesn’t seem to be any other explanation.” He thought of Jess. “And I’d do anything for my brother, even go along with this bizarre idea.”

“I feel the same about Lisha and Celi.”

“See, sweetheart, we’re not so different.”

“You’re wrong. We fight like katas and drogs.”

Once again, he laughed at her. When she seemed to realize her mistake, she smiled.

“I know you saw the dog that first day we came here. Have you ever seen a cat?”

“Only on the street. He was beautiful.”

“Have you ever been to a zoo?”

“Only Zoolawn.” She explained the concept as she picked up a towel and began to dry a dish, then placed it in the cupboard.

“I’ll take you to the real one sometime.”

“Perhaps when Jess is safe, we’ll all visit.”

He thought of something, stopped washing and faced her. “Won’t you return to your time after you go to Virginia?”

She froze, then said solemnly, “The chance of that is minimal, Luke. If we succeed in changing the future, we have no idea of who or what will exist. Our plan is only to fix your society so the future’s inhabitants will be able to produce younglings and live out of inside.”

“And you have to stay here?”

“That’s correct.”

His heart turned over in his chest. He had no idea what they were sacrificing. “That is so unselfish, Dorian. I’m sorry you have to give up so much to right our wrongs.”

“A small price to pay for the salvation of society.”

Despite what she said, Luke admired the altruism of the three women. “What will you do here?”

“I have no idea. None of us have planned that far in advance.”

“I think you’d make a good cop.”

Her face broke out in a big grin. “Earnestly?”

“Uh-huh.”

They began to wash and dry again. His parents really knew what they were doing. He was feeling close to her, and now he felt bad for what they had to give up to come back in time. “Once you stay, what will you do about sex with no SexLine?”

She shook her head. He noticed her hair had gotten longer in the weeks they’d been here. “We’ve all been wondering about that. We’ve been without release with a man for weeks now.” She closed the cupboard. “It’s uncomfortable.”

“Well,” he said half joking. “If you want, I’ll stud for you.”

She glanced at him. “
Stud
means?”

“To provide sex.”

Her gaze was hot. “I don’t believe we’d be compatible.”

“That, darlin’, is a total lie. I’ve seen the way you look at me.”

“And you at me.”

Wash…wash…wash. If he stopped, he was afraid he’d lunge for her. The discussion in the living room had gotten him hard, mostly because he’d been thinking about sex with Dorian. And he’d been
without release
for a long time, too. “At least I admit I’m attracted to you.”

“I never said I wasn’t attracted to you, even though you have excess body fat, hair that turns white and other unpleasant physical features.”

“You really know how to sweet talk a guy, Dorian.”

“I don’t understand that idiom. But back to the issue. I meant that you probably can’t fulfill me.”

Luke had taken a plate off the counter and had been about to put it in the sink. It slipped from his hands at her insult and crashed to the floor. She startled. Leaving the dish where it fell, he whipped off the towel and propped his hands on his hips. “That sounds like a challenge to me.”

“No, just a statement of fact. I’ve watched the chips. Even in the
Mission Impossible
film, mates only have release once. Maybe twice.”

His mouth gaped. “And you have how many orgasms?”

“We don’t use that term. But we peak to climax four or five times in one session.”

“Jesus, how long does this joining last?”

“About twelve and a half of your minutes.”

She had him there. He’d never come that many times and never brought a woman there every two minutes. But hell, she was looking so smug he had to do something to save his honor.

“What do you do in between? Kiss and pet?”

“I don’t know the latter term. And we don’t kiss.” She touched her fingers to her mouth. “It seems unclean and unnecessary. Genital parts stimulation works the best.”

For a minute, he was shocked she was so frank about sex. “Don’t you feel shy talking about all this with me?”

“No, I discuss matters of this kind all the time with men when we join.” She cocked her head as if she didn’t understand. “How else would each of you know what to do to please the other?”

“Intuition.”

“You must fumble around a lot. Your mating doesn’t sound very efficient.”

That was it. His ego couldn’t take any more. Stepping over the broken dish, he stalked to her with one thing on his mind. When he got close, she backed up, but eventually, the wall stopped her retreat.

When he reached her, she said, “As before, I did not give you permission to touch me. I know in your world men do that all the time without women’s consent, but I will not allow it.”

He stopped. Thought about that. “Let me show you how we do things in our time.”

“No.”

“Why? Scared?”

“I am not afraid of you.”

“I didn’t mean you were afraid of me. You’re afraid of what I can make you feel.”

“I am not!”

“So what’s the harm? Let’s call it a scientific experiment. You seem to love those.”

She glanced around the kitchen. “We do not mate in any room but sleeping quarters.”

“We won’t mate. We’ll kiss. And pet.”

She held his gaze and he saw her pupils were dilated. “All right, Luke. You can touch me.”

HE HADN’T EVEN
put his hands on her, yet her heartbeat escalated because of his nearness. She also felt that odd perspiration under her arms, between her breasts and on her palms. Then Luke lifted his hand and brushed his knuckles lightly down her cheek. Her breathing sped up even more. He whispered, “Keep your hands to yourself for a while. Let me just touch you. Your skin is like velvet. Soft. Sensual.”

Dorian had no idea what velvet was, but she understood the tone of the comment. He liked touching her. She liked it, too. Without conscious intent, she leaned into him.

“Tell me what you’re feeling,” he whispered coaxingly.

She wasn’t accustomed to conversation during joining. All talk stopped after expressing what you liked in sex. “Aroused.”

“Already?” He glanced at his watch. “I must be doing good on time then.”

That he’d joke during something so serious shocked her. But she felt a smile lift up the corners of her mouth. She couldn’t hide her feelings, didn’t want to. “You’re doing this adequately.” She closed her eyes when his thumb went to her mouth and rubbed. She opened her lips to taste him. His skin was hard there, a bit salty. Unbelievably male. “Hmm.”

“More?” he asked.

“Oh, yes.”

His hand traveled to her neck and he caressed her there.
Wonderful
, was all she could think. Then it went lower, to cup her breast. “Luke, that feels so good.”