Walk with Me Through Time (The Dimension Keepers) (4 page)

Hopefully, ALL the dreams would end, and she would go back to dreams of unicorns and rainbows and strange blurry street scenes.

****

Hadley tapped his foot steady in a nervous staccato beat on the floor. He was surprised there wasn’t a grove worn in the wood. He resigned himself to the truth.

Samantha wasn’t coming back.

How could he blame her? The whole concept of what was happening was ludicrous. Why would she care? They talked for a total of three times… if you didn’t count the dreams.

He was so deep in thought, he didn’t hear her enter the room until she stood in front of him. His head popped up and met her gaze.

One hand was firmly planted on her hip. “I still can’t wrap my head around any of this. But I can’t deny what you showed me and I am the last person to turn my back on someone who sincerely needs help.” Samantha’s dark hair flowed around her shoulders and fire burned in the depths of her dark eyes.

“I told you, I realize that I need you much more than you do I.”

“I know you do. First, let’s be clear about a few things.”

Hadley pulled out his timepiece and watched the hands tick forward. “I hate to press you on this matter, but if you agree to be my guide, we need to leave in the next thirty seconds or the travel will not be successful.’

“What?” Her eyes grew to round ovals. “I…thirty?”

“Fifteen… please,” he begged. “You have my word, once we leave the bookstore if you wish, you will never see me again.”

“Do I need to hold on to you or something? Fine. Follow me. I am not going to be responsible for anyone’s eternal damnation. Do I need to say an incantation or magic words?”

“I do not believe so.”

Samantha grabbed his hand in hers. With the other, she turned the front knob. Hadley looked back over his shoulder to see Arthur at the front desk. He was smiling.

She yanked his arm and pulled him over the threshold.

There was an immense feeling of pressure as if air was being suck tight around him. Hadley’s sight went momentarily black , but then the pressure vanished. They were out in the sun. He blinked and squinted his eyes.

Samantha still held his hand.

She turned to him and gave an unsteady smile. “If you really did just travel through time, welcome to 2012.”

Hadley stood rooted and looked around. It was just as he’d read in Arthur’s fantastical book. Metal carriages called cars and noise. His mouth dropped open.

Samantha put a reassuring hand on his arm. “Are you okay?”

“It’s so loud.”

“Wait till you ride the Tube or visit Piccadilly.”

“Tube?” he asked still trying to gain his bearings.

“I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do now. I’ll take you for some fish and chips and then find you a room for the night. Tomorrow, we’ll find you something more permanent. Like a job and a place to live.”

He nodded, still feeling like a child outside a toy shop looking in the window. He couldn’t stop staring. Everything was different, but it felt right. Was this how the people the guided felt when they arrived at their destination?

But he still asked himself. Why here? Why now? He hadn’t dreamed of living in a different time, he’d only dreamed of Samantha.

She reached in the large bag he recognized from their first meeting.

“While I’m thinking of it, don’t let me forget to give my number. I know you won’t know what a cell phone is but…” As she pulled out a tiny white card of paper from her purse, a gust of wind caught it and flipped it out of her hand. “Damn,” she swore. She tried to grab it but it was just out of the tips of her fingers.

Samantha stepped into the traffic lane to try to grab it.

Hadley saw a flash of silver out of the corner of his eye and heard a blast of earsplitting noise. The machine was going to hit Samantha like a raging bull. He grabbed her sleeve and threw her back on the sidewalk. The force caused him to stumble forward into the lane and his leg twisted in a grate. Hadley crumpled to the ground. A glass bottle, broken in the street, cut through his pants and pain lanced though him like white heat.

The large machine called a ‘truck’ barrelled towards him. Hadley knew it was too late to get out of its way.

When death is eminent, people say they see their lives flash before them and fear takes over. He felt the opposite. In those seconds, everything was clear. The dreams he’d had of Samantha before they met. This was what he saw. Except now, he knew how the dream ended.

He was sent here, to the future, to save her.

Inner peace took over. He would not die alone in the bookstore and without ever knowing love. In their shared dreams, he knew how it felt. He closed his eyes and heard her scream. He waited for the pain in his leg to be gone and his life to end.

There was more noise but still pain. Metal scraping. Ear bursting grinding. More people yelling.

He opened one eye a slit. The truck stopped inches from him, and he could feel the heat from inside its metal front that looked like bars. Someone grabbed his arm.

Samantha.

He was still alive? How could that be? He thought with his death it all made perfect sense.

“Hadley! My God!” Samantha frantically dropped beside him. “Someone get help, he’s bleeding.”

He waved a hand, looped a hand around her shoulder and pulled his foot from the grate. With her help, he stood and limped out of the street. “I will be fine.”

He slid to sit. The bleeding slowed and the pain subsided… a bit.

“I should take you to the doctor.” Then she paused and bit her lip. “But then they will ask for your insurance card and ID. Which you don’t have.”

“Which I don’t have.” He loved when she bit her lip. It speared thoughts in his head that no proper gentleman should carry. “It just needs to be cleaned.”

“Can you walk? My apartment is only about a block, and I have large bandages.”

A bystander gave them a clean rag and Samantha gingerly bound his leg.

“We better get out of here in case the police arrive,” she said. “You don’t need any more hassles added on to your day.”

With an arm around her shoulder and her guidance, he made it the few blocks to her residence. Hadley thought he recognized the two-floor brick building. It must be from his time. But the 1800 were no longer his time, this was.

Samantha opened the door with a key and kicked it with her foot. She led him across the room to rest on a plush blue chair with fluffy pillows. The fabric was soft as silk, only sturdier.

She disappeared to return after a short time later with a basket. Kneeling on the floor, she tipped a bottle of liquid on to more clean cloths and dabbed at his wound. He sucked air between his teeth. The liquid stung like bees. She sniffed as she cleaned his wounds. That was when he noticed tears on her face.

He reached out to brush them away. “Why are you crying?”

“Are you kidding?” She looked up. With the back of her hand, she swiped at her cheek. “I can’t believe I kept it together this long. Back there, I wasn’t paying attention and stepped out into traffic! Some great ‘guide’ I am. Why did you do that?”

“Do what? Push you out of the way?”

“You were almost killed.”

“The dreams. I saw that moment in time, up to the truck.”

“You’re right, so did I.” She sat heavily back on the floor and let the rag drop from her hand. “Before I met you, that was the dream I had nearly every night. I knew something bad was about to happen, but then I would wake up. I saw that moment. That was why I didn’t see any more. The truck hit me. I died.”

Hadley slid from the chair and joined her. He winced as he straightened his wounded long leg. “I thought the reason for my being here was clear, and why I came through. Why I shared your dreams. I was the one to die. Not you. It all made sense.”

More tears slid from the corners of her eyes and she shook her head. “I didn’t want that. I wouldn’t have brought you from the bookstore if I thought there was a chance you’d be hurt!”

“Shhhh…” he pulled her against his chest and soothed a hand up and down her back. “You misunderstood me. I did not say you wanted it. It would have been destiny. Out of both of our control.”

Samantha pushed away, the tortured look on her face said much. “You were willing to die for me?”

“If that was what was meant to be, then yes.”

“But you didn’t die. I didn’t die.” She waved a hand around the room. “So maybe this is what our
destiny
is supposed to be. It all seemed so real in the dreams. I loved you.”

“And I loved you.” He slid his palm along her cheek relishing in the fact that this time, he knew it wasn’t a dream. He pulled the curtain of dark hair over her shoulder and let it sift through his fingers. He was wrong before. This was the way it should be. He took her hands and wound fingers with hers. “The problem is, this is not a dream, and I love you still. I can’t stop, because I feel I already do.”

“Hadley…”

“I know this is most improper, but please, may I kiss you?”

Samantha smiled sweetly and his heart flipped.

“I have something to tell you.”

“What is that?” he asked.

“It’s 2012. You don’t really have to ask a girl who wants to be kissed for her permission.” She wrapped arms around his neck and pulled him close. Her breath was warm and smelled of mint as their gazes locked. Then
she
kissed
him
.

When she pressed lips to his, almost every ache and pain he had vanished, replaced by the feel of her mouth opening to his. He gave over to the power and loved the feel of her lips sliding over his.
Oh…my.
Her tongue tangled and wove inviting him to dance in a sensual dance. He decided he had never been kissed this thoroughly.

He liked it and wanted more.

He felt like he had been without the feel of a woman’s body for the hundred years… which he guessed, it was. Hadley grabbed Samantha around the waist and hauled her against him, feeling the soft crush of her breast against his chest. He slanted his mouth over her and took what she offered. But he had to slow down. Adrenaline and their shared pent up mutual attraction was a dangerous combination. He wanted her too much, too desperately. Not in a dream. But here, now

He dragged his mouth from hers and kissed her temple. Their breathing sounded harsh in the tiny living quarters.

“Samantha… I need… this is not proper. We need to stop.”

She seemed disappointed by his words. “Why. Now that you’re out of the bookstore, you don’t need me anymore? And you don’t find me desirable now that I’m here in flesh and blood.”

“I’m afraid it’s the complete opposite.” He smiled. “I desire you so completely, I am in more pain from that than the wounds on my leg. I am worried about your reputation. Once I was out of the bookstore, I swore I would not ask for more than you wished to give. If you do not wish to wed me, then I do not want you sullied for another.”

“Sullied? That’s a good word, but I hate to break the news to you. I’m already ‘sullied’.” She bit her lip and he felt his manhood twitch. God, if she only knew how much that small gesture excited him. “I’ve had a few men in my life, but none that wanted to stay.”

“You haven’t had me in your life.

“Why do I feel I have?”

“If we make love, then you will marry me?”

She burst out in a sharp laugh. “Remember what year this is? Now, it’s 2012. People have sex without getting married”

“Truly?”

She shrugged. “Most young people try each other out first. See if they are compatible, sexually. There are no fathers marrying off their daughters for dowries or land trusts. We choose who we marry.”

Hadley thought on this for a moment. “So you do not want to marry me?”

“I didn’t say that.” She blew out a breath. “Let’s just enjoy the moment. You have my permission, and any dowry money my father may have left me after student loans and you are sully-absolved.”

“I have no idea what you are asking.”

“Make love to me. ‘Do not make me beg as it is most unbecoming.’” She grinned, sat up on her haunches and pulled her undershirt over her head. A white lacy undergarment covered her breasts.

He was mesmerized. His hand slipped beneath the silky lace to cup her breast. Her breath caught, as he began to stroke her nipple. He pulled the fabric lower until she tumbled free and into his waiting hands. She was perfect and petal soft. He kissed each tip.

“I have a nice soft bed.” She stood and helped pull him to his feet.

How long had it been since he’d slept on a bed and not a hard cot. Oh yes, over a hundred years. He almost sighed at the mere thought. He followed her down the short hall and into her room. The bedroom was white and lacy and smelled like her.

When she turned to face him, Hadley hoped he could remember how she looked at that moment. Her hair tumbled over her shoulders and her breasts bared to the waist. Waiting for his caresses.

He swallowed and shrugged off his waistcoat. Samantha came closer and helped rid him of his shoes, shirt, socks, and breeches. She pulled off her loose fitting pants until they faced each other naked.

“You are so beautiful,” he said, his voice sounding hoarse even to his own ears. His body was on fire for the woman he seemed to want for an eternity. “Come to me.”

She crossed the few steps and he took her in his arms. His hands drifted lower and cupped her buttocks, lifting her to him. She made a surprised squeak, which turned to a moan, when he took her again in a heated kiss.

Dropping a hand between them, she wrapped her fingers around his shaft. Hadley thought he died and went to heaven, but he had to hold back or this would be over much too soon. His body fell on top of hers as he tumbled her onto the mattress.

He kissed every inch of exposed flesh and it still wasn’t enough. He braced on one arm and revelled in the vision of her. Her nipples were tight beads, her lips flushed from his harsh kisses, and her eyes were dark with need.

He whispered her name and drew his hand through her hair while he held her there while he took her in another deep and powerful kiss.

She moaned and pressed her heated core against him.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

She smiled against his lips. “The Pill, also another great invention. When women take it, they can’t get pregnant … until they
decide
to have children.”

“A son and a daughter.”

She only smiled at his comment. “And since you are from a hundred years ago, I assume you don’t have all the diseases which have sprung up.”

“No.”

“ So…” She wrapped legs around his hips. Samantha took his hand and lifted it to her mouth kissing each finger and then sucking on the tips.

Oh, yes… he already liked this century.

Taking himself in his hand, he positioned himself and thrust his hips forward. Hadley wasn’t prepared for the flood of desire and need which practically overwhelmed him. He’d been with a few girls, but it was never like this. Even though he wanted to close his eyes in bliss, he couldn’t break his gaze with hers.

She bit her lip, but then cried out, as he buried to the hilt.

He tried to stay still but she flexed her hips to take him deeper and he had to move. His strokes were deep and possessing. His whole body strained. She matched him, wrapping her legs tighter.