by Frankie Love
"But you gave up," I say. "I don't want to give up."
He clenches his jaw, angry. "I didn't give up," he says. "I'm not a quitter. I'm a goddamn fighter. How do you think I ended up here? I was in the special forces on a mission, trying to make the world a better place. I know what it means to go all in for a cause you care about. You think I wanted to be here alone?" He shakes his head, snarling. His words tight, tense, taut.
“I don’t want to make you mad, but Stone, I don’t want to live here forever.”
“Neither do I. If you want to go to the cave, come on, let me take you.”
“Really?”
Stone’s dark eyes meet mine. “I wish I could give you the fucking world, Skylar, but I can’t. If you want to try, let’s go. I’ll give you what I can.”
We clean up the cave, rolling the rock in front of the entrance, and then make the short trek to the cave where we time travelled.
Once we enter the dark cavern, Stone takes my hand. “I don’t want you to fall.”
“Thanks,” I say softly, anxious to see what we might find.
But after a few hours it’s clear there is no portal waiting for us to walk through, no exit sign. Nothing. Whatever happened to get us here isn’t happening now.
“The thing I came to realize,” Stone says, “even if you managed somehow to get the cave to spin again, and threw yourself back into a time-traveling warp, what if you ended up somewhere worse than this?”
I frown, not having thought of it like that. “I can imagine a whole lot of scenarios that would be more terrifying. Landing in the middle of a civil war, or a post-apocalyptic world that’s deadly, or being thrust into a future where robots and aliens have invaded the earth.”
“Exactly, and what if we were separated?” he says. “I would hate thinking you were alone out in some dangerous time and place.”
Before today, I'm not sure I would have believed it if someone told me one conversation had the potential to change the way I saw the world, saw myself in it. But this conversation with Stone has opened my eyes.
“I hate that you feel stuck,” Stone says. “I want you to be happy.”
I blink back tears and Stone cups my cheek with his hand. I think he might lean in closer to kiss me, but he just brushes my tears away with the back of his calloused thumb.
“Let’s go have some fun."
"Fun?" I smile, not expecting that. “Really?”
"Sure. There isn't a movie theater or mini golf course, but I’ve got an idea of something we can do to entertain ourselves.”
"Really?" I grin. "You mean it?"
He turns to leave the dank cave. "Anything to keep you happy."
"You scared I'm going to run away again?"
"You didn't run away before, you hardly stepped out of the cave."
I smile, following him. "So where are you going to take me?" I ask. "I bet you know all the good spots."
He laughs. "Skylar, you act like this is some..."
"What?" I ask, cutting him off.
"...paradise."
I reach for his hand as we exit the cave. “I think maybe it is.”
Back at the cave, he tells me to pack my swimsuit if I have one, which I do from my camping trip. We prepare a lunch of cold meat and papaya. After loading it in my backpack, I offer to carry it, wanting to do my part.
"You take the water in the canteen, I'll take the food," I tell him.
Stone smiles, clearly appreciating the chance to share the load. "All right. Can I also take your hand?" He looks at me cautiously. "So you don't slip and fall on the rocks. It's slippery where we're going."
"Right," I say, my stomach flip-flopping, feeling like a fool. For a moment I thought maybe he'd want to take my hand for another reason. You know, like to hold onto, but no. I am clearly in the friend zone. He could have kissed me in the cave, but he didn’t.
Not wanting to slip and twist my ankle, realizing how detrimental it would be to lose my footing out here without a doctor to look at me, I let him take my hand once more.
When he pulls back vines, revealing the place to me, I gasp.
"Stone, why haven't we been here before?" I ask, looking at a majestic waterfall with a beautiful, clear blue lake.
He shrugs. "There's no meat out here."
"There's probably fish," I say.
"I hate fish."
I laugh. “To be honest, I’m not a huge fish fan either.” I look around, taking in the majestic waterfall. “This place is beautiful."
When I turn to him though, he's not looking at the waterfall, he's looking at me.
"You are beautiful," he says, letting go of my hand.
My whole body lights up at his words, at his gaze, and I want to know if he means it, like really, really means it. I don't have time to ask though, because he's dragging me toward the waterfall, dropping the canteen of water and sliding off his shoes.
"Come on," he says. He's got hardly anything on, just his little Tarzan outfit, which is actually pretty damn cute now that I'm used to it. Me, though, I’ve kept dressed in my hiking clothes, but for this adventure, I packed a bikini as he requested.
"Turn around," I say, "let me change."
He snorts as if modesty is ridiculous out here, but I'm still a lady so I wait until he spins around and then I take off my shorts and underwear, my bra and my T-shirt, and I pull on the bikini I packed for my vacation to Mexico.
"Okay," I tell him, "I'm decent."
When he turns back around, his eyes are filled with something I wasn't anticipating – wanting maybe, dreaming about probably, but not expecting.
"You don't look decent," he tells me, "you look fucking incredible."
My whole body warms at those words. Maybe it's jungle fever. Maybe I'm just delirious over the fact I haven't had a dairy product in so many days, but I bite my bottom lip, liking the way he's looking at me, liking it very, very much.
"I didn't know you'd even noticed me like that," I say. "It must be the two-piece."
He shakes his head, looking at me as if I'm a fool. "It's not the two-piece," he tells me, "it's you, Skylar. You’re..." He runs a hand over his beard. "Fuck."
"You're just thinking that because you haven't seen another piece of ass in a long time."
"No," he says, "I haven't seen a piece of ass like you in my whole damn life."
I laugh, refusing to believe him. He may have been here for five years, but I've only been here three weeks and I don't trust my dick detector. Even if he does seem like a good guy, like the best guy, like the only guy I've ever actually wanted because he hasn't been fawning over me or judging me or trash talking me.
Stone hasn't put me down or tried to put me in my place. He talks to me as his equal while we're out hunting and gathering. He knows I'm strong enough to carry the firewood. That I'm smart enough to calculate how much meat to cook. He doesn’t think I am weak – he knows I am strong.
There's something different about Stone. Turns out he's not just a caveman, he's a real ass man.
And I'm scared that I'm going to do something stupid to ruin the way he's looking at me now, because that? I don't want it to change.
"Come on," I say, "let's climb to the top."
"You're not scared of heights?" he asks.
"No, are you?"
He shakes his head. "When I'm around you, Skylar, I don't feel like I'm scared of anything."
"That's the nicest thing any man has ever said to me," I tell him, meaning it.
He pulls me toward him, arm around my waist, his chest against mine, his mouth lowering, his lips pressing against my ear.
"That's not the nicest thing I'll ever say to you," he says.
"No?" I breathe. "What's nicer?"
Before he answers, he gives me a kiss, a real kiss. The kiss only a real caveman can offer.
7
Stone
Her lips are softer than the pillows I used to sleep on before I ended up here. Her body is warm, reminding me just how cold it
's been for five long years. I melt into that kiss. I may be a hard ass man who hasn't had a proper shower in a helluva long time, but there's something about Skylar – her fire, her spirit – that lights me up in a way I can't lose.
I kiss her more deeply, not wanting the moment to end. And when her fingers begin to run through my hair, I let out a low growl, wanting her to know I don't want her to stop, ever.
My cock, fuck it's hard, and her body leans closer against mine. There's not a sliver of air between us. It's her heart beating against mine. I wrap my arms around her waist, thinking how damn lucky I got that she ended up here.
My mouth opens and her tongue finds mine. And for a moment, there is nothing but blissed-out desire surging between us. I feel her nipples harden against me. The thin fabric of her bikini is doing nothing to hide what her body wants. And my damn loincloth is doing little to hide what I need.
When she pulls back from the kiss, it's like she's startled to remember that I am the man whose lips were locked with hers. "What?" I ask, trying to read her mind.
"I think I saw..." She points behind me, and I turn to see what caught her eye. It's a leopard, a giant black leopard that's jumping across the waterfall. Leaping from one large rock ridge to the next.
“It’s okay,” I tell her. “Look, he’s past the ridge, he won’t come back here. See how fast he’s running in the other direction?”
She nods. “You have your gun?”
I nod. “Always. Are you scared?"
"Of course I am," she says. "One moment I was lost in your mouth, in this moment, and the next I heard the leopard and I opened my eyes and..." She swallows, pulling back from me. Crossing her arms as if trying to shield herself, from what? Me? This world where we are? "It just brought me back to reality," she says. "This isn't just some vacation. This is your real life. And it's a pretty scary one."
"Not just my real life," I tell her. "Our real life. I never wanted to come here. I never wanted to be here alone. I've had to survive out here, Skylar. And then you came. "
She presses her lips together, lifting her eyebrows. "You've had five years to come to grips with the fact that you live here. Me, I've been here for a few weeks. I'm not in the same place, Stone. You might be a good kisser, but..."
"But what?" I ask. "Just not a good enough one for you to try and imagine this being your life now?"
She blinks back tears. "I can't get a good read on you, Stone. One minute you're grumpy, and the next you're super helpful, and then you're like a wounded soldier. Who are you?"
I shake my head. "All I am now is a caveman," I tell her. "And sure I'm lonely, and sure you're the first human I've seen in a long time. If you want to just be friends with me, fine. I'm not going to force you into something you don't want. But even if I hadn’t met you here, if we'd met at a bar back in the real world, getting drinks after work on a Friday night, I would have walked right up to you and asked you to dance. I would have bought you a drink and I would have brought you home. Because there's something about you, Skylar, that makes my whole heart light up in a way it never has before. So sure, you can feel like you're stuck here with me, but I sure as hell don't feel stuck with you."
I think Skylar is going to keep arguing with me at those words, but she surprises me when she doesn't. When, instead of running off, following that black leopard into the woods, trying to find her way home, she steps towards me, presses her hands against my chest. "You don't feel stuck with me?" she asks.
I shake my head. I run a hand through her dark, wavy hair, tucking it behind her ear. I lift her chin and I look in her eyes. There's a hunger in them I understand.
"I've never been in love before," I tell her. "I've never met a woman who can pull her own weight, who can take care of herself quite so well. What made you so resilient?"
"A lifetime of pain," she admits.
"And that pain, that's what you're wanting to get back to so damn bad that you're going to risk traveling through time? How do you know if you get the cave to work that you're going to end up back where you belong? You could end up in the goddamn Ice Age. Freezing to death in the Arctic."
"I don't know," she says. "And you're right, Stone. My whole life was painful. I had some good friends, but they were making a life together. Not a life with me. I don't know what I'm fighting for. What I want to get back to. I was out of work. I was practically broke. My skills are limited. I have no family. I don't have some amazing life that I'm missing."
"Neither do I," I tell her. "I've been a lone wolf my whole life. That's why I was in the special forces. I figured, hell, I can give my life for my country because what else do I got? Might as well give it my all."
"I'm sorry you don't have a family," she tells me. Her words soft now. Sure, the fire is still in her eyes, but it's glowing like a low ember. Something to comfort you, to keep you warm. Not something to light it all up and burn it all down.
"Sounds like we've both been through a hell of a lot," I tell her. "And ending up here in the Stone Age is just the icing on the cake."
Skylar groans. "Cake, that sounds good doesn't it?"
I chuckle. "Yeah, Sky, it does."
"Sky?" she asks. "Is that my nickname?"
"You okay with me calling you Sky?"
She nods. "No one's ever given me a nickname before."
"There are a lot of things I'd like to call you," I tell her.
"Like what?" she asks. Now her voice is a whisper.
"Like baby. Like girlfriend. Like wife." She laughs, high pitched as if she doesn't believe me. "What?" I ask. "I do. Why not make a life with me? Why not give in to what the universe gave us?"
I look around. The waterfall before us. The entire world untapped, untouched by other humans. The beginning of civilization.
"It is pretty miraculous," she says. She bites her bottom lip. "I've never been in love either," she tells me.
"Then I guess we have a lot of firsts to deal with, don't we?"
She smiles. "I suppose we do."
"You want to start by being the first to jump into that waterfall, into the lake below?"
Sky laughs. "No. I want to jump in holding your hand."
8
Skylar
There is a ridiculously hot man standing right in front of me who wants me in ways I've never been had.
Yes, there are threats around me here too, but what if the real roadblock isn't the woolly mammoths and the dinosaur-sized crocodiles?
What if the real danger is me getting in the way of my own happiness?
Sure, I'm stuck here. But I’m in a prehistoric paradise. Why complain? Why not enjoy the pleasure that it brings?
I step toward Stone and I wrap my arms around his neck. "Come on," I tell him. "Let's jump."
We walk to the edge of the waterfall. It's a 20-foot jump. "Are you scared?" I ask him as we set down our bags.
He shakes his head. "I'm not scared of anything, so as long as I got you."
We don't count off. We don't brace ourselves for a jump. We just go, feet first, into the waterfall, landing in a giant lake of water that is pure and beautiful and fresh in a way no body of water is in the 21st Century.
This is crystal clear. I can see the fish as we land, as our bodies break into the water. I open my eyes, seeing the fish that are magnificently large, brightly colored, and downright prehistoric, which is not an exaggeration. They are. We are. This is another time altogether.
When I break through the water to get air, Stone is right there waiting for me. "You okay?" he asks.
"I'm great," I say, treading water. As we swim toward the waterfall, we dive under it. There is a shallow area with rocks that we can stand on so we don’t have to swim so hard to stay afloat. Behind the waterfall it feels like magic. "Isn't it weird to imagine no one has ever been here before?" I ask, looking at the walls of the cave at the back of the waterfall.
"Are those markings?" Stone asks, pointing behind me.
I turn to where he is pointing. "Etching
s of some sort," I say. We climb out of the water to get a better look. "It's a game of tic-tac-toe." I laugh. "Do you think there are other people here?"
"I've never seen anybody," Stone says.
"There has to be though, right?" I ask. "What if we're not the only humans who have traveled back in time?"
Stone runs a hand through his beard. "Then I'd say this place is even crazier than I thought."
I take his hand. He picks up a rock. "You want to play tic-tac-toe?" he asks me.
I shake my head. "No," I say. "I want to play something else."
"What's that?"
"A different kind of game," I say, biting my bottom lip, that kiss lingering in my mind, and I want more of where it came from. Stone seems to understand and he drops the rock in his hand, walking toward me. We lower ourselves back into the water, sitting on the edge of the rocks. He pulls me to him, in our private little cocoon. He's practically naked, and I suppose there is no reason to be wearing any clothes out here.
I untie the sides of my swimsuit bottoms, setting them on the lake's edge.
"May I?" he asks. I nod slowly as he reaches behind me, untying the bikini top and setting it on top of my bottoms. "Fuck. Sky. You're gorgeous."
I lower my eyes, feeling my cheeks redden. "You're just saying that because you haven't seen another–"
Stone presses his finger to my lips. "Don't," he says. "Stop saying that. That I only want you because there is no one else. What if you're the one I've been waiting for my whole fucking life? Could you believe that?"
"I'd like to," I admit. "It's just hard, the idea of being someone's something, when I’ve never been anybody's anything."
"That's a pretty sad thing to hear," he tells me.
"Maybe it's a good thing," I say, "having waited my whole life for a man like you, a caveman."
He chuckles at that. "If I'm a caveman, what does that make you? Is there a modern name for a cavewoman?"
"Maybe a Betty? From The Flintstones?" I say. “She’s the hot one.”
