Rewind: A Time Travel Romance

by Amelia Rockwell

  "Guy's nipples, huh? Weird thing to climb up on a soapbox for, but alright. I was more bothered by number five, where they're telling you to floss his dick with shoe laces. That just..." He shook his head with a grimace. "I will skip dick flossing if given the choice. Always."

  He shifted uncomfortably, tossing the magazine and spinning around just in time to keep her from nose diving onto the carpet. His hands tightened on her shoulders and he grinned. "Sorry about that... Forgot you were leaning on me."

  Of course, that brought them dangerously close to being nose to nose, and Suzannah wasn't sure she was ready for face smooshing with a dude from the past. A dude that she knew for a fact wasn't in her future. Or her immediate linear past. Someone she knew for a fact would straight up go missing in a few days.

  The only way this would work out was in heartache. It wasn't very often that someone could know a relationship wouldn't work out. The only thing this could ever be was a fling.

  Suzannah was absolutely not up for being flung, thank you very much. No matter how cute and perfect for her the guy was. No matter how un-flingable this felt.

  Because she knew how this story ended. He was going to disappear forever in a few days. And she'd never see him again. And that would suck, no matter what kind of spin she tried to put on it.

  She planted her hands on the couch cushion and pushed up, turning to the side and swinging her legs around to stand on the floor. Solid ground was her friend.

  "So like... how far is it to the nearest med lab? I could go for a blood test," she asked, walking towards the door, blurting it out before she could stop herself. Anything to keep the topic safely off her growing attraction for the blond-haired hottie who had nothing but trouble written all over him.

  Now that she thought about it, he probably went through women left and right. Hand over fist. She'd be a minor blip on his radar, but like she said before, she was done being flung.

  So she was nipping this. Back to business.

  She could practically hear the frown in his voice as Matthew stood up beside her. "We have one here. Why do you want a blood test?"

  "Just to take back to my team. You know... blood samples to see if something weird happened to me here, or whatever." She shrugged in what she hoped would pass for nonchalance.

  He frowned. "Yeah, but you could really just do that back home. Unless you want us to try to keep it in stasis for thirty years. We could maybe do that..." He started mumbling to himself. "I needed a project this week."

  "Maybe just until I have to go back and then I can take the blood back with me through the portal?"

  "Yeah... yeah, we could definitely do that," he said with a nod.

  "But, you guys have something that could do that?" she asked. "Keep a blood sample in stasis for thirty years?"

  He shook his head. "Nah, but I bet I could whip something up this week. Cryo-freezing tech is all the rage."

  "And maybe you could leave a sample of YOUR blood in there too? As a control group?" she asked, nonchalantly. Well, about as nonchalantly as she had been before, which was to say, not very.

  He paused, turning to look at her. "Why would you want mine as a control? You've probably got yours on file back in your time, right?"

  Shit. "Yes. Yes, I do..." Suzannah sighed heavily, deciding just to go for it. "Maybe you could just leave a sample of yours anyway."

  "No," he said bluntly. "Not for no reason."

  "Dude, what do you think I'm going to do with it? I'm not in the business of selling old blood."

  "And I'm not in the business of just handing out my DNA to random chicks who travel back in time," he countered.

  Okay, that stung a little. After they'd gone shopping and everything! She thought they were building a level of friendship or ... something... and yet he still was treating her with a level of suspicion she didn't think she deserved.

  "You don't trust me!" she accused, clearly offended.

  "Why should I? Suzannah... You're hiding something from me, and I don't like it." He reached out to place his hands on her shoulders, keep her from moving forward. "It's nothing personal. I just... I don't know you."

  She pressed her lips together. "I can't spoil your future for you. It's one of the only things Dr. Slone said I couldn't do."

  She was frustrated to the point of giving in. Just telling him why she needed it. If she didn't go into too much detail, gave him enough incentive, maybe the world might stand a chance.

  "If I said it was to save mankind. What about then? Would you do it?"

  She held her breath, hoping it might be enough. He scrutinized her for a long moment, as though assessing the truth of her words. Whatever he took from them, he still looked conflicted.

  "I don't know, Suzannah. I'll have to think about it"

  "Okay." As much as she wanted to push, to let her desperation for the future show through, what if that just did more harm. She tried to smile. "Just ...; let me know.. But please don't take too long. I have to leave in a couple of days. Okay?"

  Sighing, he nodded. "Okay."

  ~ Chapter Four ~

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  ~ September 29, 1987, 12:34 am ~

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  Matthew

  Matthew lay in bed wide awake, wondering just what had been off in his earlier conversation with Suzannah. He'd gone with her into the sitting room with a purpose. And that purpose was not to talk about future technology or even to read her women's magazine. It had been purely romantic in nature. So how had it turned so suddenly into the weirdness that it had?

  She'd asked him repeatedly for a blood sample. Wanting to preserve her own made sense. But why his?

  A quick glance at the clock on the nightstand revealed just how late it was. Or early, depending on how one chose to look at it. All he knew was, he wasn't sleeping until he figured out what she wanted.

  It wasn't his clock, and that was glaringly apparent when he glanced over. He wasn't home. He was staying over in one of Phillip's spare rooms. Again. He tended to do this often when there weren't many researchers in the facility. And there hadn't been anyone really in a few weeks. There were a couple of biochemists working on some cure for some disease that he hadn't really caught the name of. And that was it. He figured it was likely the time of year. It was hard to find people who wanted to stay cooped up in June when they could go on long-awaited vacations with their families.

  He couldn't even remember the last time he'd been in his own bed. Because as alone as he was here at the facility, it didn't compare to how big his own house felt when it was just him.

  But that was a bigger problem than he was willing to tackle. It would be easier (and infinitely more interesting) to try and figure out what Suzannah wanted from him.

  Matthew had thought he'd known what she wanted. He'd been wrong about women before. But he'd really thought he could sense something romantic in her actions. Or at least, carnal.

  Romance wasn't an option afforded to two people separated by time, he supposed.

  And maybe he had sensed something tender in their conversations. But, if romance was something Suzannah desired, it certainly wasn't the only thing she wanted.

  He'd been wanted for a lot of things. A vial of his blood was a new one. The only thing he didn't know was why she wanted it.

  Matthew pondered the puzzle for a few more minutes before sitting up in bed and swinging his legs over the side.

  Maybe she was still awake.

  He got up, making his way down the short hallway and coming to a halt outside the door of the room Phillip had given her.

  It was likely strange to knock on a woman's door this late at night, wasn't it?

  It was also strange to demand bodily fluids from someone as well. So maybe they'd break even.

  He rapped on the door. The sound reverberated down the hallway and he worried for a moment that he'd wake up someone else. Anyone else. And they'd peek out and see him waiting outside Suzannah's door for some clandestine middle-of-the-night li
aison.

  Maybe that's what this was? It was certainly not something he'd turn his nose up at. He stood by his previous assessment. Suzannah was gorgeous. And now he also knew she was smart. She was also a little weird, but who wasn't? Phillip had said she was studying infectious diseases. Or something. He'd been purposefully vague. But infectious diseases... yeah, that sounded like something that was right up his alley. Not that he wanted an infectious disease, but he'd dabbled in the past. To make a long story short, he and Suzannah had chemistry. He worked in a lab, he knew chemistry, and theirs was palpable.

  He'd hesitate to say she was perfect for him, since she was technically thirty years younger than he was and this could never ever work out in the long run. But he wasn't really a long run kind of guy, was he?

  He knocked one more time and the door opened immediately. Suzannah was fully dressed. Technically. She was wearing pajamas, perfectly decent nightwear by anyone's standards. Only they were silky. And short. He wasn't sure what he wanted to touch first: the sleek material that clung in all the right places, or the expanse of leg beneath the hem.

  His tongue was, of course, frozen in his mouth. He couldn't remember what he had come here to say.

  He licked his lips. "Uh..."

  Suzannah smirked and reached for him, tugging him in by the collar of his t-shirt. "Get in here, you goober."

  Suzannah

  Matthew's lips met hers hungrily. A soft sound caught in the back of his throat and made Suzannah clutch at the ratty cotton of his t-shirt all the more. His breath felt hot as it washed over her face, a decent amount of stubble making the kiss feel as rough as it actually was. Their teeth clashed, causing both of them to snicker as she tilted her head for a better angle, rising on her toes to make up for their distinct height difference. As she sealed her lips over his for the second time, she felt the barest brush of his tongue and Suzannah couldn't help but moan into his mouth. It was perfect.

  "Holy shit..." she murmured, hopping up onto his front as his arms encircled her waist, solving the height difference issue once and for all. His hands were hot and insistent, gripping her ass and keeping her close to his front. He hummed in agreement, a deep rumbling in his chest that would have made her knees weak had she been standing.

  They made their way back to the bed somehow, a passage across the room made precarious by her unwillingness to pick up after herself. He tripped twice, but managed to make it to the bed with minimal injury. Certainly nothing that would keep him from his goal.

  He let her down carefully, her back touching down on the mattress softly in bold opposition to how her hands clawed at the jersey cotton covering his chest. She needed to feel his skin.

  Finding the hem, she tugged his t-shirt up and over his head, the seams popping a bit as she flung it across the room. His bronzed skin seemed to glimmer in the moonlight and she slowly ran the flat of her palm up his chest.

  "You like?" he asked, a smug grin made it's beginnings on his lips and Suzannah leaned forward to capture them once more. She nibbled on his bottom lip, giggling as he moaned, leaning into the embrace.

  "I think you like..." she countered.

  "I think you do too..." His voice rasped as he leaned down further still to press his lips on the exposed skin of her throat. His stubble raked the sensitive skin, making her shiver in pure pleasure with every brush of his lips. Suzannah's hands went up the back of his head to tangle in his hair.

  One of his hands toyed with the hem of her satin nightie. His fingers were warm on her thighs. Or maybe Dr. Slone just kept his house too chilly. Whatever it was, she didn't really care right then. His warmth was so nice.

  His lips kept up their glorious, teasing torture, moving slowly down the column of her throat and over her collarbone, leaving a trail of hot and steamy kisses behind. Matthew paused at the swell of her breast, hovering over her flesh as her chest began to heave. "Can I go further?"

  "Please do," she whispered, taking the opportunity to press firmly on his head until he reached her satin-covered nipple, almost painfully stiff in the cool air.

  His tongue was warm and wet, probing the peak until she let out a harsh sigh and rocked her hips up towards him. His hand slid up the outside of her thigh, beneath the bottom of her nightie and locking her hip in place as his tongue continued its exploration of her nipple. She lost herself in the bliss of his ministrations, sharp flicks alternatively with long wet strokes.

  Heat pooled between her legs the longer he kept things up. He settled one thigh between hers, giving her something to grip as she began to rock her hips more.

  Matthew switched to the other breast, leaving the first wet and stiff in the chilly air. He tugged down on the fabric of her neckline, exposing the neglected nipple to the air before he sucked it between his lips immediately. Suzannah let out a sharp cry, shifting against him even more, her aching core rubbed against his denim-clad leg.

  She tugged on his hair, but he didn't cease his ministrations; instead, he moved his hand between her legs to cup her briefly. His fingers slid beneath her panties, gliding more into the slickness he found there. He hummed once more, releasing her nipple and looking up into her eyes. His own were dark, the warm brown in a thin, barely visible ring around his pupil. He licked his lips, pink and swollen from the kisses and nibbles.

  "You're so wet for me..." he whispered, almost in awe of the fact, even as his fingers moved deliciously through her folds.

  Suzannah reached down, taking things into her own hands as she tugged on the button and zipper of his jeans. She pushed them, along with his boxers, down over his narrow hips. He rose up to shimmy out of them, kicking both onto the floor in the process.

  She wrapped her hand around him then, pumping her hand once or twice just to see his eyes flutter closed. His head dropped down as she worked him. "Gods, Suzannah... I want you."

  He was a substantial size, she noted as she swiped her thumb over the tip, She gathered the fluid there and smearing it around with her next few strokes. She nodded once. "Me too."

  He reached between her legs and yanked off her panties, tossing them onto the floor with the rest of his shed clothing. He paused a bit at the hem of her nightie, but she just hiked it up around her waist and let her legs fall apart.

  Judging by his face, this was definitely the right move.

  He reached down to wrap a hand around himself, scooting forward just enough to be able to rub the head of his cock around her opening. "This okay?"

  Nodding again, she canted her hips forward, allowing the tip to press into just slightly. His breath hitched and she took her bottom lip between her teeth as he slowly pressed himself all the way in.

  She could feel herself stretching deliciously around him. Matthew was holding his breath, removing his hand as it became necessary, propping it beside her on the mattress. He gasped as his hips met hers.

  Both of them froze, his head dropped down to plant a soft kiss on her lips. "You okay?"

  "I appreciate your checking in on all of this, but I promise I'm not gonna break..." she assured him.

  He exhaled, pulling back and pressing forward just as smoothly. It took her breath away and her eyes fluttered closed.

  "Yes..." she murmured, the 's' hissing slightly as she nodded her head. "Just like that..."

  He kept his movements slow and teasing until he found the angle she preferred. The one that made her toes curl into the mattress, caused her fingers to clench and release the fitted sheet beneath her.

  Once he found that amazing angle, there was no stopping him. Matthew would have been rattling the headboard if there was one, but as it was, he was rocking her world. With every sharp snap of his hips, he pressed against that spot inside her just so and made her babble out his name for lack of anything else coherent to say.

  "Matthew... Matthew..." she murmured instead.

  "Yes... baby, yes, just like that," he crooned, hiking her leg up and over his hip to press deeper. "You feel so good."

  She brought her
other leg up to pull him even closer, wrapping both tightly around his waist as his speed increased, hips rocking in and out, filling her completely with every thrust.

  Her fingers found their way down her body and between her legs to roll over her clit. His eyes followed the movement, and it clearly was working as well for him as it was for her, because he began working himself even harder as she stroked herself closer to climaxing.

  It didn't take her long at all.

  Her walls clenched around him, her pleasure radiating from where they were joined and out, out, out, to her fingers and toes. She closed her eyes against the white-hot pleasure and moaned loudly through her orgasm.

  Matthew's hands tightened on her hips, thumbs pressing roughly as he plunged himself deeper and deeper still. Suzannah was just getting used to this new, rougher rhythm when he suddenly choked out her name, pulling out and letting his release splatter across her stomach. Initially warm and wet, it cooled rapidly in the air, and he whispered a soft apology above her as he reached for the box of tissues on her nightstand.

  In her post orgasmic haze, it didn't even occur to her to tell him she was receiving a birth control shot and she didn't mind if he finished inside her.

  But, she supposed, as her eyes fluttered closed, there was always time for her to tell him tomorrow.

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  ~September 29, 1987, 8:24 a.m~

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  Matthew

  He woke up to the sun streaming in through the window, and for once, he wasn't alone.

  Suzannah was currently looking around for her clothes, sitting on the edge of the bed.

  Deciding to capitalize on the fact that she didn't realize he was awake, he reached over to brush his fingertips over her bare shoulder. "Heya, Gorgeous."

  She jumped a mile, throwing her shirt down and fumbling blindly for it once more before she registered that it was him in the bed with her. "Really, Ivey? Scaring a girl you just had sex with?"

  "No just about it, Suze. I spent the night. You can call it that, you know." He frowned, noting her severe lack of whimsy where whimsy should certainly be. "What's wrong? Am I that bad at it?" He reached for her shirt.