It made no sense, yet in the space of a heartbeat, she wanted nothing more than to feel her flesh pressed against his and the temperature in the room noticeably rose.
"Tell me you feel that too," Jack murmured. "If it's just me—"
"It's not just you," she admitted as her gaze slid to his mouth.
His head moved toward hers and a flash of blue light crackled between their lips.
"Ouch!"
"Shit!"
They were out of their chairs and several feet apart the next instant.
"I'm really sorry," he said sincerely.
"Me too." Despite the near electrocution, she was sorrier they didn't get to have that kiss.
"Good. Because it's your fault."
She wasn't expecting that. "I beg your pardon?"
"If you weren't so damn beautiful—"
"Stop," she said firmly. "Anything you say is only going to make this worse. Whatever we were feeling just then was... Well, I don't know what it was but we have physical proof that it absolutely cannot go anywhere. So let's just be more careful from now on." She touched her lips to reassure herself they hadn't been scorched.
It was his turn to yawn. "In that case, what do you say to calling it a night. I'm suddenly really tired."
"I can't imagine why. It's not like you had a busy day or anything." She looked around the room and frowned.
Jack answered her unspoken question. "We could take the mattress off the sofa bed and put it on the floor. I could sleep on that and you could have the couch. Or the other way—"
"No, no. I'm shorter. I'll take the couch." As they went about the mundane task of preparing their sleeping areas, the well-developed, practical part of her brain spoke up. She was alone with a strange man in a remote cabin. There was nothing about him that could be considered safe. If he truly traveled through time, he was a convicted murderer and rapist. If he wasn't who he claimed to be then he was an incredibly convincing liar whose agenda she had yet to uncover. To quiet those concerns, she decided to sleep with the gun beneath her pillow in spite of her intuition insisting Jack Templeton presented no danger to her.
Except for that powerful physical attraction they'd both felt earlier.
Darren's suggestion echoed in her mind. Well, she was about to spend the night with a good-looking stud as he'd recommended. They just weren't going to be engaging in any of the activities the concerned agent had had in mind.
Too bad.
She tried to order that thought back into the secret desires compartment but it was already too late. Jack Templeton epitomized the man of her dreams... except for the rapist, murderer, time traveler parts. Okay, so maybe he was just the man of one of her dreams—the most unforgettable sex dream she'd ever had. As she turned off the light and slipped between the sheets, she couldn't help but wonder if he was anywhere near as good as her imagination.
Too bad she'd never find out.
She rolled to her side on the narrow sofa and got into as comfortable a position as possible. Her eyelids lowered, her body relaxed and she imagined that she could feel him spooned behind her, his hand cupping her breast. Even remembering how it felt in the dream made her want more. It was maddening to know he was only a few feet away, probably completely nude, undoubtedly willing to accommodate... if she just asked... and if there was a way he could without killing her.
But there wasn't. All she could do was recall some of the delicious details of the dream—his mouth brushing over hers, his tongue and fingers tickling sensitive spots she hadn't known about. She had no idea why even the memory of the dream seemed so real she felt her body straining for his and squeezed her thighs together. A spear of desire took her by surprise and a soft moan escaped her throat.
* * *
"Kelly? Are you okay?" When she didn't answer, Jack figured she was already sound asleep.
He was certain he'd be the first one to fall asleep. Though the mattress was thin, it was more comfortable than the jail cell cot had been. The chirping crickets and rustling leaves were a lullaby compared to the night sounds within the prison walls. He was physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted. Sleep should have come instantly.
Instead, he felt restless, almost agitated. Was the electrical charge causing that sensation or was it something else?
He heard Kelly change position and part of the answer came to him. She believed he was here to find the truth. Their conversation tonight had roused his reporter's instincts but the non-reporter in him just wanted to take advantage of the unexpected gift of additional time to live and breathe.
Every question raised another one. Was this a gift, free and clear, or was it as Kelly insisted—a temporary stay of execution that could only be made permanent if he righted the wrong that had been done? Did this incredible gift have strings attached or not? That was most likely the question that was preventing him from falling asleep.
Kelly let out another soft sound and he guessed she was already dreaming. The extraordinary events of the day should have completely blocked out any thoughts of sex or even flirtation, yet those thoughts had flashed in and out at the oddest moments. That sound she'd just made was innocent enough but it sent his mind straight to a big bedroom where he was deep inside her lush body and taking full credit for her sweet sigh of satisfaction.
Habit. That's all it was, he decided. Being electrocuted hadn't short-circuited his hormones. Kelly was a very attractive woman, with a very, very sexy body and the most gorgeous hair he'd ever seen.
He felt an intense, almost uncontrollable desire to go over to her right now. He wanted, no, he needed to run his fingers through that hair, feel it sweeping across his abdomen and thighs and brushing across his sex. That appendage immediately snapped to attention and he slammed the door on the images that had caused the reaction. He ordered himself to get back to safer, less dangerous areas.
Until the moment he saw Kelly without her cap on, he had thought Ginger held the crown for beautiful hair but Ginger's hair was always ironed straight and wasn't nearly as long as Kelly's. Nor did it have Kelly's pale gold highlights. Now that he thought about it, he realized the two women had similar figures as well, only Kelly was a few inches taller, which made her full figure seem better proportioned.
Beyond their physical appearance, however, the two women were drastically different. Ginger was rather timid and mainly used her brain to decide which accessories to wear with what dress.
Kelly, on the other hand, was thoroughly independent and successful in her own right. And imaginative. Brave. Confident. Cool. The list of complimentary adjectives seemed endless and she was lying there, all soft and cuddly, only a few feet away. How could he not have thoughts of sex?
He immediately corrected himself. Sex wasn't the only thing she made him think of, though it was the front-runner. She also made him think of companionship, the kind he had only known with other men but for some reason, he felt certain that he and Kelly could be pals.
Was she really the most intriguing woman he'd ever encountered or was it the weeks of celibacy imposed on him by prison that made her seem that way?
What could he do about it anyway? He couldn't touch her even if she was as attracted to him as he was to her and he definitely couldn't make plans for the future when he had no idea whether his future was here and now, back in 1965 or in a place other than Earth.
And there he was, back full circle again, with questions upon questions. Since he couldn't answer any of those questions tonight, he wanted to go to sleep but his agitation had increased by the minute. If he didn't know better, he'd swear there were ants crawling all over his skin.
* * *
Kelly turned onto her other side, though she knew her sleeplessness wasn't due to discomfort. It was him. Why didn't he stop squirming around and just go to sleep?
"Damn!"
Kelly rolled back over and saw him bolting to his feet. There was just enough light in the cabin for her to note that he was naked... again. And again, she pretended not
to notice. "Come on now. The mattress can't be that uncomfortable."
He was dancing in place, contorting his body and scratching like a dog with a bad case of fleas. "I'm itching all over. I think there are ants in that mattress."
"Ants?" She quickly got up and turned the table lamp back on. Keeping her eyes averted, she asked, "Would you please put something on? I understand that nudity was quite the thing back in the sixties but I'm not, I mean, I'd appreciate it if you'd—"
"Good God, Kelly! I'm not showing off. Something's eating me alive." He grabbed his boxers and pulled them up over his hips.
It didn't make much difference since she could still see evidence of a semi-erection but to ask for more under the circumstances might seem eccentric. She bent over and inspected the mattress. "I don't see anything."
"What the hell?" Jack was doing contortions again, trying to look at the backs of his arms. "Look! Are these bites, or what?" He turned around so that the light was on his back.
For a few seconds, Kelly was distracted by the strong, masculine lines displayed so nicely before her then she saw what was bothering him. "Oh my. Those aren't bites. It looks like poison ivy. Didn't you say something about falling in the bushes?" She felt a pinch of guilt for ogling him when he was truly in distress. She could see for herself that his story about arriving naked must have been true. The rash was all over the back of his body. He twisted one arm behind him to scratch. "No! Don't scratch. You'll only make it worse."
Turning to face her, his jaw was clenched with the effort it took not to scratch. "I find it hard to believe that it could get worse than this."
"I know. I had it once when I was a kid. Fortunately, it doesn't last long, unless you're highly allergic. It will probably help that you took a bath not long after you came in contact with the plants. Also, lucky for you, I bought myself a big bottle of calamine lotion last week because of mosquito bites. It's in the bathroom cupboard." She snapped her fingers as she remembered what else might help.
She hurried to the refrigerator and got out an open box of baking soda. "First, take a baking soda bath. Wash your skin well but don't scrape. Then when you're dry, cover yourself with the lotion. I'd offer to help but there's that other little problem of yours that I'd rather not deal with." The way he marched off let her know how little he appreciated her attempt to lighten the situation. "By the way, there's only a kerosene lamp in there. No electric outlet." She tossed him a book of matches. "Just yell if you have trouble.
While he was in the bathroom, she gingerly removed the bed linens from the mattress and gathered all the clothes he'd worn. Everything that had been next to his skin would have to be washed in hot water, which meant a trip to the laundromat tomorrow. To be on the safe side, she scrubbed her hands with soap and water before putting clean sheets on the mattress.
The only other thing she could think of doing for him was to brew a pot of chamomile tea and keep him company until he was relaxed enough to fall asleep.
When he came out of the bathroom, he was glowing again but Kelly thought the aura didn't seem quite as bright as before. Without discussing it, he took the fireplace poker outside and, when he returned seconds later, the glow was gone completely. She poured them each a cup of tea while he returned to the bathroom to apply the calamine.
As inappropriate as it was, she couldn't help but think of what he was doing behind that closed door. In her mind, she saw him filling his palm with lotion then transferring it to the parts of his body that were irritated by the rash—private parts that made her much too aware of how long it had been since she'd run her hands over a man's hard body.
It was probably a very good thing she was unable to touch him. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to resist helping him apply the lotion all over every yummy inch of his—
His reappearance helped her leap off the sex train. His skin was smeared with pink lotion and he was wearing the towel. Knowing where the worst of the rash was, she couldn't blame him for being underdressed. "How do you feel?"
"Considering how bad I felt less than an hour ago, pretty good."
She handed him a cup of tea. "Drink this. It should help you feel even better. Tell me, did you notice anything different about the electrical charge when you got out of the tub?"
"Not really, but the drain-off outside was faster and didn't weaken me as much."
"Hmmm. I wonder if that means the charge is diminishing. Maybe by tomorrow you'll be back to normal."
He snorted. "After everything that's happened to me today, I don't even want to think about what might be in store for me tomorrow."
Kelly felt the atmosphere in the cabin calming down as they sipped their tea in silence. The soft glow from the lamp complemented the relaxed mood and soon they were both growing drowsy again. She took the empty cups to the sink and turned off the lamp, certain they would be sleeping peacefully in minutes. The moment she was comfortably settled, however, Jack broke the spell.
"How long have you been divorced?"
"Go to sleep. It's late."
"I answered all your questions."
She let out a loud sigh. "I left my husband almost a year ago. The divorce was final in June."
"Was it bad?"
She paused a moment before answering. "The divorce was relatively easy. It was the marriage that was bad."
"How long were you married?"
"I bet you were one of those children who demanded a bedtime story before you would go to sleep."
He chuckled. "I do seem to remember using that excuse on occasion." In a childish voice he pleaded, "Come on, Kelly, tell me the story of your marriage."
"All right. But then you have to promise to go to sleep like a good little boy."
"Yes ma'am."
"Once upon a time, there was a young, starry-eyed maiden who journeyed to the strange land of College and met a dashing knight who swept her off her feet. Naturally, she was flattered since he could have had his choice of maidens. But this maiden had certain attributes that made the knight want her more than the others. Most of all, he wanted to possess her treasure. No matter what he said or did, however, she was determined not to give the treasure to any man without a wedding. Being a handsome man of excellent prospects, many other girls were happy to share their treasures with the knight but he was never satisfied with them.
"By the time coronation day arrived at College, the knight became so obsessed with the maiden's treasure, he asked for her hand in marriage. At first, the new bride thought she'd been taken into paradise. Her husband could not have been kinder or more loving to her. But all too soon his career began demanding more and more of his attention. The king that he worked for promoted him to duke status and the thingamajigs they made and sold became more interesting to him than his wife. Or at least she thought that was why he spent less and less time at home.
"Her intuition was telling her that he might be enjoying other women's treasures again, especially since he had lost interest in any sort of treasure hunting at home, but the lady of the manor rationalized her concerns away. After all, he treated her politely, she had enough gold to buy anything she wanted and she had the freedom to pursue any interest that occurred to her. So she threw herself into a career of her own and, for a long time, she pretended not to care about the lack of attention from the duke.
"Until the evening she walked into his office unannounced and caught him and his secretary in a very compromising position... on top of his desk. In the months after that day, the lady learned that her intuition had been right all along—that for most of the ten years of their marriage, her husband had been jousting with every woman that crossed his path... except her. Apparently it was only the chase and the initial conquest that he found exciting."
Jack coughed. "I, uh, I think I know some men like that. I'm sorry he was such a bastard to you. You sure didn't deserve to be treated like that."
"Maybe not, but it wasn't entirely his fault. I chose to ignore the problem because it was easier that way.
That was stupid, so maybe I got what I deserved."
"You weren't stupid, he was. You were naive and optimistic, hardly a punishable offense. Maybe the next guy will be smart enough to realize how lucky he is to be with you."
She chuckled. "Let's just say my experience taught me to stick to writing about romance and forget about the real thing."
He was quiet for several heartbeats then he let out a huff.
"What was that for?" she asked defensively.
"You don't want to know."
"Yes, I do. Don't you think a woman can make it without a man in her life?"
He huffed again. "I wasn't thinking that at all. I just had a rather startling and not very attractive revelation about myself. It put me pretty much in the same category as your ex."
"That's a pretty lousy thing to say about yourself. Tell me what you were thinking and I'll be the judge."
"If I tell you, you'll get mad."
"No, I won't. I swear. I need to understand more about how men's minds work." Especially yours. "For my books."
"Okay. You just told me a painful story and implied that you've given up on men. My instinctive reaction was that it was a great excuse to take you into my arms to offer you comfort. I could actually see myself holding you and lightly stroking your back until I felt you leaning into me. I'm sorry, Kelly. If I could give you a real hug, without electrocuting you or making a pass at you, I would."
Now it was Kelly's turn to be pensive and when she spoke, her voice came out in a husky whisper. "And then what?"
"Pardon?"
"I lean into you and then what?" When he didn't answer, she added a credible explanation. "You made me think of a possible scene in a story. I'd like to know how you would proceed."
"Oh. Well, um and then, I, uh, I'd shift my body as I increased the pressure of my hands on your back. Then I'd hold you completely still, making sure you could feel my heart beating and my breath against your hair."
Out of Time (Lovers in Time Series, Book 1): Time Travel Romance Page 8
