Out of Nowhere

by Rebecca York

  A couple of the guys made comments, but he ignored them, the same way he ignored the knowing gaze of Kathryn Kelley as he hurried back to the bedroom. He was wondering what he was going to wear. Lord, he was acting like a nervous groom on his wedding night, but he couldn’t help it.

  He rummaged in the dresser drawers and found a pair of nice silk pajama bottoms.

  When Annie returned, he had just folded back the covers on the bed. His breath caught when he looked at her. She’d put on more makeup—as if she needed it.

  “You’re stunning,” he said. And she looked more nervous than he did—which was some consolation.

  She blushed. “I feel like a princess or something. I don’t think I ever owned anything so sinfully rich feeling.”

  “It’s not a sin. It’s what you deserve.” He stepped toward the dresser. “Like a nice glass of champagne. Why don’t we have a drink?”

  “What’s champagne?”

  “Something very good.”

  “Like chocolate?”

  He smiled. “You be the judge.”

  With hands that felt suddenly stiff, he managed to get the cork out without its shooting across the room. Then he poured them each a flute.

  “To us,” he said, clinking his glass to hers, then taking a swallow.

  She took a cautious sip. Her face changed as she absorbed the taste. “This is…sweet. And bubbly,” she said. “Different from chocolate.”

  “Do you like it?”

  She tried another sip. “Yes.”

  “I think you’re not sure. But don’t drink too much.”

  “Why not?”

  “It will make you stop thinking clearly.”

  “Like White Bliss?”

  “What’s that?” he asked, keeping his voice steady, even though her casually spoken phrase had made his stomach lurch.

  “Something people take to make them feel good,” she said, then blinked.

  “Something you remember?”

  “Not something I used,” she said quickly. “Something illegal. And expensive.” She held up the glass. “Is this illegal?”

  “No. And it’s not out of my price range, either.” He punctuated the remark with another sip. So did she.

  “We’ll save the rest for later,” he said, lifting the glass out of her hand and setting it on the dresser, along with his.

  When he looked back, he saw her glancing nervously around the room and knew when she spotted the box of condoms on the night table. Crossing the room, she picked up the box. “What is this?”

  “That’s what I’m going to use to keep you from getting pregnant.”

  She opened the box and took out a foil packet. She turned it in her hand and put it down again. “There was a box something like that in the bedroom where I was sleeping on your boat. I found it when I was searching the drawers.”

  “What were you looking for?”

  “Clues to where I was. I guess, when I was.”

  He nodded solemnly, sorry he’d asked the question when her expression saddened. “What I’d like to do is make you stop worrying about anything that’s happened and focus on being with me.”

  “I’m worried about that, too.”

  “Why?”

  “I want to do this right.”

  “There is no right. It’s just what two people enjoy doing together.”

  “You stopped a little while ago, because you thought you were doing it wrong.”

  “I was going too fast for you,” he said, pulling her into his arms, and kissing her cheek, nibbling her ear, her neck.

  “That feels good,” she breathed.

  He tried not to think about how much he wanted her. Instead, he focused on her pleasure as he slipped one finger under a strap of her gown, caressed her shoulder, then dipped lower to the cleft between her breasts.

  She made a small, purring sound, and he knew he was pleasing her.

  He found the hardened tips of her breasts through the thin fabric of the bodice, teasing them with his fingers and then with his lips and teeth.

  She arched into the caress, her hands gripping his shoulders.

  Lifting her off her feet, he carried her to the bed.

  “I think you’ll be more comfortable without this,” he murmured, sweeping the nightgown up and over her head, exposing her naked body.

  Lying back against the turned-down covers, she looked up at him, slightly dazed. But she had the presence of mind to say, “You, too. I want you naked, too.”

  He compromised by taking off the pajama bottoms and leaving on his briefs, then followed her onto the bed and gathered her in his arms, sliding her body against his as he kissed her and stroked her back and the curve of her bottom.

  “Are you really going to put that inside me?” she asked, her hand gliding between them and cupping around his erection.

  “Oh, yeah.”

  “Don’t you have to take off your underwear?”

  He laughed. “Uh-huh. But not yet. The briefs will slow me down.”

  “I don’t want you to slow down.”

  “Oh, it’ll be more fun that way,” he managed to say. “Trust me.”

  He kissed her gently, then with more heat as she accepted what he offered.

  He reveled in the feel of her skin against his as he slipped a hair-roughened leg between her smooth ones, then began to caress her breasts again, starting at the outer margins, smiling as he watched her respond to his teasing touch.

  He had never felt anything more perfect than what was happening between them in this bed. His own pleasure leaped to meet hers, yet it was so much less important than making this first time as perfect for her as he could. For he was surer than ever that she had never done this before.

  He watched her drag in ragged gulps of air as she responded to his kisses and his caresses.

  And when his fingers parted the folds of her most intimate flesh, he found her hot and slick and ready for him.

  She had learned something from the last time they’d been together. Boldly, she slid her hand down his body and pushed his briefs away so she could close her fingers around him the way he had taught her.

  His own breath went ragged, and he had to fight to keep from straining toward her.

  “I want you to put this in me now,” she whispered. “But you have to tell me how we do it.”

  “We can do what we did the last time,” he forced himself to say.

  “No. I want to make love with you the way men and women are supposed to fit together.”

  Oh, yes.

  Quickly, he gave her instructions, then stripped off his underwear, reached for the packet she’d taken out and made himself ready, conscious of her gaze on him.

  When he knelt between her knees, she looked up at him with such a mixture of longing and uncertainty that he almost lay back down beside her.

  But she must have seen that in his face, because she reached out and gripped his shoulder. “Max, don’t deny me this.”

  The emotion in her voice kept him where he was. He kissed her raised knee, then stroked her most sensitive flesh, bringing her close to orgasm again.

  When he knew that he had her poised on the edge, he whispered, “The first time may hurt. But just for a moment.”

  “Okay,” she breathed.

  He moved into her slowly, pressing past the barrier, hearing her gasp.

  Above her, he ordered himself to still. “Annie, are you all right?”

  “Yes. Because I want you inside me like this.” Her arms tightened around him, and she looked up into his face. “I want you to make me feel the way I did before,” she whispered.

  Hoping he had the skill to do that, he began to move inside her, watching her face, judging her reaction.

  At first she looked tense, then she got into it, her hips rising and falling in opposition to his, her hands sliding possessively up and down his back.

  He focused on her reactions, then wedged his hand between them, pressing against the place that would intensify her p
leasure.

  She cried out, and he felt her inner muscles contract around him.

  He held back as long as he could, reveling in her soft cries. Then climax took over his body.

  But his pleasure was never separate from hers. He felt as though a hot storm had carried them high above the treetops together, then gently set them down.

  Annie clung to him, and he cradled her in his arms. He wanted to tell her how much he loved her. He wanted to ask her to marry him so he could keep her with him always. But he was afraid to overwhelm her.

  So he simply pulled the covers around them and held her.

  “I must come from a pretty awful place if they don’t want people to feel that pleasure,” she whispered.

  He had no answer for her except, “You’re here now. With me, where we can do this any time we want.”

  She gave him a dazzling smile, and that was enough for the moment.

  SUNLIGHT KNIFED IN through the crack between the drapes when he awoke. He was alone in the bed. Craning his neck toward the bathroom, he saw that Annie wasn’t in there.

  In one fluid motion, he vaulted out of bed and reached for his pants, all the time telling himself not to panic.

  She had to be here somewhere. She couldn’t have left the compound on her own. Or had she gotten somebody to fly her back to Florida? One other possibility made a sick feeling rise in his throat.

  Barefoot, zipping his pants as he went, Max ran down the hall to Thorn’s laboratory, cursing Annie, cursing himself for not making his intentions plain to her.

  Another imprecation exploded from his lips when he saw Annie, dressed in a white hospital gown, strapped to the table. Thorn was at the nearby computer. Dr. Katie McQuade was leaning over her.

  He would have burst into the room, but he knew he was too late, and he knew that if he interfered now, he could do more harm than good. So he watched helplessly through the door as Annie’s body convulsed and then went still.

  Chapter Sixteen

  As if he knew the scene in the lab was being observed, Thorn turned toward the door. When he saw who was staring through the glass, he met Max’s eyes.

  As Max watched wordlessly, the researcher crossed the room and conferred with Katie. She glanced up, a look of regret on her face.

  Somehow, that look was the last straw. If Katie didn’t like what Annie was doing, that went double for Max.

  Unable to stop himself, he flung open the door and surged into the room, his eyes flashing as he looked from Thorn and Katie to Annie, lying pale and unconscious on the table. Machinery beeped in the background, and he realized she was hooked up to monitoring equipment.

  “How could you?” he demanded, pressing his palms hard against his thighs to keep from punching Thorn.

  The researcher’s face held a mixture of warring emotions. “Max, she came to me this morning. She told me that she had to find out what she’d been sent to our time period to do. She said she wanted so much to stay here with you, but she couldn’t do it if her own happiness was going to consign thousands of people to death.”

  Max felt as if he’d been poleaxed. “She said all that?” he asked in a shaky voice.

  Katie put a gentle hand on his arm. “Yes. Thorn called me in to be a witness.”

  Max bit out a string of raw words that he knew shouldn’t be uttered in front of a lady. But he couldn’t help himself.

  “I’m sorry,” Katie said. “Even with that computer removed from her body, she has a very strong sense of purpose. Of morality, actually. She thinks she was sent here to do something vitally important. Maybe even to save the world.”

  “Save the world!” Max cursed again. “How can one woman do that?”

  “She says she has to try—that she can’t just walk away from her responsibility.”

  “Even if the people who dragged her into their scheme planned to kill her?” Max said bitterly.

  “I’m sorry,” Katie repeated.

  Max clenched and unclenched his hands. This was the nightmare he remembered, coming back to swallow him up again. He was living through hell once more. It was like when Stephanie had gone off on a mission and never returned.

  Well, not exactly the same, he conceded. Stephanie had been obsessed with proving herself. Annie couldn’t let go of her sense of duty.

  Afraid of what he might discover, he walked toward her and looked down at her still body.

  Katie said, “I gave her a thorough physical before we did anything. She’s in very good health for someone who had an inadequate diet as a child.”

  “You can tell that?”

  “Yes. But more importantly, her vital signs are stable now.”

  Max gave her a dark look. “And after you checked the state of her health, you let Thorn send an electric current into her brain.”

  “It’s a little more complicated than that,” the physician whispered. “But from a layman’s point of view, I guess that’s right.”

  “Is that responsible medicine? Using a human being as a guinea pig?”

  “When the patient wants it,” she said, but he could tell she wasn’t entirely comfortable with the situation.

  “When does she wake up?” Max demanded.

  Katie glanced from Annie to the monitors. “We don’t know.”

  He flapped his arm in frustration. “Oh, that’s just great. Thank you so much.” His voice dripped with sarcasm.

  “We’re going to move her to the recovery room,” Thorn said.

  “And you better believe I’m going to stay with her,” Max growled.

  They wheeled the table and the monitors into a smaller room and transferred Annie to a hospital bed. Max pulled a chair over to the bed and sat down, watching for any sign that she was going to wake up. But Annie didn’t move. She didn’t seem to know that he was there, even when he squeezed her hand.

  Katie came in several times and checked her, always optimistic, professional. But as the hours wore on, Max could tell that the physician was worried. Later, when he came back from the men’s room, he heard her and Thorn conferring in low voices. They looked at him, then glanced quickly away.

  He closed his eyes, fighting the sick feeling that rose in his throat. Annie had to wake up. She had to! Because if she didn’t, he was going to come apart. Just as he’d come apart after Stephanie. Then, his Light Street friends had brought him back. Today, he knew that wouldn’t be possible. Not when they were the ones responsible for his loss.

  It had been years since he’d prayed. Now, sitting beside Annie’s bed, he began to say words that felt awkward on his lips. But he had to speak them.

  “Please, God, please help her. She made a perilous journey. She’s so brave and so sure that she’s here on an important mission. I haven’t asked you for much in my miserable life. But I’m asking now. Save her. Don’t do it for me. Do it for her.”

  He wanted to howl in anguish. Instead, he reached for Annie’s hand, his grip firm on her warm flesh, because there was nothing else he could do.

  Katie came in quietly and checked the patient.

  “Well?” he asked.

  “She’s stable.”

  “But there’s no change?”

  She shook her head. “I’m sorry. We don’t have much experience with this.”

  He glared at Katie as she left the room.

  Desperate, anguished, he spoke directly to Annie, hoping he could somehow break through to her. “Please, honey. Come back to me. You’re so brave. So strong. And damn you, so foolish to put yourself in danger like this.”

  He sucked in a breath and let it trickle out of his lungs before he managed to say, “Annie, I love you. I should have told you that last night. But I didn’t want to put any pressure on you. Well, I’m putting pressure on you now. Annie, wake up. For God’s sake, don’t do this to me.”

  He felt so weary, as if all the strength had been sapped out of him. There was nothing left inside him and, still holding her hand, he leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes.

&nbs
p; Sometime during the afternoon, Harriet the cat came in and curled up beside Annie as though lending support. Max didn’t chase her away, although he was pretty sure no hospital would have allowed a cat to lie in bed with a patient.

  Maybe having the animal close would help.

  He was sitting with his eyes closed when he felt slender fingers press his hand.

  He was instantly alert, his gaze shooting to Annie’s face in time to see her eyelids flicker and finally open. Her confused expression turned crazed as though she was going to rip off the leads and monitors and bolt.

  He felt the world fall out from under him. She was awake, but her mind was damaged.

  “Annie! Oh, God, Annie.”

  At the sound of his voice, her facial expression changed. “Max?” she whispered in a raspy voice.

  “Yes. I’m here, honey. I’m here,” he answered, thanking God that she knew who he was.

  “Max, hold me. I feel him.” She gasped. “I don’t want to feel him! Just please hold me.”

  He did as she asked, standing and clasping her to him. She lay still for heartbeats. Then her arms crept up, circling his back.

  “Oh, Max,” she breathed. “Oh, Max. It’s awful.”

  Leaning over her, he kissed her cheek, her brow. Then he gently brushed her lips with his. When he straightened, her hand clutched at him.

  “Don’t leave me,” she whispered.

  “Never.”

  She sobbed, and the sad look on her face tore at him.

  “What?” he asked. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

  “Carp,” she answered. “I know what it means. I know why it’s a curse word in my time.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s because of Charles Carpenter,” she gasped. “I feel him.” She stopped, took a breath. “He’s going to release the virus when the governor goes to Sea Kingdom.” Panic flared on her face. “How long have I been unconscious? How long do we have?”

  Unbeknownst to them, Katie had come in. “You’re disturbing her,” she said to Max.

  Annie turned to her. “No! He’s not disturbing me. He has to help me. Charles Carpenter is going to do it. And I have to stop him. How much time do I have?” she asked again, terrible urgency in her voice.