My Man Michael

by Lori Foster

  He had to taste her.

  If his legs and ribs weren’t fucked, he’d want more than that. But he knew his own limitations, and he wasn’t about to embarrass himself by starting something he couldn’t finish.

  Biting hard enough to bruise, Kayli caught her lush bottom lip in her teeth.

  Poor little girl. She looked like a deer caught in the headlights. “Is the idea of kissing me really so bad?”

  She didn’t move, barely breathed. “That is what you want before you’ll agree? Truly?”

  “Oh, trust me, sugar, I want more than that. But while the mind is willing, the body isn’t able.” Later, if she stuck around and didn’t seem a threat … no, that’d be taking advantage of the worst kind.

  And as she’d said, he was too honorable for that.

  As if weighing the problems of the universe, she paced away in deep thought.

  Mallet laughed. It hurt his ribs, his throat, but damn, he couldn’t remember the last time a woman had so thoroughly rejected him. It was sort of … refreshing. “You’re demolishing my ego, you know.”

  Mind made up, her shoulders back with grim, almost suffering resolve, she turned around to face him. “I’ll do it.”

  Such a lack of enthusiasm. The stoic way she presented herself, you’d think he’d asked her to throw herself off the side of a high cliff. Determined to figure her out, Mallet kept his grin at bay as he watched her. “You’re very brave.”

  “But first,” she said, ignoring his jibe, “you must alert your friends. I want to know that you’re serious, and that you will follow through with our agreement. I’ll have your word that you won’t renege once you’ve taken your toll.”

  “My toll?” Would kissing him really be so awful that she considered it a debt to be paid?

  As if a thought occurred to her, Kayli lifted a hand. “In fact, to ensure your cooperation I will transport us during the kiss. Agreed?”

  What the hell? In for a penny, in for a pound. “Why not?” Mallet picked up the phone and dialed Simon. He got his answering machine. “Sorry, he’s not home.”

  “It would make things simpler if you left a note anyway.” Rushing around to the bedside table, she opened the top drawer and located a pad of paper and pen.

  She handed them to him.

  “You want me to write it all out?”

  “Yes. One of the nurses will find the note and alert your friends, and they’ll have no option but to accept that you’ve made your own decision.”

  “My decision to jump ship without talking to them first?”

  “You’re distraught,” she explained. “You’re in a difficult stage of your life. It would not be uncommon for you to flee.”

  “Flee?” Now that just plain pissed him off. “I don’t flee from anyone or anything.”

  Witnessing the level of his insult had her fighting a smile. “Very good to know, truly, but it would be understandable if you did—as I’m sure your friends would agree. Also, there won’t be the uncomfortable issue of them trying to talk you out of your decision.”

  Which, she likely figured, would force her to talk him into it again.

  She waited, and when he did nothing, she finally said, “Go ahead, sir. Write your note.”

  Disgruntled, Mallet put pen to paper. He didn’t take it too seriously because, really, who would get a chance to read it? But just in case Kayli wanted to see it for herself, he made the explanation believable enough.

  He told his friends not to worry about him because he planned to travel a bit. With Kayli at his side, he would explore surgical options for his leg in various countries, and have some fun along the way. As he added, “She’s hot, and I’m ready,” he anticipated her reaction. He signed it with a flourish.

  There. It all sounded plausible, didn’t it?

  Hovering anxiously at his beside, Kayli asked, “All done?”

  Pushy broad, when she had a goal in sight. “Yeah, sure.”

  She rolled in her lips, fretted, and then asked, “Did you make a special notation to your friend who was just here?”

  “Drew?” At her nod, he said, “No, why would I?”

  “He wanted to hire you for specific employment. I think it would be nice if you gave him the courtesy of turning him down.”

  “Turning him down is a courtesy?”

  “Wouldn’t that be preferable to giving him false hope, to leave him waiting for you without knowing if you planned to accept his offer?”

  “Maybe.” Not that Drew really waited for anyone. He was a mover and a shaker, always on the go with new plans, better plans. He was never content to be idle, either in body or mind, for too long.

  Mallet jotted a P.S. to Drew, thanking him for his offer but refusing. He handed Kayli the paper. “I know you’re dying to take a look, so go ahead.”

  She read it in a mere glance. Toward the end, she frowned at him, but said nothing.

  “It appears convincing.” She fidgeted a moment, and then, somewhat unwillingly, said, “You could tell them that you’ll be in touch. It’s not impossible. If you found it necessary for your peace of mind, you could make contact with them, even from my time period.”

  “That’s done, huh?” In a way, her spacey imagination was adorable. She should be a writer. Maybe she was a writer.

  “I’m here, aren’t I?” Her mouth softened into a smile. “Time travel is not encouraged because it’s costly to execute. Only the most advanced systems—known as supercomputers—have the capability.”

  “I take it that you have yourself a supercomputer?”

  “One of the very best, yes. Even so, we don’t utilize it often because to do so leaves open the possibility of causing a rift in the future. But as I explained, you will be an important part of the hierarchy, and as such you will be given more freedom.”

  Yeah, almost like he’d be a king. Mallet shook his head at that absurd image. He was better suited to grunt work than leadership.

  Although, when it came to sex, he enjoyed being in charge—a lot. With just that thought, his voice deepened and his flesh warmed.

  Patting the side of his mattress, he said to Kayli, “Now that we have the note all right and proper, how about you come a little closer? We have some unfinished business, remember.”

  Her smile disappeared and a new wariness turned her hazel eyes glittering gold. “Yes, of course.”

  She placed the note on his nightstand and then … stood there.

  She looked almost ill, causing Mallet to sigh. “Kayli, I’m not going to hurt you.”

  “I trust not.” A deep, fortifying breath gave her courage to move nearer to his bed. But a few feet away, she stalled once more.

  Trying an encouraging smile, Mallet again patted the mattress. “Sorry, honey. I’d get up and woo you proper, but with my injured leg, I’d only fall on my face.”

  That got to her, and with blatant sympathy she seated herself beside him. “Very soon, it will be as if nothing happened to your body at all. All your bruises will be gone. All your aches and pains—”

  “Yeah. Can’t wait.” Mallet caught her upper arm and tugged her resisting body slowly down to him. He stared at that oh-so-sexy mouth of hers, watched her lips part, saw her tongue slip out to wet dry lips.

  Damn, he was hard again, and he hadn’t even kissed her yet.

  “Closer,” he whispered, his voice deep and rough. “A little more.”

  He felt her hot breath touch on his face, felt her palpating fear, strange as that seemed. And then his mouth brushed hers, and though he wasn’t a man given to poetic inclinations, he knew her mouth intoxicated him—that was the only way to describe the rush of sensation that jumbled his emotions and fired a deep physical response.

  Using his free hand, Mallet clasped her warm nape to keep her close. He deepened the kiss, turned his head for a better fit, and slicked his tongue past her teeth to explore her sweet mouth.

  At first, she gasped and stiffened. Mallet kept it up, tasting her, teasing himself, and
reveling in how a simple kiss had turned so carnal.

  As he burned, she gradually slumped into him, and by small degrees flattened over him.

  To fully relish the feel of the soft female body covering him and her cautious, surprised response, Mallet kept his eyes closed.

  It wasn’t until his hand moved down her back to her behind that she stiffened and jerked back on straightened arms.

  Panting a little, her eyes cloudy with confusion and uncertainty, she asked, “Satisfied?”

  Keeping Kayli’s gaze locked in his, Mallet shook his head. A warm breeze moved over them, dancing over his heated skin and causing her fine, silky hair to move. “I won’t be satisfied until I’m well enough to put you under me.”

  To his right, a man said, “You are well enough.”

  Shock sliced through Mallet.

  Keeping a hold on Kayli, he jerked around—and discovered he wasn’t in his familiar hospital bed any longer.

  Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.

  Purest sunlight shone through a tall wall of windows built along one side of a white room with a very high ceiling. There were tables and chairs, but unlike any he’d ever seen. Through an open corridor, warm, fresh air circulated.

  He gulped. “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”

  Kayli blinked. “Sir?”

  Several robed people stood around him, all of them strangers to him, all of them with impersonal expressions on their faces.

  Scowling at Kayli with accusation, incredulity, and a healthy dose of caution, Mallet accepted the truth. “You transported me!”

  CHAPTER 4

  RATTLED from the unexpected intimacy of Michael’s kiss, Kayli tried to free herself without success. Michael’s hands were so tight on her, she winced. Knowing it was a reaction to the circumstances, and not a bent toward brutality, she leaned closer to him. “It’s okay, Michael. They’re only android assistants.”

  “Android assistants?” His vigilant gaze never wavered from their audience. “As in …” He shook his head with disbelief. “Not real?”

  “They’re real, sir. Very real. They’re just not human. These are my friends and companions.”

  “Robots? Are you yanking my chain?”

  The things he said … “They’re anthropomorphic systems.” At his blank look, she clarified, “Designed to be human in appearance, but freethinking only to a limited degree.”

  “Who designs them?”

  “These were of my preferences.”

  Shock faded under censure and his brows pinched down over burning blue eyes. “They’re all male, Kayli.”

  He appeared to want an explanation for that. “Well … yes, I know.” Kayli shrugged. “I prefer male company.”

  The scowl darkened. “Is that so?”

  With his intent gaze zeroed back in on her, she again tried to wiggle free. “Sir? Could you please loosen your grip?”

  He glanced down at his taut hold, and released her with a rush. “Shit, I’m sorry, honey. Are you okay?”

  At his curse, the scandalized assistants all murmured to one another. It was unheard of for anyone, human or humanoid, to speak so crudely.

  “I’m unharmed.” Kayli sent the assistants a look to quiet them before bestowing an encouraging smile on Michael. “Would you like to stand?”

  “I can’t—” The words dropped off. Going pale with shock, he gazed down at his body—and blinked. “Christ almighty, woman, I’m naked.”

  So she had noticed.

  So she had felt.

  Flustered, hot-faced, and shaky, Kayli nodded at an assistant, who hurried to retrieve a covering. “Your clothing was not designed to withstand the rearrangement of molecules during transportation, as mine is. Likely it was destroyed in transit.”

  Mallet didn’t hear her. He was too busy staring fixedly at his legs, or more to the point, the lack of scars on his legs.

  With heavy precaution, he pushed up on one straightened arm. Over his entire body, muscles flexed and bunched in an impressive display.

  Kayli did her best not to gawk, but she’d never seen, never even imagined …

  Again the assistants murmured.

  With a large hand flattened on the floor, Mallet bent one leg, paused with his breath held, flexed it, bent, straightened it again. At the lack of agony, he sucked in his breath and turned to Kayli with so much hope, her heart melted.

  “Yes,” she whispered, so happy to be the one to tell him. “It’s as I said—your body is healed and whole again.”

  Michael’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he audibly swallowed. Slowly, he rose to his feet. “They’re gone.”

  The assistants, all very capable, scurried back from the breadth and height of Michael as he gained his feet. Awe and alarm widened their eyes, making Kayli wish that, for this instance alone, she hadn’t given them so many emotions.

  Gently, she asked, “The scars?”

  “The pains.”

  Yes, of course. Just because he hadn’t complained didn’t mean he hadn’t suffered. Michael was a warrior, a man conditioned to take great agony without ever giving voice to the pain.

  She touched his arm and encountered tensile strength and incredible power. “I’m happy for you.”

  He took two steps and turned, watching the movement of his legs, the flexibility and strength, and a slow grin brightened his expression. “I feel … fine.”

  He looked fine, too. Very fine. Never had she imagined a man such as him. Yes, he was bigger, but that only covered half of it. His muscles were so delineated that each small movement sent them into an impressive display. The simplest gestures showed inspiring power. Even the way in which he held himself, with so much confidence and attitude, was in stark contrast to what she was used to.

  She’d dropped him into a totally unfamiliar time and situation, and still he looked ready to take charge of them all.

  “Hell,” he said with an ear-lifting grin, “I feel great!”

  His infectious good mood had her smothering her own grin. The time was inappropriate to excesses of glee, for her at least.

  After accepting the robe from an assistant, Kayli glued her attention north of his broad shoulders and held it out to him. “I’m glad that our exchange pleases you.” Repaired health was the least she could give him for his upcoming aid.

  “Well, yeah.” He paid no mind to the proffered covering. “I mean, I must be nuts to be buying into this, but who gives a damn?”

  His comfort at being naked before an audience of strangers astounded her. The members of her colony considered modesty a most-important virtue—and Michael obviously had none.

  “Sir?” Unwilling to get close enough to touch him again—or have him touch her as he’d already done—she thrust the robe toward him insistently. With any luck, he’d take the not-so-subtle encouragement to cover his nakedness.

  Instead, he used her extended arm as a leash to snag her, and then haul her in close. Her mouth dropped open as he scooped her up against his body, against all that hot male flesh. Against her protests, he swung her in an exuberant circle. Her flying legs made the assistants duck out of the way.

  Laughing aloud, he shouted, “Kayli, love, I can stand on my own!”

  “Michael, please!” Blushing to the roots of her fair hair, Kayli braced against his inflexible shoulders and glanced at her assistants. They all stared back at her with indulgent if astounded humor.

  This display amused them?

  Lower, near his ear, Kayli insisted, “You must show some decorum.”

  Michael brought his face close to hers and, in a low rumbling growl, he said, “I’d rather take you to bed.”

  A flash of heat left her mute and unseeing. She shook her head to clear it. “What? No!”

  He nuzzled her jawline. “Why not?”

  He had to stop saying such outrageous, impossible things to her. “I’ve already told you,” she whispered in a rush. “It is forbidden for me.”

  Leaning back to see her, he smiled
and said, “Yeah, well, as the almighty chosen one, I’ll have to change that now, won’t I?”

  Chosen one? Doing her utmost to gather her composure, she pushed him away. Instilling much gravity into her voice, she said, “First, you must cover yourself. I insist.”

  His smile spread with insidious good humor. “I think it’s adorable when you take charge.”

  She had to ignore that. She was a warrior, a respected member of her colony; there was nothing adorable about her. “And,” she continued, unwilling to reply to his comment, “I need to orient you to our colony and the time period. I must show you your new surroundings, help you become acclimated to your new environment—”

  “That’ll wait.” He hugged her tight again, and there was nothing she could do about it without engaging in actual combat. “Right now, I just want to celebrate with some good lovin’.”

  Good lovin’?

  Nonplussed, Kayli shoved back yet again, this time as far as she could, and stared at him. How was it that she continually found herself flattened against him?

  She tried to ease the press of her lower body against his, but with one arm around her waist and the other scooped just below her bottom, he kept her snug to him, forcing her to feel every extraordinary inch of his maleness—and there were … several inches.

  “Now don’t faint,” he teased. But he did ease his hold just a bit.

  It didn’t help, not when her wiggling attempts to escape him only added new heat to his vibrant blue eyes and an intensity to his entire mien that bespoke male interest in the extreme.

  Kayli sucked in needed oxygen. “You are very quick to be accustomed to time travel.”

  “Nah.” He put his forehead to hers and stared into her eyes. His breath was warm, his look warmer. “I just figure I’m dreaming or hallucinating or something. Whatever it is, I want to make the most of it before I wake up.”

  He still didn’t believe her?

  Dismay all but flattened her. She’d already transported him. He was in her vessel. What more could she do to convince him? “Sir …”

  Another voice intruded, this one so strident it had the power to snap the mood and gain everyone’s attention. “Kayli!”