by Mel Teshco
‘How far does it go?’ she asked in a small voice.
‘As far as I’ve been able to see—it’s infinite.’
‘But that … that doesn’t make sense.’
‘Nothing about this place makes sense,’ he conceded heavily.
After he directed her to shine the flashlight on the floor, he withdrew her lipstick from his pocket and uncapped it, then crouched with his good leg taking all his weight as he wrote a summary of events.
Met Tara. Mother alive. Sister dead. Restaurant burnt to ground.
Tara crouched low and read the summary. ‘Why did you write that?’ she whispered. ‘I mean, about your mother and sister?’
Breath whistled between his teeth. ‘Before I climbed into this rooftop, my mother had been dead for seventeen years and my sister was alive and well.’
‘Oh my god,’ she said softly. ‘You’re certain?’
If he could have laughed in that moment he would have. ‘To be honest, I’m not sure of anything anymore. These last few days have been … crazy, to say the least.’
She scraped a hand through the wild tangle of her long locks, the rich scent of smoke wafting from her hair. ‘Wow, I honestly don’t even know what to say.’
He recapped the lipstick and thrust it into his pocket. ‘Then don’t say anything. It’s enough you don’t run screaming from me in the opposite direction.’
She smiled. ‘Or perhaps call the people with the white coats to put you in a straitjacket?’
‘I’ve already considered that.’ He cupped her face, his thumb stroking along her jaw. ‘Have I told you how beautiful you are with your hair all wild and free and just a t-shirt covering your body?’
‘No,’ she whispered back, ‘I can’t say that you ever have.’
‘It must have escaped my mind,’ he murmured, before he leaned forwards and pressed his lips to hers, making all the fear inside recede as sharp need filled its space.
He pulled back, searching her eyes behind the flashlight and realising that in the heat of the moment it’d be all too easy to say something he shouldn’t, say the words that caused his heart to swell with longing and his throat to half-close with thick, inescapable want. ‘We should go,’ he murmured instead.
His feelings were too new, too raw and overwhelming to get a handle on right then.
‘Yes.’ She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth. ‘We should.’
They straightened together before she handed him the flashlight. He used his free hand to clasp one of hers, his tone serious as he turned to backtrack in the direction he’d previously come. ‘Watch your step.’
As they began to tread carefully along the beam, she asked, ‘How far are we going?’
He paused. ‘I have no idea, but I remember walking past quite a few manholes before choosing your dimension.’ He ran the beam along the ceiling ahead, to where the ends of a ladder poked through the next hole. ‘Choose a number.’
Her near hysterical giggle echoed eerily in the still air. ‘I used to think seven was my lucky number. In retrospect, I have my doubts.’
‘Well, it sounds as good as any. On the seventh hole we’ll climb down, okay?’
‘Okay,’ she answered. As they continued forwards, she added, ‘Just so you’re warned, I’m sorry in advance if whatever we face ahead is even worse than what you’ve experienced already.’
He stopped at the designated ladder and turned to her, his hand tightening over hers. ‘Well, just so you know, I’m sorry for dragging you into this mess, even though there’s a part of me that’s glad I did.’
‘I’m glad you did too,’ she conceded. ‘My life was barely ticking over before I met you, my whole life passing me by.’
‘What about your mother?’ he asked gently. ‘There’s a chance we might not get back here … a chance you might never see her again.’
Her voice wobbled. ‘I doubt she’d even know. She hasn’t recognised me for months.’
There was nothing he could say or do to take away her hurt, nothing anyone could. In some ways Tara had already lost her mother.
He lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles, then swept the light over the manhole below them. ‘Well, if I’m right and this whole dimensional thing is real, you might find a whole new life ahead of you.’
If I’m not a complete and fucking nutter.
‘I think … I’m game if you are.’
His chest constricted. Tara would never cease to surprise him. She had many different, wonderful facets to her personality, like a present getting unwrapped and finding yet another layer.
On a heavily expelled breath, he nodded and shone the light downwards. She put her weight on the ladder and slowly descended. When she stepped onto the floor, he followed right after, careful not to put too much weight on his sore leg, and trying not to think about what they might find … or might not.
Hand-in-hand, they walked slowly out of the old house, closing its door behind them to the far horizon streaked with the pink and gold of a spectacular sunrise.
‘Mother nature sure seems to approve,’ Tara said as they made their way to the Hummer. ‘Perhaps seven really is my lucky number?’
‘We’ll know soon enough.’ He helped her into the passenger seat and then handed her the flashlight and the lipstick from his pocket. Retrieving the keys, he shut the door and hobbled to the driver’s side of the SUV.
Damn leg. If his mental state was questionable, the least he could have was full physical health. At least the graze on his shoulder had settled into a vague throb.
Settling into the driver’s seat, he pushed the key into the ignition and fired up the engine. Somehow the familiar noise of the motor was restful, almost soulful. He flicked the headlights on to break the gloom and eased the SUV forwards.
Tara turned to him with a relieved grin. ‘So far so good,’ before she leaned forwards to open the glove compartment and return the flashlight to where it belonged. She froze. ‘Oh. My. God.’
He frowned, his belly instantly a knot of suspicion. ‘What’s wrong?’
She twisted back his way. ‘There’s a gun in the glove compartment.’
‘What?’ He leaned her way to take a look. ‘That’s impossible.’
Her face paled in the reflection of the dash lights. ‘I know that wasn’t there earlier.’
He straightened, his eyes on the track ahead and his mind on everything else. He thrust an outspread hand through his hair. What the hell was going on? Was the gun his? Perhaps it was in this dimension? But why the hell would he need one? ‘Is there anything else in there?’ he managed.
Carefully avoiding the gun, she whispered, ‘Actually, yes. There’s some sort of package.’
Fuck. He briefly closed his eyes, before he stopped the Hummer, pulled the handbrake on and asked Tara, ‘Do you know how to drive?’
‘Yes.’
‘Good.’ Halfway climbing out of the driver’s seat, he turned to her and asked, ‘Do you mind?’
She grinned, ‘Hell, no.’
As Tara took care of the driving, Jessie pulled free the packet that was sealed tight and examined it under the quickly lightening sky outside. There was no name. No address. Nothing written on it to give him a clue.
With noticeably shaky hands, he tore the flap free at one end and opened the packet wide. ‘Holy shit.’
‘What?’ Tara looked over with curiosity burning in her stare. ‘Damn it, Jessie, tell me!’
He released a slow breath. ‘Money,’ he said. ‘It’s a packet full of money.’
How much?’ Tara asked hoarsely.
He pressed the large envelope shut and tossed it back where it came from before slamming the glove compartment closed. ‘I have no idea. But they’re big bills, and there’s a hell of a lot in there.’
His mother’s words—his dead mother?—suddenly sprung to mind. You’ve gotten clean, haven’t you?
Was the gun, the stash of money, connected to the drugs he was apparently on in some other life? Maybe in th
is dimension too?
He glanced over at Tara. She looked straight ahead, peering at the track ahead that had already opened up a little. They were getting closer to the highway. And hopefully closer to finding out what was going on.
‘So what are you going to do with it?’ she asked.
He blew out a heavy breath. ‘I haven’t thought that far ahead yet.’
She didn’t answer, but he knew unsaid words were churning through her mind. The silence weighed heavy between them until some half an hour later when she turned onto the highway and mused aloud, ‘If all these other dimensions are real, is it possible we’ll meet my other “self” in this dimension?’ She glanced towards him, ‘I seriously don’t want that to happen, it’d freak me the hell out.’
He shrugged. ‘I don’t know, sweetheart, I really don’t. I’m not sure how this thing works—if it works at all. Christ, maybe I really am going through some kind of emotional breakdown and have imagined this whole thing.’
She flashed him a look of deep reproach. ‘No. Okay … maybe I’d be inclined to think that too if I hadn’t seen that ceiling, and then a gun and money which just miraculously appeared in your glove compartment.’
He put a hand on her thigh and conceded gruffly, ‘I know I’ve said it before, but I really am glad to be sharing this experience with you. I think I would have fallen to pieces if I’d had to face it all alone.’
One of her hands dropped from her grip on the steering wheel as she found his hand and gave it a squeeze. ‘You’re far too strong to let that happen,’ she said huskily.
I’m not so sure anymore.
Returning to the tiny town of Mirraway felt surreal, like an echo from another time, where a small family restaurant didn’t get burned to the ground and where the owner of a hotel went about his business without murder on his mind.
Tara pulled the SUV to a stop in front of her home and business. She put a hand to her mouth, taking in the building that was totally unscathed by fire. ‘I don’t believe it,’ she whispered.
When she jumped out of the driver’s seat, Jessie followed her a little more sedately, easing out the ache in his leg while allowing this new reality to sink into Tara’s mind—as much as his own. On the door of her restaurant a sign read, ‘Closed till further notice.’
‘How is this possible?’ she said starkly. She turned to him. ‘We both saw it go up in flames!’
He nodded. ‘I know.’
Believe me, I know.
He put an arm around her waist and drew her near. ‘Do you keep a spare key hidden?’
She looked up at him then, her eyes filled with sudden mirth, her lips pulling into a wild grin. ‘There’s a key in … in my purse.’
He snorted out a laugh, seeing the weird humour, despite the circumstances. ‘Bet you never thought you’d need that again?’
She clasped his forearms, her expression abruptly serious. ‘Do you think we’re both just dreaming? And that at any minute we’ll wake up in our own beds, with everything quickly becoming a fuzzy memory.’
‘I’d kind of wondered that myself too,’ he murmured wryly. ‘And then I went to sleep and woke up again—same situation.’
She stood on tiptoes and kissed him, her breath warm and lips soft, and her white tee riding up her sexy thighs until all his thoughts turned into the carnal variety. ‘I get the feeling I’ll never be bored again.’ she breathed.
When she retrieved her purse from the Hummer, he couldn’t help but smile a wicked smile as she unlocked the front door of her restaurant and home, then locked it behind them again, keeping the sign right where it was.
‘Now what?’ she asked, appearing almost stricken by the fact that, as she viewed her dining room as though seeing it for the first time, she was not particularly impressed.
He took her in his arms again. Pushing away his all too masculine urges, he was aware more than ever that though she appeared every bit fragile, a tiger beat its drum in her body. He kissed her scalp and murmured, ‘We find answers. But first we eat and get clean.’
She stepped back, her stare somehow sweet and hot, when she corrected, ‘No. First we head upstairs and lose ourselves in each other.’
The man parts of him couldn’t agree more. They’d shared a bizarre incident that had wrung their emotions almost dry. Physical release surely couldn’t hurt, and neither could lying in each other’s arms afterwards, sharing breath and heartbeats in quiet contemplation.
He followed her slow, measured steps that were timed to his laboured walk. And all the while he drank in her curves; the seductive sway of her hips, her arse in the too revealing tee.
In the lounge room she released his hand for a moment and pressed the play button on her stereo. Adele crooned from surround sound speakers as Tara sashayed slowly back to him, pulling off her tee to bare her beautiful breasts and her lacy underpants that covered the most exquisite part of her.
She claimed his hand once more, then led him into the ensuite of her bedroom. She reached inside the shower and flipped on the lever, but neither took much notice of the water temperature when she turned her attention back on him.
This time Jessie took control. With a growl his mouth crashed onto hers, a primal hunger that could no longer be contained with all the pent-up needs that had come toppling around him.
She gasped at his ferocity, but he was all too aware that her inner tiger had leapt into the fray as she frantically unzipped his jeans and thrust them past his hips. He groaned as the denim rasped over the aroused flesh of his cock and he forced himself to pull back, shove the denim the rest of the way down his legs and step clear.
His eyes burned as she slipped her lacy panties down her thighs and calves, exposing her delectable pussy. She gasped again, louder this time, as he gathered her into his arms, his mouth covering hers as he pressed her backwards into the shower. The lukewarm water was the least of his concerns—and hers—going by her mewls of need beneath his demanding mouth.
With her spine pressed against the tiled wall, he bent a little and hoisted her high. And as her ankles twined around his hips, she helped guide his shaft between her thighs.
‘Tara,’ he growled, entering her in one savage thrust. The water funnelled around them while he rocked into her fast and then faster, her moans loud and then louder until she abruptly went silent. Her inner muscles clenched. She shattered around him with a startled cry that sent him right over the edge with her.
Her smile was tremulous when he pushed a wet lock of hair from her face. And to the sound of Adele’s ‘Make You Feel My Love’ and the water hitting the tiles, he whispered, ‘I could so easily fall for you.’
Chapter Six
Tara’s eyes widened, and then flashed with hurt. She untangled her legs from around him and stood. ‘Don’t, Jessie. Don’t say words you don’t mean.’
He straightened, mute and disbelieving as she grabbed a towel and fled. What the hell had just happened? Had she thought mind-blowing sex in the shower had prompted words he didn’t feel? Words he didn’t mean?
He closed his eyes and released an unsteady breath. He might understand a lot of things in life, but he’d never understand the workings of a woman’s mind.
And of course there’s the minor mystery of the dimensional thing.
‘Yeah, and then there’s that,’ he muttered, swiping a hand over his face before cutting the water off and stepping onto the cold tiles.
Another thought struck him as he retrieved a towel and slung it around him. He froze. Idiot! He hadn’t used a condom. And it wasn’t the first time. Only in the hotel room had he thought to do the right thing. He only hoped Tara was on birth control.
He took a step and winced as a sharp pain shot up his leg. Evidently taking Tara against the wall wasn’t in his best interests in more ways than one.
Limping into the bedroom, he saw she was on the other side of room, a lacy thong tucked between the sexy globes of her arse. She was finishing buttoning up a little white blouse with unsteady
fingers when she turned at the sound of his tread.
One of her hands lifted, and then dropped. ‘Look, I’m sorry. I know I overreacted—’
‘Don’t be sorry,’ he interjected gruffly, already wanting her again, as he wanted only to drag her into his arms and hold her tight. ‘You’re probably right. Perhaps I did let the emotions of the moment rule my head.’
She looked stunned. Mortified. ‘I see.’
As she turned away and retrieved a little yellow skirt from a hanger inside her walk-in closet, he stepped forwards. ‘Tara, I—’
She whirled around. ‘Don’t!’ she said fiercely. ‘Let’s just … forget the whole thing.’
He raised a brow, but nodded and said, ‘Of course, yes. If that’s what you want.’
Damn it all to hell. He’d stuffed up big-time, letting the practicalities of his man-brain overrule what he truly felt in his heart. As for the contraceptive issue … he’d talk to her about that later. For the time being she had other stuff to sort out in her mind. But it was pretty clear not all the blame could be laid on his shoulders.
She had baggage from her past, bad relationships and personal events that she was trying to deal with in her own way.
Yeah, like learning there’s a whole lot of other dimensions out there isn’t enough to deal with.
She settled her skirt into place around her hips and pushed her feet into a pair of white scuffs. Sitting on the bed, she plucked a brush from the bedside table and stroked it through her long, wet-darkened hair.
His chest ached. He’d never been good at dealing with emotional conflict, at least, not of the personal variety. His sister could probably attest to that.
You have to save me. Promise you’ll save me.
Lolita’s plea echoed through his mind, kickstarting him back to reality. At least, the reality of the dimension he was in right then. But it didn’t mean he’d just ignore the ever-widening gap between Tara and himself. His growing but fragile relationship with her was too important to simply sweep aside.
‘Tara, if you had a chance to know me better, you’d understand I don’t say anything I don’t mean.’ Her brush strokes perceptibly slowed as he closed the distance between them. ‘And you know what? I can’t just forget about what happened, but I’m willing to try if that’s what you want.’
