He noticed how her eyes grew larger as he said Levi, but he filed that information away for later. Would she pick up on his lie? Would she figure out that he had no idea how he’d got to where he was and recognized none of the things she had in her building, aside from the basics? Would she know how scared he was about his body’s reaction to her?
Ta-Mara shoved back her sexual reaction to this man. He had moved like a predator across the room toward her. His eyes were equivalent to the Kanchanaburi Sapphire, in her opinion—a deep, endless blue. They swirled with many different emotions but the one she focused on was passion. This man desired her.
She trembled. When she licked her lips, she saw another flare in his eyes. The closer he got, the more impressive he became. Even dripping wet, there was this power about him. His pants only accentuated the strength in his legs, and the shirt plastered to his torso showed off his wide shoulders, flat belly and strong arms.
Her body reminded her in a not-so-subtle way that it had been missing the touch of a good man for far too long. And to top off the gorgeous package he was, he went and told her his name is none other than that of the man she had been fantasizing about from her book, Levi. Moisture pooled between her thighs.
This must be a dream.
One night with him would be heaven, but would it be enough? The way he made her feel with a look was more intense than any touch from previous lovers.
“Levi, is it?”
He nodded.
“My name is Ta-Mara LeBreaux.”
“Ta-Mara,” he drawled it out, rolling the ‘r’ as if making love to it.
Her breathing became heavier. He moved closer to her, his eyes dropped to the pulse in her neck and he smiled as if he could tell how fast her heart was beating.
“You should get out of those clothes,” she sputtered, desperate to say something.
Perhaps something different.
One jet-black eyebrow rose.
“I…I…I only meant that you could get sick if you stay in them.” Ta-Mara knew she was blushing. Oh, she just wanted to fall below the floorboards.
Another step closer then there was nowhere for her to go. Her back was against part of the wall that didn’t have any books on it. She could feel the light switch poking her but she didn’t care. All her focus was on the man taking up most of her air.
Her knees were weak and her heart pounded so hard she was surprised it was still behind her ribs. Each inhalation swamped her already overloaded senses with the scent of raw masculinity. He smelled like the outdoors. There was a hint of sweat but it only added to the allure, and something else which Ta-Mara merely labeled Levi.
He reached out with one hand and stroked the side of her face.
The room was encased in darkness as the lights went out again. Ta-Mara remained still, his hand by the corner of her mouth, the sensual strands of John Legend still playing.
“What happens now?” he murmured in her ear. Water dripped from his hair to her skin and seemed to sizzle with the heat between them.
Ignoring all the logical voices in her head, Ta-Mara pushed her face into his touch. “I don’t know. You tell me, Levi.”
Chapter Two
He knew what he wanted to do. Kiss her. Taste her full lips and see what flavor came from them. Would she open like a flower for him, or would she take a bit more persuasion? He couldn’t help himself, and leaned closer.
The lights came back on, startling him. He’d heard about electricity but to see it in a house… He wanted to take a closer look.
Later.
Right now, he returned his attention to the woman between him and the wall.
So lush, so trusting. So fearless it amazed him.
Levi stared deep into her eyes. She waited for his kiss but he hesitated. His heart belonged to Calliope. Still it was with great reluctance that he lowered his hand from the satiny skin of her cheek.
A beeping filled the room and her disappointed look vanished, only to be replaced by relief. She sidestepped and reached into her pocket, pulling out that shiny object once more.
“Awesome. Hang tight. I’ll call you an ambulance.”
He watched her put the device to her ear and speak rapidly. He had no clue if there was anyone at the other end. She, however, appeared satisfied when she closed it, before returning the item to her pocket.
“They’re on their way. You should probably sit down until they get here.” She gestured to the chair she’d put him in earlier.
“Who is coming?” Despite the pounding of his head, he couldn’t ignore the desire to protect her.
She frowned at him. “The ambulance. I told you I would call it. You’ve got a nasty cut that they should look at. Not to mention you seem to have a lack of remembering, which you may want to go to a hospital and have it checked out.”
“You are helping me?”
“Really, dude. I don’t know where the hell you came from. All of a sudden you’re just here. Bleeding, I might add, on the floor. You’re lucky I don’t call the cops.”
She confused him. There was no fear in her gaze. In fact, she seemed more than defiant. He liked it.
“I told you I wouldn’t hurt you.”
“Uh huh. Humor me. Get the checkup, then if you don’t want to go with them you don’t have to, but I can’t have you bleeding all over my store.”
He gingerly touched the cut on his head. She’d cleaned it but it had begun to bleed again. Unsure what to do—and of where he was—he went to the chair and sat. Eyes on her, he ran over her again.
She was beautiful. Thunder cracked and the lights flickered again. A loud pounding came from the back door and they both jumped. She recovered quickly and moved to open it. When two large white men walked in, he half rose from his chair, thinking he would need to protect her.
“Where is he?”
“Right over here.” She gestured in his direction and the men approached him.
Interesting.
They didn’t blink over her color or his. The larger of the two men crouched beside him and gazed at him, taking in his clothing before focusing on him again.
“Nasty cut you got there. What happened?”
Past him, Levi could see Ta-Mara watching them with a concerned expression. He wanted to reassure her somehow but didn’t know why or how.
“Sir? Your cut?”
He shook his head. “I do not remember.”
The man looked at Ta-Mara, who shrugged. “Not sure. I…found him like that. He seemed disoriented and so came in to sit out the storm until we got cell service again and could call out.”
Cell service?
What is that? And why is she lying about me coming in?
This was where he’d awoken.
He sat still as the strangers checked and cleaned his wound. As the man asked questions, Levi’s headache returned, worse than before, and he winced with the onslaught of pain.
“I think you need to get to a hospital.”
Every instinct within him rebelled. He’d seen them, seen the horrors that went on in them. The screams and cries from those who were losing limbs to gangrene or having bullets dug out of their body.
He glanced again to Ta-Mara who just watched him. What he really needed was a bed and some sleep…then some answers about what was going on.
“How about I bring him in if his headache doesn’t go away?” Ta-Mara’s offer surprised him.
The other man—the smaller of the two—moved to her side and Levi fought off a growl. They talked in hushed tones and he couldn’t make out what they were saying. It didn’t help the one beside him continued asking questions.
“I am okay,” he said, pushing the man’s hand away from the cut.
The men shared a look and gathered their things. “You sure you won’t go to the hospital?”
He shook his head and moments later, they were left alone. The pounding in his head increased yet he refused to look away from Ta-Mara. She didn’t look so sure any more.
“You are frightened of me.”
She shook her head immediately. “No. Not frightened. Unsure of what I’m going to do with you now.”
His attention drifted from her toward the box that played music. Pushing to his feet, he started toward it. At the rectangular shape, he reached out and pressed a button. Immediately it jacked up the volume and the noise—loud and pounding—flew from it. He jumped back before scrambling to fix it to how it had been.
She slid a strong arm past him and touched another button. The music returned to the lower level it had been at.
“Not a rap fan, I take it?” she asked.
Rap? What’s rap?
He just shook his head, not trusting his voice.
“You sure seem like you’ve not seen anything like this before.” She crossed her arms. “Are you sure you don’t want me to take you to a hospital?”
Oh, he was sure. He licked his lips, uncertain of what to say now. This was all new and foreign to him. He wanted to explore it more and yet he wanted to be around Ta-Mara.
“No hospital,” he said after swallowing a few times.
She frowned slightly, a furrow appearing on her brow. “You need me to take you somewhere? Hotel? Or wherever you’re staying for the reenactment?”
A dilemma. He had no money, no place to stay, no anything, save the wet, sodden clothes on his back.
“I have nowhere to go.”
Ta-Mara studied him intently and he almost shifted under her gaze. What she saw he wasn’t sure, but she seemed to be weighing some things. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, his life was in her hands.
It didn’t take too much for him to realize this was not his time. There were too many things he couldn’t explain and hadn’t ever seen before.
“I must be insane to even consider this,” she muttered, shoving a hand through her hair.
He longed to touch the mass of black curls himself. There was something about her that reminded him so much of someone from his past—his precious Calliope.
“Consider what?”
She continued muttering to herself as if he’d not even spoken at all. Turning her back to him, she walked off and he found himself mesmerized by the gentle sway of her full hips clad in her white clothing.
He followed her, unwilling to leave her alone—or leave himself alone. Trailing behind her, he looked around the store they moved through.
Books everywhere.
The building was larger than some libraries he’d seen. It struck him as odd that she was here, for he didn’t know many blacks who could read. However, the way she reached out and touched some of them as they passed, told him of a deep affection and familiarity with the tomes.
She checked the front door, ensuring it was locked securely then she swiped a few things off the desk and faced him. Even in the dim lighting, he couldn’t help but notice the feminine appreciation in her gaze.
“Let’s go then.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Go?”
“Look, buddy. I’m not entirely sure who you are or where you came from, but I can’t…hmm…
won’t
leave you hear overnight. Since you won’t go to a hospital and I’m not entirely sure that’s a wise decision, I’ll put you up for the night. Come morning, after the storm has passed, we can figure out what to do with you.”
“I’m to go with you?”
“Taking that Confederate thing a bit far, don’t you think?” She shrugged easily but he realized he’d insulted her. “You don’t have to, if you have nowhere else to go, feel free to sleep outside in an alley and hopefully you’ll make it through the night. Or, you can come with me and have a dry bed, et cetera. Your choice.”
“You. I choose you.”
Even to him, those words sounded an awful lot like a promise. She held his gaze before nodding.
“Let’s get to it then. I’m hungry.”
He could use some food himself. Following her back to where he first met her, he watched as she turned off the music and reached for a leather coat. Then she opened the back door and tilted her head at him.
“I’m the silver metallic Mariner.” She waved him out of the door and into the rain.
He stepped out into the downpour and froze. Any doubt he wasn’t in his time anymore, was eliminated. As far as he could see, tall buildings emitted bright light, cutting through the rain with disturbing ease. When he looked away from them, he focused on what was before him and saw strange contraptions—large, wheeled and totally new to him.
“Don’t just stand there,” she said over a loud rumble of thunder and streaks of lightning as it jagged across the sky. “Get in. I’ll unlock it when you’re closer.”
His head spun and he wobbled a bit on his feet. This…was not anything like he’d expected. He was totally out of his element and had no idea what was going on. Not only that, but he had no idea what a silver metallic Mariner was. What would she do when she realized that?
Ta-Mara finished setting the alarm and locked the dead bolt. Spinning, she saw her stranger just standing there in the rain. She almost hollered to him again but the look on his face dried up her call. Lost, confused—those were the expressions she made out on his face.
I did say I would control my imagination, right?
Perhaps because part of her wondered if he was even from this time. His costume looked extremely authentic and him… Well, she wondered.
Oh please, what are you thinking, that he traveled through time and ended up here?
Right now, it didn’t matter. She needed to get herself—and him—out of the rain. She rushed by him and headed for her SUV.
“Come on!” she called over her shoulder as she unlocked her vehicle. “Climb in the front.”
He entered shortly after her and she tried hard—really hard—not to stare at the way his uniform molded to him. His cloak was in his lap and she tore her gaze away to start the engine. His jolt was so blatant she glanced at him again.
“Are you all right?”
“What is this?” His eyes were wide and he gripped the door handle as well as the armrest. His fingers were white.
Yep. It was official—she was losing her sanity. She truly believed from this unrehearsed reaction he’d never been in a vehicle before. Before she could talk herself out of it, she reached over and covered his hand with hers. There was no disguising the strength in him.
He focused those amazing eyes on her and she wanted only to reassure him.