An Apocalyptic Need (13 page)

The blue-eyed cowboy blinked, frowned slightly, and then caught himself, nodding. “Just up that way a few doors. Ask for Tilly. Tell her Buck Miller sent ya. She’ll give ya a room at a decent rate.”

Grimm inclined his head. “Thanks. ‘Preciate it.”

It was all Cari could do to keep from demanding an explanation as Grimm led her away. But as soon as they got out of earshot she did exactly that in a harsh whisper.

He grinned. “I’m protecting your reputation, captain.”

She arched an eyebrow. “Oh really, how so?”

He shrugged. “In this epoch there’s only one kind of woman who travels alone with a man and sleeps in the same room with him.”

She inhaled an insulted gasp. “I’m
not
sleeping in the same room with you, hunter.”

“Actually you are.”

Cari pulled away and stopped in the middle of the street. “No. I’m not. I’ve already told you I need to get back to the
Stellam
. So if you’ll just point me in the direction of the portal I’ll get out of your hair.”

Hoof beats clambered up behind her and Grimm had to pull her out of the way before a large brown horse bearing a slender man with a creased brown face ran her down. The cowboy doffed his stained white hat and inclined his head as he trotted on by. The horse lifted its black tail and left a steaming trail along the street.

Cari wrinkled her nose at the smell.

Grimm shook his head. “Not happenin’. You’re not safe there. And somebody’s definitely after you, captain. You need to stay with me until we figure out who it is.”

“Everything all right, ma’am?”

She turned to find the bright-eyed cowboy striding toward them again.

“If he continues to pester us I’ll have to take care of him,” Grimm murmured darkly.

Cari glared at Grimm, but she turned to the helpful cowboy and forced herself to laugh. “Everything’s fine, kind sir. I’m afraid I’m just a little out of sorts these days…” she laid her hand over her belly and gave him a soft smile, rubbing protectively.

The other man choked on the smoke swirling from between his lips and turned away, coughing. “Take care then.” He made rapid tracks down the street in the opposite direction.

“Genius.” Grimm laughed as he took her arm. “Men in this epoch don’t want to hear anything about a woman’s reproductive system.”

Cari let herself be pulled toward the wooden walkway lining the street. Just ahead of them a small sign declared the existence of
Tilly’s Board and Bread
. The pretty building was tall and narrow, with pastel colored flowers spilling out of rough wooden boxes installed below the street-level windows. “Here we are,” Grimm said cheerfully. We’ll get settled and then, later tonight I need to go see a saloon girl about an ambush.”

Cari didn’t respond. She was too busy planning the rest of her day. Which she hoped included getting the hell out of Dodge Town. As soon as she figured out where the portal was.

~AN~

The proprietress of
Tilly’s Board and Bread
was a cherubic brunette with green eyes, her hair pulled up into a braid that she twined around the top of her head in a messy, lopsided bun. Her round cheeks were pink with exertion as she hurried toward them, drying pudgy fingers on a striped towel. “Hello! Welcome to Tilly’s!”

She clasped Cari’s hands and pumped them with excitement. “My goodness, aren’t you a pretty thing?”

Cari’s eyes widened slightly but she smiled, thanking the woman almost shyly.

Grimm would have never guessed the capable captain of the
Morte Stellam
could be bashful and he found it surprisingly charming. “My wife and I would be grateful if you could put us up in a room for a couple of nights.” He gave the woman his most winning smile and she bit her lip as she glanced away. “Certainly. I have only the one room open right now. It’s at the top of the stairs and there’s nobody else…” She stopped, her cheeks darkening with embarrassed color. “It will be ever so private and quiet up there.”

Grimm nodded. “That sounds perfect. Can we get some food sent up, please?”

Tilly clapped her hands. “Of course. I have fresh bread, still warm from the oven, and thick slabs of cheese.” She touched Cari’s arm, lowering her voice. “I’m guessin’ you’d like a bath drawn too, ma’am?”

Cari nodded. “I’d like that. Thank you, Tilly.”

The woman motioned them toward the stairs. “Go on up now. The door’s unlocked. I’ll bring you some supper shortly. My girls’ll fix your bath for you.”

Tilly scurried away, down a hallway leading to the back of the house. She called out to someone as she went.

Grimm placed his hand in the small of Cari’s back and gave her a gentle push toward the stairs. “After you, Mrs. Forbes.”

“Ha, ha. You know you’re going to have to vacate the premises while I bathe right?”

Climbing the steps behind her, Grimm fixed his gaze on her tight little behind, which looked singularly enticing in Scarlett’s cast off yellow dress, and considered denying the luscious captain her privacy.

“Grimm?”

He pulled his gaze from her backside and his mind from the gutter to look up at her. She glared down at him. “What?” he asked.

“You
will
leave the room while I have my bath.”

Since it wasn’t a question he didn’t treat it as one. Shrugging, he reached past her and opened the door which, as Tilly had promised, was the only one on the third floor. Shoving it open, Grimm stepped inside, scanning it quickly before allowing Cari inside.

She brushed past him looking decidedly cranky.

Grimm smiled He liked the soft flush of color that stained her pale cheeks when she was mad. He would have to annoy her more often.

“You don’t have to poke and prod and check everything ahead of me, hunter. I’m not some delicate flower to be protected.”

Apparently annoying her wasn’t going to be difficult, Grimm mused.

His gaze slipped over the single, smallish bed and his groin tightened. Before a cold fire was a wooden trough which was higher on one end and rounded rather than square at the edges. The tub was half full already, the surface dotted with rose petals. As he moved past it to the window, the gentle scent of the flowers touched his senses.

He thought of that scent adorning Cari’s soft flesh and nearly groaned as his cock thickened to an uncomfortable state. Grimm pulled the curtains aside and looked down at the street. Several women with parasols strolled the wooden walkways, chatting and waving to each other as they walked. Riders trotted dusty mounts along the streets, doffing their hats to the women.

A small wagon, filled with produce, rumbled through, pulled by a bony horse that looked about ready to expire. An older man and woman sat sternly upon its hard wooden seat, looking neither left nor right as they passed through town.

A soft rustling told him Cari had joined him at the window. Her gentle scent seasoned the air he breathed and he turned away from the mundane activity below to examine her pretty profile.

“What in the world brought us here, hunter? I thought the portal was set for the twenty-first world, 2180.”

He frowned. “The Authority’s world? I’m assuming that’s not a coincidence?”

Cari avoided his gaze. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He reached for her face, framing her cheek with his hand. Her skin was impossibly soft against his calloused palm. “Why won’t you tell me what you’re up to, captain?” He lowered his head, inhaling her sweet breath as she fidgeted and made as if to pull away.

His hand slipped downward, wrapping gently around her throat to hold her in place. Her pulse beat a terrified rhythm against his fingers. He frowned, his lips mere inches from hers. “What are you afraid of, Cari?”

She shook her head, pulling away. “I’m not afraid of anything, hunter. Certainly not you.”

Grimm slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her close, his cock going rock hard as her breasts pressed against him. “I think you
are
afraid of me, captain.” He kissed a delicate cheekbone and caught her gasp against his face. Lifting his head slightly, Grimm brushed his thumb over the delicate skin beneath her eye. “You’re terrified of the feelings between us.” He kissed the skin at the corner of her lush lips. “Your body swells toward me even now.” He licked the cute dimple in her delicate chin and her hips pressed forward, encompassing his aching shaft in soft heat. “You want my cock inside you, my body rocking over yours as heat swirls in your belly. You want me to fuck you until you scream, beautiful captain. You want me to conquer you and take away your resistance.” Grimm covered her parted lips with his own and Cari moaned softly, her hands coming up to twine behind his head. Grimm’s restraining hand slipped down her torso, no longer holding her there but intent on driving the lust which exploded between them to the next level. He skimmed it over the gentle swelling at the underside of her breast, finding the hard little pebble of her nipple beneath the soft cotton.

She made a soft noise as his hand rubbed the hungry little bud and Grimm lifted his head, kissing his way down her throat. “You’re afraid to make the choice, so you want me to take…” His teeth closed over her hard nipple through the worn cotton and she gave a little cry. “You want me to capture…” He covered the nipple with his lips, sucking it through her dress.

Cari’s head dropped back and her hands pressed the back of his head as she quivered with emotion. Grimm took the second nipple into his mouth.

Cari said his name, her voice husky and deep.

Grimm reached for her skirts, tugging them upward with both hands. “I’m not afraid to tell you that I need it too, captain. I crave your body, naked and writhing beneath mine, your sweet legs spreading as I plunge my cock deep.”

Cari grasped his face in her hands, lifting it so she could look into his eyes. “I do want that, hunter. I’ve never wanted anything more.”

Grimm pulled her skirts to her waist, his hands sliding beneath to feel her satin skin. His fingers touched more cotton. Lots of it. He grimaced “What the hell? I feel like I’m seducing a nun. How did people in this epoch ever manage to make love with all these layers on?”

Cari laughed, the sound breathy.

A soft knock sounded on the door and a tentative, high pitched inquiry revealed that Tilly’s “girls” had arrived with the hot water for Cari’s bath.

Grimm hurried toward the door, fully intending to lock it and tell them to go away.

Unfortunately, Cari got there first.

And dammit all. She let them in.

~AN~

Grimm stood in the center of the street, scratching his head. The building looked the same. He glanced to either side of the saloon and frowned. A blacksmith and a dry goods store. He couldn’t have mistaken the building.

Grimm pushed through the swinging doors again and headed toward the back, where he remembered following Scarlett the fake saloon girl when he’d been there before.

The room looked exactly as he remembered it.

Except for the missing door leading to Scarlett’s rooms.

“You lost, mister?”

He turned to find a rosy cheeked, wide-eyed woman with frizzy blonde hair grinning at him. With full breasts, a tiny waist and slim arms and legs, she would have been pretty if it wasn’t for the huge gap at the center of her smile. Grimm realized the rosy cheeks were a product of the heavy application of rouge and the wide, dark eyes had been applied with a liberal hand too.

“I’m looking for Scarlett.”

The heavily painted features folded into a frown. “Ain’t nobody here by that name.” The frown smoothed from her pale brow and she tried the grin again, sidling closer. The woman smelled of sweat and carnal things and Grimm had to force himself not to step away. “But I’d be happy to spend some time with ya, han’some.” Her lewd wink ripped away any impression he had of soft prettiness.

He shook his head. “I need to talk to Scarlett.”

Her smile slid away. “And I tol’ ya she ain’t here. But, if you find the bitch send her my way. She gets more notice than all the other whores combined.” Shaking her head, the woman turned away.

“Wait.” Grimm reached for her. “Has somebody else been here asking about her?”

The unmistakable sound of a pistol being cocked had Grimm’s hand halting in mid-air.

“You don’t want to manhandle the merchandise now, mister.”

Grimm turned to find the blue-eyed cowboy peering at him down the long muzzle of an old fashioned gun. Grimm had never been shot with real bullets, but he figured they’d hurt every bit as much as a flare of burning oxygen from an O
²
gun.

Grimm lifted his hands. “I don’t mean any harm…Buck Miller, right?”

The man’s gaze narrowed further. “Seems a man with a wife as pretty as the one you just deposited at Tilly’s would have more sense than to make a pest of hisself at the saloon in broad daylight.”

As opposed to making a pest of himself after dark?
Grimm mused silently. “I only wanted to talk to Scarlett, that’s all. I promised her I’d check back when I was in town again.”