Time Travel Romances Boxed Set (141 page)

If she knew it, she apparently didn’t
care.

She shook her head. “Your father always said
you were too stubborn for your own good.
I
thought he was
too hard on you, but…”

“
That’s it!” Mitch slammed
the box closed and marched to the front door. He turned back to
glare at his stepmother. “Watch the kids for a few minutes, would
you?”

He would go and meet the flake, prove that
she was a charlatan, and be home in five minutes. Mission
accomplished.

It wasn’t exactly rocket science.

“
Of course!” Andrea said,
laughing at him. “Let us know what you learn.”

He ignored her as he strode down the steps
and across the lawn. The neon sign on his neighbor’s house blinked
in candy cane pink.

Lilith’s Lovematches.

Right.

*

Lilith prowled through her house restlessly,
noting how the light coming through the back windows had turned
golden. Soon the twilight would creep over the sky, the time she
found more and more difficult to bear. Twilight was the moment it
seemed anything could happen.

But nothing ever did, not now.

She had first seen Sebastian in that strange
light. The sun had been sinking on the horizon, the moon rising
opposite, the first stars lighting in the sky. And in that one
moment, with one glimpse, Lilith had been smitten.

And later, on the night that they’d shared
everything, he’d come to the
Rom
camp at the same magickal
time of day. Looking for her. Lilith hugged herself, remembering
the heat in his eyes, the slow smile that had been just for her.
Her heart pounded in recollection and her mouth went dry.

She was fed up with memories. She wanted him
back!

The doorbell rang and Lilith jumped.

Sebastian?

But a wink of neon caught the periphery of
her vision and squashed her hope. She’d just left the sign on.

The last thing she wanted to do was provide
advice – especially as she was aching herself.

The doorbell rang again, more insistently
this time.

It wouldn’t be right to not answer.

She’d just say that she couldn’t do a
reading tonight.

Lilith trudged to the door, haunted by her
memories. D’Artagnan wound around her ankles, but she ignored the
cat and opened the door.

“
I’m sorry, but…” she
started to say, then stared in disbelief.

Sebastian was on her porch.

His chestnut hair still curled slightly. His
eyes were still the same golden brown. He was taller than she
remembered and more powerfully built than he had been before. He
was a little older than he had been, but then, so was Lilith.

Neither of them were impetuous teenagers
anymore.

Sebastian wore a red T-shirt that clung to
his chest and denim shorts that still hid too much of his muscled
legs. His feet were shoved into faded running shoes and his hair
looked as if he had just pushed his fingers through it. Certainly
the tinge of impatience in the set of his lips was new, but then
Lilith was pretty much out of patience herself.

Obviously, he had had trouble finding her
again.

But he was here! Just the sight of him on
her very own doorstep sent a spark racing through Lilith’s veins.
He was all man. He was her man. He was her beloved.

He’d returned, just as he’d promised.

And she’d been waiting a long long time.

This wasn’t a moment to waste on
conversation.

She had, after all, vowed to make his return
worth his while.

Lilith grabbed Sebastian’s shirt and hauled
him into her foyer. She slammed the door behind him, locked it with
one hand while she curled the other around his neck and kissed him
hard.

Sebastian jumped a bit in surprise – maybe
he’d forgotten how passionate she could be – but she backed him
into the hallway, rolling her tongue into his mouth.

The man was going to know that he’d been
missed.

He tasted so good, and smelled even better.
Lilith ran her hands over his muscled shoulders and savored.

Sebastian made a sound of protest, but
Lilith gobbled it up. She didn’t care if this was too fast – she
was burning with desire.

Next time, they would take it slowly.

And the next time and the next time after
that. They could spend all night reaffirming their love, a glorious
repeat of the passion that had sparked between them before.

But first, she wanted him fast.

Right here and right now.

Lilith pressed her breasts against Sebastian
and felt the heat of his erection. She rolled her hips against him
and loved how he caught his breath. He was still trying to tell her
something, but she didn’t care.

It could wait.

Lilith unzipped his fly, her fingers closing
quickly around him. Sebastian moaned and caught his breath as she
began to caress him. He still tried to talk, but Lilith kissed him
with even more enthusiasm. It might have been centuries, but Lilith
hadn’t forgotten anything her lover had taught her. She loved his
little sound of defeat, the moment he surrendered the attempt to
talk, the way his hands landed on her shoulders and pulled her
closer.

Lilith slid her fingers into his hair to
pull him closer. She slanted her mouth more determinedly across his
and he kissed her back with an answering heat that made her heart
race. She lifted her dress and rubbed his erection against her bare
belly as she wiggled out of her underwear. His hand slid over her
buttock, his fingers slid across her heat and he shuddered.

He was all hers.

Of course, she’d always been all his.

His erection grew as he touched her. His
kiss turned ravenous and Lilith arched against him, demanding more
and more and more.

He felt so good.

She pushed him down to the Persian rug,
kissing him hungrily all the while. She rolled on top of him as
soon as he hit the floor and he pulled her closer. She kicked her
underwear aside and straddled him.

He might have said something then, but she
kissed him to silence, urging him into her heat.

He was bigger than she remembered and that
news was welcome. He gasped, then they kissed with even greater
passion. The heat rose within her as they drove each other
wild.

It only took a moment until Sebastian
clenched her hips and bellowed in his release. Then he touched her
with those strong fingers, sending her over the brink even as she
felt the warmth of his release. Lilith cried out in turn, then
tumbled into the haven of his arms, content.

Sebastian was back.

This time Lilith wasn’t going to lose
him.

For any price.

*

Mitch was quite certain that he had never
had a beautiful woman pounce on him before.

He definitely would have remembered that. He
felt as though he had just tasted single malt scotch for the first
time. Even his toes tingled.

But people didn’t just do stuff like
this.

Did they? Mitch leaned back against the
hardwood floor and kept his eyes tightly closed. He moved his
fingers and found the curve of a perfect bare, luscious buttock
beneath his hand. The woman’s perfume - something warmly seductive
and completely alien to Mitch’s life - wound into his nostrils.

His mouth went dry.

Mitch frowned as he reviewed the course of
events. He had knocked on the door, he remembered that. And an
exotic woman had opened the door. She was dark-eyed and
dark-haired, curvaceous, and wearing a dress as red as cherries.
He’d never seen a woman like her, outside of Italian fashion
magazines.

Mitch had gotten no further than that before
her dark eyes flashed in welcome, she hauled him into her foyer,
locked the door and started kissing him like there was no
tomorrow.

This neighborhood had one hell of a welcome
wagon.

Mitch was unable to rationally explain what
had just happened, yet for the moment, he didn’t really care. After
all, it had been a long, long,
long
three years since Janice
had packed her bags, and even longer than that since she had slept
with him.

She’d certainly never jumped on him.

Not even once.

Mitch exhaled unevenly, knowing there was no
way he could have stopped what just happened, regardless of his
usual chivalrous inclinations. Swearing off relationships and just
not being a fling kind of guy could seriously impact a man’s sex
life.

It had certainly impacted Mitch’s.

Until just now.

He hadn’t had a chance. Mitch was unable to
shake the sense that he had just stepped into one of his buddy
Kurt’s frequently recounted - and seldom believed, at least by
Mitch - amorous adventures.

He couldn’t exactly remember how things went
from here.

“
Wow,” the lady purred.
“You
were
worth waiting for.”

She had an accent as exotic as her looks.
Something European, maybe French or Italian. Her voice was low,
just the sound of it making Mitch shiver in anticipation.

She sighed with obvious pleasure and ran her
fingertips across his shoulder. Mitch slanted a glance her way,
instinctively bracing himself for a reality check.

But she was smiling. At him.

Mitch stared as his first impression was
vehemently reinforced. The lady was a stunner. Dark hair and creamy
skin, thick lashes and lips almost as curvy as the rest of her. She
was more unabashedly feminine than any woman he had ever seen
before.

And her presence was so tranquil. She simply
watched him study her, apparently not in a rush to go anywhere or
say anything. Mitch had the definite sense that she’d be perfectly
content to lay together here all day.

A hint of a smile curved her lips and
something in those eyes made Mitch’s blood quicken. Her eyes were
dark, dark brown, so dark that he couldn’t discern where the iris
ended and the pupil began. They were remarkable eyes, even more
remarkable than the rest of her, which was really saying
something.

If the eyes were the windows to the soul,
this woman’s eyes would open a portal into whole other universe.
One of secrets, wisdom, and things a man might not really want to
know.

Before Mitch could wonder how that kind of
whimsy had make its way into the relentless logic he usually
followed, she tapped a finger in the middle of his chest.

A twinkle glimmered in the depths of her
eyes. “I told you I’d make coming back worth your while,” she
murmured, her seductive tone making Mitch’s heart pound again.

Mitch’s good sense chose that moment to
return with a vengeance. His eyes widened as he did the math. He
had just had sex with a complete stranger!

Was he out of his ever-loving mind?

He was a journalist! He wrote articles about
STD’s, he compounded stats about unsafe sex, he had done a series
on AIDS. And he, as matter of personal principle, had never
ever
been casual about intimacy!

Mitch was on his feet in a flash, his hands
shaking as he fought against his unruly zipper.

She was still watching him, that bemused
smile clinging to her ripe lips. Mitch couldn’t even think
straight, but he tried to talk his way through it.

“
Look, I don’t know what
just happened here, but…”

The woman rolled to one hip and laughed
unexpectedly. Her dark wavy hair cascaded over her shoulder, her
dress gaped open to reveal the luscious curve of her breasts. She
was so at ease with her sensuality, in marked contrast to how
uptight Janice had been, that Mitch had to fight his urge to have a
good look.

“
Whatever it was,” she
said, a thread of humor in her voice, “it was very, very
good.”

Her admiration was so open that Mitch felt
the back of his neck heat. What was protocol here? A life without
casual sex had left Mitch without a script, never mind a marriage
with a woman who hated being touched. This woman’s cheerful
enjoyment was as puzzling as the situation itself.

Should Mitch apologize? Should he thank her?
Should he try to explain?

Explain
what
, exactly? Mitch didn’t
like being at a loss for words, but none popped into his mind to
save him.

The woman stretched with leisurely
satisfaction, then rolled to her feet. Her red floral dress
fluttered around her shapely calves, the bodice draped open as
though inviting Mitch to take a look at those creamy breasts.

She treated Mitch to a sultry smile as she
flicked back her impossibly long hair, then she took a step closer.
Those eyes smoldered and Mitch knew he was not nearly as immune to
the lady as he would have liked to have been.

This was crazy. He knew nothing about
her.

He was a father, Mitch reminded himself when
she sidled closer and his heart began to pound. He was a
responsible man. He was a journalist.

He was an
adult
.

“
Was it worth your while?”
she asked softly and Mitch felt a telltale response in his
shorts.

This was not how things should be
proceeding! Mitch frowned and tried to look suitably forbidding. He
had to steer their conversation back to some rational course.

But the woman wasn’t paying any attention to
his best glower. Mitch stiffened as her fingertips trailed along
the neck of his t-shirt. He fought to keep his mind out of the
gutter and his gaze out of her cleavage.

It wasn’t easy.

And the way she leaned against him to kiss
his throat wasn’t helping. “Maybe we should adjourn to the
bedroom,” she whispered, her words heating Mitch’s very blood.

Wait a minute! Mitch cleared his throat
deliberately. What he had to do was get to the root of the
story.

Right! He’d ask the questions. Familiar
ground, to be sure. He summoned his best reporter voice. “When
exactly did you tell me that you’d make it worth my while?”