The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance (36 page)

She pushed the idea aside and relished the warmth of his calloused palm against hers. He was a stranger, but he treated her in a way that was almost casually intimate. That wasn’t what made her uneasy. The part that unnerved her was how natural it felt, as if it would be wrong if he wasn’t touching her. She needed to get her mind off this before she started dreaming up really stupid ideas. Lia tugged free, trying to dispel the weird sense of rightness, and said, “This place is like a ghost town. Where is everybody?”

“Around somewhere. There’re only about five hundred people inside a city that once held up to fifty thousand. It always looks like this. You’ll get used to it.”

Lia didn’t want to get used to it. She wanted to glance up and see aeroplanes leaving contrails; she wanted to go into Starbucks and grab a cup of coffee; she wanted to deal with crowds and traffic. But she didn’t say anything. It wasn’t like she could change anything, and Troll couldn’t either. He took her hand again and this time she hung on, needing the connection as they continued through a nearly empty alien city.

They turned a corner into a square. Smack dab in the middle was an unsightly corrugated metal building with a flagpole in front of it. Now she saw a few other people and she expected Troll to release her. He didn’t. “Let me guess,” Lia said, “we brought that monstrosity from Earth.”

“You know it.”

Something else caught her eye. “That isn’t the US flag.”

He gazed at her for a moment before he said, “It belongs to the Western Alliance. There are a lot of Americans here, but this is an Alliance outpost.”

“Western Alliance?”

“You had the European Union in your time, right?” When she nodded, he said, “It’s like that – mostly – except with more countries involved. The history is convoluted and it evolved throughout the years and with each of the wars.”

“Wars?” Maybe this time wasn’t more advanced than hers.

“Sorry, my explanations are only raising more questions for you. I’ll stop and let you read up on what’s happened the last forty years. Links will take you from topic to topic and you’ll get more complete answers than I can give you.” Troll’s expression turned sheepish. “History wasn’t my favourite class. I passed it, but I didn’t pay much attention.”

History. Things that hadn’t occurred for her yet were events from his past. Some of it had likely even happened before . . . “When were you born?” she demanded.

“June 3, 2018.”

Her eyes went wide and she did some maths. “My God, I’m thirty-six years older than you are!”

He shook his head. “If you’d lived through all that time, yeah, but you didn’t. From what the Colonel told me, you’re four years younger than me.”

“Your colonel talks a lot,” Lia grumbled.

“A briefing is different than gossip, and when it comes to a mission, there’s no such thing as too much intel.”

She was a mission? Blood roared in her ears for a moment. She was on her own in a time and place where she wasn’t sure of the rules, but she’d ridiculously latched on to Troll as her guide. “I’m only an assignment?” Lia asked, unable to stop herself.

“You know better than that. Believe me, I don’t handle my missions like this. If I did, I’d have been booted out of Spec Ops a long time ago.”

And that easily, the weight on her chest eased enough to let her take in air. “What else do you know about me?”

“What else did you tell Sullivan?” Troll countered, his thumb rubbing circles on her palm, arousing as well as relaxing her. “He might have sent a request to Earth to get more information, but it’s too early to have anything back yet.”

Time lag in communications. She hadn’t thought about that, but she should have. Lia was still mulling it over when she recognized where they were – in front of the security building. The MPs had dragged her here last night after they’d escorted her to the bottom of the pyramid. Her heart kicked into high gear again and betrayal made a lump block her throat. She dug in her heels, refusing to move forwards. “You said we were going to lunch, but you’re taking me back to that colonel, aren’t you?”

“No. I’m bringing you to my quarters to drop off your stuff and the quickest route happens to take us past security headquarters.”

She wanted to believe him. Troll was the only one who seemed to be on her side and she needed that. She needed
him.
Because of it, Lia stared hard, trying to see the truth.

“The MPs could have brought you to security HQ without involving me.” He squeezed her hand, his thumb continuing to caress her skin. “And we both know I didn’t have to lie to get you here. You’re not exactly operating from a position of power.”

Reluctantly, she nodded. Troll was right, it wasn’t as if she could refuse to go anywhere, but this . . . connection . . . she felt to him made her idiotic. “Your quarters?” she asked.

“Yeah, I –” He stopped abruptly, straightened, and though his left hand continued to hold hers, his right went to his forehead to salute a man drawing near.

Half afraid she’d see the colonel, Lia turned to get a better look. It wasn’t Sullivan, but some other officer and her muscles unclenched. She watched the man drop his gaze to their joined hands, then look back up at them. He returned the salute, shook his head, and kept going. Only then did Troll relax.

“He’s sure good-looking,” she said. “Who was that?”

Troll scowled. “Major Brody. He’s married with three boys and devoted to his wife so you’re out of luck.”

Did he sound jealous? Lia scoffed at herself for having the thought. Not only did they meet maybe ten minutes ago, but Troll had to know that very few males could measure up to him in the gorgeous department. “It was just a comment and some curiosity, not a plan to hunt the man.” And before she could stop herself, she added, “But I can see how a guy like you would be insecure about his appeal. I’m guessing you were nicknamed Troll because of how ugly you are?”

One side of his mouth quirked up. “Something like that.”

He tugged gently and she fell into step with him. It wasn’t until after the metal building was out of sight that she asked, “Why did you keep hold of me when you saluted? Your colonel made it clear that he thought I was a spy, aren’t you worried about getting into trouble for associating with me? And why did that major shake his head, but not say anything?”

This time it was Troll who stopped walking. “We’re never going to make it to the mess hall for lunch,” he muttered. He glanced around and led her to a bench against the front of a dove-grey building. “Have a seat.”

Lia quelled the urge to ask why and did as he suggested.

Troll sat beside her, his thigh nearly brushing hers, and stared straight ahead. For a moment, he didn’t speak and she had a sense he was trying to decide what to share. Finally, he said, “Major Brody shook his head because I have a reputation with women.”

“Undeserved?”

Troll sighed, but confessed, “No, I earned it, but I reformed about two years ago. Not that anyone except my teammates believes it, but it’s the truth.”

Lia considered that and decided it was better to leave it alone. “What about you being so cosy with a suspected spy?”

That got her a frown and another admission. “The Colonel suggested I romance you if necessary to get information about your mission. If someone reports we’re holding hands, it’ll get chalked up to my following orders.”

She tried to jump to her feet, wounded by his words, but Troll snagged her wrist and held on.

“Listen to me,” he said, turning towards her to meet her gaze. “I wouldn’t have told you this if I planned to do it. I informed Sullivan I wouldn’t prostitute myself for the Alliance. You can ask him the next time you see him. What’s between us . . . it feels right. You sense it, too, Lia.”

Yes, she did, but . . . “We just met. We don’t know each other.”

“I’m aware of that, but it doesn’t seem to matter.”

It didn’t. “I don’t want this,” she said, but Lia couldn’t stop staring into his eyes, couldn’t stop thinking about pressing her lips to his, as long as his mouth was this near anyway.

“Me either, but some things are too powerful to fight.”

“I wouldn’t have guessed you were a fatalist.” She couldn’t kiss him out here on the street. Could she?

Troll shook his head. “I’m not. We have free will, but I do believe in destiny and you’re mine.”

Heat built low in her belly. One quick peck, just to find out what it was like. “It’s too soon.” But he was right, it didn’t seem to matter. Damn, she wanted to taste him.

“I’ll back off.”

He stood and she did as well. The hell with it, she decided. Lia dropped her bag and put her free hand on his nape to keep him close. “This is a mistake,” she murmured.

And, leaning into him, she brushed her lips over his.

Desire slammed into her with breath-stealing strength and she needed more of him. Wrapping both arms around his neck, she went back for a second, longer kiss. Still not enough. She ran her tongue over his lips and Troll opened for her as his hands went to her waist, pulling her tightly against his body. Good. He felt so damn good.

So damn perfect.

Destiny. That thought frightened her enough to break the kiss and quickly put distance between them. One glance at his darkened eyes, the desire on his face, almost had her tossing aside common sense and going back for more, but Troll banked his heat before she gave in to the urge.

“Come on,” he said thickly. “We might still make lunch.”

She retrieved her bag and fell into step beside him. This time he didn’t hold her hand and Lia had to curl her fingers to keep from reaching for him. It
was
too soon and she didn’t fit in here. Did she? Of course not. Just because she felt in sync with this one man, it didn’t mean she belonged.

If it wasn’t for that damn vortex, she wouldn’t have to deal with any of this crap. Maybe the Einstein-Rosen Bridge closed instantly, but her wormhole was the Troll Bridge, and it seemed it had been open for business.

“Here we are,” he said, pointing towards a house.

It was small – well, small compared to some of the buildings here, but certainly not tiny by normal standards – and made of cream-coloured stone. There were two wide slate steps leading up to a welcoming front porch, but before she could appreciate much more than that, they were at the entry.

“Just drop your bag inside.” He opened the door for her. “We don’t have time to go in.”

Lia did what he said. Troll closed the door again, took her hand, and hurried them off. “You really are hungry,” she said.

“I missed breakfast helping the Z Man put together a trike for his kid. Who knew it would be that hard and take that many hours?”

“The Z Man?” She was slightly out of breath from trying to keep up with his long strides, but she didn’t ask him to slow.

“One of my buddies.” They reached another metal building and Troll pulled the door open. “Made it.” His smile gave way to a soft groan. “A long line this late isn’t a good sign,” he explained when she looked at him.

They stood in it anyway. He asked the group in front of them if they knew what was going on, but they didn’t. A few minutes later, Troll spotted someone. “Sasha,” he called. A pretty blonde woman came over holding a tray and Lia felt her heart jam in her throat when Troll leaned over to kiss her cheek.

“The team’s back?” Sasha asked and she sounded hopeful.

Troll shook his head. “No, I was pulled for another assignment. Sorry. What’s going on with the line?”

“All the ovens, stoves, and anything else that could heat food crashed. Another of the infamous J. Nine tech glitches. It’s a chicken sandwich or nothing.” She nodded towards her plate and then looked at Lia. “Hi, I’m Sasha Cantore and you’re . . .?”

“Lia Stanton,” she said, but her voice was choked.

“Troll, you get Lia’s lunch,” Sasha told him. “She can wait at a table with me while you stand in line.”

“I’ll stay here,” Lia said.

“Go ahead. Sash will take good care of you and it’ll give you a chance to meet the team wives. Y’all are together, right?”

Sasha shook her head and said dryly, “No, I had a session that ran over schedule. Since we don’t travel in packs like the team husbands do, I can only guess that the other team wives have already eaten and are either working or with the team children.”

“Smart ass,” he said amiably. “Sasha is married to Flare, the team’s warrant officer. She’s also a shrink, so be careful what you say.”

Relief washed through her, but Lia refused to consider why it made her feel better to know this woman was tied to Troll’s friend and not someone he’d had a romantic relationship with. His warning registered a moment later – she’s a psychologist, so don’t mention time travel. “Got it,” she assured him. Sasha started to walk away, but Lia hesitated. “You trust me not to run off?”

“I trust you, period, Lia.” He gently tugged the ends of her hair. “And there’s no point in both of us waiting when you don’t have to decide what you want for lunch, right?”

“I suppose,” she said reluctantly and went over to where Sasha stood. As soon as Lia got there, the blonde turned and headed deeper into the mess hall.

“So you’re Troll’s woman,” she said as she wound her way through the tables.