Reaching Back

by Dawn Ryder

  She tossed her head as Thorn took her to another store. So what? They were all adults here. Her knees were still weak as she moved down the tile walkway and the little clit bar jiggled with each step she took.

  Man, oh man, no wonder sex was an open topic here. If all the females really did have their clits pierced, the guys must be getting lucky a whole lot more often than they ever had during her century.

  But it had been incredible. Noel wasn’t sure if it had been the clit bar, or the fact that she watched in the mirror, or maybe Thorn himself, but her body had never offered up that kind of mind-splitting pleasure before. If that was an orgasm, then it was her first one because what her limited relationships had yielded wasn’t even in the same category.

  “Noel, you are avoiding your task.” Frustration coated his words as Thorn pointed into a clothing shop. “Do you want me to choose your garments for you?” He looked slightly unnerved by that idea, as did Blade and Hunter. Blade even took one long-legged step away from the female clothing on display.

  “Ah, no.”

  “Then what is the difficulty? You have passed up five stores already.” And that was a lot. The shopping mall was full of men’s stores. Men’s clothing, men’s gadgets and all kinds of things that were designed for male enjoyment. They had reached the end of the strip of stores and were standing outside the last one that offered any kind of women’s attire.

  Noel looked at the outfits on display and sighed. It was the first time she really had to face that her entire life was just gone. History, literally. It was hard to chew her pride up and swallow it. But there was no way she could get on with beginning a new life by herself—hell, she didn’t even have a place to sleep if Thorn wasn’t offering. Paying with sex was even harder to stomach but the plain fact was she didn’t even know how to go about getting a job, much less getting her hands on money. It was pitiful and a really tight spot for a girl who had dreamed of being her own boss. Thorn watched her with his intense eyes for a moment before he suddenly nodded his head.

  “I should have guessed.” He lowered his voice as Noel took a couple of steps away from the store. His hand captured her wrist and pulled her into the shop. “Still, you need clothing. We will see to your duty assignment later.”

  “Duty assignment?”

  Thorn nodded as he pulled a purple blouse off a rack and held it up for her inspection. “Everyone serves, Noel. You will be assigned a duty that will earn you monthly pay. It will be your money—I understand pride. It is reasonable for you to be unhappy about accepting my earnings, but it is currently the only way. Once you have a duty assignment, you will have your own credits.”

  Noel felt her lips lift into a smile. Sure, that was a long way from owning her own company, but at least she wouldn’t be surviving on Thorn’s good nature. It was one thing to date a guy, but quite another to be his kept woman.

  “That is what worried you, correct?” Blade crossed his arms over his chest as he considered her.

  “I don’t spend money that I haven’t earned and this is all still rather strange.” Noel shrugged but felt her cheeks turn pink. Having her emotions on display made her shift as she looked at a rack of clothing to keep her eyes away from the men with her.

  “I told you she was strong.” Thorn offered her another hanger as he stepped around her to nab something off the rack behind her. He wasn’t looking at sizes, just pulling stuff off displays. He winked at her as he dropped a skirt into her arms and the growing pile of clothing. “Both in will and body.”

  Blade and Hunter both grunted at his comment. Noel aimed her attention at shopping because pride or no pride, there was no way she was letting Thorn pick out her wardrobe. So far, he had picked out the brightest colors on the racks. She was going to look like a displaced “Summer of Love” hippie if she didn’t do some choosing.

  Thorn appeared relieved to let her go. He stood with his buddies as their conversation buzzed in the background. Noel funneled her attention to the task at hand. The cut and fabric might be different, but the overall idea was still the same.

  But what season was it? And what kind of temperature range did she currently live in? Noel looked around the store and shrugged. She just took a sampling of most of the displays and headed for the dressing room.

  The sizing system was completely foreign and it made for a long hour of trying, trading and dashing between racks and dressing rooms. Noel caught Thorn watching her when she emerged from the back of the store. His eyes moved over her and around the shop each time, but the strange thing was the fact that both Blade and Hunter mimicked him. They were relaxed but still on guard and it was something that set them apart from the men she had dated before.

  Okay, so there were a few other things like their height and brawn that made them different too, but the way they looked at life was unique. It was also kind of sad.

  “Newly selected?”

  It took Noel a second to recognize that she was being spoken to. She turned her attention to the dressing area to find a blue-eyed blonde grinning at her as the other woman turned to look at her back view. There were huge full-length mirrors on the walls and you had to come out of the dressing rooms to get a good look at your whole body. But there was also a wall that hid that area from the front of the store. Only a double-wide, arched doorway let Noel see to the front of the shop where Thorn and his buddies were.

  “I know it’s a huge upset at first but I really like it here.” The blonde smiled as she turned and looked at her reflection. “My name is Sonia.”

  “Noel.”

  Sonia smiled at her before she grabbed a dress that was hanging nearby. “Here, try this one. The color is too dark for me but you’re a brunette. How did you die?”

  Noel laughed as she took the dress. Now there was a topic of conversation that you didn’t think about having all that often. Sonia giggled and tossed her hands in the air. “I was heading down in a plane wreck in 1992. Ice on the wings according to history’s log. When Kraguter yanked me out of that seat, I thought I had died and my past was catching up with me. Scared me to death.”

  “Wow. My townhouse caught fire during a fireworks show. Sort of ruined the whole Fourth of July for me.”

  Sonia didn’t bother to go back into her dressing room. The blonde just took off her dress and reached for another one hanging nearby. Noel shrugged and did the same. Besides, changing in a girls’ locker room wasn’t completely foreign to her.

  But there was a little more to it. Finding another female was somewhat comforting. It sort of made all the weird things stop spinning in circles inside her brain just by showing her that there was normalcy here. Hey, life looked like it intended to go on. That wasn’t a bad thing. Not by a long shot. It was hard to think about the fact that the people she knew had gone on living without her too. All in all, being alive sure beat the alternative that her friends had gone to their graves thinking about her.

  “I really freaked out when I woke up here.” Sonia rolled her eyes and shook her head. “I thought I was imagining it all.”

  “That did cross my mind.”

  “Don’t worry, you’ll find your feet. I have to say that getting a job here is loads better than back in my time.” Sonia had finished her shopping and was getting into her own clothes now. It was a short skirt and little top. She stepped into high heels that made her bottom look really sassy before she turned and finger-combed her hair. She finished and stared at Noel as she was pulling the pants back on.

  “Why don’t you wear one of the outfits you’re buying? All those guys are going to look at you anyway, you might as well have a little fun too.” Sonia winked as she looked at Noel’s pile and pulled out a similar short skirt and top. “I’ll go find some heels for you.”

  A second later the blonde was gone, giving Noel a view of her cute bottom when her skirt swished back and forth as she moved. The miniskirt dangled from her fingers, tempting her to put it on just to tease Thorn and his buddies. It seemed a fitting response to their
clit-piercing challenge.

  A warning bell went off in her head but Noel ignored it. She wasn’t exactly playing with fire. Thorn was a little more like an African lion. He was all predator but with iron control, and that was the part that would make it fun to test his mettle.

  “That’s a little more like it.” Sonia grinned as she sat a pair of plum high-heeled shoes on the floor. Noel stepped into them, pleased that they fit. She turned and looked at her reflection and a little grin appeared on her face. Now that was certain to cause some kind of reaction.

  Sonia laughed as she gathered up her items to purchase. “Go on. Knock his socks off.”

  “I think I will.” Noel left right behind Sonia but she froze in the doorway as she watched the other selected woman hand her choices to another man. He ran his eyes over her figure before grinning at her and moving towards the front door. What caught Noel’s attention was the name on his uniform. Logan not Kraguter, but the man sure looked like he was intimate with Sonia. Her eyes drifted to the three men waiting for her. A funny little suspicion crept up her spine but she shook it off because Thorn was so alpha, there was no way he was into sharing.

  That sort of thing just did not happen in the real world.

  All three men reacted to her new look. Noel stared back at them a little in awe that she, Noel, had managed to strike them all speechless. A surge of excitement went through her as she took the last few steps towards them a little slower.

  Thorn’s eyes flashed dangerously and it sent a thrill right to her core. There was a promise of aggression burning there. Her lion had caught the scent of blood.

  Her own body surged with excitement. Right or wrong, it didn’t change the fact that Noel stared right back at Thorn. Was this what all the books and music and movies had always tried to tell her happened when you met the right guy? This instant need to taunt him and to let him do all those things that mothers told their daughter were taboo?

  Unless you were married. Noel frowned slightly—she had no idea if marriage even existed anymore. That opened up a whole new angle on what exactly taboo was.

  “Well, Thorn 123267 promoted, now that’s a sight.”

  Thorn’s hand snaked out and caught her wrist. A second later he was blocking her body with his as he turned to face their company. Blade and Hunter flanked him, making her peek between their shoulders to see the man.

  Whoever he was, he was staring at her. His dark eyes raked down her body, inspecting her like a display. He grunted as he turned his attention to Thorn. “Not bad, Thorn. Can’t wait to see if you let her lead you around by your balls or not.”

  Thorn snorted at the comment. “You know something, Gutir? Not all of us like poodles in our beds. A little spirit is just fine in a woman.”

  Gutir laughed. He tipped his head back and laughed. Blade cast an angry look at Thorn while the man was looking at the ceiling and he closed the gap that she was looking out of.

  “Pussy-whipped already. No surprise really, I didn’t think you had the cock to put a female in her place.” Gutir walked by and Noel noticed that there was a woman behind him. She never looked up but followed the warrior with quick little steps. Noel felt her breath lodge in her throat as she noticed the collar around the girl’s neck. There were matching ones around her wrists and ankles and Gutir was calmly picking out clothing for her that she did not raise her eyes to look at.

  “Let’s go, Noel.” Thorn wasn’t just asking either. His voice was tight with suppressed anger as his arm curled around her waist to pull her out of the shop.

  “But I haven’t paid for these.”

  Thorn pulled that same metal tag from his pocket and passed it over the scanner at the doorframe. It chirped in response and then a beam of red light slashed over her and the thing chirped again.

  Well, that certainly beat waiting in line at a register. But her eyes strayed back to the girl blindly following Gutir. A shiver shook her frame as she recognized how easily that could have been her. Fear seeped through her control and mixed with her enjoyment of the day. She really was on Thorn’s good humor.

  Thorn’s large hand landed on her back and Noel jumped. His eyes aimed frustration at her as he purposely stroked her back again. That low growl of his brushed her ears as he held her gaze. “Don’t let Gutir upset you.”

  Noel shrugged but it was more of a way to break the physical contact than a response. “I’m tired.” Thorn’s eyes sharpened as they inspected hers with suspicion. Noel refused to give him any hints to her current emotions. Right then, she needed to hold on to the one thing that was in her control. Because that too could be stripped away by the man watching her.

  Noel wanted to dismiss that idea as ridiculous, but she was staring into the reality right then. Her sex drive was flooding her bloodstream with hormones that made her weak.

  “Fine. Let’s go home.”

  Each and every muscle she had began to twist on that trip through the city. Noel marveled at the difference in her emotions from the trip that morning when everything around her had fascinated her.

  Guess that proved the old saying about the glass being half full or half empty—depending on how you looked at it.

  All too soon they were standing on the curb in front of Thorn’s home. Well, their home for the moment. Noel looked at Thorn and tried to decide if she felt any kind of emotion for him besides lust. Thorn wasn’t happy, she could tell by his body language as he closed his fingers around her wrist and took her with him. His longer legs made her hurry to keep up. He spun her loose the second they crossed the threshold, and folded his arms over his chest. She was beginning to recognize the posture as one that all the men assumed when they were talking.

  “I don’t agree with Gutir about women.”

  His voice was tight and the words short. He was on the defensive, making Noel frown. “I didn’t say that you did.”

  His eyebrows dipped in response as he held up one finger. “Then why are you upset? It frightened you, I saw it.” His face told her any protest from her was going to be disregarded. The fact that Thorn had managed to read her emotions so well was both amazing and alarming.

  “I didn’t like it, but that doesn’t mean I’m scared.”

  She was. It bothered him a whole hell of a lot too. Thorn forced his boots to stay right where they were as he searched for some kind of solution. The hours of research he’d done last night on her time period raced through his skull. He had been too tight to sleep with her lying in his bed and had spent the hours of the night learning everything he could find about the world she came from.

  “There were couples who practiced bondage in your time. It was a form of sexual enjoyment.”

  “True, but that doesn’t mean I like it.”

  A single corner of his mouth twitched. His lips went smooth almost instantly but a spark of amusement flared up in his eyes as he unfolded his arms. “Did you ever try it?”

  “What has that got to do with anything? I just don’t like it.”

  His eyes flashed again. A second later she was a captive in his embrace. He slipped one huge arm around her waist and pulled her tightly against his body. His fingers threaded through her hair as he tipped her head up to met his stare. “Didn’t you say the same thing about your clit bar?”

  She gasped and he growled at her. His mouth hovered over her lips a second before gently kissing her cheek on his way to her neck. His breath hit her ear as he spoke in a low rasp, “But your body exploded under just my finger because of that little thing that you swore you wouldn’t like. Think about how it would jiggle if I spanked your bottom.”

  Noel shivered in response and one of his hands brushed the right side of her bottom. Her clit throbbed in response as her brain erupted with the idea. It was such a taboo subject, but tempting almost beyond her control.

  To let Thorn dominate her, bend her, even just for a single encounter. Her pussy clamored approval, even as her brain told her it was barbaric.

  The little skirt suddenly backfi
red as Thorn slipped his hand over the curve of her bottom and then back up under the fabric. Her panties were nothing but an excuse for an undergarment. His fingers stroked her bare skin as he growled in her ear again. The sound traveled down her spine, setting off tingles of excitement as it went.

  “Hmm…where to begin.” His fingers moved with his voice as they brushed both cheeks of her bottom. Her hips jerked as sensation shot from her clit to her pussy. Images flowed freely from her fantasies, and Noel gasped as she found her brain offering up things she had never known she longed for.

  The hard body holding hers excited her. Thorn didn’t hurt her, but she was his captive, and heat swirled through her belly at the ideas of what he might do with her. Pressed to her stomach, his cock was hard, promising her that the man wasn’t thinking about shopping any longer!

  His fingers twisted in the panties and then she was free as he bent at the knees and pulled them down her legs. A second later, Thorn stood up and scooped her off her feet. The hallway passed in a blur as he turned her and laid her on the huge bed she’d awoken in that morning.

  Noel stared at his face as he placed her on top of the mattress. Pride blazed from his eyes, and something deeper that stabbed into her heart, making her throat refuse to tell him to stop. The very last day that she remembered, she had died. Her body surged with the need to live and feel and grasp this moment that an errant firework had robbed her of.

  Until Thorn selected her.

  His nostrils flared as he watched her face and he sat his hands on top of her bent knees. He spread them apart towards the surface of the bed as his eyes bored into hers to witness her reaction. Her clit rejoiced as the lips of her slit opened. The little button felt swollen as it pulsed with the same wild tempo as her heart.

  Thorn took a deep breath and his eyes closed to slits as that growl rose from his chest. “You smell so hot.” His eyelids lifted. “But not nearly hot enough.”

  Thorn fell to one knee between her spread thighs as Noel jerked from the jolt of sensation. She curled up but his hands lay over her bent legs, pressing them to the surface of the bed. The pleasure tightened unbearably and she fell back again as her hips jerked upwards, eager for another taste of pleasure.