Eddie made a face. “Yeah, about that.”
I looked up at him in alarm. “You don't want to time travel again? I thought you were all fired up about saving Henry?”
“Heavens, no! I don't know how it works, or why, or anything, but it gave me my wife. No, we are using that ring. Just maybe not three times in a day again.”
“Wow, it's only been a day, huh?” A lot has happened in that amount of time, I thought. “And yeah, once a day, tops. I don't want to get time travel sick again. That wasn't fun.”
“Time travel sick, huh?” He laughed at the phrase.
“What else would you call it? And we really need to do it right next time. There's so much we don't know.”
“Well, we know underwear doesn't magically appear.” He fondled my still bare bottom. “I wanted to test stripping you then and see what happens.”
I reached around him to swat his butt playfully. “You just want more sex. Do you have a video camera?” I felt him grow bigger between us and blushed. “Not for that! To see what we do when we're gone.”
“Drat.” He continued to rub my bottom, and I started mentally preparing myself for making love again. He was certainly milking the wedding night for all it was worth. “There's a webcam on my Powerbook. Go when we get back from checking you out of the hotel? That should give us enough time to augment any time travel sickness, and still have enough time to get you to the airport.”
“That works.”
He rolled on top of me. “And since we're both awake....”
Eddie set up his computer while I checked out of the hotel, and I came back to his place to find the laptop set up on the kitchen table.
“I think it would be best to travel from a standing position,” he explained. “The last time we went, we wound up in the same position we left from; better to be standing when we get there, instead of who knows what position.”
“Makes sense,” I nodded. We had put on the costumes he had gotten so that our clothing would not be out of place – that aspect of time travel we'd figured out already.
“Where to? When to?” I wondered out loud.
“We should probably stick to England, for test purposes. Any events in particular you
want to see?”
I glanced around the room, unsure. My eyes lit on a set of Shakespeare's works.
“Building of the Globe Theater? That's around the two time periods we've been to, so it might be
between any limitations there are.”
Eddie set the camera to record, and we stepped in front of it, taking each other's hands. He looked into the camera, and said, “This is a time travel test. We're seeing if stripping in the past ends up with being naked now.”
I cleared my throat. “We're testing the continuity of items between points in time.”
He looked at me. “That's what I said.”
“Mine sounded more formal.” I addressed the camera again. “We're also testing to see how time passes; do five minutes in the past take five minutes here?”
“How do we plan on measuring time then? Pocketwatch?”
“We'll look at Big Ben.”
“That's not built until much later. Or are we going to a different time?”
I gritted my teeth. “I'll strip slowly, then.”
A grin stretched across his face, showing the crinkles around his twinkling eyes. “Works for me. Globe theater, here we come.”
The Globe was much bigger than I had expected. Even in the current construction stage, I could see that the theater was several stories high and would hold several hundred people.
“Come on, let's find some privacy.” I tugged at his hand.
“We're testing proximity as well, then?” He stepped behind me, and started untying laces.
That concept froze me in place. “I didn't think of that. Um, that hasn't been a problem up until now. We walked around in the village before. If proximity was an issue, it would have happened before now.”
“You just don't want to be naked in public.”
“That too,” I agreed.
We walked through the worker's area until we found bundles of straw meant for the roof. “Hay worked well the first time.” Eddie raised his eyebrows suggestively.
I looked around, and didn't see anyone. “Okay, fine, here will work.” I turned around so he could finish undoing the laces and get my shirt off. He paused after divesting me of the garment, and caressed each breast, paying special attention to the nipples. I pulled him close to me, and started fumbling with the laces on his trousers.
“Uh-uh. This is all you.” He pushed me back onto the straw, and I fell back with a giggle.
“What did I tell you about giggling?” Eddie threatened. He examined the skirt, trying to find a way to remove it. Not seeing anything, he flipped me onto my stomach. I giggled some more, and he gave me some playful swats on the rear. “I have a hand, and I am prepared to use it.”
“You can't even figure out how to remove a skirt,” I teased, and earned a solid thwap in return. “Hey!”
“There's more where that came from. Aha!” He found the ties, and quickly undid the knots and slid the skirt off. “My God, are those bloomers?” He was fast to yank them off.
“Time to go?” I asked quickly, rolling over and moving my hands together to pull off the ring.
“No, not yet. We have all the time in the world. And I'm just enjoying the view.”
I squirmed under his gaze. “Do you have to just stand there and stare?”
He didn't answer, but started running a single fingertip in teasing moves starting at my collarbone. He circled my breasts with the light touch, and continued circling until each nipple responded. The finger continued its journey along the side of my hip, going down one leg. By the time he was coming up the second leg, I was panting.
“Ok, we can probably go now.”
“Like Hell we will!” I gasped. If I wasn't a puddle on the straw, I'd grab him and have my way with him. No way he was going to turn me on that much then leave me hanging.
“Oops, I may have just missed a spot,” he teased verbally, then physically. Finally, after what seemed to me like forever, he lowered himself onto and in me.
The straw was compacting underneath us, and Eddie grabbed my hips so he could have more resistance against his thrusts. It didn't take long to get him to completion, and I sobbed when he left me. He replaced himself with his fingers, and I immediately protested.
“No, stop, please,” I got out, and his fingers stilled. “I can't take anymore right now, wait.”
“Okay, okay, it's okay,” Eddie soothed, and wrapped me up in his arms. “Deep breaths, sweetheart, it's okay.”
I curled into as small as a ball as I could, and cried in his arms. “I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.”
“Shhh, everything is all right. It's okay.” He held me close, and continued to whisper reassurances. My breath finally stopped hiccuping, and he cupped my face in his hands.
“It's okay, babe. I'm sorry I overdid it. It's my fault, and I'm sorry.”
I shook my head and glanced away.
“No, look at me, baby.”
I tore my eyes away from his chest and back at his expressive eyes. “Two days ago I was a virgin who never got to second base. I don't understand what is going on, and my body is really confusing me.” Tears started to flow again, and Eddie brushed them away with his thumbs. He kissed me gently.
“Baby, it's okay. We can slow it down. Take it easy. Heck, even date,” he chuckled, and I smiled.
“I don't want to leave.”
“We can stay here as long as you'd like.”
“No, I don't want to leave New York. I want to stay with you, work be damned. I don't want to wait to spend the rest of my life with you.” I buried my head in his neck.
“We need to do this right, sweetheart. It is rather tempting to have you stay, though.” Too tempting, I thought.
Eddie held me for another minute, then I took the ring off.
“I'm okay, just lightheaded,” I told him, knowing he was concerned. I was concerned – I never was weak at the knees, and here it's happened twice. Of course, I don't usually time travel, so there's a bit of extenuating circumstances. “It's not as bad as yesterday.” Eddie made sure I was sitting steadily, then grabbed the laptop and some Gatorade from the fridge.
I took the drink with a grateful smile, and took a swig. It'd be good to get away from him for a bit, just to cut down on the time travel sickness. Then again, it might have been from the intimacies. Eddie brought me the clothes I had laid out in case the costumes didn't travel back once removed, and I gladly dressed in the jeans and t-shirt.
Eddie started the video feed on the laptop, and a few seconds later it was done.
“I think I blinked; can you play that again?” I asked.
“Exactly. It's not showing anything having happened.” He slowed it down, going frame by frame. We could clearly see him putting the ring on my finger, then the image jumped to me taking it off, naked.
“There's definitely a switch there,” I mused. “But if you blinked, or didn't know what you were looking for, you'd miss it. It'd just be 'hey, no clothes!'”
“What else were we testing? Obviously proximity wasn't a factor, as we didn't move an inch. Ah, time – if there was a difference, it was imperceptible.”
“If we spent a longer time there, it might be more evident. Like if we spent the night.” I blushed. How many times would we make love in that scenario?
“We should test that sometime, too,” Eddie agreed, not looking at me so he didn't flush as well. I could see him having ideas to keep us occupied for a full evening. I hoped they did not involve more hay. A mattress would be a nice change of pace.
I glanced at the clock in the corner of the laptop. About time to head to the airport. “So this is it, then,” I said with a sigh.
“Well, there is one more thing we should discuss,” he said, pulling me close for a snuggle. “You're wearing your wedding ring. How did I propose?”
Chapter Three
“Hey! How'd it go?” My boss Alan stuck his head in my door to ask about the trip to New York.
“It went well,” I beamed, and looked down at the ring. We had decided not to tell anyone at the office that we were married, not until we talked to our parents first. I was still going to wear the ring, though.
“Well, glad you're back. Come see me later about the new projects you need to get started on ASAP.”
I sighed. I'd be lucky to get through my email alone today, much less get caught up on work I missed. Starting new projects was the last thing on my mind. It was rather occupied with a certain technical consultant, and trying to plan 'when' we should visit next.
My phone rang right after lunch, and Alan started in on me without so much as a hello.
“I thought you said it went well?” he yelled.
“It did,” I said, confused. “Everything was in order on Friday, and Mr. Valenti-Kirby was going to give us a good review.” The post-it pad in front of my keyboard displayed the doodles I'd been subconsciously making – hearts and Mrs. Valenti-Kirby. I tore it off and threw it in the garbage before anyone could see it.
“Then something over the weekend made him change his mind. He's coming out here to meet with everyone. Don't screw it up this time.” He slammed the phone down so hard I could hear it though the wall. I winced, and pulled my cell phone out of my purse. Our office phones were known as being recorded – this was a conversation I didn't want to have on file.
“Hi Miriam, this is Schroeder Kelly with IDI. Is Mr. Valenti-Kirby available, please?” I tore the leather off of my stress ball with my fingernails while waiting to be transferred.
“Ms. Kelly?” I and Eddie had agreed to act professionally on the phone, at least during the day when we may be on speaker phone with others in the room.
“Can you pick the phone up for a moment, sir?” When I heard the click of him picking up the handset, I laid into him. “Are you trying to get me fired? What the hell is going on, Eddie?”
“Whoa, calm down. What's wrong?”
“You! Coming here! What are you thinking? My boss is pissed now, and thinks I ruined the whole buyout.”
“No,” Eddie said emphatically. “I gave a great review. I just said that I was intrigued by the operations, and wanted to find out more information and see everyone in action. I'm trying to cover both our asses once they find out we're married. If we don't be sure all the bases are covered, this will look bad for everyone.”
“Yeah, well, right now it's looking bad for me,” I said through clenched teeth.
“You'll be fine,” he reassured me. “And what's the worst that could happen?”
“Do you really want me to answer that?” I answered, my voice chilly.
“Look, worst case scenario is they get a new technical consultant. That happens all the time when conflicts of interest are found. Trust me, I've gotten many contracts because of cases like that.”
“And both of us could lose our job, Eddie.”
“So?”
“I'm not having this conversation right now.” I was furious, and he wasn't helping. I wanted him there, to punch him, to yell at him, to kiss him.
“Fine. We'll talk about it tonight.”
“You're coming into town tonight? And where are you staying? You better not be planning on staying with me. That'll send them through the roof.”
“Someone said something about a hotel next to the office. And I'm getting in tomorrow, late morning.”
“Then we'll talk then.” I hung up the phone on him, royally pissed.
I couldn't sleep. My thoughts kept going back to my argument with Eddie, and I regretted it. I missed him, more than I thought possible for someone I had known less than a week. Most of all, I missed his touch, and hated myself for it. I finally gave up and got up, and went to my bags from the trip. Eddie had slipped the sweats and sweatshirt I had worn at his place into the bags, and I stripped completely and put them on, wishing it was him touching me, not just his clothing.
I lay in bed, trying not to cry, when I heard the sound of the neighbors fire alarm going off. When it was still going off thirty seconds later, I bolted for the door. I grabbed my purse from its hook near the front door and went outside in my bare feet.
Flames licked the kitchen window of my neighbor's apartment, and I took a couple steps towards the place before seeing the couple sitting on the sidewalk further back in the parking lot.
"Damn it, I wish I knew my neighbors better," I muttered, trying to count heads. There was the annoying kid from one of the upstairs apartments, screaming in his parents arms. But where were the squeaky bed couple from the apartment above?
No one else was doing anything, so I ran up the stairs two at a time, and started banging and shouting at the door. Rapping with my knuckles was only hurting them, so I switched to pounding with the heel of my hand.
"What's the problem, bitch?" A very pissed off man answered the door, holding a sheet around his waist.
"The apartments are on fire, asshole." I turned on my heel and left, not caring if they left the apartment at this point.
Everyone in the building and the ones next to it were milling around, but still no fire trucks, and no sounds of sirens. After five minutes of the fire blazing bright and still no help, I dug through my purse for my cell phone and dialed 911. Sure enough, no one had called. "Son of a bitch!" I yelled at the crowd in general as I watched the flames reach my apartment. They all had phones out – I was sure these videos would be up on YouTube in moments -- but no one thought enough to even bother calling for help.
By the time the fire department had gotten there and put out the flames, it was too late. The building was gutted.
<
br /> I considered calling my husband, but what could Eddie do? He was already flying in later that morning. And besides, I was mad at him.
I ended up going into to work several hours early, as there was nothing else I could do. Working in sweats wasn't my idea of business casual, but I felt there was extenuating circumstances. Being in the office when no one else was there was great for catching up, and by the time the office officially opened, I had gotten caught up from my days off. I called my boss as soon as I heard him go into his office.
"Alan, I need to take today off."
"No."
"Um, you don't understand--"
"Mr. Valenti-Kirby will be here today, and you are expected to be there. Unless you'd rather seek different employment?" At this point, I was leaning towards that.
"I understand that sir, but this morning--"
"I don't care what excuse you have. If you're not in the emergency room, you better be at your desk." He slammed down the phone.
I thought about how close I was to actually being in the hospital, or even the morgue, right now. If I hadn't not been able to sleep, who knows how the night would have gone. Especially since no one called 911. I looked down at my bare feet. Yeah, Alan was just going to love those. At least he couldn't see my lack of undergarments.
When Joseph Maloberti, the CEO, was showing Eddie around the office later that morning I pointedly did not get up from my desk to shake Eddie's hand.
"Nice to see you again, Mr. Valenti-Kirby."
"Same, Ms. Kelly." Eddie's eyes twinkled when he saw me wearing his sweatshirt. Little did he know there was nothing on underneath. That would make his eyes really twinkle, I thought.
Not long after, Alan saw me in the hall on the way back from the bathroom.
"What the hell are you wearing?" He exploded.
"As I tried to tell you this morning, sir--"
"I don't give a damn! You're meeting in less than an hour -- go home and change into proper business attire right this minute! I will not have you make this company look bad! God knows you've fucked the merger up enough as it is." I could see Joseph and Eddie further down the hall, and they turned to see the commotion.
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