by Celia Crown
The family that Tabby had given time to move to the basement came up with faces of terror and bewilderment, but I don’t have time to explain anything to them when I hear a row of sirens echoing in the distant.
That brings me to another question. How the hell did Tabby know to get the family down into the basement and she wanted me to go too? She would have gotten serious injuries if I didn’t take her to the ground and use my body to shield the brunt of the explosion from a fucking grenade.
Again, the explosion should not have brought down the entire diner. Unless it punctured a gas line.
I’ll interrogate her later. I need to make sure she gets medical help. Inhaling this much dust and debris is not good, and I must keep her buried in my chest since she’s coughing too much.
In between coughs, she laughs with her body shaking as she lets a small giggle come out. My brows curl in confusion; this is not the time nor place to be laughing. We just survived an explosion that could have taken our lives and thank goodness that it didn’t.
“Tabby,” I check the wound on her skull to make sure she isn’t knocked too hard on the head, “This is serious, do not take this as a joke.”
“I know, I know,” she giggles, glancing up at me with her chin on my chest.
“I just can’t believe I remember you rather than having my life flash before my eyes. But you were a part of my earlier life, so it works.”
My heart nearly burst out of my chest from how hard it’s beating. I blink rapidly as the blood roars in my ear so loudly that I think I’m hearing things.
“What?” I want her to repeat what she said, and I hope she says what I want to hear for the sake of my heart.
“You are Adrian Pierson, the kid that knocked a bookcase over me,” she laughs again, a bead of tears forming in the corner of her eyes.
I legally changed my name to avoid being associated with my parents, and it worked for some time because no one questioned whether I was related to the Pierson family. I was just Adrian when I joined the military, and I became Doctor Shafer later, but I was a man in the middle of an identity crisis.
“It’s weird that I remember that exact moment when you also saved me from the bookcase and now the explosion.”
She shakes her head, wiping the falling blood from her forehead, “My hero.”
I can’t contain myself any longer; my arms shoot out, grabbing whatever I can of her and pulling her to my chest. Burying my face into her hair, breathing in the dust and her shampoo as well as letting her curves sink into my harder, muscular body.
Tabby winds her own arms around me, clinging to the back of my shirt and drawing me closer.
She remembers me.
It’s still a bit hard to digest that she now remembers who I am, and I can’t blame her for not recognizing me for the past couple of weeks when I was with her. All I care about is that Tabby Sterling will always be mine.
Then and now, through time difference and age alterations, I have loved Tabby for thirty years. She is not going to be leaving me, not if I can help it and I am a monster in the field; she’s going to learn how much of a sadist I am if she dares to leave me.
“Ow, Adrian, you’re crushing me,” she whines in my shirt, muffling a pitch of tone as I squeeze her to me.
“Mine,” hissing in her ear, I adjust her to me and leave no space between us.
“Yours?” there is inquisitiveness in her voice, small but audible.
“Always been,” I concur, ripping her away to get her to look me in the eyes.
I don’t want there to be any misunderstandings, even though this isn’t the place or time to do this, but I have waited long enough.
I’m allowed to be selfish, and I will be the greediest man when Tabby is involved.
“I’m technically fifty-two, a cougar in a sense,” she jokes light-heartedly as the sirens get closer behind me.
“I don’t care,” I say, defiant with a glare into the darkness as my ears pick up the rummaging sound of the family trying to scavenge what’s left of their belongings.
“Don’t you feel it’s weird that I’m basically an old woman and you’re a child?” Tabby cocks her head in question, her bright eyes shining in beauty and maturity.
Holding her tighter and pushing my knee between her soft legs, I press my thick cock straining against my pants to her stomach.
“Do I feel like a child to you?”
She takes a sharp inhale through her slightly parted lips, “Well, no, you’re a grown man, but—”
“Do you want me?” I cut in with a clipped tone, rendering her into her thoughts as she stops talking.
Her breathing quickens, pupils dilating and that pink tongue darting out to lick her bottom lip teases me.
“Yes.”
Then it’s done.
“Good, I want you too.”
Tabby whimpers as I slant my lips over hers; the difference of our height is awkward when she is so tiny in my arms. I make it work because her lips are soft and sweet, taming that rattling desire in the pit of my stomach and tuning down the rumbling of blood rushing to my ears.
“I love you,” I rasped against her lips, “I have loved you for so long, and I will continue to love you in the future.”
Conflict tears at her face, amber eyes in pain as she pinches her lips.
“I know,” I say, whatever she’s feeling is going to be a battle that only she can win. “I will wait.”
She can’t say it to me, not because she doesn’t feel anything for me—she does, and it’s stronger than simple attraction, but not close to love yet—but because her alteration of time is only two years; separating Adrian Pierson, and Adrian Shafer will be a concept of difficulty, and I can help her with that.
“You shouldn’t have to,” she whispers, upset and teary. “You have waited for so long; I’m not worth the wait. It’s not fair to you.”
“I have waited thirty years. I can be patient just a bit longer. And, you do not get to tell me what is and isn’t fair to me. I choose to love you, and it is my choice to make you fall in love with me.”
She hesitates, mouth shakily opening. “Why?”
“Why what?” I tuck a piece of hair behind her ear.
“Why love me after all this time? How could you know that I’d even come back from space?”
They are valid questions, and she is right. The chances of her returning home to me were slim but giving up hope isn’t what I am known for. I have faith in Tabby, and my prayers were answered when the news reported that the shuttle would be coming back.
“You cared for me,” I remark, plain and simple.
The truth doesn’t need to be messy; it’s a straight line from where I stand. There are many reasons why I love her, but the one that stole my heart is that she was there for me and accepted that I was a trust-fund brat that caused chaos in my own home.
“I was hired to be a babysitter and a nanny,” she reasons, lashes fluttering as I rub the grey dust from her cheek.
“You were, and I was a spoiled brat,” I say, and I have no reason to argue with her when it’s the truth that she is speaking.
Nothing will change the relationship we once had, but I am not a kid anymore, and I want to have a family with Tabby. A family that I never had, and she was the closest thing I could truly call mine and stay locked in my heart like a priceless gem.
Irreplaceable.
“What if I can’t love you?” she murmurs, a whiff of fear slices through the dense air.
It’s not an option. I can’t even fathom the outcome of my life if she can’t love me.
“You feel something for me,” I said, tipping her chin up to let her wandering ambers match with mine.
“I do,” she admits, a boulder lifts off my heart, and it’s what I need.
“It’s a start,” I soothe her, the baritone in my voice makes her eyes close when she lays her forehead on my chest.
“How do you know I haven’t changed from the time in space?” she asks; her
erratic train of thought is confusing to me and I have a hard time following what she is saying.
“What do you mean?”
“What if there’s an egg in my chest and it bursts out; it could eat you.” she shudders, her hot breath fans through my heart and above my thundering heart.
I resist the urge to roll my eyes; only Tabby can ignore the romantic and serious atmosphere to bring up a movie reference of aliens inhabiting human bodies for procreation.
One of her favorite pastimes is to catch up on movies. She thinks they are educational with a side of creativity that she loves.
“I will have to cut it out of you. I’m not going to let you die of anything if I can help it.”
“That’s freakishly romantic, Adrian. Can you feel my heart racing, or is it the alien trying to break through my ribs?”
I do roll my eyes this time, “Your sarcasm is not appreciated.”
“Underappreciated,” she corrects with a short laugh, “I have a lot that needs to be shared.”
“Sharing is not caring,” I amend, “Keep them to yourself.”
She hums with a chuckle as the sirens behind me are the loudest while flashes of color weave through the area with the signature colors of police cars and ambulances.
Tabby untangles from me and steps back to look behind me. I take her waist to stop her from going up to them.
“Is everyone alright?” one of the policemen shouts as he steps over a large chunk of a pillar.
The family of the diner huddle together, “W-we’re okay!”
One of the paramedics come to us with a police officer, and I walk with them to the ambulance to watch Tabby get checked. I decline to be checked, but I do make sure the man knows where his hands can go.
I leave my statement with the cop, every detail but not the things that led to it. There is still sensitive information that can’t be shared. My best course of action is to begin the story of our car breaking down by the military warehouse, and we walked here for a meal break.
Then the explosion happened.
It’s the story the police get, and he buys it without a hint of doubt.
He leaves to interview the other two women that own the diner while the paramedic recommends that Tabby go to the closest hospital to get an x-ray and a doctor’s opinion to determine if she has a concussion or internal bleeding.
She declines furiously with her hair flying over her shoulders, “I’m good, really!”
“Ma’am—”
“Um, my boyfriend is a doctor!” she blurts out, with wide eyes and comical panic.
My chest swells with pride at being called a doctor and her boyfriend; it’s one step closer than five minutes ago when she is hesitant to step into whatever relationship I offer.
We can take things slow.
“I am,” I nod at the paramedic, “I can take it from here.”
I don’t have my medical ID on me, but the man knows an authoritative figure when he sees one so he backs off to the other two women.
Before I can bring another conversation up, I’m interrupted by two figures coming out the side of the ambulance.
“You are a crazy woman!” a woman screams, nostrils flaring with smoke and eyes practically ignited in flames.
“Oh, hey look. It’s Socks.” Tabby grins at the woman.
The man that comes with her is one of my SEALs brothers. He and I shoot each other a stare that answers all the questions that we have for each other.
He’s here to protect this tiger woman.
I have heard that every single one of the people on Hercules was given protection in the form of NAVY SEALs or at least two military bodyguards. The only person that declined protection is the captain of the shuttle, and the reason is because he had a robbery to pull off.
“It’s Susie,” the woman huffs, clicking her tongue as she glares at Tabby.
The woman is older, about in her forties with thin glasses and pinched eyebrows. “Who the hell calls at three in the morning about a terrorist trying to board a plane in Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport?”
“And what do you know, he—” the woman jabs her thumb towards Oscar who remains impassive, “—and I get there with a swat team to find our captain of the Hercules space shuttle there, with his accomplice General Lynell Moreno.”
“Oh, so you got them?” Tabby’s eyes widen, mirth flashing in those molten golds.
“Captain pulled a gun on us, but of course we got him. Now explain, crazy woman.”
Tabby shrugs, going into a long explanation as more police cars come with the fire department. I hadn’t noticed the fire around us, but it’s tame considering the explosion was massive.
“Wait, how did you know he was going to go to the airport?”
Tabby cracks a grin, “Human instincts are to escape to higher ground, and he thought this explosion would take a while to investigate so he would be long gone by then in a country with no extradition.”
“He did have a ticket to Ecuador,” the woman frowns.
“And the terrorist part?” the woman, Susie, narrows her eyes.
Tabby swings her legs as she sits at the back of the elevator, “I’m technically NASA property, and I knew he wanted to attack me because I make a compelling witness in court. Attacking government property and creating panic in the public population is categorized as terrorism. So, if the prosecutors really wanted to make the case, they can draw that conclusion.”
Oscar unapologetically sighs at me, “You have a troublesome charge.”
“You have no idea,” I reply light-heartedly.
He gives me a crooked smirk.
“What about the meteor?” the woman raises the question, and it should have been the first thing.
Tabby pauses, jaw dropping with the realization hitting her full force by now as the color drains from her face.
Right on cue, the siren of an emergency broadcast blares.
Deafening and heart-pounding loud.
Tabby covers her lips with her hand, “Oops, I forgot.”
I laugh despite everyone around us panicking.
Epilogue
Tabby
One Year Later.
“Marry me.”
I spit out the water in my mouth from shock. The voice behind me speaks in a low and gravelly voice as big hands knead my waist.
Setting the glass of water gently down on the kitchen table, I spin around and face the man that I have been living with for the past year.
His wild, dark hair and equally dark eyes pierce through mine, stern and determined to get an answer from me. Adrian laces his fingers behind my back and presses me closer to him.
“What?” I ask, incredulous and startled.
My brain is a bit disorganized, and he smells like a massive distraction of masculinity and shampoo. Adrian does not put lotion on his body, nor does he use fragranced body wash; he’s a simple man with simple needs and smelling like a pot of flowers is the least of his priorities.
“Marry me.”
I crinkle my brows, a smile spreading on my lips as he presses a kiss to my cheek. “Are you asking or demanding?”
He grunts inaudibly, “Whichever gets me a “yes”.”
“Where’s the romantic date? Dinner? Flowers? My ring?” I tease with a giggle as his stubbles graze my sensitive neck while he trails a line of kisses downwards.
“You’re not even on your knees,” I mention, tilting my head to the side to give him more room.
“Is that all?” he murmurs, licking a wet patch on my jumpy pulse.
“It’s a start,” I say with a grin as I watch the still scene of the light above me.
Our bedroom doesn’t have white lights. We find them to be blinding and hard to sleep after we turn them off since our bodies got used to the lights mimicking the sunlight. We switched to a dull yellow that is a better lure for bedtime, but we get tired from fumbling under the covers before our bodies adjust to the dim lights.
“What are you doing?” I
ask as Adrian drops his height with his big hands grasping my hips to steady me.
He stares up at me. His lashes are thick and black, and the obvious lust swirls through his eyes causing a breath of vulnerability to take over me.
“Getting on my knees.”
His hand snap moves with the swiftness of a snake, snatching my panties down to my ankles as he moves my feet to get rid of them. The shirt I wear is big with his scent engulfing me while seeping into consciousness as his breath fans over my bare pussy.
Wet from the bath and slick from the prowling hunger in his massive body, and no sooner is he slamming my tailbone into the edge of the table.
Against my better judgment, I take the pain and slick dribbles out for no discernible reason—I suppose it’s his rough treatment in bed that resist against the shallow anxiety that I felt during the first month of our sexual affairs.
I crave it now and having gentle sex doesn’t do much for me anymore. I thought that, but Adrian proves me wrong because I feel every ridge of his thick cock dragging against the sensitive nerves of my pulsing walls.
Perhaps, I have always been a girl with different tastes.
The tombs that embrace my lungs hurt when the rush of air burns down my throat as Adrian’s fat tongue digs into my soft folds; the flatness allows him to firmly sweep upward and taste every inch of me.
He fastens his lips to the bundle of nerves, sucking and flicking in no particular manner or pattern that I can discern. Adrian is cruel when the white slash of his smirk sinks down onto my clit, not enough to hurt but it’s the savage spark that breaks the hold of my strength that crumbles my back onto the table.
The glass of water rattles at the other end of the table, innocently settling down in its natural state while my world is on the last countdown of my sanity.
Before I can briefly take in the precious air, he’s shoving two long fingers side of me; stretching me with a side of aching and a disgustingly loud squelch to accompany my ragged gasps.
The first twist of his fingers is careful and kind but the second is as unhinged and possessive as his dominance over me, and the thin difference between devotion and worship shatters with his thumb grinding down on my hard clit.