Capturing the Cavedweller's Heart

by Shanna Hatfield

  “Where are we?” Thor asked. He tilted his head to the side, trying to see the top of the building looming in front of them.

  “My apartment building. It’s where I stay when I’m in Portland.” Hannah pulled into a parking spot with a number in front of it.

  Thor was starting to learn numbers and basic letters. If he had to stay in the future, he figured he might as well learn all he could.

  She turned off the ignition and hopped out then opened the back where they’d packed their bags. Thor picked up a bag she called a duffle that held all his belongings and took the bag that held her computer.

  Hannah snagged the bag with her clothes, a case with artifacts she’d brought to show the sponsor, and the pack of equipment she carried seemingly everywhere. “We’re on the seventeenth floor. Be prepared for your first elevator ride.”

  Thor followed her inside the building and to a large metal box. They waited as the doors slid open and then stepped inside. Hannah pushed a button that lit up, and the doors shut. He grabbed for the wall to hold himself upright as it felt like the world fell away beneath his feet.

  Hannah giggled and placed her hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay. Everyone feels that way at first.”

  “I do not like elevators,” he said, waiting for his stomach to climb out of his throat and find its way back to where it belonged.

  Hannah shot him an indulgent look that made him forget about elevators and long to take her in his arms. He’d watched a few movies and seen enough people at the rodeo to get the idea modern relationships were far different than what he knew. Women liked to be held and kissed, courted… that was the word he’d heard.

  He had no idea how to go about it, but he was willing to try if it meant Hannah would let him kiss her.

  She was so beautiful. Perhaps she had no interest in a simple man like him. While he still had all his teeth, they were not glaringly white like those of the men he’d seen in the movies or the few that had been around Hannah. He wondered if she already had a man she liked.

  What was the word? Ah, boyfriend. That was it. What if she had a boyfriend?

  Jason and Jill hadn’t mentioned anyone. Perhaps that was a good sign.

  “Here we are,” Hannah said, breaking into his musing as the elevator doors opened. They stepped into a hallway lined with doors.

  Hannah walked to one in the middle and unlocked it with a key on the same metal ring of keys she used to start the Jeep.

  “I thought you lived at the ranch,” Thor said as she toed open the door and moved inside.

  “I do, except when I need to be in the city. I share this apartment with three other girls. Tammie is a flight attendant. She flies on an airplane. I showed you those the other day. The metal birds in the skies,” Hannah said as he walked inside. She set down the bags she carried then closed and locked the door. “She’s gone for days at a time. Marcia is in international sales and spends weeks, even months, overseas.”

  At his confused look, she rushed to explain. “Remember the big blue ball at the library where I showed you the different countries separated by water? She works in other countries.”

  Thor nodded. “And the third?”

  “Susie is a college professor who’s gone for the summer.” Hannah walked over to a box on the wall and pushed a button. Cool air began to blow out of vents. “As far as I know, no one but us will be here.”

  “Okay,” Thor said, using a word he’d heard many, many times in the last few days.

  Hannah picked up her bags and walked through a moderately sized room with a couch and two chairs. It had a large TV, though. Thor had an appreciation for TVs when he wanted to relax and not think about anything.

  She stepped into a hall and pointed to the first door she came to. “This is Marcia’s and Tammie’s room. You can stay in here.” She flicked on a light, and Thor looked at the bedroom that held two beds, two dressers, and one large closet.

  Hannah stepped back into the hall and turned on a light in the room across from Thor’s temporary bedroom. “This is the bathroom.” She took a few more steps to a door next to the bathroom and pushed it open. “And this is my room.”

  “Do you share it, too?” he asked, noticing it also had two beds and dressers.

  She nodded and dropped her bags on a bed draped in a pale pink covering. “Susie and I share a room. She’s the college professor who’s gone for the summer.”

  “I could stay in here with you,” Thor offered, giving her a rascally grin.

  “No, you won’t, buster. And don’t get any ideas.” She nudged him out the door and stopped in the bathroom to wash her hands.

  Thor washed his, just because she had, then followed her to a kitchen that let in the fading summer light. “I like this room. There is sunshine in it.”

  “I like it, too,” Hannah said, opening the fridge and pulling out two bottles of water. She handed one to Thor and took the other then made her way to the couch. “Want to watch a movie?”

  “Can we see the one with the dinosaurs?” he asked.

  “Sure. Why not watch a little scary Jurassic movie to lull us to sleep?”

  Thor smirked, aware Hannah was being sarcastic. Sarcasm wasn’t something the women of his clan engaged in, at least not around the men. Regardless, he found Hannah’s sarcasm and wit amusing.

  He settled against the soft cushions of the couch and turned slightly, so he could watch Hannah and the TV screen. He had no idea what the next few days would bring, but he planned to make the most of the time he spent with her.

  He awoke the next morning before the sun had started climbing up the horizon. Unable to return to sleep, he got up and made his way out to the TV. He turned it on then muted the sound. The hands had only gone around the clock once when the scent of Hannah’s fragrance tickled his nose a moment before she took a seat beside him.

  She was dressed in a pair of shorts like he wore for sleeping and a shirt with no sleeves. Her hair was trapped in a band at the back of her head. Every time she moved, the long waves bobbed, practically begging to be touched.

  Thor shoved his hands beneath his legs to keep from reaching out to her.

  He watched as she pulled on shoes that were lighter than and not as tall as her hiking boots.

  “Sneakers,” Hannah said, tugging on the laces, apparently aware of his attention to her footwear. She looked up at him and smiled. “Want to go for a jog and find some breakfast?”

  He didn’t know what jog meant, but he was ready for food. “Yes.” He started to reach for the hiking boots he’d left near the end of the couch, but Hannah handed him a pair of shoes like hers. “Tammie has the biggest feet I’ve ever seen on a woman. I think these might fit you. Just don’t tell her I said that.”

  Thor grinned and pulled on the shoes that fit perfectly. Even though they were black, a stripe of pink made him question if he should wear them. He didn’t think Jason, or even Erik and Sam, would be seen wearing anything with pink.

  Hannah gave him a knowing look as she stood. “Brush your teeth and put on a shirt, then we’ll go.”

  Thor hated when she treated him like a child, which is how he felt when she ordered him about, but he obeyed. Food won out over indignation.

  Five minutes later, he walked into the elevator with Hannah, dreading the way the machine made his stomach lurch. This time, he was prepared for it and braced a hand on the wall as they began the descent.

  Hannah laughed and took his hand in hers, squeezing it reassuringly until the doors opened and they stepped into the lobby. She spoke a word of greeting to a few people as they made their way outside.

  “Try to keep up,” she said with a saucy smile and took off running.

  Thor had no idea what she was running from or to but easily fell into step beside her. He could run for hours without stopping, which Hannah must have learned when she stopped and bent over, bracing her hands on her thighs. She sucked in lungfuls of air then glanced up at him. Her face was red, sweat trickled over her bro
w, and tendrils of hair danced around her cheeks.

  “You aren’t even winded, are you?”

  “No,” he said with a grin. “You do this for fun?”

  “No. I hate to exercise, especially jogging, but I love doughnuts.” She pointed across the street where tantalizing aromas filled the morning air.

  “Doughnuts?” Thor asked as she straightened and stretched her arms over her head. His mouth went dry as he watched her, observed the thin fabric of her shirt stretch over her curves.

  “Fried dough, usually sweet, often frosted.”

  “Let’s go,” he said and grabbed her hand, drawing out her laugh.

  She stopped him before he ran into the traffic and showed him how to push a button and wait at the crosswalk. When it was safe to cross, Hannah skipped ahead, pulling on his hand. “Come on, slowpoke.”

  Thor purposely held back, enthralled with this playful, happy side of Hannah. When she was at the dig site, she was very focused and purposeful. He’d seen glimpses of this Hannah at the ranch, but she seemed so full of life and light this morning, he wanted to linger in it.

  Hannah walked through the open doorway of the bakery and ordered a dozen doughnuts and two cups of black coffee. They took their breakfast and walked a few blocks to a park where they sat on a bench and watched the world around them come to life. The level of the noise went from a pleasant background buzz to a loud cacophony that grated against his ears.

  The doughnuts made up for the disturbing noises, though. While Hannah ate two of them, Thor finished off the rest of the box. Each one was a different flavor, but his favorite was a cinnamon-laced bear claw.

  “This kind of bear claw I like,” he said, smiling at her as she handed him a napkin and he wiped it across his face. Modern humans had so much to fuss about and so much waste. To him, paper was a precious treasure, and yet they tossed it away with abandon.

  “Have you eaten a real bear claw?” she asked, her nose scrunching slightly on the end.

  He shook his head. “No. They are not good to eat. But I have been scratched by one.” He lifted the hem of his shirt and pointed to a line of marks across his left side.

  Hannah’s fingers traced the scars. Her touch made a shiver race over Thor. He dropped his shirt and got to his feet.

  “What’s next?” he asked as she stood and gathered their trash. She dropped it in a nearby garbage can.

  “I need to get ready to meet with Mr. Hurley,” she said and began walking back toward her apartment. Once they were inside, Hannah flicked a hand toward the bathroom. “You take a shower while I put together my presentation, then I can get ready.”

  Thor nodded and took a shower. Although he enjoyed the steaming water, he pondered the modern obsession with cleanliness. Everyone he’d encountered was clean. They looked clean. They smelled clean. They were clean. It was impractical and impossible for people of his time to bathe every day, yet he’d often bathed in the lake.

  Lusk often teased him about it, but Thor liked that feeling of stepping out of the water with his body refreshed and clean. When he returned to his time, perhaps he could teach his people that staying clean wasn’t a bad thing.

  He got out of the shower, dried off, then scratched at the stubble on his jaw. He would like another shave, as Jill had called it, but he had no idea what he needed to do it. Perhaps Hannah would show him.

  He opened the bathroom door and poked his head into her room. She sat cross-legged on her bed with her laptop in front of her.

  “I would like shaved,” he said.

  Hannah glanced up at him and set aside the laptop. “The king has spoken,” she said and unfolded her long legs, rising gracefully to her feet. Thor followed as she entered the bathroom and took a can in one hand and a small tool in the other.

  “This is a razor. It’s very sharp, so you have to be careful.” She handed the razor to him.

  He ran his finger over the blade. Immediately, blood began to drip from the cut he made on his index finger.

  She took the razor away then ran his finger in a stream of cool water from the faucet. “I told you it was sharp.”

  “I wanted to see myself.” Thor wasn’t bothered in the least by the cut, but Hannah appeared upset as she put a bandage over the spot.

  “Shaving cream,” she said, shaking the can then pressing the top. A pile of foam covered her hand, and she rubbed it over his jaw. He swiped a finger through it, wondering if it would taste like whipped cream, but she stopped him before he stuck it in his mouth. “Do not eat that. It is not food.”

  He grinned at her and touched his finger to her nose, leaving behind a dollop. She glared at him and picked up the razor then brushed her nose off on her shoulder. “You don’t need to press hard, just take smooth strokes,” she said, moving slightly so he could watch what she did in the mirror. She made a few strokes, scraping away the foam along with his whiskers. “Now you try.”

  Thor liked the feeling of her shaving him, but he knew he needed to learn to do it for himself, so he focused on copying her motions. When he didn’t draw blood, she nodded in approval.

  “Good job. Just be careful around your mouth and nose,” she said, rinsing her hands then leaving the bathroom.

  Thor nicked his chin once but felt proud he’d managed the job as well as he had.

  He wiped away the remaining shaving foam from his face with his damp towel then retreated to his room where he dressed in his last clean pair of shorts and shirt. With nothing else to do, he wandered back to the TV and turned it on, watching a program about a man searching for hidden treasure in a South American jungle. Absorbed in the show, it wasn’t until he heard the jingle of Hannah’s keys that he was aware of her moving around behind him. He tossed a glance her way, then his head whipped around to give her a second, longer perusal. She looked nothing like the girl he’d gotten used to seeing in shorts and cotton shirts.

  The dark blue skirt she wore skimmed her curves and hovered just below her knees. She had on shoes with skinny, high heels that made her seem ten feet tall. She wore a shiny and smooth dark blue blouse with small white dots. Her hair was twisted into a soft knot at the back of her head.

  “I’m going to put in a load of laundry. Want to grab your things?” she asked as she held an armful of clothes he’d seen her wear the last few days.

  He nodded but found it impossible to make his body obey as he remained rooted to the couch.

  “Thor? Laundry?” she said, giving him an odd look. “Dirty clothes?”

  “Clothes,” he mumbled and somehow managed to rise to his feet. Rather than head to his room, he walked over to her and stroked his finger down the short sleeve of her blouse. It felt cool beneath his touch, and silky, like the fibers the women of his clan sometimes used for lining hide for the babies to wear. “You look nice.”

  A blush stole over her cheeks. “Thank you.”

  Thor couldn’t help but notice she was taller than him in the strange shoes. He didn’t particularly like it, either.

  “These are heels,” Hannah said, holding out a foot when she noticed him staring at her shoes.

  “Heels,” he repeated. Maybe they weren’t all bad, because they made her legs look even prettier than they had before.

  “Grab your clothes, Thor, and we’ll wash them.” She turned away from him and went into the kitchen.

  He gathered everything he’d worn and carried it to the kitchen. She’d opened a door and inside were two strange machines.

  Hannah had sorted the clothes by color and was stuffing light colors into one of the machines. She gave him instructions as she worked.

  “When the washer beeps, all you have to do is take the clothes out of it, put them in the dryer, and push this button,” she said. He knew she’d set the dial to something and had placed a fragrant small sheet in the dryer.

  Hannah glanced at her watch and nervously straightened her skirt. “I need to get going. Mr. Hurley will no doubt expect me to have lunch with him. You can have a TV din
ner for lunch.” She walked over to the freezer compartment of the refrigerator and opened it, pointing to a few boxes. “Those are meals. All you have to do is take them out of the box, put them in the microwave.” She showed him how to open the door on the microwave. “Then push this button and this button.”

  “Out of the freezer and box, push two buttons,” Thor said, distracted by how good Hannah smelled, how wonderful she looked. When she bent over to look in a drawer for something, he thought his eyes might explode right out of his head.

  He squeezed them shut and held his breath, willing himself to behave. To keep control of his emotions and thoughts.

  Hannah’s hand on his arm made him jump. “Are you okay?” she asked, giving him a concerned glance.

  “Fine,” he lied.

  “Here,” she said, taking two bright bits of paper and sticking them to the buttons she’d indicated on the microwave. “You know the numbers one and two. Press one first and then two.”

  “Okay,” he said, wondering what she’d do if he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Would she push him away? Slap his face?

  Women of his time submitted to men with no rights, no questions, no ability to object. Hannah wasn’t like the women he’d known. And he didn’t want her to be. He admired her mind and intelligence, her independence and spirit. He liked that she’d set him in his place if she was displeased with his behavior.

  Part of him was sorely tempted to see what she’d do, but he shoved his hands into the pockets of his shorts and stepped away from her.

  “What shall I do while you’re gone?” he asked, realizing for the first time she was leaving him alone in this terrifying place full of cars and noise and people.

  “I’d really appreciate it if you could put the clothes in the dryer.” She looked around then rummaged through another drawer and set a box of colored pencils on the counter. “I have some paper in my room.”

  She disappeared down the hall and was gone for several minutes. When she returned, she wore a jacket over her blouse, had a black case in one hand, a navy bag over her shoulder, and a stack of paper in the other hand.

  “Here’s paper.” She set the paper on the counter by the pencils then rummaged in the bag on her shoulder. She removed her wallet and drew out two paper bills. “This is cash money. You shouldn’t need it, but just in case, I don’t want to leave you with nothing. I’d prefer you stay here and not go out, just for your safety.”