Time to Control (7 page)

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.

We came back to be standing where
we had left, and my knees immediately gave out, and Eddie caught me before I
collapsed on the floor.
 
He carried
me around the couch, and sat me down.
 
I put my hands on my head and leaned over.

“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.

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.

"As I have been trying to tell
you, I cannot do that, Alan.
 
My--"

"Get the hell out of my sight
then!"
 
He stomped off towards
his office.
 
I ignored the people
peering over their cubicles to see what was going on.
 
Alan wanted to blame me for the company
looking bad?
 
He was doing that
himself.
 
I marched straight down to
Joseph's office and barged right in, not caring that Eddie was in there.

"I've had it," I told Joseph
blandly.
 
"I've put up with
Alan's shit for long enough, and I can't take it anymore."

Joseph plastered a fake smile on
his face.
 
"Edward, can you
give us a moment, please?"

"He can stay."
 
I snapped.
 
"The time for him to be out of it
would have been before Alan chewed me out in the middle of the fucking
hall."
 
Eddie winced at the
cursing, and I whirled at him.
 
"You want to know who runs the tech department?
 
Me.
 
That's right.
 
Not Alan,
me.
 
I do all the coding for the
sites.
 
I follow up with the other
programmers to be sure they get their code working.
 
I troubleshoot their code.
 
Hell, I manage the employees as well --
they are all too scared to go straight to Alan.
 
Alan can never handle vacations, so I
make sure HR knows who is out, and when.
 
I'm here early every day, and get on the programmers when they are
late.
 
Alan never knows, because he
never comes in before nine.
 
Why do
you think they sent me up to talk to you?
 
Because Alan doesn't fucking know anything.
 
You stick those code samples in front of
him, and he couldn't tell you which of us here wrote what, much less what any
of the code actually does.
 
He sits
there all day pushing paper around his desk, playing with the toys sitting on
top of it."

I continued ranting.
 
"And you know what?
 
I'm fine with all of that.
 
But what I'm not fine with is busting my
ass day in, day out, and then getting my ass chewed out in front of everyone
for having the gall to have my apartment burn down this morning!" I
screamed.
 
"I'm not wearing
shoes because I don't
have
any.
 
All I have is the clothes on my back, and they. Aren't. Even. Mine.
 
And that bastard won't give me a day off
to figure out where the hell I will be sleeping tonight.
 
So yeah, I'm done with this.
 
I'll make damned sure that we get through
this acquisition phase, but once it's done, either Alan goes, or I
go."
 
I turned on my heel quick
enough to get carpet burns, and stalked off.

Everyone knows the phrase “so mad
you were shaking”, but I always thought it was an exaggeration.
 
Not any more.
 
I was so pissed at Alan my hands were
moving a good inch back and forth involuntarily.
 
Even with that I couldn't bring myself
to walk out the door – that was just something you didn't do.

"Schroeder, wait up,"
Eddie said, jogging after me.
 
"Schroeder."
 
He
grabbed my arm since I was ignoring him, and dragged me into the break
room.
 
"Whoa.
 
Slow down.
 
What was that about your
apartment?"

I tried to push past him.
 
"I don't have time for this
now."

"Yes you do.
 
Globe theater, now."
 
He grabbed my hand, and pulled the ring
on and off.
 
Nothing.
 
He grabbed my chin in one hand.
 
"Schroeder, concentrate.
 
Globe theater.
 
Shakespeare."
 
Still nothing.
 
"Ah, 'to be, or not to be, that is
the question', 'out out damn spot', 'if we shadows have offended', and all that
jazz."
 
The corner of my mouth
quirked involuntarily, and Eddie tried the ring again.