Beyond Time Read online

  Beyond Time

  By

  Wendy Stone

  Eternal Press

  A division of Damnation Books, LLC.

  P.O. Box 3931

  Santa Rosa, CA 95402-9998

  www.eternalpress.biz

  Beyond Time

  by Wendy Stone

  Digital ISBN: 978-1-61572-566-3

  Print ISBN: 978-1-61572-567-0

  Cover art by: Dawné Dominique

  Edited by: Sally Odgers

  Copyedited by: Rose Vera Stepney

  Copyright 2011 Wendy Stone

  Printed in the United States of America

  Worldwide Electronic & Digital Rights

  1st North American, Australian and UK Print Rights

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any form, including digital and electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written consent of the Publisher, except for brief quotes for use in reviews.

  This book is a work of fiction. Characters, names, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  I’d like to thank my wonderful daughter and her patience with me when I lock myself in my room and type until early in the morning. I don’t know what I would do without her.

  Chapter One

  “Come on, Cadie. Catch me if you can...”

  A young man broke free of the trees and ran into a small clearing. He stumbled over a rock and almost landed headfirst into the stream that burbled through it.

  “Matthew James Bestry, you quit teasing me.” A woman followed the man, her bouncy brown curls loose around her shoulders. Her eyes, bright blue and sparkling, were full of her devilish personality. She reached out, grabbing the source of her torment with a hand against his arm.

  “Oh Cadie, you know I live to tease you.” He easily lifted her off of her feet and spun her around until he tripped over the same rock. He fell backwards onto the ground and pulled her with him. He grunted and she pushed against him, her pique showing on her face.

  “I am not that heavy, Mattie.” She rolled to her back, her arms crossing against her chest, her face tipped away from his. “I’m not.”

  “Are you sure?” he teased. He came up on his elbow next to her and looked down at the woman he loved. The one thing he was certain of, more than anything else was that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. He just had to find the way to tell her. He tugged on one of her soft curls and wrapped it around his finger as he waited for her to reply.

  “I swear I don’t know why I go out with you. I know my daddy asks me the same thing every time you bring me home from a date.” She still wouldn’t look at him. “I tell him that you have good traits but I’m beginning to wonder.”

  “You know you love me, Cascade Melissa Johnson. Don’t you even try to deny it.” He spoke teasingly but there was a wealth of meaning behind the words. He held his breath and waited to hear what she would say.

  She turned her head, her angel blue eyes staring directly into his. “I do,” she whispered, a flush sending a pink heat to her cheeks.

  “You do?” he asked and traced the soft curve of her cheek.

  “Yes, though you don’t deserve it.” She reached up and curved her hand over the back of his neck.

  “I don’t?”

  Cadie scowled for a moment. “Did someone take away your ability to talk, Mattie? Usually a girl would like to hear an answer when she tells a man she loves him.”

  He scooted even closer to her, his hand against her face, his thumb tracing the high curve of her cheekbone. “Cadie Johnson?”

  “Yes,” she answered breathlessly.

  “I love you.”

  “Really?”

  “More than my life.” His brown eyes met her bright gaze and a huge smile crossed his face. “I love you.” He found it easier to say the second time. It gave him such pleasure to be able to tell her what he felt for her, especially now. He had only a few weeks left before he was off to boot camp and then wherever the army wanted to send him. With the state the world was in, that might be anywhere. He dipped his head, his lips slowly covering hers as he felt her hand twine in the hair at his nape.

  That first kiss was a gentle tasting, a brush that teased them both. It lasted mere seconds, but when he raised his head, they were both panting.

  “Tell me.”

  She giggled, an enchanting sound that seemed to trill like a bird’s song. “You call me bossy.”

  “Cadie...” he growled and she giggled again.

  “Okay.” She sighed and rolled her eyes. “If you’re going to push it.”

  She stared up at him in amazement when he rose easily and walked to their favorite part of the clearing, a sandy embankment that ran beside the stream. There was a huge flat rock that was the perfect place to hold a picnic or to lie on. He sank onto that rock now.

  He glanced back to see Cadie raise up on her elbows to stare after him as he dug into the soft sand. He plucked out a half of a dozen small rocks and flung them across the stream. She got up slowly. “Mattie?”

  He glanced at her. “Yeah?”

  “Are you mad at me?”

  He scooted over on the rock and held out his hand to her. He helped her take off her shoes as she sat so she could let her feet hang in the cool water. “No, it’s just...well, I have something I want to give you. But it’s kind of important that I know how you feel about me.”

  His voice was gruff, the words clipped.

  “You want to give me something?”

  “Yeah, but you have to tell me, Cadie. Do you love me enough for the long haul?” He held his breath as he waited for her answer.

  She smiled up at him and touched his cheek. “Yes,” she said so softly he almost missed it. “I love you that much.”

  A bubble of joy filled him, a joy so sublime that his hands shook with it. He reached into the pocket of his jeans, tugging on a small dark box. Holding it in his big palm, he stared at their surroundings. “This isn’t exactly how I thought to do this but I can’t wait any longer.” He swallowed, turning the box around in his hand. “Cadie, you mean more to me than anything ever has. I love you so much it scares me sometimes. You know I’m leaving to join the army in a few weeks. My dad made it a career and while it wasn’t always easy, I hope to do the same. I can’t look into my future without seeing you there, at my side.” He took a deep breath and opened the box to show a small diamond engagement ring on a bed of black satin. “Cadie Johnson, would you marry me?”

  Cadie’s eyes were huge and she glanced from the ring to his face and then back again. Her mouth opened but nothing came out. She looked surprised and he smiled.

  “Cat got your tongue?”

  Her mouth closed and then opened again and her eyes made another circuit from the ring to his face and then back.

  “Uh, Cadie? It’s an easy question, yes you will or no you won’t. But please, say yes.”

  “Yes,” she breathed. “Of course, yes!” She didn’t wait for him to fish the ring out of the box. Instead, she threw herself into his arms, almost tipping them both into the stream. His arms went around her. The joy made him feel as if he was walking on rainbows. He snapped the box closed, his head dipping to find her lips. He felt her smile and for that instant in time, he was happier than he’d ever been.

  Cadie felt his tongue press against her lips and s
he parted them, eagerly. Mattie had always been so slow to take liberties. He hadn’t even kissed her until their fourth date, when he’d taken her to the Boone County Fair. He’d won a big blue panda bear which sat on her bed, even now. When he ended the kiss, she almost moaned her frustration. There was a huge difference in being respectful and being annoying.

  “Whoa, cowboy. There’s a condition for putting that ring on my finger.”

  “Condition? What you talking about, Cadie?”

  “You want me to marry you? You’ve got to do something for me, now. Then I’ll wear your ring and follow you all over God’s green earth.”

  “What is it?” he asked and she saw him straightening his back and waiting for her to lower the boom.

  “You are going to make love to me, today. Here, right now, this instant. You’re going to make me into your woman or you can forget me and take that ring back to the store to get your money back.”

  “I thought you’d want to wait for our wedding night, Cadie.” He looked shocked and Cadie almost laughed.

  “No, right now or I’m going home.”

  “You know, most girls would want to wait...”

  “What girls are you talking about?” This time she did laugh. “Your dad pushed all those old fashioned notions into your brain, Matthew.” She shook her head. “So what do you say? Am I getting up and going home now or...?”

  “Don’t leave me, Cadie.” His brown eyes seemed too big and he leaned back. “You’re sure you don’t want to wait?”

  “Positive.” She heard the sharp sound of the ring box closing and felt him reach beyond her to set the box somewhere it wouldn’t be ruined or lost. “I want you, right here, Mattie.”

  “You know, this is my first time.” His cheeks grew flushed, ruddy and his eyes dropped.

  “Mine too.” Cadie smiled up at him even as the largest butterflies in the world had just taken up residence in her stomach. “But I want you.”

  “Then kiss me.” His soft supple lips that seemed to easily know how to drive her crazy, were hot against hers. His hands rose, cupping her face, holding her back when she tried to climb onto his lap. “Slow down, Cadie. I’m not going to back out on you.”

  She felt the heat suffuse her cheeks. “How long have you known me?” she asked.

  “Two years, since you transferred in from Hadley.”

  “How long have we been dating?”

  “Eight months. Your momma wouldn’t let you date until you turned eighteen.”

  “I wanted you from the very first day I saw you. You were talking to that jerk, Tyler Brisbane. You called him on it when he knocked my books out of my hands and you helped me pick them up. I thought you were dashing and romantic. You were my hero and you still are, Mattie. Now I want you to be my lover too.”

  She reached out, shocking him a bit more as her hands moved down the buttons on his shirt, undoing them and pulling the shirt apart. His chest was muscular, tanned from the work he did on the farm his daddy now owned. He gasped, a short groan leaving his lips as her palm moved over him.

  He was warm, his skin smooth, and she daringly dragged a nail across his nipple. It hardened and he moaned, leaning back on his hands so she could touch him any way she wanted. He almost jerked away from her when her fingers moved down to the rippled flesh of his abdomen, slipping beneath the buckle of his belt and over the hot skin under his waistband.

  “Did I hurt you?” Her breathless voice was husky and she ran her palms up his chest, pushing his shirt over his shoulders and tugging them off of his wrists.

  “No, Cadie...you feel so good.” Her lips touched his chest and his head fell back. Cadie took his shirt and dumped it on the ground behind him. Then she rose above him, her knees straddling his thighs.

  “So you like it when I do this?” She leaned down, her lips feathering across his nipple, her teeth nibbling at his taut flesh. He moaned and fell back, his hands coming up to pull her down. He tugged her toward his mouth, his lips on hers, twisting to open her mouth, his tongue plunging inside to tease hers. It was a hot, wet kiss and she was panting when he pulled his lips away.

  He’d let her loose for only one reason. “Can I?” He tugged at the slim fitting tee shirt she wore, waiting to pull it over her head until she nodded. His eyes went wide as he saw her soft breasts hidden from him only by the thin cotton of her bra. “You’re beautiful.”

  Cadie smiled down at him even as she reached behind her and unfastened her bra. She held it across her breasts and let the straps slip down. Holding it there, she freed her arms, one at a time. When she caught his gaze once more, she let it fall from her breasts, dropping her bra on top of his shirt and her tee shirt.

  His hands rose slowly, hovering just above her skin without touching her. It was almost as if he were afraid to touch her. She reached out, taking his hands and pushing them against her breasts. He held them carefully, his palms slowly rubbing circles against her nipples.

  “I won’t break,” she said with a husky laugh. “Really, Mattie.”

  He sat up, lifting her easily and taking her back, just inside of the tree line. It was shaded there, the sun casting dappled shadows over her skin. Laying her down, he fell next to her, his hand going back to her breast. He carefully tugged on her nipple, playing with the taut bud and hearing her soft moans and tender gasps. He met her eyes and then, slowly, carefully, he bent his head, his mouth opening over the hard tip. His lips pulled, suckling on her nipple, his eyes locked on the expression on her face.

  “Oh,” she cried. Her hand came up, cradling his face. “Please don’t stop.”

  Mattie growled at the husky sound of pleasure in her voice. His leg slid between hers, his knee bent and pressing against her jean clad pussy. Her hips pushed against his knee, the seam of her jeans pressing into her swiftly dampening sex.

  His hand was infinitely gentle, kneading her firm but soft flesh before moving to the other, twisting her nipple. Every moan made him harder, every soft sigh made him yearn for more. His fingers slid down the ladder of her ribs, stopping at her slender stomach where the waistband of her jeans rested. “You’re sure?” he asked, his nimble fingers touching the button of her jeans.

  “God yes, Mattie. Don’t tease me.” Her hips rose and she cried out as he pulled the button free. He glanced down, his eyes intent as he lifted the tiny silver tab and pulled it down. A triangle of tanned flesh and then white cotton came into view. The backs of his fingers caressed that golden skin, feeling the smoothness, the softness and then the sleek heat that warmed the cotton.

  “You’re so beautiful, Cadie.” His voice was thick and he felt his cock, already hard, throb at the sight of her. “You’re beautiful and you’re mine.”

  She smiled at the satisfaction in his voice, as well as the want she heard. His palm slid over her skin, pushing under the waistband of her panties. His fingers, calloused from the heavy work on the farm, were a pleasurable roughness against the skin of her stomach. Then his finger slipped between the pouting, swollen lips of her pussy, the thick sweetness of her juices coating them. They slid from the top of her slit, slipping past the veil that protected her wet sheath.

  Cadie cried out, unable to stop herself. “Mattie...” She watched as he pulled his fingers away, taking them and slipping them in his mouth.

  “Hmm, sweet. Lift up.”

  She bit her lip, her eyes suddenly shy. She stuttered something so soft he couldn’t hear her.

  He chuckled. “What’s wrong, Cadie-bug? What happened to my strong girlfriend who had a condition before she would agree to marry me?”

  “She’s still here, just a bit...”

  “Shy?”

  Cadie smacked at his arm as he started chuckling. “It’s not nice to laugh, especially when you just had your hand down your girlfriend’s pants.” She smacked at him again.

&nbs
p; “Okay!” He raised his hand in surrender. “I give up, baby. I’m sorry.”

  “Good, then...” She wiggled her finger at him and he bent closer. “Shut up and kiss me.”

  “I thought you’d never ask.” His lips were there and his tongue pushed past hers, tempting her to open her mouth wider. Her hands slid over his chest, coming around his neck, drawing him near. She pulled him closer, moaning as his chest pressed against her bare breasts. “Lift up,” he said again, before kissing her to distraction.

  She did and then she helped him slide her jeans off her body. Her legs wrapped around his waist and she held him tightly, wanting nothing more than to be as close to him as she possibly could. “You’re going to be my husband.”

  “Yes.” His mouth slid from hers, tracing over the curve of her jaw, nibbling at her neck. One hand slid down to her hip, moving over her sleek leg. “You’re mine.”

  She smiled at the note of satisfaction in his voice. She arched, pressing her breasts into his chest. “I am,” she moaned. “I love you.”

  He grabbed her hand, sliding her palm down his body. “Take them off.”

  She brought her other hand down and plucked at the fastening of his jeans. It took little time for her hands to slip the button through its hole and then slide his zipper down. She felt the long ridge of his cock against her hand. Turning it over, she slid it into the front slit his boxers, curving his fingers against the satiny soft skin of his hardness. “Oh,” she whispered as she stroked her fist on his shaft.

  His breathing was getting rough, raspy. Her innocent exploration was pushing him to the limit. He’d masturbated, stroking his cock to thoughts of Cadie, of her doing just what she was. The reality by far was better than his fantasies. When her hand slid over the tip of his cock, gathering the torrent of precum that was leaking from him, he thought that would be it.

  “Take off my boxers, Cadie.”