Page 9 of City of Love

“It’s not when we traveled to. It’s where.” Margot smiled as she, too, took in the room. “It’s the same time, date, and year as it was in Taco Shots, but it’s a parallel world. Same time, same town, different version.”

“But the clothing—”

“Their history diverged from ours over two hundred and fifty years ago. No Industrial Revolution here. Some things are exactly the same. Some are totally different. Some things…” She gestured to a woman wearing leather pants and boots, a soft linen shirt with suspenders, and her hair in a late Victorian updo. Curls piled high on her head with tendrils hanging down and ribbons running through. “Some things are their own unique blend.”

Something else had been hanging at the edge of her awareness, and she realized now it was the crystals. All the locals wore them. Sparkling jewels, smooth stones, clear quartz, every color and texture, sewn into their garments to adorn collars or cuffs. Or worn as broaches, headbands, bracelets, and belts.

“Margot, what’s with…” But her friend was now chatting up the bartender.

Lexi turned back to the salon. Maybe it was the light dancing off a million gemstone prisms, maybe the warmth from all the candles and the roaring fire, maybe the portal travel itself, but she suddenly felt flushed and lightheaded. Reaching a hand to her cheek, she found it quite warm. She tried to get a look at herself in the mirror behind the bar to see just how pink, or perhaps pale, her face had turned, but the rows of bottles broke her image into a Picasso portrait.

Frustrated, she picked up a spoon and moved it around in front of her face, trying to get a decent glimpse of herself in its reflection.

“You’re going to be upside down and backwards in there,” a deep and somehow familiar voice whispered in her ear, instantly sending a warm tingle between her legs and right up through her… second chakra.

Lexi swung around on the stool, her knees bumping into the leather clad, rock hard thighs belonging to the man attached to the voice.

“Would you care for a mirror?” he asked as her gaze went from the thighs she was hotly aware were still touching her knees, to his face. A beautifully chiseled face, with wavy, shoulder-length dark blond hair. A slight upturned tease on his lips. And the most intense gray-green eyes she’d ever seen.

Gray-green eyes.

She nearly tipped backward off her stool.

After seeing his face so many times in her dreams, here he stood. Solid. Three-dimensional. His body radiating actual warmth, his scent clean, masculine, and enticing.

Heat flashed across her skin, time moving in a super-slow-mo crawl. One thousand one, one thousand two…

He lifted a brow and she snapped back to attention, putting a hand to her face. “I just feel a bit warm.”

“Ah. I’m assuming you’ve not visited us before,” he answered. “It’s the effect of being in our universe. The energy flowing through our world is a richer, more powerful energy than you experience in yours, and the matter here is finer, stronger, and more resilient. You could say the fuel and substance of our world is cleaner, if you will, purer.”

“Kind of like using premium unleaded gas instead of regular.” Her eyes never left his as she spoke. Except when they strayed to his lips. Full and beautifully curved, every gentle crease now crystal clear, unlike in her visions, and begging for the touch of her fingers.

“From what little I know of your petroleum products, yes.” He smiled at her comparison. She’d never seen that smile in her dreams, and her stomach did a little flip at the beauty of it. “Our bodies, as well as our minds, benefit in amazing ways from the use of the… premium fuel.” He winked, and the tingle flared again.

She wiggled on the stool.

What the heck is going on? She gave herself a mental slap in the face. Was she actually swooning over a man she’d known for, what, two minutes? This wasn’t like her at all. Of course, in some ways she felt like she’d known him for months. Could he possibly have any idea? She doubted it.

“That’s why we’re physically stronger and live longer than you,” he said, “and when you visit us here it has some of the same effects on you, at least temporarily. Your body is experiencing a bit of a rush right now.”

Lexi listened to his explanation, but sitting as she was, she happened to be eye level with his chest. Even through his soft cotton shirt it was clear how broad and perfectly sculpted it was, as were his arms which were revealed by his rolled-up sleeves and…

Damn it, the tingle was becoming a slow burn.

She shook her head to clear the teasing thoughts. “I’m sorry. Your universe? I really am in a parallel world?”

“Indeed.” His smile flamed wider and she struggled to maintain focus. It was hard enough comprehending the evening’s events without dream boy and his Michelangelo-worthy body still in contact with hers.

She gazed across the room, squinting as she forced herself to concentrate. “So, the Many Worlds Theory of multiple dimensions is the correct one. The Copenhagen Interpretation was wrong all along.”

“Ah. I’m guessing your expertise is theoretical physics?” He offered his hand. “I’m Gideon Ashe, by the way. Owner of this salon. I specialize in vibratory physics. Which university are you with?”

She took his hand, which felt way too comfortable and familiar. “Alexa Cross. Lexi. And no, I’m a legal assistant. But I’ve been an armchair science enthusiast my whole life. I find it fascinating.”

His expression dimmed for the briefest of moments at her response, and her excitement right along with it. He released her hand, stepping back a foot and disconnecting their small point of physical contact. His gaze left her eyes for the first time as he quickly scanned her from head to toe, nodding as he took in her thoroughly non-professorial outfit.

Nice going. She’d already managed to distance the man who was supposed to be making out with her at some point in the future. Had she actually done something to change her destiny? Because now that she was here—now that he was here—she really, really didn’t want to change a thing.

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