Time After Time Read Online Free Page B

the bed. She patted his broad head and listened to the grumbling sound he made in contentment. Just as she was dropping off to sleep, she found herself wondering idly how her pet would react to a man in her bed.
    Odd … the question had never occurred to her before.

    She had taken Caliban out for a run at dawn, then accomplished her shopping before most of the city was even awake; all-night grocery stores, she thought with amusement, were certainly a godsend for people with unusual pets. So was the ability to sleep no more than four or five hours a night, an ability she had possessed as long as she could remember.
    Leaving Caliban in the bedroom to sleep off the morning’s exertions and his breakfast, she put away her groceries and began to get her kitchen in order while she watched the sun rising outside. Several hours later she fixed a late breakfast for herself and gazed in approval at her new home. The kitchen was in order and her living area arranged neatly, a profusion of pillows piled on her long sectional couch and two overstuffed chairs. Several large decorative candles graced her inlaid oak coffee table—she’d never again be caught here in the dark for long!—and ceramicand porcelain lamps sat on the end tables that matched it.
    Fluffy stood in a corner near the door with two large potted rubber plants flanking him. Alex had efficiently and as quietly as possible erected her sectional bookcases along the broad wall on the other side of the door, and small boxes of books stood ready to be put into place.
    She had taken apart Caliban’s crate and stored the panels in the capacious closet between the bedroom and bathroom doors before stuffing the straw into a large garbage bag along with other assorted trash familiar to anyone who had ever moved. Empty boxes were piled neatly near the door awaiting removal.
    It was a good start.
    Moving about the loft, thoughtful, Alex carried her coffee cup and planned. The raised platform that took up half the open loft space and ran the length of the streetside wall, she decided, would hold her working materials. It already did, in fact, since she’d asked the movers to leave her working table, desk, and various tools of her trade up there.A wide set of three steps led up to the platform, and Caliban sprawled to block the way.
    Amused, she watched as he methodically licked the bedraggled face of the large teddy bear he clutched between his front paws. “I’m glad the doll finally disintegrated,” she told him, smiling. “That bear’s bad enough, but the doll made your instincts look suspect.” He blinked sleepy eyes and began washing the bear’s face again.
    Remembering the large doll her pet had dragged around for nearly two years, Alex smiled. But then a knock sounded at her door, and her smile vanished. “Cal!” she called, heading for the bedroom door.
    He got up and lifted the bear in his huge jaws, obediently following her and going into the bedroom. She watched him climb onto her bed with his toy, then carefully closed the door and went to find out who her visitor was.
    Noah.
    He stepped into the loft with a cheerful smile, saying, “Good morning, Alex. I thought you could probably use some help—” Then his eyes widenedas he took in the neatly arranged living area of the loft. “You’re a fast worker, aren’t you?” he observed, surprised.
    “An early riser.” Alex smiled as she closed the door behind him. “I’ll have it to do all over again, probably, when the painters come, but I wanted to get an idea of how it’ll look. Coffee?”
    “Thanks.” He followed her into the kitchen area, his eyes drawn irresistibly to the lovely picture she made dressed in snug jeans and a colorful peasant blouse. A bright bandanna held her thick hair away from her face, making her look even more fragile than she had the night before. And the sirens, he decided, were still present in her eyes, but this morning they were wistful creatures with gentle