Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

2

Chapter 1

T

HE

second hand on my watch slowly ticked off the seconds,

and I counted each precious moment as it passed, wishing I
wasn’t there. My mother was late again.

It wasn’t that I didn’t want to see her. She’s my mom; of

course I wanted to have lunch with her. But her concept of
time was skewed, so “noon” meant twelve thirty.

“I’m so sorry, Henry.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. Standing up, I saw her

walking toward me. “I was starting to worry.”

As she rattled off her difficulties in getting there, I pulled

out her chair so she could sit down. When the waitress came
to get her drink order, she finally took a breath to look over
the menu.

I didn’t inherit my mother’s gift of gab. As a teenager, I

rarely came out of my room to talk, taking my meals in my
room as I worked on my latest project.

“I keep hoping you’ll bring a boyfriend to lunch,” she

said as the server left.

I groaned. “Isn’t this how we start every meal?”
“It will be until you show up with a significant other in

tow.”

I tried to glare at her, but staring down your mother is

like trying to stare down a cat; you might win but you will
feel the burn of their contempt for days afterward. Well, my
mom might forgive me if I apologize, but the cat won’t.

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

3

“Don’t give me that look. You’re my only child. I won’t

rest until you’re happily partnered.”

“I’m married to work,” I quipped.
“Henry—”
“Mom,” I said warningly. “Please don’t start. I’m working

on a really important deadline at work, and this topic of
conversation will just distract me.”

She wouldn’t drop it, but had she ever dropped a topic

she really cared about? My father would say no. “I just want
you to be happy.”

“I am. Happiness doesn’t come from having a partner. It

comes from within, finding who you are and understanding
yourself.”

“I was fine with the whole gay thing,” she said,

continuing on like I hadn’t spoken. She was right. My
parents had been fine about me coming out, even though my
mom had bemoaned being deprived of grandchildren
because I was her only child. “I just hate to see you alone all
the time. Don’t you get lonely?”

“No.”
She pursed her lips. “Henry Thomas Wallens, don’t lie to

your mother.”

I sighed. “I go out on dates, but I haven’t met anyone I

want to bring to you guys. Listen, can we drop this? I didn’t
agree to lunch so you could give me the third degree.”

My mother started to argue, but luckily the waitress

appeared with our drinks and salads, so the never-ending
nag cycle was broken. After she finished doctoring her iced
tea with huge amounts of sugar, she sat back in her chair
and took a long look at me. “You look good, although it’s
strange to see you without your glasses these days.”

“Thanks,” I said, taking a bite of salad. Getting the eye

surgery to correct my vision was the best thing I ever did. If I

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

4

ever got sweaty mid project, my glasses would slip down my
nose. I couldn’t afford to make a mistake just because I
couldn’t see without my soda-bottle glasses.

“You look so much like Tommy,” she said.
I wiped my mouth. Her statement came out of left field,

and her sad expression tore at my heart. We all missed
Tommy, my mother’s older brother. He’d been one of the
military’s most brilliant minds and instrumental in fostering
my love for science.

She rarely brought him up, but I said the same thing I

always did when she told me how much I reminded her of
him. “That’s because I got your good looks. What can I say?
You have a good-looking family.”

She laughed and dabbed her eyes with a napkin. “You’re

a sweet boy.”

“I’m hardly a boy now,” I said. “I’m all grown up.”
She sniffled. “Yes, you are, but you’ll always be my little

Henry,” she said, turning to other topics that weren’t nearly
as touchy with me, like how my Aunt Trish was doing after
her horrible fall. But even after I left, my mind kept heading
back to our conversation.

She was right, as mothers normally were. I was lonely.

Spending nights at the lab was a regular occurrence,
especially since I was so close to my presentation date. I had
to have my project ready for the board of directors in six
months but I would have the extra stress of having the
founder of Leaf Industries there as well.

After marrying off nearly everyone we knew, Mom had

decided to turn her matchmaking skills on me. On dates, if
someone asked me what I did, ten seconds later, his eyes
would glaze over as I rattled off terms most people would
never begin to understand.

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

5

At least I got laid on my dates. It was one night I didn’t

have to jerk off in the shower and I could give my hand a
rest. I did want to find love, but I also wanted a partner who
understood me when they asked me how my day was.

The men I went out with enjoyed my body, though. Once

I’d hit my growth spurt and lost all my baby fat, I started
running. I kept it up because it gave me more energy. Having
all that extra stamina meant I could stay up all night if I hit
a stride on my project. Like last night.

Back in the office, I hung up my coat and headed for my

lab. It was cozy and messy, just how I liked it. My desk sat
against the far wall, piled with parts from small electronic
devices I’d ordered from companies all over the world.

On my bulletin board, I’d tacked up the latest

schematics for the power source I was still working on.
Beneath all of that was the chief science officer’s scrawl.
Although he was a very busy man who traveled to his many
companies worldwide and I had never met him, he was also
the founder of Leaf Industries, so I knew I’d better listen to
him.

Think smaller,
RG
I’d laughed when I read the note because I thought he

was completely crazy. There was no way to squeeze every last
piece of equipment I needed to regenerate power into such a
small space.

That note had ended up back on my desk eight months

ago. I’d spent day and night working on miniaturization, and
just this past week, I’d managed to get it right. The battery
fit into a small cell phone half the size of my palm, and I
picked it up to check the battery life on it.

For a week now, the battery hadn’t gone dead. Tiny

though it was, the energy inside would never die. The
theories I had of self-renewing energy were controversial at

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

6

best. Scientists had scoffed at the idea, and when I’d sent
proposals after patenting it, rejections had piled in. But all it
had taken was one yes, from a company I never dreamed
would say yes.

Leaf Industries was the leader in green technologies,

and I figured if I had been turned down by nearly everyone in
the industry, I could be rejected by the best too. My
excitement had known no bounds when I received their
grant, along with an office and a shared secretary.

While creating this energy, I’d stumbled on a different

technology, completely outside the energy idea. It was the
project I never meant to create. This cell phone was no
ordinary device. I twisted the last screw at the top of the
device and took a step back to look at it.

It was a time device. The modifications I’d made to it,

including the SIM card, caused it to create a temporal
disturbance surrounding it. I’d found it when I tried to send
an e-mail from the phone to my computer, and the date
showed it had come from the future.

At first I had blown the e-mail off as some strange

anomaly, until I tried it again and the same thing happened.
I shut it off, and the device returned to our time, but once I
started it up again, the same time shift occurred.

It wasn’t the power source. When I hooked that up to

my computer, the power only lasted for hours. The tiny
battery wasn’t large enough to run a desktop, especially with
all the programs I ran on the power hog.

Before I turned in my data on the power project, I

wanted to test this anomaly. After a few tweaks to expand
the electrical field surrounding the handset, I found I could
include items in the temporal field. I’d used the device a few
times to send small things, like an apple and even a plant, to
the past, and even into the future.

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

7

Once I concluded there was no damage to the plant and

that a living entity could survive a time jump, I tried it
myself. My jumps had been short, but this time I wanted to
go all the way and go back years, not just months.

Picking a specific time would be hard because there

were so many parts of my past I wished I could visit again. I
turned off my lamp, knowing a decision like this was
important, and after a day like today, I needed to sleep on it.

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

8

Chapter 2

I

SAT

straight up in bed, my pajamas soaked completely

through. Watching Carrie before bedtime hadn’t been the
smartest thing to do, especially with the conversation I’d had
with my mother earlier in the day still fresh in my mind.

Or maybe it was the pizza I’d found in my fridge. I

thought it had been only a couple days old. I realized now it
had probably been in there longer than that, considering
how rarely I came home to eat.

I lay back against the pillows and tried breathing deep

to regulate my pounding heart. The disturbing dream had
started with the prom I’d never attended. Rather than
working on my senior project that I submitted to my future
professors at MIT, like I had in real life, I had been pounding
on the locked gym door, begging to be let in.

It was stupid, but I felt like if I didn’t get inside, my life

was over. Slowly the scene had changed to my parents
sobbing over my body, facedown inside my condo, as if
they’d found me there like that.

That was when I woke up. The dream had been

disturbing, to say the least, and it was of little comfort to be
awake and alive, especially with that nightmare still
haunting me.

I jumped out of bed. A plan formed in my mind,

although I wasn’t sure it would work. My mom had always
thought I looked like her brother Tommy, although I wore my
hair longer, because he was in the military.

I walked into the bathroom and looked at myself in the

mirror. If I went back in the past and convinced my younger

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

9

self I needed to be a more social creature, especially coming
from my Uncle Tommy, who I looked up to so much….

I grabbed my electric shaver. Maybe this could work.
Once I’d shaved my hair close and it didn’t look like I

had shaved it in the dark, I dressed and grabbed a bag of
clothes. Maybe choosing my destination while recovering
from a terrifying dream wasn’t a good idea, but the image of
my parents finding my body in my condo stayed with me all
the way to my office.

I shuddered. Before I lost my nerve, I needed to do this.
I dialed in the calculations for the exact time I wanted to

arrive. Late in the evening, just after dinnertime, would
work. “Here goes nothing,” I said to no one in particular and
pressed the button on the device. The tiny engine whirred to
life and hummed vibrantly.

Little tiny needles ran along my skin as the time-travel

machine deconstructed my body slowly in current time.
Flashes of light flew past me as time slowed to a halt and
then started to rewind.

I closed my eyes, unable to stomach all the motion

around me. Even the strongest of iron wills would have been
unable to deal with all the movement.

Surprisingly, there was no noise, but then I was flying

faster than the speed of light. The speed of time was even
quicker than light.

Finally, I opened my eyes.
I’d forgotten that back when I was in high school, my

office building had been little more than a field. I should
have thought ahead about that, but it was no bother. I dug
my phone out of my pants pocket and powered it on.

If I was right, my phone from the future should work

just fine here. As the screen lit up, I held my breath.
Suddenly, the bars for service popped up, ready to make a
phone call. Knowing my cell phone plan, I would get a huge
roaming charge on this one.

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

10

“Yes. Perfect.” I tried making a call, and when it began

to ring, I let out a sigh of relief. After ordering a taxi to pick
me up at the mall a few blocks away, I walked over that way.

It was a quick walk, and the wait for the cab was even

shorter. When I got in, I gave the driver my parents’ old
address and settled back in the seat, even though my foot
wouldn’t settle down. It tapped against the seat in front of
me with a strange rhythm. Now here in the past, I wasn’t
entirely sure my plan would work. My stomach roiled with
nerves.

The cab let me off right in front of the house, and I took

several deep breaths to calm myself. There would be no
reason my uncle would be nervous about visiting his sister,
so I needed to be confident. Praying this would work, I
knocked on the front door. I heard the gruff bark of our old
dog, Sam, and a pang hit my chest.

While it had been a long time since I’d thought of the

dog I grew up with, I’d never forgotten her. We’d put her to
sleep one year when I was home from college during winter
break. Some Christmas that had turned out to be.

After a minute, the curtain swished, and my mother’s

face appeared in the window. The look of shock turned to
excitement, and I heard her yell, “Oh my God, honey, it’s
Tommy!”

I relaxed and grinned. “Let me in, then,” I said with a

laugh.

When she threw open the door, I held out my arms. I

almost called her Mom but then saved it at the last second.
“Patty.”

As my father came out of the dining room, I took a good

look at both of them. What a difference fifteen years made,
especially with my dad. He’d gone completely gray by the
time he’d retired from his job, but now he had a dark shock
of hair. “Hi, John,” I said to my father.

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

11

My mom was in her scrubs, getting ready for the night

shift at the hospital. She worked part time until I was
through college. Although scholarships had taken care of my
tuition, dorms and food would be expensive too.

MIT had scouted me in junior high after I won first prize

at the national science fair, and it hadn’t been a question of
whether my parents could afford it. Mom went back to work
and started saving for my education right away, wanting to
leave the final decision up to me but knowing she needed to
be prepared.

She looked me up and down. “I wish you’d called before

coming. I would have arranged to take the night off from
work and at least made up the spare bedroom.”

Internally I let out a sigh of relief; she was inviting me to

stay, although I protested like my uncle always did before
accepting her offer. “I can’t inconvenience you by staying
here.”

My mom held up her hand. “I won’t hear of it. You’ll be

staying with us. That’ll be the end of discussion on that
topic.”

“Uncle Tommy!”
I whirled around as the impact hit me. “Whoa,” I said

breathlessly. I thought back to these days before I’d hit my
big growth spurt. My full height hadn’t come until I was in
college.

I wrapped my arms around the younger version of

myself as the memory slid over my consciousness like it had
always been there. The joy of my uncle suddenly coming
back from overseas for an impromptu visit was an
unexpected treat. This was the last time I would see my
uncle, until his funeral, of course.

I tried to hang on to the memories of my original

timeline, because I was almost certain he hadn’t shown up
there, but it became hard to keep the two paths separate. I
finally gave up and hugged my younger self.

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

12

My dad chuckled. “You’re about the only reason he

would come out of the garage. He barely comes to the table
to eat, even.”

The younger version of me shot my dad a glare. “That’s

because I’m busy working on my science project.”

I chuckled. “Well, family and friends are important too,

Henry.”

He grinned. “That’s true. I’m really glad you came.”
“Me too,” I said.
“Let me show you my science project.” He took my hand

and pulled me out of the foyer.

“Henry,” my mom said warningly as he started to drag

me off. “He came here to see all of us, not just your science
project.”

“It’s okay,” I said, winking at Henry. “You need to get to

work, and I know you’ve had a long day at work, John.”

“It’s no trouble. I’d love to have a brandy with you and

chat.”

A snifter of brandy would put me right to sleep. “Maybe

tomorrow,” I said, waving both of them off. “I enjoy looking at
all this science stuff, you know. It’s reliving my childhood.”

My dad looked relieved. He got along well with my uncle,

but it was also tax time, and the accounting firm he worked
for was swamped. The circles under his eyes were the same
ones I got when I had been working for two days straight.
“How about I bring you a coffee, then?”

I turned at the door to the garage. “That sounds perfect.

Thanks.”

Once we’d shut the door behind us, I got a good look at

the generator. It had been a long time since I worked on this,
although the idea was pretty basic. It was a solar generator,
but made from scrap pieces of old machinery I’d collected. In
the future, we’d been using them for years, especially since it
was clean energy.

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

13

“This is great,” I said, poking around and pretending to

inspect it. I already knew every inch of it. I’d slaved away at
it for hours and missed the prom trying to finish it.

“It’s my senior science project.”
Building a generator from scratch and out of scraps had

been a lofty goal. “It’s amazing. Does it run?”

He grimaced. “Not yet. But it will. There’s just some

tweaking here and there.”

“I’m sure you’ll make it happen,” I said.
“Thanks. There’s been a few bumps along the way.”
“Well, that’s natural. You’ll learn a lot in college, way

more than in high school.”

“That’s awesome,” he said and started rattling off all the

courses he would take. I remember being this excited back in
high school, too, but with no one to talk to who understood
what I told them.

Interrupting him, I asked, “Are you still planning on

minoring in molecular biology?”

He frowned. “How’d you know that? I haven’t talked to

anyone about my minor yet.”

Whoops. Thinking quickly, I came up with something to

cover that up. “You and I think alike, kid, so I figured you’d
sign up for that. It’s a good choice.”

He grinned. “Yeah?”
I let out a breath. I’d been doing that ever since stepping

foot inside this house. I’d forgotten how much I looked up to
my uncle. He worked for the Air Force, in their Office of
Scientific Research, creating advanced machines I couldn’t
even begin to dream up.

He looked up at me now, the same eyes that I saw in the

mirror when I shaved every morning. The hero worship I had
for Uncle Tommy had been almost embarrassing, but he
never treated me like I was a kid.

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

14

Tommy was a real life hero too, a colonel in the Air

Force and someone to look up to. He never talked down to
me, and he always listened. I would do my best while I was
here to uphold that same love and care so my memories
weren’t tainted.

“Mr. Green is helping me out on this project too.”
I vaguely remembered what my old science teacher

looked like. My head had been buried in books and projects
until I graduated college. Not much had changed since. I was
still a bookworm.

“He said he’d stop by and take a look at it tonight.”
“Sounds great. Hey, do you want some help?”
“Really?” he asked excitedly. He handed me a wrench.

“I’d be honored.”

I rubbed the top of his head. We settled in to work on

the generator, and not long after, my mom walked outside to
her car to go to work.

“Don’t keep Tommy up too late,” my mother yelled from

her car. “He needs his rest.”

“Yeah, whatever, Mom,” Henry said. I couldn’t help but

feel a pang of regret knowing how many times I had said the
exact same comment to her.

“I won’t stay up too late. See you in the morning…

Patty.” God, it was weird to call her anything but Mom.

After she backed out of the driveway, we concentrated

on the machine, attaching tubes and checking bolts here
and there. We didn’t talk much as we worked, mainly
because I didn’t want to distract Henry from his tasks.

My focus was so narrowed in on the machine that I

barely noticed Henry talking to someone. It wasn’t until he
waved his hand in front of my face that I looked up.

“Uncle Tommy?”
“Huh?” I said, rubbing the space between my eyes. I

always forgot I didn’t wear glasses anymore and often tried to

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

15

push them up my nose even though they weren’t there. Now
I had grease on my face.

“We called your name a couple times. What were you

thinking about so hard?” Henry asked.

I didn’t think he was talking to me, but telling him that

would have made me look stupid. “Sorry about that. I was
really concentrating.” I looked at the tall, slender brunet
standing in front of me.

“I wish all my students focused like that.”
I always remembered Mr. Green as being an adult and

much older than me, but in reality and in my thirty-two-
year-old eyes, he was young, good-looking, and very much
my type: tall, dark, and handsome.

I held out my hand before realizing it was covered in

grease. I wiped it on my sweatpants before shaking Mr.
Green’s hand. “You must be Henry’s science teacher he
always talks about, and call me… Tommy.” I hesitated only a
second, wishing he would call me by real name.

His skin was warm and his grasp firm as he hung on to

my hand.

“Good to meet you, Tommy,” he said. “Call me Ryan.”
I knew his name from my high school yearbook, but I’d

never heard him say it. “Ryan,” I said, the name feeling
foreign and yet so forbidden on my tongue.

“Or just Ry, for short,” he said with a grin and turned to

look at the generator on the workbench. “This is coming
along really well, you know.”

“It’s easier when you have four hands.”
“Well, now he has six hands.”
Ryan had a nice smile, one I couldn’t help but grin back

at. I handed him my wrench and said, “The more the
merrier.”

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

16

As he worked alongside me, I couldn’t stop my sidelong

glances at the handsome teacher. His glasses framed dark-
brown eyes that were focused on the generator.

“Uncle Tommy!”
I stared down at the piece I had just broken off in my

hand while not paying attention to what I was doing. “Oh
God, Henry, I’m sorry.”

He shook his head. “It’s all right,” he said. “I think I

have another part inside. I’ll be right back.”

I flushed as he left the room, although Ryan smiled next

to me. I almost expected him to confront me about checking
him out, but instead he just said, “You must be proud of
your nephew.”

“I am. I heard Henry got into MIT.”
Ryan nodded. “They scouted him in junior high.”
“I remember that,” I said, pride bursting inside of me.
Ryan grimaced. “I only wished I was older, more

knowledgeable. He asks questions I have no answer for.
Henry’s one of those students I know I’ll see in the papers
someday in the future, winning the Nobel prize.”

God, I could only hope. That was a pie in the sky idea

and one I wouldn’t even dream of.

“So where did you go to school?” he asked me.
I had to think for a second. “Air Force Academy.” I didn’t

elaborate much, and the niggle of guilt from posing as a
military man wormed its way through me. I wish I could
have picked someone else to show up as, but this had been
my only option. Showing up as Henry from the future was
not feasible.

Ryan’s gaze roamed my face, trailing over every inch.

His interest was obvious, but only because I recognized the
same trepidation when I wanted to hit on a man.

I made it easy for him and said, “I’m not out to my

family or work, of course. Keep it quiet, okay?”

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

17

He nodded quickly. “Of course. I’m not, either, at work,

so it’s cool.”

Henry returned right then, so we didn’t say anything

else, but I saw his sidelong glances at me, checking me out.
A shiver ran down my spine, and when I passed him a bolt,
our fingers brushed. I sighed, and when he looked up at me,
I blushed.

I wanted him, which messed with my head. I didn’t

remember looking at him like this back in high school. Of
course, I didn’t look a thing like I did back then, either.
Fifteen years and lots of running had sculpted my body.

When we said our good-byes that night, I wanted him to

linger so I could get to know him better, but I knew it was
better that I do what I needed here and get back home to the
future. It was where I belonged.

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

18

Chapter 3

T

HE

next morning, when I woke up, I spent a lot of time

listening to my mom while she cooked breakfast. Henry was
scarce, even before he took off for school. Between his finals
and the project, he was stretched to his limit.

After my mom went to bed, I decided to get some extra

sleep too. I’d been staying up all night working on the
renewable energy idea. Before falling asleep again, I checked
the old cell phone and found it still powered with full battery.

The smell of coffee woke me up, and I grabbed a cup

before heading out to the garage. Henry was there already,
installing one of the solar panels on the generator. “Hey,
Uncle Tommy.”

“Hey.” I sipped my coffee. “It looks like you’re almost

done.”

He nodded absentmindedly, not concentrating on me.

My hope was if we finished this, he would be free to head to
the dance this Saturday evening. Or at least I hoped he
would. If I remembered correctly, I spent that whole night
working on the generator project to have it done for the end
of the school year.

“Your friends aren’t coming over today?” I asked

casually, trying to drum up conversation.

“Naw,” he said. “I told them I was busy working on my

project. Maybe another time.”

“Hopefully we can get this finished, and you can head

out with your friends,” I said, tightening a bolt behind the
motor. I twirled the fan blade, watching it spin.

“I’m sure they are off doing other stuff already.”

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

19

“Maybe you can still catch up with them if you take off

now.” I tried to keep my tone light.

Henry’s expression darkened. “Can you drop it? I’m

having fun working with you on this. Going out with my
friends can wait.”

“You know, we’re almost done with this,” I said

hesitantly, concerned I was pushing him too fast but hoping
it would make me a happier person later on. “Besides, this is
just extra credit. You should get out more.”

He glared at me. “You were never this uncool before,

Uncle Tommy. You gave me my first telescope and told me to
shoot for the stars. You understood that science is my life,
my love.”

“I’m just saying sunshine is not overrated, no matter

how much you tell yourself that.”

He looked shocked momentarily, and I knew what he

must be thinking. He was right that I could see inside his
mind, because I was him from the future. I remembered how
much I felt like my parents didn’t understand me.

He reacted poorly to me reaching out to him. “I hate

you,” he yelled. “You and Mom and Dad! You’re all alike,
telling me to get out and play sports and be a normal kid.
Guess what? I’m not fucking normal.”

At the end of his screaming, he burst into tears and ran

back inside the house. I stood there, tears coursing down my
face, matching the tears from so many years ago.

I wiped my face with my sleeve. The memories slid into

place, the crippling pain of being rejected by my uncle
coursing through me. I had to fix this because I knew this
didn’t happen in the past at all.

Before I could go inside after him, the light footsteps of a

visitor echoed behind me, and I took a deep calming breath,
hating for Ryan to see me like this. “Hey.”

“Hey, Tommy,” he said.

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

20

I’d never get used to being called that. One great reason

to go back to the future was so I could be me again. “How’s
your day going?”

“All right. You look upset.”
“I’m fine,” I said and sighed. “Just ruining a long-

standing good relationship with my nephew. He hates me
now.”

“Teenage angst,” Ryan said, nodding with an

understanding expression. “I’m surrounded by it daily. I
guess we were all that bad once.”

I stared at the door leading to the house. “Tell me I

wasn’t that bad.”

“You weren’t that bad. Happy now?”
Little did he know that he was completely wrong, having

been a witness to the tantrum I had thrown back in the day.
“I just wanted him to know that life isn’t all about science.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Ryan said with a grin. “It does

happen to be the building blocks of life.”

I pursed my lips. “You know what I mean. He’s wasting

his life.”

Ryan’s expression changed quickly. “Is he? I think if he

was out partying and running around, he would be wasting
the talent he was given. Science is his life.”

It was completely true. I was a lover of science, enjoying

being immersed in it. “You’re right. He probably hates me
now, though.” I really needed to fix this before I left. Leaving
these relationships broken could change the future for the
worse.

“It’ll be okay. These things blow over. Kids are resilient.

Just apologize to him, and it’ll be good. He really looks up to
you.”

I looked at the door going into the house. “Yeah, he

does,” I said quietly.

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

21

“You know, I agreed to chaperone the prom. I’m sure

that even though your nephew won’t be there, we could have
a good time.”

“Mr. Green, are you asking me out?” I batted my

eyelashes at him.

He blushed. “Well, there’s nothing wrong with that, is

there?”

There were so many problems with this scenario. My

real uncle wasn’t gay, and worst of all, I was playing with
Ryan’s heart. I wouldn’t be here after the dance. Above
everything else, he was my teacher from high school. How
would he react if he knew I was Henry from the future?

“God, I didn’t think about Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Ryan

said suddenly. “Forget I said anything.”

My eyes went wide. I hadn’t even thought about that.

But I couldn’t let him go now. “I’ll go with you,” I said softly.

Ryan’s eyes widened, and he was so close to me I could

see his eyes were more of a gold than brown. I melted inside,
aching for him to hold me. My mouth watered with the desire
to taste him, trail my lips along his jaw, the rough shadow of
his beard tickling the sensitive skin.

I couldn’t kiss Ryan like I wanted to since Henry came

back out. His frown marred his whole face. “Let’s get to
work,” Henry said.

I cleared my throat and nodded. I still wanted to

apologize and make things better, but I figured it was best to
let things cool off, so we dug into the work for the rest of the
night.

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

22

Chapter 4

T

HE

next day rolled around, and I worked with Henry all day

to get the generator finished. When the last bolt was
tightened, we started it up in the backyard. After a few
seconds, it coughed to life and began to whir.

The look of pride on Dad’s face as he looked at Henry

choked me up. I hadn’t seen him come out; my
concentration had been trained on the motor to make sure
everything was running right.

My mom looked at Henry. “I thought were going to wait

for your teacher.”

Henry shook his head. “I would have, but he’s getting

ready for the prom tonight.”

“You aren’t going?” she asked.
He glanced at me sullenly. I didn’t say anything, not

wanting to push the issue. I had done enough of that
already. I was slowly beginning to realize I couldn’t change
myself as much as I wanted to. I would always be the
reclusive science geek.

“No,” he said. He walked back inside the house, leaving

me out there with Mom and Dad.

“It’s a shame. I wish he would go,” I said once the door

shut behind him. “Ryan asked me if I would chaperone the
dance, so I could take Henry with me.”

“Are you sure you want to go to a high school dance?”

John asked. “You won’t be bored?”

“I made friends with Ryan, so I guess I’ll hang out and

talk science with him.”

“Well, if Henry doesn’t go, you should go.”

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

23

“Do you mind if I borrow a suit, then?” I asked. “My

suitcase still hasn’t arrived from my flight.”

“Of course. John’s should fit you just fine,” she said.

“You should call about that bag of yours. But if I know how
life goes, you’ll be getting your suitcase about the time you’re
ready to leave.”

“That’s always how it goes, Patty.” Shooting them both a

wry grin, I turned back to the machine and shut it off.

After he lent me his suit, my dad let me use his car to

drive to the dance. The suit didn’t fit me well, but it was the
best I could do on short notice. The drive there was almost
surreal.

I parked and went inside the huge hotel. Off to the side

of the entrance, pictures were taken of the seniors as they
came in, and I watched for a while, soaking up the
ambience. After fifteen years, I was finally getting my prom
night.

As I entered the ballroom, I saw Ryan immediately and

made a beeline for him. “Hey, handsome,” I said only loud
enough for him to hear.

He grinned up at me. “Howdy, stranger.”
I couldn’t help smiling at him. I really liked him, and I

didn’t care if anyone saw my goofy expression. We faced the
dance floor to watch the kids so they didn’t get into trouble,
but we talked all night, discussing theories passionately.
Being understood and having a debate was exhilarating,
although knowing I had to leave this time soon sat heavily in
my stomach.

When the prom was over, we lagged behind, and after

everyone had left, we slowly made our way to the garage. We
got there too soon for my taste. I could have spent forever
with him.

At my car, I turned to Ryan and grinned. “I had fun

tonight. It was like being a teenager all over again.”

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

24

He rolled his eyes. “It’s a novelty to you. I chaperone

every dance. I’m just there to make sure no one gets hurt
and the dance floor doesn’t turn into the Dirty Dancing
movie.”

Silence ensued, and I wished I wasn’t leaving tomorrow.

I wanted to stay here and get to know him better. “I guess I’d
better get going.”

He didn’t answer but instead grabbed me by the back of

the neck. He hauled me to him and kissed me hard, claiming
my mouth with fervor. I felt the same way, but I’d hidden it
from him.

He pushed his body against mine, and I arched against

him. Desperate need raced through me, but my conscience
overrode my body, and I pushed him away. “Ryan—”

“You’re right,” he said, rubbing his hands down my

sides, caressing me and making it hard to think. “We need to
go somewhere more private. Come to my place.”

It was an impossible offer to turn down, and tomorrow I

was going to hate myself. Hell, right now, I was angry just
saying the words. “I can’t.”

He looked up at me with his big brown eyes, and I

nearly caved. It took every ounce of self-control I had not to
pounce on him, but I let him pull away. “My life is just really
complicated right now. Trust me, it’s not you.”

“It’s okay,” he said. “I understand.”
He couldn’t. Everything was too complicated right now.

He wrote his address on a piece of paper and handed it to
me. “If you change your mind.”

God, I wanted to so badly, but he was too tempting. If I

stayed much longer, I would want to stay in the past for the
rest of my life. I knew now I needed to look forward to my
future, whatever that might hold.

The drive home alone was uncomfortable, but my mind

was made up. Tomorrow I would go home. My part here was

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

25

done, except for one last thing. When I parked in the
driveway, I noticed a soft glow coming from Henry’s window.

Once inside, I knocked on his door. After a second, I

heard his quiet bid for me to come in. Closing the door
behind me, I walked inside to find him playing on his gaming
machine. “You didn’t come tonight.”

“Yeah.” His voice was quiet, reserved.
“It’s okay. I’m just sad I couldn’t see you say goodbye to

high school and your friends.”

He shrugged. “No one missed me.” He wasn’t angry, but

just stating a fact. While being a loner was one of the hardest
parts of my life, it also didn’t distract me from my goals.

“I did,” I said sadly. “But I understand why you didn’t

come.”

“Do you?” he asked, pausing his game.
“You wouldn’t have had much fun. Those kids in school,

a couple of them matter. The rest will go their separate ways,
and you’ll never see them again. Forget their insults. You are
awesome.”

His eyes shone. The memory of this moment slid over

my consciousness as it happened, and a shiver ran down my
spine.

The pang in my chest at his joy was a burden I would

have to carry with me for a long time to come. This was the
visit that had never happened in my timeline, and I would
have to bear the consequences of my actions for the rest of
my life. “I’m sorry I tried to change you. Henry, you’re perfect
the way you are.”

I hugged my younger self. While the pain of being

rejected earlier didn’t go away, it lessened greatly, was nearly
forgotten. As another memory slid into place, this apology
from today taught me people made mistakes they couldn’t
always fix easily and to watch my words so no one got hurt.

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

26

“It’s okay, Uncle Tommy. I’m glad we got to spend so

much time together. I had a lot of fun.”

“I did too.”
I let him step back, but I held on to his shoulders. “One

last piece of advice for my favorite nephew.”

He frowned. “I’m your only nephew.”
I shrugged. “Same difference.” After his snort of

laughter, I continued. “Don’t worry about coming out to your
parents. They’ll understand.”

His cheeks colored. “Oh God, how did you know?” he

cried. “Do you think anyone at school knows?”

“I don’t think so,” I said. “But your parents love you,

and they’ll support you no matter what you do or who you
fall in love with.”

He let out a deep breath and chewed on his lip. Slowly

the memories of this night started to brighten as I
remembered what happened on this day and how it changed
my life.

“Thank you for believing in me, Uncle Tommy.”

T

HE

next morning, after saying my good-byes and turning

down offers from my dad to take me to the airport, I called a
taxi. It hurt me to deprive them of this time, but I had one
last visit to make.

I gave the cabbie Ryan’s address and waved one last

farewell. The memories were frozen in my head, and I could
feel the sadness of this moment from when I was a teenager.
Guilt sat heavy in my gut, and for a moment I hated myself.
Self-pity came next, but finally hope dawned as the
memories slid into place.

That day, when Uncle Tommy told me not to worry

about coming out to my parents, changed the way I looked at

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

27

my life. As the car pulled away from the curb, I was thankful
for this past week, in so many ways.

Looking forward, I knew I had to come clean to Ryan. I

wasn’t sure how he would handle it, but I realized I had no
choice but to face him now.

The ride was short, barely giving me any time to prepare

what I would say, but as the cab pulled away and I stood on
the sidewalk by his apartment, the only explanation I had
was the truth.

Instead of facing him, I could have run, but that was

two seconds ago and it would have been cowardly of me. Now
his front door opened and he stood in the doorway, his arms
akimbo.

“I’m glad you came,” he said.
Ryan’s smile brought one of my own to my lips. I

couldn’t stop it; he made me happy in a way I could never
have imagined before meeting him, when I wasn’t his
student, of course.

I walked up to him and kissed him hard. He tasted like

mint, but from tea rather than from brushing his teeth.
Beneath that was Ryan, and I never wanted to leave this
moment.

Finally, I forced myself to pull away. “We have to talk,” I

said hoarsely.

The light in his eyes dimmed. “Come in, then.”
I followed him into his living room. A laptop sat on the

couch, the screen still on. Ryan must have been working on
something before I showed up.

I looked into his big brown eyes and thought took a

vacation. The little sprinkle of freckles across his nose made
him look young.

“It’s okay.”
His words abruptly knocked me out of my reverie. “What

do you mean?”

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

28

He took a deep breath. “You’re married, and this is your

way of letting me down easy, right?”

I stared at him, unable to process his train of thought.

“No. I’m not married.”

“You don’t have to lie,” he said, looking anywhere but at

me.

“I’m not lying… well,” I said with a sigh, “I am, but I

never meant for you to be involved. I would have never hurt
you like this on purpose.”

He frowned. “I don’t get it.”
“I’m not who I say I am.”
He cocked his head at me. “I don’t understand.”
“Neither do I,” I said as my stomach flip-flopped. I bit

my lip before I just blurted out the truth. “I’m from the
future.”

Ryan’s mouth dropped open. He stared at me for a

whole minute before bursting into laughter. “Oh, Tommy,
you almost had me going there for a second. That’s a good
one.”

“My name’s not Tommy. It’s Henry.”
He quit laughing. After a second, he swallowed hard.

“Henry? As in my student?”

I nodded.
Bewilderment turned to anger in a flash. “Are you

screwing with me?” he snarled. “Is this some crazy trick to
get me fired?”

“No,” I said, holding up my hands to show him I was no

threat. “I came here to see my younger self and try to make
him… well, me… a more social creature.”

“That’s a pretty pathetic reason,” he said.
The contempt in his voice upset me. “Listen, you’re not

in the future all alone in a sad world of science experiments
with just a cat to keep you company.”

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

29

“No, I’m not,” he said. “I’m in the now, and my cat is

under the bed right now.”

I frowned. “I have no friends.”
“I’ll one up you. I don’t even have family, besides a frail

aunt,” he said bitterly. “And finding guys is a joke. I tried
going to clubs, but I’m too shy to go up to any man at a club
and hit on him. I’m lucky I’m not a virgin. That was more of
an accident than anything else.”

We were like twin souls, highly intelligent and socially

challenged. No wonder we got along so well from our first
word. Even back in high school, I remembered Mr. Green as
being excited about science. “We’re geeks, aren’t we?”

He looked like he might argue but then he changed his

mind and nodded. “Yeah, we are. Why’d you pick now to
come back to?”

“I had a horrible dream I was wasting my life, and

sometimes I believe that. I just hole up in a room and work
endlessly. I figured getting my younger self out would be
good for me, maybe I could change who I am in the future.”

“Changing the past is never a good idea. You could

change the future irrevocably. What if Henry had taken your
advice to heart and turned into a party animal in college?
Would he be the same person you are today?”

“Probably not.”
“And would you be happy having had all those

experiences in college? I always got the feeling your joy came
from having your nose in a book, learning everything you
could.”

Ryan knew me too well. “No. My idea of a great Saturday

night was cracking the code on some video game to make it
have a ‘pants off’ feature.”

He smiled. “Me too.”

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

30

I’d never felt so connected to someone in my whole life.

Why did it have to be to someone so deeply rooted in my
past?

“So I’m guessing you have to go back now?”
I nodded. “I need to get out of here before I do some

serious damage.”

“How did you get here?” he asked. “Did you build a time

machine?”

“I stumbled on the technology when I miniaturized the

battery. It changed the energy around the phone and turned
it into a time machine.” I pulled the phone out of my pocket.

Ryan looked down at it. “Looks like a current cell

phone.”

“It is. I kept it because my uncle texted me on it, and it

was the last message I had from him before he died. I
thought using this phone in my research was a great tribute
to his memory. I’ve been working with renewable energy and
created an energy source that never needs to be recharged
from an outside source. It stores and generates power.”

Ryan frowned. “Tell me that again.”
I opened the back of the phone to show him. “This is the

battery. I’ve made it in different sizes, from compact like this
to large enough to run a whole house.”

“This is amazing,” he said, turning the device over in his

palm. “And you don’t need an outside charger.”

“No. It’s free energy.”
“Wow.”
As much as I enjoyed talking to him, I needed to get

back. The fact was, I had no idea how time travel would even
affect me. “I’d better go. Can you drive me somewhere?”

“Sure.”
On the drive back to the field where I had arrived just a

few days earlier, we talked. I’d never felt such a soul-deep

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

31

connection to someone. If I could, I would stay here, but I
knew it was impossible.

We got out of the car, and I walked into the field. I

pulled out my smartphone and opened the application I’d
built from the blueprints of the office building. I wanted to
make sure I didn’t end up stuck in a wall when coming back.

Once I had my coordinates, I turned back to Ryan. “I

wish I could stay.”

“Me too,” he said. “I mean, I’m confused as hell, but I’d

still cook you breakfast in the morning if you stayed an extra
day.”

I laughed. “Can you cook well?”
“No.”
“Is that a threat, then?”
He snickered. “Maybe. In fact, you should run. I make

better science experiments than food.”

I held my finger over the button, but I couldn’t follow

through. “I can’t leave.”

He sighed. “You need to go before I convince you to

stay.”

He was right. I should push the button and go back. I

felt like there was still something unfinished here, though. If
I did what I wanted to, I would make love to Ryan right here
before I left. Getting caught for indecent exposure was not
my idea of a great time, though.

I turned my smartphone over in my hand and looked

one more time at it. An idea popped into my head. If I could
change the future for good, maybe this was my chance.
“Ryan, look at my phone from the future.” I handed it to him.

He frowned. “Are you still stalling?” He looked down at

it, turning it over in his hands. “I’ve never seen anything like
it.”

“It’s my cell phone from the future.”

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

32

He was completely silent, and minutes passed before he

looked up. “You know, I was humoring you before about
being a time traveler. I was thinking, here’s this super sexy
guy that I really like, and it figures he is undateable because
he is totally crazy.”

I grinned. “You think I’m sexy?”
“You’re still crazy, though.”
I chuckled. “I guess so.”
“So what about this?” he asked, tapping his phone.
“Buy stock in this company.”
He handed me back my phone. “I’m not listening to

this.”

“No, Ry, c’mon. Hear me out. They have this huge

comeback, and their technology becomes a part of our lives
in a huge way. Think of what you could do with the money.”

He stuck his fingers in his ears and hummed. “I’m not

listening.”

If he wasn’t going to listen to me, I had done all I could.

I pressed the button on my time device.

As light swirled around me, the look of shock on Ryan’s

face was like a punch in the gut. “I didn’t mean you should
leave,” he said.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “It’s time for me to go back.” And I felt

it too. Deep in my gut, I knew I was done here.

He ran up to me, his movements slowing as time

changed for me. Light surrounded me and us. I wondered for
a brief second if I could bring him with me, but as time
started to rush by me at a rapid pace, I realized I was all
alone.

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

33

Chapter 5

M

Y WORLD

whirled to a stop back inside my office. I let out a

sigh of relief when I saw everything looked the same. Nothing
had changed.

The travel back to my current time had taken a lot out

of me, but I had a lot to do today. As worn out as I was, I
immediately went into my office and booted up the
computer.

I had to look for Ryan. I promised myself as soon as I

got back I would put out a call to him to let him know I was
okay, but I also hoped he would remember me.

I tried looking up every incarnation of his name, but the

search results kept coming back blank. After finally
exhausting every avenue, I was looking for a private
investigator when my secretary walked in.

“You’re here!” she cried.
I patted my shirt and looked at her oddly. “Yeah, I’m

here. What’s the big deal?”

I turned to my secretary. “I’ve been trying to get in touch

with you for ages,” she said. “Your presentation is today.”

I looked at the date on the computer. It had to be wrong.
“You’ve been missing for six months.”
I stepped back from my computer. “I’ve been… away.”
“No kidding,” she said, huffing. “I wanted to call the

police. Some of your experiments were gone, but Dr. Green
pointed out you needed to field test your projects. He just
told me to go feed your cat. I hope you don’t mind, but I took
Muffins to my house. She was lonely.”

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

34

I felt sick with guilt. What if my secretary hadn’t

thought about my poor cat? I’d left food for a few days, not
months. “Thank you.”

If I had been gone for six months, what did my mom

think? I immediately picked up my cell phone and called her.
“Mom?”

“Henry! You’re back from your vacation? How lovely.

Where did you go?” The questions kept firing off.

I covered up the microphone and said to my secretary, “I

promise I’ll only be a minute.”

My mother had continued. “Well, young man, next time

you take off for six months, you had better tell us before you
go. We were worried sick about you.”

“I just wanted to tell you how much I love you. You and

Dad mean a lot to me, and I’m calling to thank you for
everything you did for me.”

Complete silence from the other end, and it lasted so

long I thought she’d hung up. “Are you okay, Henry?”

Hearing her call me by my name thrilled me to no end.

It felt so good to be back, even though I was bone tired. “I’m
fine. Listen, I have to go. There’s a meeting I need to get to,
but I just wanted to tell you that, and tell Dad I love him
too.”

“Well, thank you, and we love you too. I hope your

meeting goes well.”

When I hung up, my secretary glared at me. “You’d

better get to your presentation,” she said sternly. “Five years
of research using their money, they’ll want to see what you
have, even if you’re not done.”

I patted the cell phone in my pocket, the magic cell

phone that started all this. “Actually, it works. Amazingly
so.”

“That’s great, but let’s get going. Chop chop.”

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

35

I obeyed and followed her out of my office. She led me

upstairs to the top floor, to the executive offices of Leaf
Industries.

“Don’t be intimidated. You’re meeting with the whole

board today, including the founder. You probably met him
when your grant was approved.”

I shook my head. “No, one of the VPs met with me. I’ve

been sending the owner regular project updates, though.”

“Hmm,” she said as she slid a card through a reader

and was admitted behind two heavy oak doors. “Dr. Green
always meets new project leaders. Maybe he was on
vacation.”

The long hallway leading to the boardroom gave me a

little time to think about my presentation, but something
kept running around in my brain. My secretary had
mentioned a name in passing, and I couldn’t figure out why
it sounded so familiar.

I pushed the thoughts aside, planning to examine that

later, and concentrated on what I would say the board. The
nerves didn’t truly hit until I saw the glass walls of the room,
where a huge table sat surrounded by chairs.

“If you get nervous, just start drawing the schematics

for your energy cell. Talk what you know, all right?”

I nodded as I dropped behind her. When I realized I

wasn’t even in a suit, I stopped in my tracks. “Maybe I
should change?”

She shook her head. “No one wears suits here. Dry

cleaning is bad for your health and the environment. Come
on.”

Done stalling for extra time, I stayed right behind her as

I walked into the boardroom. I hated public speaking so
much that I tried to fake being sick in junior high at the
science fair in order to get out of talking to the judges. My
mom had stopped my plan right there and also embarrassed
me when she told the judges I was the smartest boy present.

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

36

My smile wavered as I looked at each of the board

members in turn. Mostly gray-haired men with glasses, I
worried that I would botch this presentation.

“Good morning, Mr. Wallens.”
This came from the head of the table. Since I was

extremely tired, my eyes went out of focus as I peered down
the long table. At first I thought I was dreaming, until I saw
Ryan’s smirk.

He’d aged some, well, fifteen years, but he still had thick

dark hair and warm brown eyes. Ryan looked as good as he
had on the day I left, although for him it had been more than
a decade since he’d seen me.

“Dr. Green,” I blurted out. It made sense he would go

back to school, because he loved learning and he loved
science even more. But how did he end up here as owner of
Leaf Industries?

“Don’t be shy, Mr. Wallens. We’re very excited to hear

your presentation.”

I rolled up my sleeves and turned around to the

chalkboard on the wall. Slowly I started drawing the
schematics of what I had lived and breathed for the past five
years. I knew it like the back of my hand, and I talked aloud
as I worked through the stages of development.

I also talked about the setbacks I’d gone through, so

they’d know this was still an imperfect technology and a
work in progress.

“Now, the smaller packs are good for the average size

home to run on. I suggest using two for right now, because
when one is recharging, the other can run. The opportunities
for this are limited only by our imagination. Since I’ve
miniaturized the battery, the possibilities are endless. We
can go big with these too.”

“But are they cost effective? If they cost millions to

make, this technology can’t make it into everyday life,
although it may have use in the military.”

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

37

I shook my head. “It’s very cheap, actually. I always try

to do projects with scrap pieces, but Dr. Green should know
this already. He helped me build a solar generator out of
scrap metal for my high school science project.”

Ryan sat forward and smiled wryly. “That’s true.”
“Ah!” one of the board members exclaimed. “Now we find

out how you knew this project would work. You knew this
brilliant boy way back when and had your eye on him ever
since.”

Ryan chuckled. “He’s hardly a boy these days.” After

chortles from the board members, Ryan continued on. “This
is every bit as amazing as I thought it would be when I saw
the schematics in your proposal. We’re extending another
five years of financing on this project.” He kept talking about
the specifics of continuing the research, but I was only
looking at him.

The board continued to talk about the project, and after

answering their questions, I was dismissed. Before I left the
room, Ryan called after me, “Stick around, Henry. I’d like to
speak with you. Meet me in my office.”

I followed his orders. My secretary led me back and left

me in the massive space. The desk was a rather small part of
the space. Instead, there was a long workbench that took up
most of the room. It was covered with scrap metal pieces and
blueprints.

The door behind me opened. Ryan walked in, looking

handsome in his casual button-down shirt and dark jeans.
He shut the door behind him and leaned against it.

Even from here, I could see that though he’d aged well,

he looked different than he had fifteen years ago. His hair
looked different, but his brown eyes hadn’t changed at all.

“Would you like a coffee?”
I nodded. He gestured for me to have a seat on the

couch. Once I was settled, with coffee in hand, he sat down
next to me. “You took my investing advice,” I finally said.

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

38

He looked sheepish. “I did. After you left, I couldn’t help

but wonder if you were meant to give me that information.”

Looking around the room and taking in every last little

detail, I said, “You look like you’ve done well for yourself.”

He smiled. “I was in the right place at the right time.”
“I’m glad you didn’t turn into the evil overlord type.”
“Actually, I’m kind of like Batman, minus running after

the bad guys.”

I chuckled. “It’s a little surreal. I just can’t believe you

took it this far. I thought maybe you would have a nice little
retirement and travel.”

“When your secretary told me you’d disappeared, she

was frantic. To me, everything had gone according to my
past. I told her to go feed your cat and just wait for you to
come back. She had other projects to work on, so she kept
busy.”

I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. “So this is really

happening. I get to continue my research.”

He nodded. “The large packs are amazing. They’ll run a

whole house. But I had to push you to work on that cell
phone.”

Realization dawned. “That’s why you said to think

smaller.”

“If you had stopped at the larger packs, you would have

never gone back in time. You never would have found the
anomaly in your cell phone.”

“It was a long time to wait. Surely you didn’t stay

celibate for fifteen years.”

He laughed. “No, I didn’t. I dated around, you know, but

no one really tripped my switch except for you. When you
applied for a grant from us, I wanted to go and see you, but I
didn’t know if we were just meant to have a professional
relationship in this time.”

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

39

I reached up and cupped his chin. “For five years, you’ve

been right under my nose. I can’t even imagine the self-
control it took to stop from coming up to me.”

“I couldn’t risk losing my chance at you,” he said, and I

could feel his desperation.

Leaning into him, I watched his eyelashes flutter as he

closed his eyes. Our lips met, and he was gentle at first, but
then his arms encircled my waist and pulled me to him.

He slipped his tongue into my mouth, and I slid my own

along it. He reached for me tentatively, and I scooted closer
to him, eager to touch him. I ran my hands along his broad
shoulders. He felt so good beneath my hands, so real.

I unbuttoned his shirt and slid my hands down his skin,

feeling his lean muscles. Swallowing his moan, I deepened
our kiss as we tugged at our clothes, throwing them to the
floor.

“Shouldn’t you lock the door?” I asked before I slid my

zipper down.

“Already did.” He brushed aside my fingers. He opened

my pants and pulled down my boxers. My cock, already
hard, smacked my lower abdomen.

Ryan moved quickly and engulfed my cock with his wet

mouth. I let out a hiss of pleasure, trying to resist the urge to
shove it all the way in. He didn’t hold back at all, licking and
sucking the head while pumping the shaft.

I wanted to cream inside his hot mouth and watch him

swallow me, but at the same time, I knew his hot little ass
would feel heavenly. When a tingling started in my balls, I
tugged on his hair gently and pulled him off my cock.

He leaned into me and kissed me hard. I could taste my

precum on his hot, swollen lips, mixed with the taste of him;
I was going crazy. I pushed him back slightly and asked “Do
you have a condom?” as I sat on the couch.

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

40

His eyes lit up. “I hoped you’d ask that.” He produced a

condom from his pocket before he pulled his jeans off. He
ripped open the condom as he straddled my hips.

I groaned when he rolled the condom down my dick. His

sure fingers wrapped around my shaft almost made me come
right then, but by some miracle I managed to keep it
together long enough to watch Ryan take the leftover lube
from the wrapper.

His cock was rock hard and poking me in the thigh, but

as he moved up my thighs, it nudged my abs. I gritted my
teeth as his hand disappeared behind him, the image of
what he was doing more than my poor brain could bear. “Are
you done torturing me?” I asked, my voice dropping an
octave and turning growly at the end.

He stilled for a second, giving me a look that made me

feel like I had been caught cheating on a test. He kissed me
hard, his hand busy positioning my cock at his ass. He
pulled away only to say, “Go slow at first.”

As I sank inside his hole, the heat of him soaked

through the protection, nearly causing me to tumble over the
edge. I closed my eyes as he slid all the way down, his cock
dripping precum all over my stomach.

No one ever had me this hard, or so close, like Ryan. I

let him control the pace at first as he opened for me, though
his hot little ass remained snug around my cock.

Once he’d loosened a bit, I pulled him off me. I pushed

him onto his hands and knees. At first, he wiggled that cute
ass of his until he got a good look at my expression. I
kneeled behind him and asked, “Do you have more lube?”

He shook his head. “If I knew you were packing such a

big dick, I would have.”

I wanted to wipe that smirk right off his face. “Well,

then, you’ll be feeling the cock burn for the next few days,
won’t you?” I bent down and spread his cheeks, helping him
the only way I could.

Worth the Wait * Lori Toland

41

Spitting on his hot ass, I immediately placed the broad

head of my cock at his opening and plowed inside. His groan
filled the air as I went balls deep inside him again.

I fucked him hard, not letting up for anything. His

moans and encouragement drove me on, only getting louder
with every minute. My thrusts became uneven, and my mind
focused on one thing: getting as deep as I could inside Ryan.

Sweat made our bodies slick, and we slid together, our

movements getting faster as we got closer. Ryan started
stroking himself, and his hot channel tightened around me.
He was so impossibly tight that he stole my breath.

One last time, I buried myself inside his hot hole as I let

out a cry that didn’t even sound like me. He’d come seconds
before me, collapsing against the couch cushions in a heap.
Barely able to hold myself up, I lowered my body to rest on
top of his.

Sweaty and replete and ecstatic, I couldn’t think of

anything else but holding him. “Fifteen years was a long
time,” I quipped. “I hope I lived up to the hype.”

“I think you were worth the wait,” Ryan said, and I

couldn’t help but grin at him.

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About the Author

CEO by day, manlove writer by night,

L

ORI

T

OLAND

somehow finds time to play video games and watch movies
while taking care of her cats and husband.
Visit Lori’s website at

http://www.loritoland.com

or e-mail her at

[e-mail]

.

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Copyright

Worth the Wait ©Copyright Lori Toland, 2012

Published by
Dreamspinner Press
4760 Preston Road
Suite 244-149
Frisco, TX 75034

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the
authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead,
business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Cover Art by Catt Ford

This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is
illegal and a violation of International Copyright Law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon
conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. This eBook cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No
part of this eBook can be shared or reproduced without the express permission of the Publisher. To
request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press at: 4760 Preston Road, Suite
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Released in the United States of America
June 2012

eBook Edition
eBook ISBN: 978-1-61372-655-6