An Alien To Love (14 page)

Nate fumbled out of his hotel room, down to the lobby. Never had he been as unsure of his future as now. Before falling asleep, he’d believed he would see Ava again, arrange another night together if he couldn’t convince her to travel with him. But his dreams had slipped away in the middle of the night.

He skulked past Kalara and her husband, engaged in a deep lip lock. Rolling his eyes, he groaned. How did they stay together in a profession such as theirs? He couldn’t even keep the one woman who’d managed to capture his heart.

Cursing the universe, he shoved his way out the door, into the crowded streets of Havmiola.
Dammit!
He didn’t want to see anyone right now, let alone the spirited, sexually charged habitants and visitors of Elatia.

He searched for a way out, a side street, some means to get back to his ship without having to deal with all of the happy people.
Gods, why is life so cruel?

An alley to his right provided the perfect escape. He shuffled back to the spaceport, his ship resting among the other vessels.
Finally
. With a heavy sigh, he punched in the security code to open the door.

As he glanced inside, the cruel gods reached into his chest, yanking out his heart. Wyn sat in the captain’s chair, making out with the voluptuous woman on his lap. While she looked nothing like Ava, her facial shape and the color of her skin indicated her Terran ancestry. Around the same age, too.

Wyn pulled away from the woman, glancing in his direction. “Hey, Nate.” He stood up with his new love interest, draping his arm around her shoulders. “This is Michelle. She’s, um… traveling with us for a bit.”

Great
. A passenger to remind him of what he’d lost, or to take Wyn away from him for good. He nodded, trying not to be too much of an ass, but he couldn’t muster a more enthusiastic greeting.

Wyn frowned. “What happened with your date last night? Did she kick you out like all the others?”

Trying to loosen the tight grip on his chest, Nate inhaled. He didn’t want to talk about it, but his best friend would press him until he spit out something. If he wasn’t too busy with his new girlfriend. “Ava, I mean…. My date went well, but she left without saying goodbye while I slept.”

“Wait a minute.” Michelle stepped forward, away from Wyn. “Did you say Ava?” She grinned, her eyes growing wide. “You were Ava’s date? She’s my best friend.”

He cringed.
Even better
. He would be sure to spend any free time locked in his cubby. He didn’t need to see them groping each other all the time.

Michelle shoved him in the shoulder. “Why’d you let her get away? She had so many expectations for your date. So did I. Not only did she need to get laid, but she wanted something more, a future with someone she could connect with.”

And he had offered, but she’d walked away. “I didn’t exactly have a choice. She left me.”

The woman leaned toward him. “And you say the date went well?”

“Yes, better than well.” Hence why it hurt so much to find her gone. He sighed, overcome by the memory of holding her in his arms as he fell asleep. “I don’t get why she wasn’t there when I woke up.”

“That does it then.” She linked her arm in his. “We have to go get her. Ava needs a kick in the ass. She needs to live a little.”

Get her?
A glimmer of hope spread through him. Would he have another chance with Ava?

***

“The captain’s going to stop coming to Elatia if we keep losing employees. You’re the second person in my department to resign today.”

The housekeeping manager’s words repeated in her head. She felt no guilt from her decision, but who else from Star Spirit had quit? Walking down the ramp for the last time, she recited the names of the employees she knew, trying to figure out who it could be.

“Ava!”

She glanced up as multiple voices screamed her name. At the end of the ramp stood Nate, some guy she didn’t know, and Michelle. She should be on Star Spirit. Was she the other employee who had resigned? And why wasn’t Nate still sleeping in the hotel room where she’d left him? “What are you all doing here?”

Nate glanced up at her, gripping the bottom of the hand rail. “We came for you. Hoped you’d join us.”

Ava smiled. If she had these three as company, she would enjoy traveling through space. It would be the chance to get away she’d always dreamed of. Because even on Star Spirit, she still felt the chain to her parents. Now, they’d set her free.

Her best friend rushed up to meet her. “Ava, you have to come with us. I know you have your parents to think about, but you need to be happy, too.”

She met Michelle with a hug. “I know. I already quit.” The decision had lifted so much weight off her shoulders. Leaning closer, she whispered, “What happened to the twins?”

With a laugh, Michelle turned toward the guys at the bottom of the ramp. “I found someone better. A sure thing.” She grabbed Ava’s hand, walking down beside her.

Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest as she approached Nate. After all this time, they finally had a chance to be together.

“You quit?” He raised his eyebrows, a grin threatening to appear on his lips.

She nodded, joy bubbling through her entire body. For once, she’d done something she wanted to, not because she felt obligated. And everything had worked out. “I’m all yours.”

Wrapping his arms around her, he spun her in circles. “I love you, Ava. Gods, I love you.”

“I love you, too.” She gripped him tight, never wanting to be apart from him again.

When he stopped, he set her down facing the other two. “You already know Michelle, but Ava, this is
my
best friend, Wyn. Looks like the four of us are going to be living together.”

Wyn reached out and shook her hand. “It’s nice to meet you. Maybe now, this fucker will decide to settle down.”

Nate squeezed her ass, making her jump. “The only place I’m going to be settling any time soon is in my cubby and in Ava.”

“Not if I get to the ship first,” Wyn called, racing off with Michelle.

Ava laughed, taking off with Nate. They easily caught up to the other couple due to Michelle’s high-heeled boots. She and Nate reached the star cruiser first. Once inside, she found herself in a tiny room with a bunk and some built-in drawers. Smaller than her accommodations on Star Spirit, but worth it to be with Nate.

“Looks like Wyn has the first shift.” He tucked her hair behind her ear. “And I get you.”

She wouldn’t argue. Without much room to move, she lay on the bunk, pulling him on top of her. “Thank the gods Madame Eve brought us back together. Now, take me, Nate. Make love to me.”

“With pleasure.” He claimed her mouth, slipping his hands underneath her clothes.

She moaned, pressing against him, anxious to experience the explosive orgasms he would elicit from her as they ventured through space.

A 1Night Stand Story

By

Jessica E. Subject

Skylar shoved a shirt and a pair of pants—the only non-revealing clothes she owned—into her bag. She didn’t bother to zip it up, worried the sound of metal teeth grinding against each other would arouse her roommates. The last thing she needed to happen. They would only cause more delays. And she refused to live in the complex a moment longer. Or on the planet.

With a quiet breath, she tiptoed across the cold steel floor, weaving around the rays of light reflecting off the two moons into the dormitory.

A soft sigh echoed through the room and Skylar froze, biting her bottom lip to keep her panic from boiling over. She gazed around and noticed one of her roommates smiling, her eyes closed.

“Oh, Hay’den, you’ve come to rescue me.”

How they all wished for their heroes to come. Only, none ever did.

The girl rolled onto her side. If she opened her eyes, she’d find Skylar standing in front of her.

Please, don’t wake up
. As much as she’d love to take them all with her, she didn’t have time to tell anyone of her plan. Plus, more bodies meant more noise and a greater risk of alerting her keeper of their purpose.

She glanced at the door. Her path to freedom lay only a few feet away.

After thirty seconds of no movement or sound from the other bunks, she continued her trek, daring to take the chance of being caught. Finally reaching the exit, she twisted the handle, but her sweaty palms did nothing to ease her escape. She wiped her hands on her barely there nightdress and twisted again, releasing a heavy breath at the satisfying click.

Peeking up and down the hallway, she saw no one to stop her, no one who would crush her dreams of getting off Rebed. Without a space pirate, that was. A shudder ran through her, and she swallowed down her unease. Once she got away, she no longer had to worry about the monster coming to claim her in the morning.

Time to go.
Run!
  She dashed around a corner and down the empty corridor, toward the dark-as-space shipyard. Her heart pounded like a fist against her ribs. She’d never stolen anything in her life, but she had to leave, refused to remain in the hellhole a second longer.

She peeked outside, searching for a lookout, anyone who could stop her from reaching her destination.
All clear
. Though she wouldn’t breathe a sigh of relief until she’d left the atmosphere, landed on a new planet. For only then would she be free. If her brothers ever found out she’d escaped and broken her contract, they’d hunt her down, tie her up, and drag her back to Rebed—soil she never wanted to set foot on again. Yet, if she made it to the other side of the galaxy, she could blend in and never look back.

Spying her target, a star cruiser belonging to her brothers, she raced across the tarmac. After deserting her on the planet star cycles ago, Galan and Volan had finally come to visit, bringing their new wife, Danyka, to meet her. Skylar’s mother had married a blue-skinned humanoid with two sons. But when their parents died in a shuttle crash, she’d been left in the care of her teenage stepbrothers. She understood they weren’t mature enough to care for a child, but she’d been old enough to take care of herself. It hadn’t been necessary to drop her off on Rebed.

She slapped her palm on the scanner, shaking in anticipation.
Please, let my print still be on file
. So much time had passed since she’d flown in the vessel. Had her brothers changed the codes or erased her data once they’d abandoned her? Tapping her foot, she waited for a green light, for the door to open. Something.

She glanced behind her.
Come on. Hurry!

Seconds, maybe minutes passed without a response. Sweat washed over her. She fought to catch her breath and tears stung the backs of her eyes.
Please!
Once the sun rose, she’d be twenty-one star cycles, legal to be presented to the disgusting creep who’d bought her contract, the exact person she wanted to escape.

A whoosh echoed to her left. With a startled jump, she stared in the direction of the sound. The door. She placed her hand over her chest.
Thank the gods
.

Ducking inside, she slid onto the captain’s chair. The ship now lay at her mercy. Finally, she had a chance to get off of the planet, an opportunity to live a new life. To be happy like she used to be when her parents were still alive, instead of dreading every second until her twenty-first birthday. It was time to live on her own terms, find her own love, rather than be chosen by a wealthy old space pirate with twelve arms and just as many wives. Or, maybe take a chance like her brothers—stepbrothers—and leave her fate in the hands of the mysterious Earth woman, Madame Evangeline. If Eve could find a Terran female to handle both Galan and Volan, surely she could locate a man for Skylar. Maybe someone from Earth, too. No matter, she refused to become another consort to the beast, another womb to carry his tentacle alien babies.

Skylar brushed her hands across the console.
How on earth do I start this thing?
  Was there a key card? A special code? No one had bothered to teach her.

Damn!
She slammed her palms on the dash, tears splashing onto the console.
I’m never going to get away from here. Not on my own
.

“Engine started.”

She gasped, panels and lights coming to life around her. A sharp buzz filled the air.
Yes!

The cabin shook. The engine roared. Too loud. Someone would hear.

“Please enter your destination.”

Destination?
  Her fingers tingled, her throat suddenly dry. Did she really want to go to Earth? She knew nothing about the planet, only what her brothers and their wife, Danyka, had told her only hours earlier. How would she live? She had few Space Service credits to spend
anywhere
. How would she survive when she had no one to help her?

Didn’t matter. She had to go. She swallowed the lump in her throat.