Catching Stardust (9 page)

Zander led them passed the first set of elevators to the ones at the back of the lobby. The sign above them said
Express: Floors 30-35.

“This way.” He slipped a key out of his pocket and inserted it into a keyhole on the inside number panel of the elevator, then twisted until she heard a tiny click and the elevator started moving.

She took in the immaculate elevator as it sprinted to the top. Her stomach dropped at the unfamiliar motion. They didn’t have buildings this tall on Pleiades or any other planet she’d been to besides Earth. And every time she rode in one, she had to get used to the unnatural feeling all over again. She much preferred stairs. Watching the numbers climb, the elevator finally slowed as it reached the thirty-fifth floor.

But not thirty-five floors worth of stairs. She may need to exercise more often, but that would really be pushing it.

Penthouse? Mr. Sexy Space guy must be Mr. Sexy Rich guy too.

“Here we are.” Zander put his arm out to hold the door open for her as she stepped off the elevator and into another lobby. Only this one was completely private. And even more amazing than the lobby for the whole building, if that was even possible.

Who is this guy?

Certainly he wasn’t just a guy who worked at NASA and then as an astronautics engineer for his family’s company. Unless he was an engineer who’d designed something amazing. Like that Hubble guy. Hubble had to be loaded.

Not that it really mattered if Zander was rich or poor. It just wasn’t what she’d expected his apartment to be like. She’d expected the usual bachelor style apartment with a futon a two-seater table with mismatched chairs and a bathroom with one square of toilet paper hanging on the empty roll.

Not a penthouse apartment in a fancy doorman building on the upper west side.

Maia didn’t care how or why he had apparently had oodles of money. But she did care about what he’d worked on at NASA. What was his family’s business? Was it related to space exploration in some way too? Was it something that could help her get home? Was it possible out of all the people in this city, she could have found the one who was knowledgeable enough about space travel and the universe to actually be able to help her?

Could she trust him with her secret enough to find out?

No. Not yet. But she could figure out a way to get the information she needed from him without having to give up her secret.

“Can I show you something?” Zander asked, smiling at her, a glint in his eye about whatever his mystery item was. She could think of a few things she’d like to see. Starting with what hid under that cute button-up shirt. Smooth, sculpted, pectoral muscles? Toned abs?

“I think you’ll like it a lot,” he said, motioning for her to follow him deeper into the apartment.

“I’m sure I’ll like…whatever it is you’re going to show me.”

Breathe. It’ll probably be his stamp collection or something equally as nerdylicious and not stripping off his shirt so you can explore his abs.

His eyes held heat that hadn’t been there moments before. Apparently she wasn’t very good at hiding her thoughts here on Earth. It could also be because she kept eyeing his shirt and practically drooling. He seemed to make her think and feel things more than anyone else had.

Dirty, dirty thoughts and feelings.

“I mean—that is why you brought me here in the first place, right? To show me…something.” She tried her best to hold the emotion in her voice at bay, but it wasn’t working. He was just so hot and interesting and different. He was down right irresistible.

She still couldn’t believe she’d agreed to go with him to some unknown location like this. But she had. Because she couldn’t resist him or his obviously great physique or that spark of heat burning in his eyes as he stared back at her.

Yes, that look—that’s why she’d agreed to do something she knew was a little reckless and dangerous. Because that look told her everything she needed to know about his intentions, and she welcomed every single one of them despite knowing she shouldn’t.

“This way.” His voice was husky when he spoke again. “It’s through here.”

He opened a door and for the briefest second, Maia sincerely hoped it led to a bedroom. Instead, she saw a stairway leading up. She paused at the doorway. Should she really be following this guy she’d only just met into places unknown?

He climbed the stairs ahead of her, his rear perfectly shaped beneath his tailored trousers, his waist trim and his shoulders broad. A perfect vision of yumminess right there in front of her.

Yes, she should most definitely follow him wherever he wanted to lead her.

Maia focused on climbing the stairs and tried desperately to pull her eyes from his cute behind. It didn’t work. She wondered if those cheeks would be hard or soft if she were to reach out and squeeze them. Before she could let her imagination run away too far, he’d pushed open another door at the top of the stairs and stepped through.

“It’s up here.” He held open the door with his body, stepping back against it.

She came up to the opening and paused. His body looked even taller and leaner as it pressed up against the door. She briefly imagined running her hands up his flat stomach and chest before the scene beyond him caught her attention.

The door he held had opened into a spacious rooftop garden. There were green plants and small potted trees lining the area. She stepped out onto the roof, standing in front of Zander, taking in the scene.

“Do you like it?” Zander asked from beside her, his voice close to her ear now that he’d stepped away from the door and let it close behind them.

She turned to him, his face surprisingly close and entirely welcomed. Her eyes met his. “It’s amazing.” The same could be said for the man beside her.

“I knew you’d like it.”

She did like it, everything about it. She liked everything about him too.

Her heartbeat raced as she stood close enough to Zander to feel the heat radiating from his body in the cool night air. Maybe they should share body heat?

“There’s something else.” He slipped passed her. “This is why I brought you up here, although the little garden is nice too. But this,” he said patting a telescope, “is what I really thought you’d like to see.”

She couldn’t stop the corners of her mouth from rising. His telescope was huge.

“What?” he asked, his eyebrows furrowing. “Don’t you like it?”

“Oh no, I like it. It’s just so—huge.” She giggled. She knew it was stupid and childish, but she just couldn’t help it. She couldn’t help but wonder if the old sayings about the size of a man’s hands or feet or nose also applied to the size of his telescope.

He smirked at her comment and cocked one eyebrow at her, apparently understanding her innuendo completely. “Yes, it is—huge.”

She swallowed hard, her throat feeling parched and licked her lips. Suddenly at a loss for words, she simply stood there, trying her best not to visualize the picture he’d put in her mind.

“Want to come see for yourself?” he asked.

Oh my good Gaia, yes.

“See what? Your telescope?”

“Of course my telescope. Unless there’s something else you’d rather focus on.” He laughed and she knew he had been absolutely thinking the same things as she had.

She stepped up to the telescope, gingerly placing her hand on top of it near his, trying her best to look casual. “That’s what I was talking about too. What else could be this huge?”

Zander towered over her as they stood close together. Was he always this tall or did being on the rooftop in the dark with him make him seem taller?

“I know of one thing.”

Her breath hitched in her throat as he bent his head down to hers.
I bet you do.
His mouth was suddenly so close to hers she wanted to reach out and touch it. She wanted to run her finger across his lips and find out for herself if they were as a soft and full as they appeared.

Actually, she wanted to lick them and find out that way instead.

He turned his face from hers and fiddled with the dials and knobs on the body of the telescope. His fingers worked quickly twisting and manipulating the dials with confidence. Her mind drifted somewhere it shouldn’t again as she watched him work.

“Look right through here,” he said and pointed to a small round opening in the end of the telescope.

She pulled her gaze from his hands and focused on the tiny lens instead. She peered through the hole and saw the stars, up close, just as she was used to them. The telescope was aimed at Pleiades. A twinge of pain flashed in her chest, making it tighten.

She missed home so much. How had Zander known out of anything in the sky, this is what she’d want to see the most?

“It’s beautiful.” Her voice was quiet as it caught in her throat.

“I thought you might like to see your namesake up close. For some reason, the Maia star wasn’t coming into to focus last night. But tonight it looks like it’s back again. And you can see some of the gasses and dust swirling around the constellation too.”

She peered through the telescope, easily finding her star. Well, the marker star that had been put in her place. Apparently Zeus finally remembered it. Too bad he couldn’t remember to teleport her back home or at the very least, make the phone line work again.

“I do love it. Thank you.” She felt the weight of his hand on her arm and instantly wished she wasn’t wearing his jacket so she could feel the warmth of his touch too. His eyes still held heat for her, but his expression was one of concern—a dangerous combination.

“I thought after you seemed very disappointed when you couldn’t see the stars tonight, I would show you your namesake.”

“It’s so thoughtful of you to do this for me. I’m touched.”

Seeing her star back as if she wasn’t stranded on Earth alone made her homesick. But she couldn’t focus on that right now, not when she couldn’t afford to slip up and spill her secret to Zander. And certainly not when she wanted to share other things with Zander—things that involved a lot less clothes and a lot more touching.

Zander’s hand traveled up her arm and settled at the nape of her neck. The warmth of the skin-to-skin contact was enough to make her melt into a puddle of goo. Never had she ever, in all her eternity, wanted to kiss someone as much as she want to kiss Zander right in that moment.

But she couldn’t.

No, that wasn’t true. She could. Very easily, she could go up on her toes and press her lips to his, seek his tongue with hers. So, yes, technically she could kiss him right here, right now.

But she shouldn’t.

Kissing Zander could lead to other things—those touching things. And it could lead to her falling into his arms and his bed… It could lead to her falling for him—an unattainable guy from Earth, and she couldn’t let that happen. Nothing good would come of that.

She couldn’t let herself get involved in something neither of them could finish. She didn’t want to stay on Earth and he would never survive in the stars. They were screwed no matter how she looked at it so it was best to forget about it before anything even started.

“I did this for you because I love the way you look at the stars. You look to the sky as if you were looking at the home you grew up in but hadn’t been back to in years. It’s strange and wonderful.”

She leaned into his touch, warm on her neck. “I guess it does remind me of home a little, knowing that’s where my name comes from.” Daring to glance up into his beautiful eyes again, the heat of his gaze penetrated her defenses.

“So, do you always show girls the size of your telescope on the first date?” She teased.

“No. You’re my first.”

“Lucky me,” she said, her voice coming out as barely more than a whisper as her desire to kiss him threatened to overpower her.

He stroked a line along her jaw with his thumb, the movement giving her tingles of anticipation over what might come next. She leaned into him more, her eyes fluttering closed, focusing only on the feel of his hand on her skin. A moment later, she forced them back open to meet his gaze, not wanting to get completely lost in the sensation of the skin-to-skin contact.

“I think I’m the lucky one. The girls I’ve dated in the past never cared about space or stars. You’re the first one who not only appears to like the universe, but seems surprisingly knowledgeable about it as well. I couldn’t think of a better way to end the evening than stargazing with you.

He bent his head toward her, getting closer and closer by the second. Her body responded against her better judgment, tilting her head to give him a better angle.

“Everything about you is interesting, Maia. The origin of your name. Your interest in the universe. Even your eyes.” He sighed. “God damn. I could stare at them for hours. Those contacts are amazing. They look like miniature galaxies.”

His gaze was locked on hers. “If I didn’t know it was completely impossible, I’d say those galaxies in your eyes were actually swirling, twinkling.”

She swallowed the lump in her throat. This exploration on her eyes was treading dangerously close to actual fact. “I think you drank more wine than you realized at dinner.”

“I must have. Nothing seems to make sense with you. But I like it.” His eyes softened behind his glasses a little as he brought his face even closer to hers. “I like you too.”