Page 84 of The Darkest Parts of Me

“Here is Earth.”

She rises from bed, dragging the covers with her, and I try to hide my disapproval. The light reflects off her skin, illuminating her like she is some kind of goddess walking through the constellations. I lightly tap the space and zoom in closer using my forefinger and thumb.

She lets out another gasp of surprise. “It’s going to take me a minute to get used to this.”

I chuckle in response, tapping the blue-green orb that comes into a larger view. We can see the surface with more detail as it spins slowly

“It looks so much like Aetherium.” Her eyes wander over the planet in surprise and awe.

“It’s almost identical,” I say.

“Almost?”

I nod. “Geographically, there are forests, oceans, and deserts just like here. Even the seasons are similar, but the land masses are, of course, shaped differently, and Earth is much older and more populated.”

She continues to tilt her head, observing this foreign world to her, taking in my words.

“This is so strange,” she says in a serious tone, unblinking as she continues to take in the artificial Earth before us. “And there’s more planets just like this?”

I move closer to her. “Thousands. It would take me years to go over the whole history of just Earth alone, even longer once space travel gets involved,” I say as her eyes widen a bit before looking back at me.

“But you’ll tell me about it? All of it, right?”

“Of course I will.” I capture her hand, squeezing it, reassuring her of my promise that I will tell her everything and anything that she wants to know. I pull her along with me, walking over to the other side of the atlas. “And this is where I’m guessing we are. But it’s only a guess,” I say, pointing to the blank space of darkness.

“Aetherium isn’t on your map?”

“No. Well, technically no. No one else has seen it to record it into the map system as far as I know.”

She stares at the nothingness for a beat or two, then looks back to me with tears in her eyes. “It’s unbelievable. That you came all this way, that you were alone for so long and then ended up here. What are the chances?” she asks softly, not looking for an answer, just wondering aloud.

Whatever the chances, they are near impossible to say the least.

“I didn’t believe in fate, but now, I don’t know what else to call it. Whatever guided me here, it brought me to you, and I am grateful for that.”

She smiles and traces her fingers on my forearm.

“And I will tell you everything about Earth and this galaxy, my exploits in space, whatever you want to know, but right now . . .” I lean down to whisper into her ear. “I want to feel you around me again. I want to hear you say my name like you did last night. I want you in so many ways.”

She whimpers at the words, and it only makes me hungrier for her.

“That is probably the most undignified thing you have ever said,” she whispers. “But I loved it.”

“Noted,” I say, winking.

I make love to her again while the holographic streams of light dance over us, except this time, we don’t take the time to memorize each other’s bodies. I don’t take a moment to pause before taking her to the edge of complete satisfaction, and she knows exactly what she’s doing to me when she says my name over and over again like a prayer on her lips. I know I’ll never grow tired of the way it sounds, exhilarated to learn all the ways I can get her like this, withering in my arms, spent and completely mine just as much as I am hers.

After spending the rest of the morning in bed, Maven eventually deems it time to clean up and become “human again.”

“I think I better go into town to see Tasha and Mina,” she says, finishing off her second cup of coffee, looking right at home standing in the kitchen.

“I’m assuming you told her about last night?”

She sets down the cup and smirks. “I told her we made up, to which she begged for information, but that was all.” I give her an amused look. “Why? Are you worried that I’ll share details on what kind of lover you are?”

I chuckle lightly. “Not at all, because I know it was nothing short of perfection.” She gapes at me, but before she can say a word, I sweep her up into my arms and set her on the counter. She naturally wraps her legs around my waist.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell her . . . everything,” she says. Her voice is nothing short of seductive, leaning into me as I place my hands on either side of her.

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