Page 35 of Star Bright
After they signed off, rather than returning to the lobby, Darcy checked the internal monitors for life signs and sneaked down to the empty kitchen to grab a snack for herself. Part of her felt as if she were still flying, untethered from everything she’d known and already dreading the inevitable fall.
And then she was just mad at herself when she looked down at her food and realized she’d instinctively chosen things of Earth. An entire smorgasbord of alien delights, and she’d opened crackers and cheese and a fruit cup with a can of some sort of wine?
She’d be madder at herself, but it was just pathetic. She didn’t even have the excuse of being marooned on an alien planet in a time that wasn’t her own for reverting to the familiar. As she wandered back to her room, she contemplated. If anything, she’d deliberately marooned herself in Montana when everyoneelse was gathering with their loved ones, just because she hadn’t aimed for anything else.
No, if she’d peeked under the wrapping paper of the gift of her life and been disappointed, she had only herself to blame for not updating her wish list.
She was nerdy enough to know that every moment in space-time was unique, and once past was gone forever, never to be experienced again. The flipside of that was that every next moment began anew, also unique, another chance, like a kaleidoscope of endlessly unfurling skies. She would be hurt again, and she would have chocolate sprinkles again, and the next moment would blossom into something new until her last moment. And after that… Well, one moment at a time.
So when the soft knock sounded at her door, she went and opened it and smiled at Vash.
“I guess I just wanted to tell you,” she said as if hours hadn’t passed since their last conversation, “even though the only reason we’re right here, right now, is me getting dumped and you needing an alien bride and this ridiculous Intergalactic Dating Agency, that only makes this even more amazing, because really, what are the chances?”
He leaned his forearm against the doorjamb, canting his weight forward, as if contemplating her question was the only thing keeping him from charging in. “According to the IDA handbooks, any given moment is almost statistically impossible—and inevitable.” His gray eyes glinted at her. “Though I’m not sure where that leaves us.”
“Right here, right now,” she whispered. She hooked her finger in the deep V neck of his tunic and drew him close.
When Darcy had first seen the room set aside for the duration of her stay, she’d been giddy at the luxury. The oversized bed and the bathroom that had felt excessive now seemed considerate of the size issues of some IDA clients, and the solarium-styleoverhead curve of the windows that had seemed a too on-the-nose play on the “Big Sky Country” marketing made sense for transgalactic travelers who’d just come from the stars.
At the first reverberation of the knock, her heart had started to pound. With the back of her knuckle still pressed to Vash’s chest, she felt his heart beating as heavy as hers.
“The contract is expired,” he murmured. “You’ve been beyond welcoming, giving my children peace and joy and cocoa. But you owe me nothing, do you understand? This is not about gratitude or a century of loneliness. This is…”
“Us,” she whispered.
He kissed her, and the memory of that first tentative, delicate kiss was swept away in an avalanche of sensation.
He held her as if they were flying again, his arms crisscrossed behind her, bending her back. The nameless wine she’d drunk swirled through her like a storm that blocked out everything but the heat of his mouth on hers and his touch surrounding her.
The strength of him, the blazing heat of his body, the wonder of it seemed extravagant, as if she was being too greedy, asking for too much, snatching at a gift that wasn’t hers. Like a cherry on top of the chocolate sprinkles. But… Why not? This was just the two of them, with only the stars to judge.
Right here, right now.
She slid her arms up higher to wrap around his neck, holding tight. No space left between them, her breasts pressing to his broad chest that in another shape had powered their flight.
She had no doubt he could do it again in this shape.
Clinging to him, she traced her tongue across his lips. He groaned deep, sending another thrill coursing through her blood as her whole body thrummed with the sound. She’d done that to him.
“Darcy.” Her name was a growl, and when he lifted his head, the fiery rings in his eyes cracked through the steady gray iriseslike lava remaking an island. “My ship is still in pieces, and right now I have no wings, but how far may I take you tonight?”
Maybe it was the growl, or that scary little taste of her own power, but she hesitated. “Maybe… Can we go one step at a time?” She grimaced. “I know that’s not as sexy as blasting off, but—”
He kissed her again, not gentle like the first time, not overwhelming like the second. This kiss was…a promise, a hint of what might come, a shiny ribbon she could unravel if she wanted it bad enough.
She kissed him back.
Chapter 13
Vash let her lead. His beast twisted restlessly at the restraint, wanting all of her right now. It wanted their hands in her hair, making knots, their teeth on her skin, staking a claim, their name in her mouth as she gasped out a last breath before she lost herself in pleasure.
Ruthlessly, he controlled himself.
Because after a hundred years, what was one step at a time? So what if they never made it another step out of the doorway?
He forced himself to unwrap his strangling arms. And she was still clinging to him, which mollified the beast somewhat. He framed her face with his hands, holding their unsteady breaths between them. Like they were soaring on erratic winds, a thrill and a danger.
Because when the winds stopped…
