Dark Matter: SCIENCE FICTION ROMANCE

by Jessica Loft

  Jasper disappeared into the cabin for a few minutes, and when he came back out dressed in his usual attire he leaned down and gave Lucy one more kiss, as if he couldn’t get enough.

  “What are you doing today?” He asked, lacing up his boots.

  Lucy shrugged her shoulder and took another sip from her coffee cup. “Actually I think I’m going to just hang out around here today. Maybe do some sunbathing and read a book.”

  Jasper smiled at her and thanked her for the tempting visual. “How would you feel about going out to dinner with me tonight? Nothing fancy, just a local spot a few miles down the road. But the food is good and the beer is cheap.”

  “Pick me up at seven?” She asked.

  He nodded his head and before he could think twice about it he brought his lips down to hers in another kiss. “It’s a date.”

  ~

  After Jasper left Lucy decided to do exactly what she had planned. Off of the bookshelf in the house she picked her favorite guilty pleasure novel, The Princess Bride. It had been her favorite for as long as she could remember, and no matter how many times she read it, she always wanted to read it again. She grabbed a sheet from the linen closet, a bottle of sun tan oil, and her book and headed back out to her yard.

  Since her nearest neighbor was over a half a mile away, Lucy decided that there was no reason why she couldn’t sunbathe in the nude. Peeling off her dress, she rubbed herself down with the oil and opened her book, ready to get lost in the love story that was Wesley and Princess Buttercup. She was about ten pages in when she heard the sound of twigs breaking coming from the forest. Closing her book and rolling over until she was on her stomach, she looked up to see her bear rambling slowly out of the woods.

  “There you are,” she cooed, smiling at the large approaching animal. “I was wondering where you were today.”

  The large animal huffed in response, and laid its large body out beside her blanket, careful not to touch the fabric. Lucy giggled as he sprawled out on his back and let his large hind legs fall open. He really was a massive animal, Lucy thought, measuring him to be about the size of her sheet. He could kill her easily if he wanted to, but for some reason Lucy couldn’t see him doing such a thing.

  “I’m going to reach out and touch you,” Lucy told him, as if he could understand her. “I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t bite my hand off.” Tentatively, she sat up, and reached over. The bear’s eyes stayed on her the entire time, but he made no move to stop her. When her fingertips finally came in contact with his fur, she gasped, not expecting the softness of it. She spread her fingers wider and ran them through the thick fur, getting a better feel.

  “Well, you must be quite proud of yourself,” she said, stroking him again. “You have quite the lovely coat.”

  Having enough interaction for one day, the bear shooed her hand away with his paw, and then rolled back up to his feet. He sniffed his snout around her head one time, and then ambled back into the woods. Lucy couldn’t help but smile after him. She loved his company, even though she knew he could be extremely dangerous if he wanted to be.

  Her thoughts travelled to what it would be like to not see him every morning once she went back to work, and her heart sank. She loved her giant teddy bear, and didn’t want to part with him. Or Jasper, for that matter. They were both unexpected, but somehow essentially needed. Back home she had no man and no pet, not even a single cat that that an unmarried women her age were supposed to have. No. She was all alone.

  CHAPTER 5

  “And then what happened?” Jasper asked. As promised, he had arrived at her door at seven on the dot, ready to take her to dinner. Though she had driven through the small town several times to go shopping, she had never actually stopped in it. Jasper had taken her to a place called The Sunset, where they’d had beer, cheeseburgers, and onion rings. It was an all American meal and everything had tasted delicious. It had been years since she’d had anything fried, and she forgot how amazing it tasted. After dinner, they walked over to The Igloo, and James bought her a vanilla cone that only cost him fifty cents. It was simple, light, and sweet. It didn’t cost ten dollars a scoop and it wasn’t organic, and it reminded Lucy of a time when her life wasn’t so busy and complicated.

  “What? Oh, nothing. He just decided to lie down beside me and we sunbathed for a couple minutes. Then he let me pet him, but only for a second. After that he just left, like he always does.” With their ice cream cones in hand they had decided to take a walk down the street, not ready for the date to end yet.

  “You must really have a way with animals,” Jasper mentioned, wrapping his free arm around her shoulders. Lucy laughed and leaned her head into the crook of his arm. She liked being in his arms. It felt so natural to her, as if they’d been doing it for years. Nuzzling in, she caught his scent, a warm mixture of man, earth and wood. It was heady and intoxicating, and she loved it. Suddenly her cravings weren’t for ice cream at all, but for Jasper.

  “Do you have anywhere else to be tonight?” Lucy asked, running her fingers down his back. Jasper swallowed the last bit of his cone and grinned.

  “No. I’m all yours. If you want me to be,” he replied.

  “I’d really like that,” she whispered, a wild twinkle in her eye. Lucy tossed her remaining ice cream in the trash and they headed back to Jasper’s truck. The drive really wasn’t that long, but to Lucy it felt as if it was taking forever. Her body was already hot and in need of relief. As Jasper drove them, she couldn’t help her wandering hands as they roamed over his thigh and between his legs.

  He growled when she found his erection, but didn’t try to stop her. Instead, he spread his legs wider, giving her more access to explore. He liked how adventurous she was, and how she could trust herself to do such things to him. When he felt his zipper being pulled down and his cock released, his hands tightened on the wheel in an effort to concentrate.

  “Fuck,” Jasper moaned as Lucy’s mouth closed over his erection. They were pulling up to her driveway now, but he didn’t want her to stop, not yet. After he went as far as he could go he stopped the truck and shut it off, hoping that she wasn’t ready to stop and go inside. To his delight she didn’t, but kept bobbing those plump lips up and down his erect cock until he could barely contain himself.

  “Wait, baby wait,” he breathed, pulling her up gently by her hair. Lucy’s green eyes were bright and dilated as he pulled her up to kiss her, and when she slid into his lap he knew that she was in a very feisty mood. Gripping the door handle, he pushed it open and with one arm he held Lucy’s smaller body to him. His goal was to make it to the porch, but they never got it that far.

  “Here, right here,” Lucy moaned, already pulling her panties to the side. Jasper had her leaning against the front of his truck and he was at the perfect angle where she could feel his naked cock brushing up against her panties in a sensual tease.

  Jasper’s hands trembled as he pulled and repositioned his grip on her and surged forward, filling Lucy with his cock until he was as deep as he could go. They both moaned in pleasure as he sunk in, and Lucy leaned backwards onto the hood of the truck, her back arching, hips thrusting, and Jasper surging back and forth between her wet, sensitive folds. He had never met a woman so profound, so passionate about her love making. She was a lady in every way when it came to her life, except for when she was having sex with him. He could feel her wildness released as she came for him, and knew then and there that this more than just a summer fling for both of them.

  Lucy’s lithe body pulled up so that she could wrap her arms around Jasper’s neck. She could feel how close he was to exploding and she wanted to see his eyes when he did so. “Yes baby,” she moaned, tensing her vaginal muscles to make him moan again. “Come for me, I can feel how much you want to.”

  As she said the words Jasper came, shooting his hot seed into her as he kissed her lips with everything he had. For several long minutes they stayed wrapped around one another, loving the way they made one another
feel. When Jasper finally moved, he felt his muscles relax, only then realizing just how tightly he had been holding on to her.

  When he asked if he had hurt her, she giggled and shook her head. “Not at all. But I will be hurt if you don’t come upstairs and shower with me.”

  Jasper laughed, and ran his fingers through her soft red curls as he looked into her eyes. “Little lady, you sure are something. You know that?”

  Lucy reached up and kissed his nose. “I’m starting to.”

  In the shower Jasper pulled Lucy underneath the warm spray of water to stand with him. With their arms wrapped around each other, they let the dust and dirt of the outside wash away and swirl down the drain. Lucy fit into Jasper’s arms like the perfect puzzle piece, and it saddened him that though they were just getting to know one another, he was about to lose her. He felt in his heart that if anyone could understand and love him for himself, it would be her.

  “I need to be honest with you Lucy,” Jasper whispered, nuzzling his cheek on top of her head. “I’m falling for you a little bit. And I’m kind of sad that you’ll be leaving me next week.” He felt Lucy’s body wrap tighter around his larger one and the small peck of her lips to his chest.

  “If we’re being honest,” Lucy answered, moving her head up to look at him through the steam. “I’m sad too. I think I’m really falling for you. That’s never happened to me before. But I have to go back. My life is in Malibu.” As she said the words, she knew it was a bullshit cover up. If she really wanted to change her life she could. She was just afraid to.

  CHAPTER 6

  For the next three mornings Lucy’s Bear didn’t come to have breakfast with her, but Jasper did. Each morning they would wake up and kiss one another goodbye before Jasper left for work, and then in the evenings he would come back to eat with her and spend the night. Lucy wasn’t trying to fool herself. She knew that she was falling in love with the handsome man. It wasn’t just him either, but everything in the Rocky Mountains. Her cabin, her gardens, the small towns and of course, her bear. She didn’t always see him when she wanted to, but the days that she stuck around the house he would always come and visit her. Even if it was just for a few minutes at a time. Lucy missed their breakfasts together, but in return she was getting breakfast with Jasper, and to her that was just as nice.

  Thanks to the mountains Lucy had little to no cell phone reception, and could only communicate through email unless they called the landline. So far everything had been going well, until the third morning when she got a disturbing message from her secretary, Amber. Within minutes she had the young girl on Skype video chat, asking her what was wrong.

  “It’s the Vice President, Miss Lucy,” Amber whispered, as if she were afraid of being heard. “Mr. Tombers is calling a board meeting about your forced resignation. He’s going to propose that they buy you out of your controlling seat!”

  Lucy felt the wind being knocked out of her as she heard the news. She had built her position from the ground up, and had worked very hard to get where she was. The only problem was, she had stopped loving what she was doing years ago. What had been a passion was now only a job, one that she had recently started to dislike.

  “When is this going to happen?”

  “Next week,” Amber replied. “The day before you’re supposed to return.” Lucy thought about the next five days, and how precious they had become to her.

  “How much?” She asked.

  “Excuse me, Miss Lucy?”

  Lucy rolled her eyes, agitated. “How much is Tombers proposing to buy me out for?”

  “Oh! Well, it’s not concrete, but I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a couple billion and then some stock options in the company.”

  Lucy ended the call without saying goodbye, and plopped down on the couch. It was a good deal. A really good deal. She had no debt, no people looking to her for money. She could easily live off a couple billion dollars and have some left over for any children she may have in the future. Outside, she heard the giant claws of her bear’s feet on the floorboards of the porch.

  “Hey there honey bear,” she greeted, walking through the screen door. “How’s your day?”

  The giant of a bear huffed, and lay down on the porch. Now that they were more familiar, Lucy laid her body down adjacent to his, so she could lay her head on his soft side. It was something that he had been allowing for the last two days, and she had to admit that she loved it. Reaching up, she ran her fingers through the thick brown hair, and began telling him about the news she just heard.

  “I’m not sure what to do,” she sighed, giving his back a good scratch. “If I stay and things don’t work out between Jasper and me, then what will I do?” She thought about it as she scratched more, feeling the skin of her bear between her fingertips.

  “Well, I mean if things didn’t work out, I could always just go somewhere else and start my own company again. I know what to do this time, so it would be easier. Much easier.” As she said the words, she found a rise in the bear’s skin, thick, like a scar. She traced along it, and found that it ran all the way up the bear’s back.

  “That’s odd,” Lucy whispered, lifting her head. Reaching over further, she felt around in his fur until she felt the other one, the exact same scar like rise in his skin. Flashes of familiarity went through her brain as she tried to connect the two. They were familiar, but she couldn’t quite remember why. Suddenly her bear rose up on his feet and walked away, no longer wanting her scratches.

  As usual he left on his own terms and without agitation. Long after he left, Lucy thought about the scars on his back. There was one on each side of his spine starting at the shoulder blades, and going all the way down to his lower back. Each scar bowed a little outwards, and she tried to remember where she felt such similar markings.

  ~

  Jasper’s sweating, naked chest glimmered in the sun as he brought the axe all the way up over his head before he swung it down, splitting the log clean in two. Smiling in satisfaction, he picked up the two split pieces and carried them to the pile. It was the last log of the bunch, as well as the last thing on his to-do list for the day. Jasper didn’t actively chop down trees for firewood, but when a dead one fell, he had no problem chopping it up to prepare for winter.

  Outside of his tiny cabin he drew a bucket of water and took it in to wash up. He was going to be meeting Lucy in a little over an hour and he didn’t want to meet her smelling like sweat. As he cleaned up, he thought about the news his other half had heard earlier that day, and the opportunity that suddenly arose along with it. He knew he was falling in love with Lucy, and he was almost positive that she was falling in love with him too.

  CHAPTER 7

  Lucy thought about Amber’s warning for the next two days. She couldn’t quite put a finger on it but there was something eerie about the way her business partner was waiting. If the role was reversed, she would have called the meeting immediately to get it over with. Why was he waiting? The house phone rang suddenly, jolting her out of her thoughts.

  “Hello, Jasper?” She asked, hoping it was him.

  “Hey Lucy,” he answered, sending relief flooding through her. “I’m going to be a little late coming over tonight, but only by a half hour or so. I just thought you should know.”

  Lucy ignored the disappointment rising up and she answered with a quick okay and a see you soon. She really didn’t want to be alone at the moment, and she wasn’t sure why. There was an unexplained panic rising in her. To take her mind off of things, she changed into her bathing suit and walked into the woods. Even though it was after sunset, she knew the path well enough now that she could easily make her way to the little hot spring that Jasper had pointed out to her on the first day they met.

  As always, the water felt warm and revitalizing as it trickled into the deep pool. She sat with her legs extended and arms extended along the rocks like arm rests. It felt great. Try as she might though, she couldn’t relax. Lucy felt jumpy, odd, and unsure of what
was around her. She had never been afraid of the woods before and now suddenly she was looking this way and that, looking for something she wasn’t sure of.

  “Calm down,” she told herself, getting out of the spring. “It’s just your imagination. Wrapping her towel around herself, she made her way back to her house. With the porch light on it was easy to do, she merely followed the light.

  Alarm quickly rolled through her when she saw a strange car sitting in the shadows of the driveway. It was then that she noticed that the lights she had left on when she left had been turned off, and even from the tree line she could see that her back door stood brokenly ajar.

  Though a big part of her wanted to stay in the safety of the trees until Jasper showed up, another part of her filled with fury at the thought of someone breaking into her precious home. She knew no one but Jasper in the town, had no ill will towards them or any others, so why would they break into her home. Suddenly furious, Lucy strode towards the house, determined to face the burglar.

  “All right you jack ass, come on out,” she called, making as much noise as she could coming into the house. She flicked the lights back on; grateful that whoever it was hadn’t been smart enough to find her electrical lines.

  “This was supposed to be easy,” a familiar voice called from the top of the steps.

  Lucy’s eyes darted up to the staircase, surprised to hear it. Richard Tombers, her Vice President, stood there, with black leather gloves and a handgun. She knew that he had wanted her out, but she had never thought that he would go to such dire measures.

  “Hello Lucy,” he said mockingly, walking slowly down the stairs with his gun pointed at her. “I was hoping that you were going to be home. It was simple. I was going to ring the doorbell, shoot you, take some stuff to make it seem like a burglary, and then return to Malibu tomorrow night. But you weren’t home, so this is a little more awkward.”