by Juno Wells
Asterion’s body was a work of art. He was all lean, hard muscle, like he’d been chiseled out of actual marble. I’d seen pictures of men whose bodies were almost as hot as his, but I’d never actually touched, or been touched, by a man as sexy as him. My pulse quickened at the mere thought of what we were about to do.
“Your turn,” he said, his voice like lush dark velvet. And the way he looked at me... my God. It was incendiary. The pure passion in his gaze – the desire – it was like a physical force.
My hands trembled as I stood in front of him and undressed. And once again, the self-consciousness I usually felt about being naked was nowhere to be found. As I revealed my body to Aster, the way he looked at me made me feel beautiful, more beautiful than I’d ever felt. His gaze overwhelmed me, pulled me to him like a moth to a flame. I stepped forward and reached out for him, hungry for his touch.
We touched each other slowly, gently, savoring each other. I trailed my fingertips over his firm chest and down the sculpted ridges of his abdominal muscles. Aster ran his fingers through my hair, then moved his palms over my neck, my chest, my hips, tracing the curves of my body.
A small sexy smile spread across his face, and he bit his lip, then leaned down until his mouth was just an inch away from mine. “You’re gorgeous,” he whispered. His lips grazed against mine, then he pulled back, teasing me. I lunged forward, tasting his tongue for a brief moment, then his mouth was on my neck. Goosebumps popped up on my skin as his warm, wet lips tickled my neck. He moved his mouth over my body, peppering me with kisses, his tongue trailing over my breasts, and I felt my body light up like a torch. I’d never wanted a man the way I wanted Aster. The desire flooded through me, making me feel reckless and alive, more alive than I’d ever felt.
I pushed Aster back against the trophy case and took the deep, full kiss from him that I’d been aching for. But I wanted so much more than just a kiss; I wanted all of him. I moved my tongue over his perfect body, tasting him: his strong shoulders, his broad hairless chest, the contours of his abdomen. Then I moved lower, taking his thick, hard shaft into my mouth.
Aster gasped, then let out a slow, deep breath. I took him deeper, my lips wrapped around his length. I felt decadent and powerful, controlling the very essence of his manhood. His body tensed, and his breathing quickened. Every moan he made and every heavy gasp of air spurred me on, and as his need grew so did mine. My pulse pounded and my core felt hot as his cock pulsated against my tongue. My sex throbbed between my legs, desperate to be entered, to be filled by him.
“Ava,” he growled. I slid his shaft out of my mouth and looked up at him. “Come here,” he said. He lifted me up in one quick motion and I wrapped my legs around his waist. Before I knew what hit me I was pinned against the glass trophy case, his cock pressing hard against my entrance. I wanted him inside of me so badly that it almost ached. He pressed his forehead against mine, and I looked into his eyes. The anticipation was heart-stopping. His manhood throbbed against my sex, and just when I thought I might scream, he pushed himself inside me.
A shockwave of pure, white-hot pleasure exploded within me as he slid himself in, and I cried out. He thrust into me, his hands gripped hard against my thighs, and the glass trophy case rattled, knocking over a few trophies inside. But Aster didn’t stop. He fucked me hard against the glass case until every trophy had toppled over, then he spun us around and pushed me onto the couch on my back. His cock slid out of me, just for a moment, and I grasped at him, desperate for more. And he gave me more. He lowered his body down on top of mine and entered me again, and I lost myself to him.
There was nothing but the two of us: our bodies, our sweaty skin, our ragged breaths. Everything else in the world faded into a distant memory as we pushed against each other, grinding, thrusting, consuming each other. With every stroke of his manhood plunging into me, I felt a surge of exquisite ecstasy, each one more intense than the last. I’d never felt such utter power in a man before, such a devouring passion. My body trembled and I moaned uncontrollably as Aster ravaged my body, bring me higher and higher to the point of no return.
“Aster,” I gasped, “I’m going to come...”
“Look at me,” he commanded. He pinned my arms over my head and stared deep into my eyes as the orgasm hit me, rippling through my body like a shimmering wave. My mouth hung open, desperately gasping for air, and I stared into Aster’s indigo eyes as I came, hard and urgently. And I saw in his eyes the moment of his release, too, just seconds after mine. He took in a sharp breath and his body shuddered, his skin slick against mine.
Afterward we lay together, our limbs intertwined. Early morning sunlight filtered through the windows, illuminating the room with a golden glow. I nuzzled my face into Asterion’s neck and took in his scent. He smelled like the ocean. He always smelled like the ocean. It was intoxicating.
“I think I’m falling for you,” I blurted out.
Aster squeezed my body against his and kissed the top of my head. “Ava, I fell for you the moment I first saw you,” he whispered.
Chapter Eleven
We fell asleep together on the couch, and slept most of the day. And I dreamed of Aster, and of the planet Alluvia. In my dream, I stood on the shore of a beautiful blue ocean. My toes dug in the sand, and small crashing waves tickled my feet. Aster stood next to me, his strong hand on my shoulder. And in my arms I held a baby. A perfect baby boy.
“What should we name him?” I asked Aster in my dream.
“Let’s name him Kahal,” Aster replied. “It means peace in my language.”
“That seems fitting,” I said, looking down into the baby’s indigo eyes. “Kahal,” I whispered, kissing him on the cheek. “Get ready to save the world, little man...”
I woke sometime in the late afternoon, the strange dream of Alluvia rattling around in my brain. What did it mean? I rubbed my eyes and shook off the cobwebs of sleep. It was just a dream. Just a crazy dream I’d had after having sex with a hot alien.
I was alone on the couch. Through the open door that led to the pool area, I could hear the sounds of splashing. I got up and wrapped a towel around me and went out to investigate.
Aster was in the pool, naked, swimming laps. I quietly watched him for a moment. His back muscles tightened as he stroked his arms through the water, and the curve of his taut ass bobbed above the surface. His movements were graceful, and rhythmic. It was a beautiful thing to watch. Moving in the water was like second nature to his body, and it showed.
Eventually, he saw me watching and stopped swimming. “Good morning,” he said, smoothing his dark hair back off his forehead. “Or, good afternoon, that is. I needed some time in the water. I didn’t want to wake you.” He swam over to the edge of the pool, then reached his hand out and tugged at the bottom of my towel as he gave me a sly smile. “Do you want to join me?”
Usually, I spent my mornings with a hot mug of coffee and a newspaper. But this sounded way better. “Sure. I’d love to.” I let my towel drop to the floor, then I hopped in the pool. Aster scooped me up in his arms, spun me around, then gave me a deep, lingering kiss.
“How’d you sleep?” he asked.
“Like a baby,” I replied. As soon as I said the word baby, I remembered my dream. I let out a small, nervous laugh and hid my face in my hands.
“What?” Aster moved my hands from my face. “Tell me.”
“It’s nothing, it’s just… I had a funny dream. I dreamed I was with you on Alluvia, and we had… A little baby boy. You said you wanted to name him Kahal. I don’t know why I’m telling you this. This is silly.”
Aster’s eyes widened, then he smiled. “You dreamed we had a son? Named Kahal?”
“Yeah, but it was just… Just a crazy dream.”
“Maybe,” he said. He put his lips against mine, wet with pool water. “Or maybe it was something more.”
Man, this guy was unbelievable. Most guys, if a girl would’ve mentioned a dream like that right after the first time they h
ad sex, they’d run for the hills. But not Aster. He seemed happy that I’d had the dream. He kissed me deeply, passionately, slowly spinning me around in the swimming pool. And again I lost myself to him, and the exquisite luxury of feeling his body next to mine. I was falling for him, hard. Harder than I’d ever fallen before. I’d felt it from the moment we first met. It felt like destiny, like fate. It felt like love.
But I had so many questions, so many things to figure out. We were from different planets, for fuck’s sake. That was one hell of a long-distance relationship. How was this ever going to work? I wanted to talk to Aster about all of this and more, but at the same time I knew we had more pressing matters to attend to. Xa’rath was still looking for us, and it was only a matter of time before he found us. We needed to get back to Aster’s ship. Figuring out our relationship could come later.
“So,” I said once I finally untangled my lips from his. “I think I know a way that we can get to your ship in the National Park.”
“I’m all ears.”
“Well, we’ve already committed burglary, and breaking and entering.” I wiggled my eyebrows at Aster and smiled. “There’s a parking lot full of school buses behind the gymnasium. How about a little grand theft auto?”
“I like your style,” he said. “Let’s do it.”
We got dressed, then loaded up the backpack with food and water. On the way to the parking lot, we stopped by the woodshop to look for some additional tools. I found just what I needed: a hammer, a large flat-head screwdriver, and a pair of scissors.
I picked a school bus on the far side of the parking lot, as far away from the main road as possible. I used the screwdriver to pry open the door, then we stepped inside.
“I’ll have this bus road ready in a matter of minutes,” I said. I jammed the screwdriver on the side of the ignition, then gave it a few hard whacks with the hammer, trying to pop the ignition out to expose the wires inside.
“I’m pretty impressed that you know how to hotwire a school bus,” Aster admitted.
“I spend a lot of time around criminals as a private investigator.” I shrugged. “I’ve picked up a few tricks.”
I exposed the tangled mess of wires in the steering column, then pulled apart the wires that I needed to start the bus’s engine. A few twists of copper and a spark, and it was done. The school bus roared to life. I revved the engine a couple of times, then I turned to Aster and smiled.
“Piece of cake,” I told him. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the flashing red and blue lights of a police car. “Uh-oh. This isn’t good.”
Chapter Twelve
“Hands in the air! Step out of the bus!” The police officer ran around to the bus’s exit door, his gun drawn, and once I got a look at his face, I recognized him immediately. I knew most of the cops in town, and had worked with them on a lot of cases over the years. Some liked me more than others. And this particular cop – Pete Brady – we’d always gotten along pretty well.
“Pete, it’s me, Ava.” I put my hands out in front of me and gave him what I hoped was an innocent looking smile. “I can explain all of this, I swear.” I didn’t know how I was going to explain it, but I was sure I could think of something.
“You can explain it downtown at the station,” Pete replied. “Now, both of you, come out with your hands up. I don’t want any trouble, Ava.”
“Pete, can’t we –”
“I said get out, now!” He shouted. He moved a step closer and put his other hand on his gun for emphasis.
“Okay, fine, fine. No need to yell. We’ll come out.” I turned to Aster and addressed him. “They know me down at the police station. I can sort this out. I promise. We’ll be on the way to your ship in no time. Hopefully.”
We exited the bus, and as soon as we were out Pete grabbed Aster and threw him over the hood of his cop car. He slapped a pair of handcuffs on him, then turned to me and did the same. While he handcuffed us, he read us our rights, and listed out the crimes we had been accused of: Destruction of property, vandalism, breaking and entering, reckless endangering, unlawful use of a weapon, attempted grand theft auto. “Wait, what?” I shrieked, as Pete pushed me into the back of the police car. I mean, yes, we had done all of those things… But how did the cops know?
Before I knew what hit me, I was in the back of a police car, handcuffed, with Aster handcuffed next to me. Pete didn’t say a word as he sped down the city streets on the way to the police station. He looked royally pissed. I turned to Aster and searched his face for reassurance. I was so worried I could barely think straight. I’d never been arrested before, and those charges were nothing to laugh at. How were we going to get out of this?
“Everything’s going to be fine,” Aster whispered to me. “Don’t be afraid.” I leaned my head on his shoulder in the back of the car, and let one small tear slide down my cheek.
The next thing I knew, we were being led into the police station. We got mugshots, fingerprints, the whole shebang. Then we were led into a small room that contained only a plain metal table and four chairs – two on either side of the table. Aster and I sat next to each other on one side of the table, and within a matter of moments two men came in and took a seat on the other side of the table. I recognized one of the men – Charlie Shaw, a middle-aged detective with a bushy blond mustache who I’d worked with a few years ago on a missing person’s case. He was grumpy and cranky; not a nice man at all. The other man was a stranger to me, but he didn’t look any friendlier.
“So, Ms. Clarke,” Detective Shaw said. “We’ve been looking for you. You left quite a trail of destruction through your neighborhood last night. Care to explain?”
“That wasn’t me, I swear,” I pleaded.
“Oh, it wasn’t you, was it?” Detective Shaw leaned back in his chair and shook his head. “We got a call last night about shots fired in your neighborhood. And your gun – registered to you, Ava Clarke – was found in the middle of the street in front of your house. Recently fired, emptied of its magazine. Then there’s your car – destroyed. Looks like it’s been beat with a baseball bat. Then we have other destruction in the neighborhood – destroyed mailboxes, damaged vehicles, landscaping torn up. And then my deputy finds you today trying to steal a damn school bus. Now, I know you’re a trustworthy woman. A professional woman. We’ve worked together before, in the past. We might not have gotten along, but I don’t think you just up and went on a crime spree out of nowhere. So if something is happening… If you’re in some kind of trouble… You need to tell us what’s going on, right now. We can help you, Ms. Clarke, but you have to tell us the truth.”
“I don’t know…” What the hell could I possibly tell him? That we were on the run from an evil alien? “I don’t know how to explain it.”
“I can explain it,” Aster said. He leaned forward and slapped his hands on the table for emphasis. “We’re in great danger. Not just Ava and I. All of you. We are all in great danger. It’s only a matter of time before Xa’rath finds us, and –”
“And who is Xa’rath?” Detective Shaw asked.
“Xa’rath is a warrior from the planet Zathar,” Aster said matter-of-factly. I saw the way the two detectives looked at each other when he said this, and I visibly cringed. “He’s been sent here to planet Earth to kill me, or Ava. Preferably both of us. We need to get back to my ship immediately. If we stay here, Xa’rath will find us. And you don’t want him to find us here. He’ll kill anyone who gets in his way in order to get to us.”
The other detective, who up to this point had been silent, let out a condescending chuckle. “Ah. So this is a space alien situation, is it?”
“I know this sounds outrageous. I know you don’t believe me. But it’s true. I’m not from this world. Give me a cup of water, and I’ll prove it to you.” Aster pleaded with the detectives, but they just rolled their eyes.
“Oh yeah, a cup of water? That’s all you need?” Detective Shaw looked to the other detective and shrugged. “Fine, we’ll
play. Detective Benson, go get this man a cup of water. What the hell. Let’s see what happens.” It was obvious that they thought we were completely crazy. They were just fucking with us. But little did they know…
“Detective Shaw. Charlie,” I pleaded. I didn’t exactly love that Aster had told the truth – the whole truth – but the secret was out. There was no turning back now. “I know this sounds insane. But I swear to you, I swear on my dear sweet parents in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, it’s all true. Twenty-four hours ago I wouldn’t have believed it either. But I’ve seen things you wouldn’t believe. I’ve experienced things you wouldn’t believe. And now, you have to believe us. We’re in serious danger.” I knew my speech was going to fall on deaf ears. There was no way a jaded police detective was going to believe our story of intergalactic intrigue.
Detective Shaw nibbled on his fingernail and trained his steely eyes on us. It was clear he thought we were insane. “So, this evil alien. Xa’rath? Why exactly is he after the two of you?”
