Fletcher: Stargazer Alien Mystery Brides #2 (Intergalactic Dating Agency)

by Tasha Black

  The ice cream truck song.

  Fletcher must have pressed the song button instead of the horn. The owner must have returned earlier than they thought he would.

  Her heart dropped to her stomach and she darted behind the shop to try and figure out what to do.

  She had thought before that it would be easy to hide, but the shop and the grass were the only things out here, besides the driver’s little house which was a good distance behind the lot.

  On instinct, she tried the back door of the shop.

  Locked.

  She peered around the building and saw the flatbed truck was stopped at the lockbox by the driveway entry. The owner must be checking his mail.

  Which meant she had maybe a minute before he headed back into the lot.

  There was a late model sedan on the flat bed. It must have come from somewhere pretty close by. But it was work, which meant he would head to the lot or the shop.

  That left Jana with only one choice. She had to hide behind the house and hope for the best.

  She looked out past the shop, across the huge lot and all the way over at the house.

  Glad I have long legs…

  She took off like a bullet, not looking to see if she had been spotted, and pumped her legs as fast as she could.

  It took at least thirty adrenaline-fueled seconds to reach the backyard of the little brick house, but it felt like forever out in the open.

  She leaned against the wall, panting.

  Now what?

  She could hear the truck easing its way up the drive now. He hadn’t shouted or honked at her, so hopefully he hadn’t seen her.

  But how was she supposed to get back across the street and over to the ice cream truck with him directly between her and her destination?

  She certainly couldn’t hide out behind the man’s house all day. And she couldn’t even really peek out to plot a route without exposing herself.

  Just as she began to feel she was really in too deep, she spotted movement on the road in the opposite direction of the shop.

  The ice cream truck.

  Holy crap.

  She was pretty sure Fletcher had never driven an Earth vehicle before.

  But he had managed to pull that ungainly ice cream truck back onto the road to save her.

  She took off to meet him, running as fast as her legs would carry her. She was going to be sore tonight.

  But something about running toward Fletcher made her feel like she could keep up the pace as long as she needed to.

  5

  Fletcher

  Fletcher managed to pull the truck to the side of the road.

  The going was very bumpy along the dirt shoulder, but the vehicle had predictably straightforward controls.

  “Fletcher,” Jana cried as she wrenched open the door and stumbled into the van.

  He pulled back onto the road as she yanked the door shut behind her.

  The next thing he knew, she was wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her lips to his jaw.

  His body was shot through with a wave of need for his mate, amping up his senses. He was drunk on the scent of her shampoo. He could see colors outside the spectrum of the rainbow.

  Jana gasped and let go of him quickly, then buckled into her seatbelt, leaving him reeling.

  “I can’t believe you’re driving this thing,” she laughed awkwardly.

  He willed his body to cool and calm. If he was overwhelmed at her touch, he could only imagine how she was feeling. She could not have expected the shock of desire the mate bond would bring.

  “Everyone in this van who has mastered intergalactic space travel, raise your hand,” Fletcher said, winking at her and hoping to make her feel more at home.

  “Are you… quoting The Simpsons?” she asked.

  “Dr. Bhimani showed us clips from many television shows and movies that depict aliens,” he explained. “She wanted us to be prepared for the preconceived notions we might experience in the world.”

  “Well, touché, that was a great quote,” Jana said. “And I’m going to go out on a limb and say I’m impressed with your driving anyway, because I’ll bet your intergalactic vehicles are more responsive than this beast.”

  “Just a little,” he said with a smile.

  It wouldn’t be polite to tell her that not only were the ships from Aerie worlds more responsive than this simple contraption, but they had a biological component that bonded with their pilots allowing them to heal themselves and even to learn.

  “You were very brave,” he told her instead. “I have never felt such fear as when the man’s truck returned. Please do not make me abandon you in a time of crisis again.”

  “You didn’t abandon me, you rescued me,” she retorted.

  “Next time, I will be beside you,” he assured her.

  He glanced over at her and their eyes locked for a moment.

  She shook her head as if to clear it. “There won’t be a next time. Even up close I couldn’t find any clues. The shop was locked, and he got home before I could check on the house.”

  That was too bad. Fletcher knew Jana had been hoping to report back to her friend with some progress.

  “I’m sorry,” he told her. “I will help you brainstorm ways to help Vi.”

  “Thanks, Fletcher,” she said. “I’m sure Vi will figure everything out when she and Hannibal get back. I just thought it would be cool if I could surprise her for once.”

  He shrugged and kept his eyes on the road, giving her time to elaborate, or change the subject.

  All he could think of was the way his cheek burned from her kiss and the need to tell her, to claim her…

  “What are you thinking about?” she asked suddenly.

  “I will tell you when we get home,” he told her.

  He had never called the apartment home before. Until now, the rough crags of Aerie were the place he thought of as his home.

  But now that he and his mate both dwelled in the brick building in the village he felt the concept of home more acutely than he had ever understood it before, and he began to realize it was about much more than a physical location.

  They pulled into the alleyway, where he carefully parked the truck and leapt out so that he could open Jana’s door for her, just like he’d seen in the movies.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  He stepped back slightly, anticipating the warmth he would feel when she stepped down and was close to him for a sweet moment.

  But instead, she practically flung herself out of the truck and made a dash for the garden.

  He followed her slowly, giving her time. If she chose to go upstairs instead of talking with him, he would allow it without complaint.

  She was his mate. She could have as much time as she needed.

  But when he followed her through the gate, he found her sitting on a stone bench under a small weeping cherry tree in the corner of the garden that was furthest from the house.

  He was cheered inwardly. Whether she’d meant to or not, she had chosen a private spot, a romantic one, too.

  “So what were you thinking about in the car?” she asked.

  He took a deep breath and then knelt before her.

  She blinked at him, her lips parted slightly.

  Focus, Fletcher, he told himself. Don’t get distracted by her beauty and mess this up.

  It should not be possible to mess things up with a true mate. The mate bond was too strong for that.

  But in this moment, to Fletcher, it seemed that there were a million ways for him to get this wrong, and only one in which she would flow into his arms and make him the happiest man on Earth.

  “Jana, how much do you know about my kind?” he asked carefully.

  “I know you are from Aerie,” she said. “I know your gaseous form was placed in this lab-grown human body, and that you are here to know our people better.”

  “Yes,” he agreed. “All of this is true. Do you know about our mate bonds?”

  She
looked down at her hands in her lap in an uncharacteristically shy manner.

  “I will tell you,” he said, wanting to spare her the embarrassment, though he could tell by her demeanor that she already knew. “Though my form was designed to stoke female desire, I will know only one woman in that way - my bonded mate. If my bonded mate accepts me as her own, I will give her pleasure, protection and love for the rest of our lives.”

  Jana was still studying her own hands, but he could feel through the tenuous bond he already shared with her that she was listening for all she was worth.

  “And my mate will give me true humanity,” he went on. “When we make love, I will click into this human body permanently, instead of merely inhabiting it temporarily. And I will be able to enjoy a full life here on Earth.”

  He reached out and gently placed one hand on hers.

  She looked up at him, and he was grateful that he could gaze into her eyes as he said this next, most important part.

  “Jana Watson,” he said. “You are my true mate. You are the one who makes my soul sing. I have felt the tug of your bond on my heart since the day we met. I will not rush you to make a decision, but if you will accept me, I will make it my life’s mission to bring you peace and happiness.”

  She looked down at their hands together on her lap.

  For a moment he felt a great hope soar in his heart.

  Then she looked up at him again with tears in her eyes.

  “Oh Fletcher,” she said sadly.

  His chest seemed to cave in on itself.

  “I did not mean to frighten you,” he murmured.

  “I’m not frightened,” she said. “I’m moved. But I can’t be your mate.”

  “Are you promised to another?” he asked.

  “No,” she said. “But I made a promise to myself. I promised that I would never let go of my dreams. And right now my dreams are so close I can touch them.”

  “Your audition?” he asked.

  She nodded.

  He knew that she was an actor, and that the part she wanted to play was an important one.

  He had not realized that accepting it would preclude her from having a mate. Perhaps this kind of work required a vow of chastity, as some of the spiritual paths he had learned about. The arts were important on this planet, but he had not realized how important.

  Whatever the reason, he would not interfere with her wishes, even though the pain he already felt was almost unbearable.

  “I understand, Jana Watson,” he said carefully. “I will not stand in the way of your dreams.”

  He got up slowly and headed back into the house, determined to hold himself together until he was out of her sight.

  6

  Jana

  Jana spent the rest of the day in a haze.

  She did all her laundry, then she washed every dish in the sink and some of the ones in the cupboard to be sure. She vacuumed and dusted and even washed the insides of all the windows.

  Then she put a whole chicken in the oven with potatoes and onions and carrots.

  While it baked, she showered and dressed carefully.

  When she emerged from the steamy bathroom, to her sparkling apartment and the savory scent of her dinner, she knew there was nothing left to do but face her feelings.

  She sat down at the kitchen table and steepled her fingers together to give herself a stern talking-to.

  “Jana Watson, you made yourself a promise years ago,” she told herself firmly. “You said you would never put a man in front of your career.”

  But he’s not actually a man, a little voice inside her pointed out.

  “No time for technicalities. He may not be a man yet, but he’s trying to be one, and more to the point, he’s at your doorstep in the wake of the biggest break of your career,” she told herself. “This is exactly what you planned for. You said you wouldn’t be one of the actors who quits at age thirty to have babies. You said you were in this for the long haul.”

  He didn’t ask for babies…

  “It’s part of the deal,” she said. “You read the articles. You know they were told to have families and settle in.”

  What about that movie star who met an alien at Comic Con? He travels with her.

  “She’s a movie star, she can afford to support an entourage,” Jana told herself. “Broadway minimum won’t even be enough for your own studio apartment.”

  But he loves me…

  She stood, unable to argue with herself anymore.

  What could she possibly say to that?

  There would always be a little voice telling her it was okay to eat another brownie, to stay up a little later, to rehearse a little less, and now it was telling her to bond herself to an alien.

  But Jana knew better.

  Surrendering to your urges was unacceptable when you had a dream to focus on. That was how all the other women in acting school had fallen out of the business. It happened pleasantly - because of a boy or a cushy day job or a car payment on the pretty little coupe you just had to have.

  She was too close to let it go now.

  Fletcher was just going to have to find another woman.

  Her heart ached, but there was relief in having decided.

  She grabbed oven mitts and pulled the chicken from the oven.

  It was utter perfection, gleaming with juices. The veggies were soaked in the run-off, and though she couldn’t see it, she knew the stuffing hidden inside would be the best part of all.

  She froze in place without closing the oven.

  Hidden inside…

  She might not have fully solved her heartache problem, but Jana thought she just might have solved her tow truck investigation dilemma.

  7

  Fletcher

  Fletcher was alternately reading a copy of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare and staring out the window at the birds making a nest in the gutter of the house across the street.

  He had hoped that by reading the immortal words of one of Earth’s greatest playwrights, he might better understand the needs of his mate.

  The words in the book were beautiful, but they seemed alternately shortened and lengthened from the words Fletcher had learned. And they were strung together in a strange rhythm that made him half-hypnotized and sleepy.

  The birds in the gutter, on the other hand, were extremely industrious. They busied themselves preparing their nest with a heady zeal.

  Fletcher envied them. Birds were also pair-bonded, which made him feel a kinship with them.

  These two had their whole lives to look forward to: hunting for bugs, flying under the bright sun, and raising the tiny hatchlings who would occupy their nest.

  Fletcher had no idea how he would spend the rest of his life.

  He was bonded to Jana whether she would allow herself to accept him or not. There would be no other mate.

  A loud knock at the door roused him from his reverie.

  Spenser, who had been sitting on the loveseat, scowling at a crossword puzzle, lurched out of his seat to answer it.

  Jana stood in the doorway, looking excited.

  “I need your help, guys,” she said. “I have an idea. Also I cooked a chicken.”

  “A chicken?” Spenser said with interest.

  “Yes, yes, come on,” she told him.

  Fletcher got up right away. He and his brother trailed up the stairs after her.

  The scent of delicious food greeted them before they even reached the landing.

  Spenser turned back and gave Fletcher a look, as if to say that he could not believe how good it smelled. It was hard to disagree.

  Jana opened the door and they followed her inside.

  Where the aliens’ apartment was lightly furnished and spare, Vi and Jana’s place was made cozy by extraneous items.

  All the shelves were filled to overflowing with books. The tables were laden with coasters and napkins and magazines. Framed posters and paintings adorned nearly every wall.

  But the place was still
very tidy, somehow, in spite of its rich population of items.

  Fletcher felt at home right away.

  “Come on,” Jana said, gesturing for them to follow her into the kitchen. “We can talk while we eat.”

  The table was set for three, as if she had known they would decide to join her. Fletcher smiled at the thought.

  They all sat, and Jana served out generous portions of the meal.

  Fletcher waited for her to sit before he began but Spenser dug right in.

  “My God, woman, this is delicious,” Spenser declared.

  “Well, don’t get any big ideas about my skills in the kitchen,” Jana said dismissively. “This is one of like three things I know how to cook.”

  “This is enough,” Spenser said, tucking in again.

  Jana smiled at Fletcher and he smiled back helplessly.

  “Please, eat,” she said. “I’ll tell you my plan when we’re done.”

  The food was so good that it seemed to practically melt in his mouth. Too soon, his plate was empty and his belly was full.

  “That was amazing,” he told Jana simply. “Thank you very much.”

  “My pleasure,” she said lightly.

  “What do you need our help with?” Fletcher asked.

  “Okay, so I had this crazy thought while I was cooking,” Jana said, sitting back in her seat. “What if we called the tow company and got them to tow the ice cream truck into the shop?”

  “How would that get us clues?” Fletcher asked.

  “What if we were hiding in it?” Jana asked, her eyes sparkling.

  “Oh, that sounds clever,” Spenser said, his eyebrows slightly raised.

  “It sounds dangerous,” Fletcher said reflexively.

  “I’m not offering to do it alone,” Jana said.

  He eyed her, hating himself for wondering if this meant she was honoring his need to protect her.

  She doesn’t want you. Let her be.

  And he would. But it was impossible to keep his thoughts calm when she was looking at him with her eyes dancing like that.