Baby, it's Cold in Space: Eight Science Fiction Romances

by Margo Bond Collins

  “JODY!” he cried into the howling wind. But only the wind called back.

  One step, he checked the ground. His EM visor, not as sophisticated as the EVA, didn’t register more than slight temperature changes. But Ewan could not and would not give up. Following Jody’s trajectory, he kept moving.

  A few steps more and he found a solid footprint. “Yes.” He sobbed. His breath shuddering in relief. Ewan bent forward against the gale, following the broken and disappearing tracks.

  A few hundred meters on, Ewan came upon Jody’s prone body. “Jody. Jody!” But she gave no sign of hearing him. Heart pounding, he forced the EM down, disengaging his arms from the machinery as one might toss off a sweater. Feeling for a pulse, he rolled her onto her back. Prying one eye open, he could see the white of the sclera. “No, no, no, you can’t die on me. We have plans. We have plans…” he moaned. Ewan unzipped his parka, clutching her to his heart just as a lull in the storm quieted the wind.

  With a free hand, he grabbed the medkit from the leg of the EM and snapped the case open. “Basic first aid. Right. Concussion. She can’t stay asleep. Where’s the stimstick?” He pawed through the case, gloved fingers alighting on the slim self-inoculating tube. He pressed it to her jugular and waited for the light to turn green then tossed it away into the wind. “Come on…”

  Jody’s eyelashes flickered. “Oh my head… my head.”

  “Shh… It’s okay. You’re safe. We’re safe. He’s dead.”

  In his wind shadow, she blinked the snow off her lashes. “You killed him?” She snuggled up closer.

  “Yes. I did.” He felt the pride in his voice. He wavered. “I killed someone,” his voice croaked incredulity.

  “Don’t you faint on me, my nerdy hero,” she grinned, shmushing her pert nose into his.

  “That’s me,” he whispered. “I did it.”

  “Yes…” Her lips settled on his mouth, pressing gently at first before parting her lips.

  The kiss lingered, long after their lips parted. The warmth of intense and deep passion spread over him from his heart down to his toes. He pressed his fingers to her chin and tilted her face up to him, brushing his lips across hers.

  She swallowed a helpless cry and hung onto him, arms wrapping around his neck.

  They ravaged each other’s mouth with kisses. Hard, wild, passionate kisses, until they came away breathless. The unbruised side of her face nestled against his chest. She sighed in contentment. His heart thudded, pounding at the nearness.

  “I adore you,” he said.

  “Your beard tickles.”

  “I can think of a few more places it’d like it to tickle,” growled Ewan.

  “I can, too.” She sighed, gazing up at him. He watched in horror as the beautiful blew rolled back.

  “Aaaand that will have to wait. Stay with me. Come on, Jody.” He tapped her cheek with his fingertips. “Can you stay with me long enough to climb on my back?”

  “I’ll try,” she murmured.

  “Climb on.” Ewan engaged the EM’s arms, positioning one in front of him and leaning over. Like a feather, she lit upon the enhanced maintenance suit’s massive frame. Her feet wedged into the side ledges of the EM’s hip joints.

  “Wrap your arms around my neck,” he said. As soon as he felt her secure enough, he crouched. “Hang on, we’re going ape.” He sprung forward in the same bounding motion as before. The howl of the stormwinds returned and pushed them towards the shelter of the ships.

  ***

  The cold and wind kept Jody awake through the increasing snowfall. While cuddled against his back, she marveled at the change in Ewan. Or perhaps it had been there all along and just needed the right moment to come forward. He was determined. Fierce. And she wanted him desperately.

  “We need to get off this planet,” Ewan said. He stripped the EM off in the entryway of Carl’s ship, the only flightworthy ship. The winds had subsided again. He checked his EVA chronometer. “Where the blazing bells is Six? The storm fronts are moving in. We should start getting tremors as the geological activity picks up. We don’t have time for…” His body was tense. He paced the ramp of Carl’s ship like a trapped panther.

  “Ewan, let’s get some of the movable equipment out of Ebudae. The cargo bay isn’t very big but some of the components could be useful.”

  The ground rumbled. They rocked into one another.

  Jody clutched Ewan. Earthquakes were like bombs. Bombs and death and dying and the dead eyes of fallen comrades crowded into her mind’s eye. She buried her face in his chest. “I didn’t expect to be here for this.”

  “It’s ok, those are minor tremors.”

  “Minor?” She gasped, “What’s a major?”

  “We don’t want to be here for that.”

  She glanced up charmed to her toes by the foolish grin on his face. He knew how to make it better. Make the demons go away. How did he do that? Jody’s heart swelled with an overwhelming gratitude. And she wanted to make him feel that way about her. Hoped he felt that way, at least, a little. Needed to have him love her the way she loved and adored him.

  Jody sighed. Ruffling his beard she said, “Later, you and I… but right now, I’m headed into the cockpit to see if I can’t raise Six.”

  “Why didn’t I think of that?” He sighed.

  Jody put a gentle finger to his nose. “Because I’m a pilot, and you’re not.”

  “Oh, thank the stars…I was wondering who was going to fly this.” He leaned down and gave her a sweet, gentle kiss.

  In return, she patted his bottom, “Tit for tat. I get to save you right back.”

  His eyes darkened with desire. They kissed again, leisurely tasting each other’s mouths.

  “Now would be good time for us to leave.” Six’s voice called from the bottom of the ramp.

  The firmament beneath them buckled, cracking the land.

  “Six!” Ewan ran down the ramp and grabbed the drone as it teetered on one leg. A chasm was opening right at the edge of the ramp, between the ship and Ebudae.

  Grabbing onto Ewan’s outstretched fingers with hers, Jody hung onto the threshold ramp hydraulic. “You’re not getting away from me that easily!” she shouted into the rising wind.

  The three-person chain strained against the tremors of the land and unstable gravity. Jody planted her feet in a wide stance to anchor their ascent back into the ship. As soon as they were on board, she slapped the ramp controls and shut the ship to the outside.

  “Let’s get out of here,” she said and strode towards the cockpit. Behind her, she heard Six gibbering scientific data at Ewan.

  He whooped. But she was already in the pilot seat, flipping controls and checking the course.

  Six followed, sitting in the co-pilot chair and Ewan stood between them, cradling a black box in his hands.

  “This ship… kicks… butt,” Jody said as she flipped the pilot station, adjusting her chair and viewing monitor to her height.

  “It seems to be well equipped,” Six said.

  She whistled. “It’s going to be easy-peasy getting into the stratosphere.” The engine lights glittered upon ignition. “Time to say good-bye!” Jody took the stick in hand and pulled back. The ship rose into the wind. Jody adjusted the flight path, smoothly turning it to face skyward. The landscape disappeared beneath them.

  “Commander, if you will get us on course, I will be happy to monitor the ship.”

  Jody looked over at Six. “I think Ewan might want to stick around and watch for a while.”

  “Oh, yes! Yes, please! Can we?”

  “I don’t see why not…” Jody laughed and punched in a new calculation.

  Ewan patted the black box. “Six, can you integrate my portable data center with the ship’s computer?”

  “You two just want to keep me busy…”

  Jody grinned and laughed. Her eyes skimmed Six before returning to the monitor. “We’ll be in orbit in twenty-two seconds. And I’m sure I can find a way to keep Ewan busy.
”

  “Well, this is my expedition. I’m in charge, Specialist.” he said with a grin and a wink. “And I think you need to go take a shower. You’re … well… you’re kind of gory.” He pointed to her forehead. “Come with me, let’s get you washed up.”

  The orbital indicator blinked green in her peripheral. Jody stood.

  “Doctor Stewarts, I—”

  “Let me take care of this, Six,” Ewan said. “Someone owes me for a shower tease.”

  “Oh… there’ll be no teasing,” she assured him.

  “Really?” Mock disappointment rang in Ewan’s tone.

  “Maybe a little.” She took his hand, leading him away from the bridge.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “COME WITH ME… I think I saw a medical bay along this corridor.” He nodded to his left at the crossroads of the pathway.

  “Divide and conquer,” she replied and pointed right. “I’ll go look for that shower.”

  “Don’t go far, I want to keep an eye on that concus—“

  “I promise to stay inside the ship,” Jody laughed over her shoulder and moved down the gray corridor. Door after door held empty rooms, devoid of personal effects. Beds, lights, closets but nothing else. Four rooms lined the corridor, two on each side. No wonder the cargo bay was so small. This was some sort of pleasure yacht.

  “Engineering must be under the cockpit,” she mused aloud. “Hmmm. And that means Carl’s nasty lair is at the other end. She opened the last of the four, gagged, and slammed it shut. The peculiar odor reminded her of cat marking. Urine and musk. “Oh, stars, Alice’s quarters. Blech.”

  Back pedaling, hands shaking, Jody opened up the door behind her on the opposite wall. She walked in and moved her hand over a light indicator. A soft glow lit up the dreary gray interior. A closet door was next on her left followed by a serviceable bathroom. “Nice digs, Carl. You must have lifted this from someone pretty important.”

  Jody began to undress, stripping off her armor and letting her full breasts free of the bindings. Stepping out of her black armor catsuit and throwing it behind her, she let out a happy sigh of freedom. “What a relief.”

  “That’s not a relief, that stunning.” Ewan’s voice was behind her. He tossed the suit aside admiring her.

  She preened in his adoring gaze, tossing back her head and spinning with excruciating slowness. “Where were we when we were interrupted before?” she asked.

  “When? The medbay? The snow plains? The shower?” He grinned.

  His eyes widened as she touched her finger to her lip and then to the tip of her nipple. Jody blew him a kiss and eyed him up and down.

  His body responded like a rocket at the launch.

  “What exactly are you in here for? A shower? Or something else?” Winking at him, she wiggled her bottom and continued with her fingertip exploration. The other hand crooked a finger at him. “Or maybe you figured out what we’re going to do for several hours in orbit, besides sleep, that is.”

  Ewan touched her skin, grazing his finger along the underside of her breasts. “I forgot how brilliant these are…”

  “The suit keeps them locked up tight.”

  “Tight…” He nodded and traced a finger across her hardening nipple, sending shockwaves from her breast down across her belly and inside, deep between her legs.

  His pupils widened as he drew closer. A halo of fierce golden lights flickered out from the green depths.

  She felt herself falling into them, drawn towards the ginger lashes.

  With his other hand he explored the tawny fluff between her muscled legs. Anticipation grew. His hands caressed her shoulders, down to her upper arms, as he drew her against him.

  Jody parted her lips in invitation, darting a tongue out to draw him in.

  He needed no further help, his mouth descended over hers.

  She closed her eyes as his tongue traced along hers. Adrenaline, this time from yearning, emptied her mind then refilled it with primal desire.

  He plunged and she surrendered, wholly.

  ***

  Ewan’s palm pressed against the curve of Jody’s lower spine as he broke the kiss. His eyes grazed her in savage want. In his palm, a perfect pendulous breast, the size of large, pink peach. His thumb moved back and forth across the inexplicably silken underside.

  He squeezed gently at her buttocks and breast and felt his shaft stiffen at her moaning response.

  Finally, this moment had come, and he would have her as his strong equal partner. But now he wanted nothing more than to bring her to her knees in ecstasy. And he would give her the attention and love that a brave and courageous woman deserved.

  His hand slid down across her taut belly before he felt the downy softness between her legs. It revealed a dewy delight.

  “Slow… there’s no hurry,” she whispered. “Come back up here, look in my eyes.”

  As his eyes travelled back up to look into the depths, he found himself falling in. There was something in the movement of her body, as she slipped closer, something in the sway of her hips, the way that her shoulders rounded and released.

  The tiny woman spilled over with capable grace.

  Sensual fever gripped him. He shook his head to undo the mesmerizing effect.

  “Everything okay?”

  “Is it stuffy in here? I’m a little dizzy.”

  “I thought I was the one with the concussion?’ She bit her lower lip and her face lit in smiling mockery. “I could clear your head.”

  “I’d wager real money you could.” He smirked back at her. The tension of their day melted as he stood before a confident woman at ease with her body. Exuding self-assurance, some leached out, and into him. He felt stronger, more capable. “I never … never would have thought I could do the things I did today. Jody, you’ve changed me.”

  Her nimble fingers began releasing him from his clothing.

  “I didn’t change you. This is who you are, a man of action.” Her face nuzzled into his naked chest. “But that’s not the kind of action we are about to engage in, is it?”

  “No, it’s not.” He leaned back against the cool steel wall as she moved her way down his chest with gentle kisses. Jody unfolded the layers of his insecurities.

  Over hips and groin, she traced her fingers. As she cupped each orb in her hands, her fingers massaged them.

  He couldn’t speak as she continued her sensual manipulation.

  She slipped down to rest on her knees.

  Ewan felt a release in his spine, as though his whole being was free when before it was curled up at the base of it, a scared knot of a man, afraid of what others would think all of the time. Before he met her, he was a man hiding behind his intellect, focused only on another prize. But this prize was unlike any he ever imagined.

  This woman. She was open. She didn’t care about what his status was or wasn’t. She listened. That made him smile in irony as a moan escaped his lips.

  She was listening now, to every liberating breath, timed with every stroke of her tongue.

  She was paying him close attention, with every tiny caress of her fingers along his inner thigh.

  She was studying his every quiver as she brought him close to the edge. A nail’s breadth to total freedom.

  Their rhythm aligned, his breaths, her strokes, his whimpers, her tongue, her hands squeezing his bottom, his gasp, her giggle, his rising moan, her tense draw, his final plea and cry.

  Tears prickled his eyes as he gasped back from the edge. “I adore you,” he breathed. “My amazing warrior, I adore you.” He looked down through the haze of desire seeing her, the woman she was, the need in her eyes.

  A careless upward puff of breath flipped stray straw colored hair from her eyes. Jody licked her lips and moved closer, planting her hands on his hips to angle herself upward from her crouch. Her breasts grazed his shaft.

  “Now you can shower…”

  “Oh, hey now. I’m not a cad. I don’t think so.” Ewan wrapped his arms around her wais
t. “Biologists know where all the good spots are.”

  “In the shower?” She waggled her brows. “That’ll be tight.”

  “Will it?”

  “Well, that all depends. There are at least some footholds.”

  “Where?”

  Jody pointed to the small enclosure. “There’s the soap dishes on either side.”

  “So there is. Ship designers… they must have insight.” He stepped in, turned around and beckoned her to join him. “Let me at least return your generous gift.”

  He bent down and kissed the petite blonde as she tiptoed up. He noticed, for the first time, the ripples of muscles across her arms, the defined ribs, the curve of sinew across her hips and down her legs. She was sculpted.

  She twirled on her tippy toes, gleeful. Free. “You like?”

  Jody stopped and leaned back against him. He could see down the full length of her body, through the amazing full breasts. And there they were, hard-nippled and more than a handful.

  He reached under each to cup them.

  She closed her eyes and nodded a slow assent.

  “That’s nice,” she said as he took a nipple between his thumb and forefinger. Relaxing against him, she allowed his fingers to caress along her sides, over the swell of her hips.

  His large hands encompassed her tiny waist, not touching, but not too far apart.

  He felt his fullness rise against the taut curves of her buttocks.

  “Wow, that was quick.”

  “It’s a gift,” he said. “Remember, I’m a professional biologist. I know how this works.”

  “You took a stim in the medbay.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He nibbled at her neck. “Because I plan to go as much as you need for as long as you want me to.” He felt her shudder beneath his lips and smiled into her flesh. “I have to keep you awake, remember? I think it’s important that I do the job right.”

  She twirled around, to face him. “If any woman ever tries to steal you, they’ll have a hellcat to deal with,” her mouth sought his with hungry fever. He leaned back against the shower, succumbing to hardness against softness, mouths melding. Jody vibrated beneath his fingertips. “I’m…I’m…” She gasped. “A little short for you.”