Catching Stardust

by Heather Thurmeier

  Her breath hitched in her throat as he brought his mouth down to hers, stopping short of touching her. His breath was warm on her lips as he spoke. “Stay until the rain stops, Maia.”

  Oh she wanted to. She really, really wanted to stay.

  Her heart drummed in her chest with the decision. He made a tempting offer. Too tempting. It would be so easy to slip back into his arms, possibly end up in his bed. But at some point she’d still have to walk away from him. And a night in bed wouldn’t make leaving any easier.

  “I can’t stay.” She brushed her mouth against his, barely a kiss at all—a goodbye more than anything else. A last memory to take with her since she didn’t plan on seeing him again.

  She would take his jacket to the hotel with her because it was the easiest way to end things with him. And she would leave it at the front desk for when he came to pick it up. She’d never have to talk to him again. Never have to worry about falling for a man from Earth.

  The same wouldn’t be true if she stayed here tonight.

  So she’d leave, and she’d leave now. She’d squash any thoughts or hopes of him being able to help her get home. She’d have to risk too much of her own heart to stick around longer in the search for information. His knowledge wasn’t worth the possible heartache that could come later if she kept letting herself feel this connection with him.

  Maia pulled away before he had the chance to deepen the kiss and turned to the front door of his apartment.

  He took a step toward her, perhaps to try and convince her to stay. Or maybe just walk her to the door. Either way, she didn’t stick around to find out. She called out the name of her hotel over her shoulder, purposefully leaving out her room number and darted through the door.

  Chapter Eight

  Maia flopped onto her bed in the hotel room and pulled Zander’s jacket tightly around her body. Burying her head into the supple material, she breathed deep, taking in his intoxicating scent. She’d planned on dropping it off with the concierge on her way back up to her room, but something inside of her just wanted a few more hours with him in some way before she had to let him go for good.

  Zeus’s storm had conveniently stopped once she’d gotten a few blocks from Zander’s apartment. With one last flash of lightning in the sky, the clouds dissipated. Zeus was obviously watching her with Zander, which meant he had to know she was trying to get back home.

  The question now was why couldn’t she get a call through to him when he was obviously checking up on her? Why was Zeus interrupting her date with Zander on the rooftop, and then leaving her stranded here on Earth and blocking her only way to communicate with home?

  It didn’t make sense.

  Nothing about this situation made any sense.

  She tried calling home again as soon as she’d walked into her hotel room only to be greeted by the same annoying message about a problem on the line. No way was that true. Nope. The only problem on the line was the one Zeus put there.

  She would find a way to get even with him when she got home. And she would get home eventually.

  Sighing, she rolled over and snuggled deeper into her pillow, pulling Zander’s coat tight around her. She’d make sure to drop it off at the front desk bright and early. But for now, she’d let herself be engulfed in his scent, which would hopefully lead to dreaming of him.

  Her first full day on Earth had been exhausting and the stress of it finally caught up with her. Life on Pleiades wasn’t nearly this difficult.

  ***

  Zander had woken tired from a restless night’s sleep. Every dream focused on Maia. The dreams were fun, but they sure didn’t help him feel any less sexually pent up this morning than he had last night when she’d left. She was amazing. Kissing her was like—hell, he didn’t have words for it. Damned awesome would have to suffice.

  First thing this morning, he’d checked the weather reports from the night before to see if the rainstorm from last night had been expected or if it was some kind of freak storm. He wasn’t sure why it mattered either way, he just felt compelled to find out. His suspicion had been confirmed—freak storm with no warning.

  An unusual feeling settled into his stomach when it came to Maia. Not something bad, just something different. Things, unusual things, seemed to happen around her. Why was that? How could a clear night suddenly fill with clouds to block the stars?

  How could anyone have eyes that looked like hers even with fancy new contacts? How could anyone wear contacts that made their eyes appear to almost glow, twinkle and swirl like the galaxies? They couldn’t.

  There was something interesting and unusual about Maia and he had to find out what it was.

  Standing in the lobby of the hotel she temporarily called home, he waited impatiently for the front desk line to move. When Maia left last night, she hadn’t given him her room number. Now he had to speak to the concierge and hope they would either give him her room information or call her room for him.

  He looked around the small lobby as he waited. It wasn’t as fancy as some of the other hotels nearby but it was nice and clean and he felt comfortable that Maia would be safe staying here alone. The same couldn’t be said for many other hotels in the city.

  The ding of an elevator chime caught his attention. A smile spread across his lips as he watched Maia stride out with his jacket slung over her arms. Seemed the universe had a plan for bringing them together. Again.

  As he watched, she raised the jacket to her face and buried her nose in it as if trying to get closer to his scent. Somehow the thought of her wanting his scent near her turned him on. There was something primal about the action.

  Not to mention, seeing her bring down the jacket now—this morning—meant she’d taken it to her room. Maybe she’d been cold when she’d arrived back at the hotel. Maybe she’d been tired and forgotten she wore it until she was already in her room. Or maybe, she’d taken it with her on purpose as a way to keep him close for the night.

  The last option definitely held the most appeal.

  Yes, he liked the idea of some part of him being in her hotel room with her after that kiss they’d shared on his rooftop. The same kiss he hadn’t stopped thinking about since. He’d like it better if he had been invited back to her room instead of only his coat, but it was a start.

  “Maia,” he called, walking over to her.

  She glanced up from the pile of material she currently still had her nose buried in and dropped her arms to her waist, almost dropping his jacket onto the floor. Her gaze was startled, but unwavering as she stared back at him.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked, bluntly.

  “I told you I’d stop by to pick up my jacket today. I didn’t expect you to hand deliver it, though I like that you have.”

  Her gaze flickered down to the article in question then back up to meet his again. “I was cold and tired when I got back last night. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have kept your jacket overnight.”

  “I don’t mind. You can keep it longer if you need one while you’re in town.” He couldn’t stop himself from grinning a little more. “You do look damn good in it.”

  “Thanks, but I have a coat of my own. I appreciate the offer though.” Slowly, almost as if she were reluctant to, she handed him back his jacket.

  His fingers grazed hers as he took it. Little sparks of excitement coursed through him in that brief skin-to-skin contact like it had when he’d touched the small of her back entering the planetarium theater.

  “What are your plans for today?” The memories of his time spent with her yesterday made him long for new memories to be created today.

  “I have to try and connect with an old friend.”

  “Would you like some company?”

  She smiled. It looked genuine. “I wish I could say yes, but this is someone I need to meet with alone.”

  “Sounds very mysterious.”

  “Very.” Her smile faltered. “Listen. I really had a good time hanging out with you yesterday, but it
would probably be best if we didn’t see each other again—you know, since I’m leaving again soon and all that.”

  He studied her for a moment. That wasn’t the response he expected from a girl who had her face buried in his coat only a few moments ago. “Just because you’re leaving doesn’t mean you can’t still have fun while you’re here.”

  “True. But this way will just be easier, for both of us.”

  “I’m not so sure I agree. I think it would be easier for me to spend time in your company while you’re here rather than knowing you’re here and not with me.”

  He took a step, shortening the distance between them. He wasn’t usually this forward, but Maia wasn’t a usual girl. “I think we both enjoyed our kiss on the rooftop last night too much to let it be a one-time occurrence. I’m even more sure it would have been a lot more than a kiss if we hadn’t gotten interrupted by some freak rainstorm.”

  She stared back at him unspeaking, so he continued.

  “If you’re busy this afternoon, I completely understand, but what about tonight. I know another great place to stargaze and it would be fun to hang out again. It has been a long time since anyone other than Jude has shared my interest in the night sky. And really, there’s only so much time I can spend with Jude.”

  “I don’t know if I should. It’s really not a good idea for us to get involved with each other.”

  “I promise, no matter how much I would love a repeat of last night—minus the rain of course—there will be no pressure from me for an encore performance. Strictly hanging out. Relaxing. Staring at some stars. I’d really like to spend more time with you, even if it’s not making out.” He nudged her with his arm playfully. “Come on. Say yes. You know you want to.”

  A reluctant-looking smile slowly curled her lips. “Alright,” she said, finally. “It’s hard to say no to you. And I think you’re using my weakness for seeing the stars without a bunch of light pollution getting in the way against me. You know I can’t resist.”

  Happiness surged inside his chest. Funny how he’d only known this girl for a little while but the visceral reaction she caused in him was so strong. More and more, he liked being near her.

  “Great. It’s a date then.”

  She smiled a purely natural looking smile at his words. She liked the sound of a real date with him as much as he did. Excellent.

  “It’s a date.”

  “I’ll meet you back here at seven.” He tipped his head slightly to whisper in her ear. “I’ll be able to think of nothing else today except seeing you tonight.”

  He brushed his lips against her earlobe, resisting the urge to nibble on her delicate skin. Sweeping a kiss against her cheek, her skin was warm under his lips and he knew her mouth would be even warmer. Sighing, he pulled away.

  Later.

  He would keep his promise not to pressure her, but after she saw where he was taking her, she might not be able to resist him. There would be time for many kisses later if his plans for tonight paid off the way he hoped they would.

  ***

  Zander wandered into the small bistro restaurant on seventh where Jude had asked him to meet him for lunch. Jude already sat at a table, shuffling papers and scribbling notes. Working on the star thing again no doubt. By the look of him, he already wasn’t following the rule about getting enough sleep.

  “Hey,” he said, taking a seat at the table.

  “Decided to leave your girlfriend at home?” Jude asked, annoyance crystal clear in his voice.

  Zander didn’t let Jude’s attitude annoy him. Jude had ditched him plenty of times for a girl in the past. Last night was no different and he wasn’t going to feel the least bit guilty about it. “Yep. She needed to see an old friend today.”

  He ordered a club sandwich and a soda from the waitress, handing her the menus from the table. “So, you crunching data from the other night or did you finally give up?”

  “Still crunching.”

  “Did you come up with anything?”

  “Maybe. I’m not sure yet.”

  “What’s left to check?” Zander watched as Jude shuffled around a few more pages before finding the right ones and handing them over.

  “Just a few more ideas I want to play with. What do you think?”

  Zander skimmed the pages of data and notes. Nothing really jumped out at him. As much as he wanted something to get excited about, he wasn’t seeing it in these pages. Especially not after looking at the sky last night. “You saw the star is back, right?”

  The waitress set his sandwich in front of him. He handed the pages back to Jude then dipped a few fries into ketchup before popping them into his mouth.

  “Of course. But I’m surprised you did. I figured you be too busy with that girl to bother looking.”

  “Wow. I haven’t seen you jealous in a while.”

  “I’m not jealous,” Jude said quickly. “I just wish my so called partner would put as much effort into investigating this thing as he did trying to get into some chick’s pants.”

  “Dress, actually. And she is totally worth the effort, even if I didn’t succeed in getting into her pants, as you so eloquently put it. There’s always tonight though.”

  “Great. So you’re seeing her again. I guess I’ll figure this all out on my own like I originally planned before someone talked me out of it.”

  “Don’t be a dick. I told you I’d help you investigate but only if we still had a life while we did it. Going on a date with a pretty girl constitutes having a life, in case you’ve forgotten.” Zander rubbed his forehead as if that might stave off his pounding headache.

  “I haven’t forgotten. I just know how to put my priorities in order better than you do, that’s all.”

  “Really? You’re sitting here, looking more tired than you should be. You probably didn’t get anything accomplished at your actual job this morning. And all because of some missing star that isn’t even missing anymore. Dude, what’s left to investigate?”

  Jude sat silently for a few moments staring at the pages in front of him. “I hear what you’re saying. I do. But I can’t help feeling something weird happened the other night.”

  “I get it. I thought it was weird too, but the data doesn’t support…anything. We have to walk away from this. There’s nothing to focus our energies on. I wish there was something interesting or unusual going on but I don’t think there is.”

  Jude looked up, his face serious. “Well, there is one thing that’s unusual and a little too coincidental for me.”

  Zander’s interest level spiked. Maybe he’d missed something. “What’s that?”

  “Maia.”

  His excitement fizzled before it even got going, replaced instead by suspicion at Jude and his motives for focusing any attention on Maia. “What about her?”

  “Don’t you think it’s even a little coincidental you meet this girl with the same name as the missing star on the night the star goes missing?”

  “Not really.” Jude really was starting to lose his marbles.

  “Well I do. And I don’t believe for one second that thing with her eyes is because of contacts.”

  Jude did have a point. The name thing could be some kind of strange coincidence, but the eye contacts? Zander had spent an hour looking online this morning while he was supposed to be working on other things. He’d seen nothing about a new kind of contacts.

  But was it bothersome enough he wanted to start investigating Maia instead of dating her?

  “You don’t believe they’re contacts either, do you?” Jude leaned back in his chair, a smug expression on his face.

  “I don’t know what I think about them.”

  “Let’s investigate a little more,” Jude demanded. “There’s got to be some kind of explanation for those eyes of hers and it isn’t contacts.”

  “I’m not sure I can treat Maia like a test subject.” Something didn’t sit right about this. Sure, her eye thing was of interest, but he liked her. Really liked her. He couldn�
��t just all of a sudden treat her like a lab rat he needed to study. “I can’t.”

  Jude pushed his plate to the side then gathered up his papers. “I see how it is.”

  Zander sighed. Damn. Jude was acting ridiculous about this. “I can’t treat Maia like that.”

  Jude stood from the table. “Whatever dude. It’s your loss. But I’m not giving up just because you’ve got the hots for this girl. So when you come to your senses, you know where to find me. But don’t wait too long. If I figure this out on my own, I’m taking the credit for it on my own too.”

  Was Jude right? Was Zander ignoring something important about Maia because he had the hots for her? Maybe. Could he investigate and date Maia at the same time?

  “Okay,” he said softly. The fact was, he didn’t know what would happen with him and Maia. Most likely nothing more than another date or two. But a big discovery, something that could be career changing, might change his life forever. He could do both. He could date Maia and enjoy his time with her for however long he got it, but he could also look into things a little more too. “I’ll look into it with you. But I’m not involving Maia in this. And when I’m with her, I’m not with her to study her. I’m there on a date. The two things have to be separate.”

  Jude smiled. “I knew you’d come to your senses sooner or later.”

  Zander watched as Jude walked out of the restaurant. Had he made the right choice?

  Chapter Nine

  Maia glanced around the park, taking in the angle of the skyline compared to the trees and greenery. With so many open areas of green space in the park, it was difficult to tell which one she’d woken up on a few nights earlier. After checking out a few possibilities and coming up empty, she finally found the right one.

  Scanning the area, Maia quickly focused on the bush where she’d found the pink, zebra-striped bag. Anything left on the ground out in the open beside her would have blown away or been picked up by now, but the bush still held possibilities. Maybe she’d get lucky and find a clue.

  Maia crouched in the grass beside the bush, careful not to ruin more clothing with grass stains. She only had so many outfits to fill her time on Earth and she really wasn’t interested in another shopping trip unless it involved her sisters and a weekend trip to Venus.