Catching Stardust

by Heather Thurmeier

  “It was worth it.” He sat on a large, square pillow and motioned for her to do the same. She did, tucking her skirt around her legs so she wouldn’t accidentally give him a peek at something she wasn’t quite ready for…yet.

  He opened the bottle of wine and poured them each a glass. In the picnic basket, she found take-out containers of food. One looked like a couscous salad with speckles of green and orange and red vegetables mixed through it. Another was a pink, creamy pasta she’d never seen before. The last was the shape of French fries but green underneath some kind of breading—definitely not potatoes.

  “What is all this food?” she asked, taking the lids off the containers one by one and smelling them. Their aromas were so appealing and interesting. She couldn’t wait to dig in and taste them all.

  “Couscous and grilled vegetable salad, penne a la vodka, and fried zucchini. I didn’t know what you liked to eat so I asked James to pick up a little selection of things.” He laughed. “Maybe I should have been more specific. I don’t think these things exactly go together.”

  “Everything smells delicious.”

  He handed her a fork and then rummaged through the basket for a second. “I don’t think he gave us any dishes. We’ll have to share. Unless of course you don’t want to risk sharing germs and then you can pick the one you want.”

  He was so considerate compared to Orion who just took what and who he wanted. She could really get used to this kind of treatment.

  “We’ll share.” She stabbed a penne noodle and tasted it. The creamy sauce was heavenly. So delectable and savory. She closed her eyes and sighed. “Sweet heavenly Gaia this is amazing.”

  “Gaia, huh?”

  She swallowed. Damn it to Hades. She should have been smarter and thought before she spoke. Now what would she say that wouldn’t make him suspicious of her? “I—uh… It’s just a silly saying really.”

  “It’s okay. I like it.” He took a couple of fried zucchinis and dipped them into a marinara sauce before popping them into his mouth. A dollop of red sat on his lips as he chewed.

  “You dripped a little.”

  “Where?” he asked, looking down at his shirt.

  “Not your shirt. Here.” She reached out her hand and tried to wipe the sauce off his lip with a swipe of her thumb. His lips were warm under her touch and she paused for a moment, distracted by the heat. His mouth opened slightly, his breath caressing her skin.

  She pulled her hand back. “I think I made it worse.” Reaching for a couple of napkins, she wiped off of her thumb on one then tipped a bottle of water onto the other, wetting a corner of it. Wiping it across his lip, her breathing shuddered. Being so close to him, focusing on his lips—delicious lips that practically begged her to lick them—it was terribly hard to remember why she shouldn’t let herself fall for a guy from Earth.

  He pressed his hand to hers, stopping her from wiping his lip, which was long clean of the tiny bit of sauce that had been there. She tried to take her hand back, but he held it firmly in his for a moment, his gaze never wavering from hers. Even as he placed his dampened mouth to her palm, kissing it gently, his gaze held hers.

  The urge to crawl across the blanket and into his lap was overwhelming. Tingles of excitement sprang to life in her belly, mixing with the wine.

  His mouth left her palm and he placed another gentle kiss on her wrist instead then a few more up her forearm. As he moved along her arm, she found herself leaning in to him more and more. Every part of her begged to be kissed no matter how loudly her logic yelled at her not to let him.

  As he kissed the fold of her elbow and gave the sensitive skin a tiny lick, her last level of resistance and logic crumbled. Every nerve in her body felt like it had come to life in the last few seconds, she practically vibrated with anticipation and arousal.

  She used her free hand to cup his chin, forcing his mouth away. Her skin instantly missed the heat of his lips, his breath—his tongue. More than anything else right now she wanted to kiss him, hard on the mouth. She wanted to be with him.

  But she couldn’t.

  “Let’s go for a swim.”

  He blinked. “What?”

  “A swim. In the lake. Let’s go.”

  “We don’t have swimsuits.”

  She grinned and cocked an eyebrow at him. “Who said we need suits to swim?” She jumped up from the picnic blanket before he could protest and wandered down to the water’s edge.

  With only the light of the moon shining down, she slipped out of her clothes and into the lake, hoping the cool water would somehow put out the fire in her belly that Zander had started.

  ***

  Zander stood at the water’s edge beside the pile of clothes that had been on Maia’s body only moments before. The thought of cold lake water caressing her naked body made his hardened length strain against his pants even more than it already was. He dropped the extra blankets he’d snatched from beside the picnic setup, slipped off his shoes and dropped his pants. When in Rome, right?

  As he pulled his shirt over his head and stood there naked on the edge of the river, he glanced back up to find Maia waist deep in the water staring back at him, a smile on her face as she studied him. All of him. Unfortunately, it was too dark for him to make out much more than the silhouetted curves of her breast as they disappeared beneath the surface of the water.

  Water that appeared to be glowing.

  How was that possible?

  It looked as if there was an illumination in the water that surrounded Maia. Was there some kind of plant or bacteria life in the lake that he hadn’t realized could cause a bioluminescent reaction?

  Zander stepped into the water expecting it to light up and change the way it had around Maia. But it didn’t. The water stayed the same, not even a hint of brightness or color. Weird.

  Maia disappeared under the water as he wandered out to where she was—where she had been. He watched the surface of the water, wondering where she would come up for a breath. When she didn’t appear after a few seconds, his heart started to pick up its pace. Where was she? How could she hold her breath so long?

  He scanned the surface of the water, looking back and forth across the section in front of him the way he’d seen lifeguards do it at the pool. Still nothing.

  “Maia,” he called. She had to be here somewhere.

  The darkness engulfed him. Maybe she had come up for air somewhere just out of his limited line of site. Maybe she was already back by the shore. He turned and scanned the area where they’d both disrobed and saw nothing but piles of clothes.

  “What are you looking for?”

  Maia’s voice startled him and he turned quickly to find her only a few feet away, the water around her not appearing to glow as much as he remembered it. He took in her appearance. Other than being completely soaked from her swim, she looked fine. He sighed and sunk into the water so only his head and shoulders broke through the surface.

  “I was looking for you. Where’d you get to?”

  “I just went for a quick swim. The water is so beautiful here. I didn’t mean to make you worry.”

  She looked more amazing now—soaking wet, hair slicked back off her face, makeup washed away—than she had when their date started. She radiated happiness.

  “It’s okay—” A splash of water hit him directly in the face. He wiped a hand across his eyes. “Hey. You better watch it or I’m going to have to throw the nice-guy act out the window and splash you back.”

  Maia giggled and splashed him again. “I don’t believe you would.”

  “Damn right I will.” A grin spread across his lips. If she wanted to play, he would play. He moved to send a splash in her direction, but before the water reached her, she’d dived under again only to resurface a few feet over.

  “You missed.” She giggled again before splashing him.

  This time, he reached out quickly, ignoring the water as it hit him in the face and grabbed a hold of her wrist so she couldn’t disappear again. S
he tried to splash him again with her other hand, but he turned his head in time to avoid the water, then splashed her, finally getting her back.

  She squealed and laughed.

  “It’s not nice to splash your date, you know,” he teased, letting go of her wrist so she could swim away from him if she wanted. Instead, she lunged at his shoulders, trying to push him beneath the surface. He easily held his ground. “It’s not nice to try and dunk your date either. You know you’re too little to dunk me, right? Trying is useless.”

  “You could let me dunk you.”

  “I could, but that would give you a false sense of strength against me. You’re lucky I’m not dunking you back.” He laughed at her continued attempt, enjoying the feeling of her warm hands on his body. “Giving up yet?”

  She stopped pushing on his shoulders and ran her fingers down his arm instead. “Fine. I give up.”

  The touch of her fingers on his naked skin was enough to take the chill from the water. He was suddenly very aware of how naked they both were, and just how closely she stood. “Hey,” he said, his voice huskier than he thought it would be.

  “Hey yourself.” Her eyes twinkled in the moonlight as she gazed at him.

  He stroked his hand along her collarbone trying desperately to ignore the urge he had to pull her against his body—to kiss her, to touch the parts of her body still hiding beneath the water. If she were flush against his body, she’d know exactly what her touch did to him. If her body pressed against him fully, he’d have to resist a whole lot more than kissing her. That would be down right painful.

  She shivered under his touch.

  “You cold?”

  “A little. Maybe we should go finish eating.”

  He wasn’t the least bit hungry for food, but he nodded and motioned back toward the water’s edge. “There are a couple of blankets on the shore beside our clothes. I’ll stay in here while you dry off.”

  Her hand lingered on his arm for another few seconds. He wondered if she could feel his pulse pounding under her touch. All too soon, she swam away toward the shore, leaving him alone in the cold lake and already missing the feel of her skin on his.

  Chapter Eleven

  Maia nibbled at her food and chanced a glance up at Zander. He sat across from her, his blanket wrapped loosely around his waist. Her view was even more amazing than it had been earlier now that he was half naked. As he looked down at his food, eating silently, she took in his sculpted chest, the ripples of his washboard abs, the dusting of dark hair below his navel, leading down beneath his blanket.

  She choked on her mouthful of food as she tried to swallow. Quickly, she grabbed her wine and took a big sip.

  He cleared his throat and she flickered her gaze back up to his face only to find him grinning at her. She took another bite of pasta and looked away, adjusting the blanket wrapped tightly across her chest.

  Neither had gotten dressed right after coming out of the water. The blankets didn’t dry them so much as moved the water around on their skin. So instead of getting their clothes wet, they’d opted to wrap up in their separate blankets while they dried off in the gentle warmth of the lanterns and the summer air.

  Now that the last of the water had dried, the blanket made her warm and cozy. If she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine she was sitting in front of a fireplace with Zander. She could almost imagine what it would be like to curl up beside him with her cheek resting on his chest. Surprisingly, the thought made her feel unusually comfortable and at peace.

  And aroused.

  Knowing she was virtually naked in front of Zander made her even more hot and bothered despite the chill from swimming in the lake. And every time she snuck a peek at Zander’s bare chest, she had to force herself to look away. The desire to touch him again was almost too compelling and distracting to ignore.

  His arms had been more muscular than she’d expected. It wasn’t as if he did heavy manual labor for work, but don’t tell his body that because apparently it hadn’t gotten the memo. And now, seeing his chest, she didn’t have to imagine how muscular it was.

  Oh, no.

  She could see clearly in the dim light of the lanterns that his chest was very defined. The only question in her mind was how it would feel to run her fingers over those muscles. Her eyes traced the path that her fingers couldn’t.

  “I wouldn’t stop you. I wouldn’t say no.” Zander’s voice was low and deep, breaking into her thoughts.

  “What?” She shook her head to clear the haze of desire clouding her judgment. “I’m sorry. I must have missed what you were talking about.” She stretched out her legs, which tingled from sitting cross-legged for too long. Her blanket fell open to above her knee, revealing part of her thigh.

  Before she could cover herself again, Zander moved to lie on his side, propped on one elbow beside her. He skimmed his hand up her shin to her knee then back down to her ankle. On the return trip, he tugged the edge of the blanket back over her leg so it was covered again and rested his hand on top of it.

  He might not be physically touching her skin anymore, but the damage was done. She didn’t want him to cover her legs again. Nope. She wanted him to uncover her slowly and slide his hand further up her leg—all the way up until he found the spot that ached for him.

  “I’ve been watching you sneak peeks since we came back from the lake. I probably wouldn’t say no to anything you wanted to do.”

  She took in quick, shallow breaths, her head spinning with the influx of oxygen. She felt as if she’d been holding her breath for the last few minutes and now suddenly she was practically panting.

  She really had to figure out how to hide her emotions better. He knew what she been thinking, and he was okay with it. But was she?

  No. She couldn’t get involved. So why did she let herself get into situations where all she wanted to do was get more and more intimate with him?

  Because he treated her like the goddess she actually was, which was something Orion and all the others never had. Because he was interested in her as a person and not just as an object to be claimed.

  Because he’s so hot I want to lick him.

  That too. So many reasons to stay away from him and yet she could only ever remember the reasons to be with him.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her voice was weak, giving away her pathetic attempt to lie. She’d never been good at that.

  “No? So you haven’t been eyeing me from your side of the picnic, because I could have sworn you had.” His eyebrow arched, teasing her, catching her in the lie.

  She shook her head slowly, feeling as if in a daze. “Nope.”

  “So you wouldn’t mind then if I come over here?” He slid up closer to her, his deliciously naked chest only an inch from her very naked arm. He walked his fingers up her arm, stopping periodically to rub little circles on her skin. “You don’t mind it I do this?”

  She opened her mouth but no words came out.

  Don’t do it.

  She closed her eyes and forced herself to take steadying breaths through slightly puckered lips. It wouldn’t work out with them—she knew a happy future with Zander was impossible given her situation. But did that mean she couldn’t enjoy this one experience in this particular moment? Did every experience have to be directly leading to something more? Something deeper?

  The heat of his lips on her skin at the round of her shoulder sent a spike of heat all the way to her toes and everywhere in between. Arousal so deep and intense, she couldn’t remember having ever felt anything even remotely comparable before. And that was really saying something since she’d been around an eternity already.

  Of course she couldn’t remember her own name at this particular moment either, but that was beside the point.

  Let the future be damned to Hades. She was going to enjoy her time with Zander and worry about the consequences later.

  She cupped his jaw as he kissed her arm again working his way toward her shoulder, slowly cree
ping closer and closer to her neck. His jaw was stubbly and rough against her skin and so full of maleness she almost moaned.

  He stopped when he reached her shoulder, peering up at her with smoldering eyes, clearly hungry for whatever she could offer him, but not so bold as to take what he wanted without her telling him it was okay. Dropping her hand to his neck, she traced a path along his jugular until she got to the V of his collarbone. She stroked further down his chest, sighing at the feel of his silky skin over the hardness of his muscular form.

  A sound rumbled deep inside his chest making his skin vibrate under her palm and he pressed his lips to her shoulder again, his teeth nibbling her skin.

  Not able to deny herself the pleasure any longer, she twisted and pressed her mouth to his, hungry for something other than picnic foods. He let her in, groaning into her mouth as she tasted him the way she’d been longing to.

  Her body screamed at her for more—pleaded with her to get as close to him as she possibly could.

  His hand trailed up her arm to her shoulders, to the back of her neck and finally into her hair. His grip was firm and demanding with the same apparent need she felt. She turned her head, breaking the kiss, trying to give her brain time to think. But she could think of little else besides his lips kissing a path along her jaw and down her neck to her collarbone, leaving little fires dancing on her skin along the way.

  “Stop,” she whispered. “I can’t. We shouldn’t.”

  “You can,” he said between kisses. “We should.”

  He claimed her mouth with his again and it was all she could do to keep her thoughts from spinning out of control. “You’re absolutely right,” she murmured.

  She wanted to, she really did. And he was right, they could do this and she was pretty darn sure they could do it damn well too.

  Maia gave into his kiss again, letting him explore her mouth with his tongue, in turn exploring his mouth with hers. She slid down to lie beside him, pressing her body to his with only the blankets to separate them from fully being together.

  Draping her leg across his thighs, she clung to him, desperate to get closer. His hand went to her knee that was newly exposed to the night air. Slipping his hand under the blanket, he swept it up the back of her thigh, not waiting for her to complain.