by Frankie Love
“I just get nervous,” I say. “Is it going to cause some massive erosion? I don’t want to contribute to, like, global warming in Vitaie after I’ve been here for what, like, two weeks?”
“I understand what you mean. We want to explore this planet but also honor it. The thing is if this is a special sort of cenote--one that is connected to the others through an underground in a river system, that’s a breakthrough discovery. And we need to understand this place better before more people can relocate here.”
I agree, nodding for him to continue.
I watch as he moves the levers, extending the digger headed into the side of the mountain. It’s sexy watching him work, his flexing forearms, his concentration, and I feel like he knows exactly what he’s doing.
As he digs expertly, he asks the question I knew was coming.
“I should have asked before, and I’m sorry I didn’t, baby. But Nova, why exactly did you choose this?”
I swallow, knowing that if he thought my family was shady before, there is gonna be a whole new level of disgust when I tell him what happened, what propelled me to leave.
“It was messy.”
Nick raises an eyebrow at me and I tried to remain brave. Remembering that their story is not my story, I forge ahead.
“I chose to separate myself from the Maradays. I chose to live on my own terms.”
“Why did you decide that?” he asks softly, his eyes on the mountain, and I appreciate him not forcing me under his gaze, it would hurt too much to look in his eyes right now.
“They finally got caught, my entire family. You know when you told me about them taking your family’s land? How it was shady as hell, how they came up with some document stating their rights to it? Well, your family wasn’t the only family abused.”
“What do you mean?” He looks over at me, as the clay crumbles on the mountain side.
I crumble too. Swallowing hard I tell myself not to cry. “They got sent to prison. My parents at least. Two of my sisters as well. My other two sisters got off on house arrest, parole. They weren’t as culpable, but I know they all knew what was going on.”
“But you didn’t know anything?” he asks.
I shake my head, hard.
“What is it?” he asks.
“You’ll swear to never tell a soul, promise?” I ask, knowing the part I’ve kept buried the deepest, the reason I am filled with shame and knew I needed to leave the planet—is because I know one day the Maradays will unravel the thread I vowed to bury—that I legally protected myself against.
“I swear,” he says, stopping the machine, taking my hands. “Damn, what is it, baby?” He tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear, brows creased in worry.
“It was me. I’m the one who turned them in. I’m the reason my own family is behind bars.” I cover my face with my hands, wondering what kind of daughter I am, knowing my allegiance wasn’t with the people who brought me into this world. “They kept trying to pull me into their deals, swindling people out of land so they could build resorts… and I refused. But then the FBI started asking questions, and I couldn’t protect them anymore. I didn’t want to protect them. I wanted to do what was right.”
“Oh baby,” he says, shaking his head, taking my hands in his again, as if refusing to let me hide in shame. “You did good, angel.”
“Did I, though? I mean, I know logically I did the right thing, but... Nick, they are my only family—my sisters were my only friends. My world has always been so small, and I turned against them, and then... and then I was a coward and ran. Ran to another world.”
Nick is quiet and when he finally speaks, I wait to hear his thoughts. “Nova, you have got to be the most misunderstood woman in the world.” He pulls my hands to his lips, kisses my knuckles. My chest tightens, relieved that he draws me closer. “You saw the dark from the light. And like your name, you decided to shine.”
“I don’t feel very shiny, most days.”
“Nova means new, shining star, right?”
“Yes.”
“Well, baby, you get to decide how brightly you burn.” He pulls my face to his, both his strong hands holding me. “You can let the old stuff fade in the distance, and hold on to what is here, what is now. Because, Nova, you are the only star I see.”
“I’m so sorry your family went through all of that. Lost so much.”
Nick kisses me squarely on the lips. “We all have to forge forward as best we can with the cards we were dealt. And Nova, you and I, we were dealt some pretty damn spectacular ones when we came here.”
“We were, weren’t we?” I say, a tear falling down my cheek, sitting in this digger, with the man I am married to, under a bright pink sky, a million miles away from the people that never chose to see me for me.
But Nick sees me.
It may have taken this idiot two weeks, but I understand why now.
I don’t hold that against him.
Because the truth is, all I want to be held against me is his body.
17
We finally stop kissing, and the only reason we don’t start fucking then and there is because Nova is worried my crew might come looking to check on our progress. We quickly break through to the place Nova had been stuck yesterday.
“Think we can crawl through?” I ask as we peer through the windshield to the hole I’ve created.
“As long as it isn’t steep.”
“Let’s go check it out.”
Hand in hand we walk to the hole, and kneeling down I see the water glistening below.
“That’s it,” Nova says smiling. “Look.” She points through the hole.
I see exactly what she’s pointing at. Her boots.
“Let me get something right today,” I tell her, lowering myself through the hole, and reaching for her hand. My feet are firmly planted on the ground of the cenote.
“It’s not far, I can hold your hand the whole time,” I tell her. My head is ducked where I’m standing, but I can see that if we take half a dozen steps we can stand fully erect.
She doesn’t hesitate, and it fills me with pride that she trusts me after all I have put her through. Holding onto her, I am able to lower her down to stand beside me.
Once we are both firmly rooted in place, I lead her to where we can both stand upright.
“Hey,” she says softly, her eyes on me. “It’s beautiful down here, isn’t it?”
“Wow,” I say, looking around, not having seen anything like this before. Yes, the sherbet colored skies are amazing, but this... this is something else. “You were right. It’s sparkling sand.”
Facing her, I swallow hard, wanting her to know just how I feel. “Listen,” I start. “I know our start was rocky as fuck, but believe me, Nova, that’s the last you’ll see of that guy.”
“You're my husband, I’m sure we’ll have other rocky times in our life.”
I nod. “I know things won’t be perfect— life isn’t perfect—but I don’t think the algorithm was wrong. I think you and I were meant to be together. Here. Now. I love you Nova, and maybe you won’t believe me, yet, when I say that— thinking you can’t love someone who I treated like garbage a few days ago. But listen, I know myself. I know how I feel. And I love you. And I will work every day of my goddamned life to make sure you know that.”
“I don’t think it’s crazy. I believe in love at-two-weeks.”
I laugh. “Why are you so good to me? So forgiving?”
“I want this. I want a family. A partner. I want a life with you. Only you, Nick. So, you telling me you love me doesn’t scare me. It doesn’t make me shake my head in disbelief. It makes me fall harder. Faster. Faster than I fell through that tunnel. And that was pretty damn fast.”
“And look where we landed,” I say, looking around incredulously.
“Right where we belong.”
We laugh then, deliriously in love and in lust and in gratitude, because we have it all. Even the damn boots.
She sits down and ex
changes her tennis shoes for the boots, and as she does I look around more closely. I see that this pool of water is part of an ongoing stream and that my inkling was right. This is an underground water system.
Dipping my hand in the cool water, my fingers sift through the sand.
“I can’t believe you weren’t hurt,” I say, looking at the gaping hole in the ceiling of the cave, in the center of the pool of water we are up against.
“I swear I was. My wrist had to have been broken... but then, it wasn’t.” She shakes her head. “I must have lost it for a bit.”
I pull some of the sand closer to inspect, and as I do, my heart starts pounding. I know why she was healed. I know why she is whole.
“Fuck. Nova, I think... I mean. I know. Do you know what this is?”
She shakes her head. “What do you mean––”
I interrupt her, “It’s Candeo. It’s what we’ve been looking for.” My words catch, I sink to the ground, my fingers running through the sand, seeing it isn’t just glittering, it is electric. Powerful. Regenerating.
The fucking key to everything.
“Nova, you fucking found it.”
“No way,” she says, coming closer, her face written in shock. “Seriously?”
“Yes, I’ve seen the dust, seen the air sample. I know what we were looking for. We were looking in the wrong place. You, Nova. You were in the right place at the right time.”
“Oh, my God,” she says, her jaw dropped. “This is everything you've been searching for.”
“Fuck yeah it is,” I tell her, pulling her to me, into my lap. “And my wife fucking found it.”
I kiss her then. Because I love her and I want her and I am so fucking thankful for her.
And not just because of the Candeo—because of everything. Her forgiving me. Accepting me.
And this Candeo... it might just fucking save us all.
Epilogue
Eleven months later …
I’m on my knees, pulling weeds out of the vegetable garden Nick helped me create. I had never planted a single thing in my life before moving here, but now I love being outside, pressing my hands in the soil, putting down roots in my new home.
Nick’s cabin, the one he had when I moved here, is now our garage where we store our rover at night––the dust storms are horrible here.
We have a bigger, more permanent house now in front of it, it’s insulated and everything. Plumbing and hot water. Luxuries after months of living on Vitaie without.
Nick walks up to me, the pink sky behind him, the tall blue trees flanking our property reminding me every day that I am a pioneer in a new world.
My husband leans over and kisses me, passionately as if he’s been away for weeks. In truth, he’s been gone for eight hours, working at the mine where hundreds of scientists are now working alongside him to extract the Candeo that can help restore the problems on Earth—while maintaining the levels on Vitaie so it remains a natural resource for the people here.
Scientists are figuring out how to replicate the mineral, and only a few months into their project, they are already making headway. Candeo is going to change the lives of people on Earth—and will ensure that they can continue living there for centuries to come.
I couldn't be more proud of my husband and the work he is doing.
Nick leans down and kisses the head of the baby boy lying in a basket beside me where I work; the fresh, warm air good for him.
“And how is our Jamie?” he asks, looking lovingly at our son.
“He’s well. Been sleeping the last hour.” I look at my husband, my heart full of warmth at his concern for our two-month-old son.
“Have you heard from Cassie?” he asks. I get up from where I’m kneeling, and dust off my hands. He picks up Jamie, nestling him in his arms.
I carry the basket, and together we walk to our home. Nick holds the front door open for me and I fill him in on Cassie.
“No, but she could go into labor any moment. She’s already a week past her due date.”
“Well, as soon as you get a call, go to her. I can call into work and take time off to stay here with Jamie.”
I smile up at him as we walk into the kitchen where dinner is already prepared, warming on the stove top. “Remember when I first moved here and you were a workaholic for a few weeks because you couldn’t stand to be near me?” I tease, watching as he sets Jamie down in his swing.
“I remember,” Nick says, coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist. In my ear, he whispers, “And I remember realizing what an ass I was.”
“It all worked out though didn’t it?” And now with Farrow living on Vitaie, and so many more shuttle trips planned since the discovery of Candeo, more people than we ever expected are able to come to Vitaie to either live or visit.
“Are you excited to see your family next week?” I ask, turning around to face him.
“I’m excited for them to meet our son, the first human born somewhere besides planet Earth.”
After he was born, magazines and newspapers wanted to do a story about James, about being born on a planet without hospitals or surgeons, and about us, the parents who have made history.
We refused to let them use our son's photo, however, we were willing to be interviewed for the story.
Because we truly have embarked on something amazing that should be documented for history—but since I grew up without any sense of privacy—I don’t want that for my child.
“Ready for dinner?” I ask, nodding at the food on the stove. We’re so lucky to have a working range. Candeo has made space travel so much more efficient, which means Farrow is able to send things here, and a factory is even being built a little ways from the mine.
Truth is, once Farrow arrived and realized the conditions of this planet, he knew he needed to get more investors involved to colonize here.
“I’m not really hungry,” Nick says, his steel blue eyes sparkling, drawing my attention away from the sleeping baby in the swing.
“What are you in the mood for?” I ask, hooking my fingers through his belt loops. Knowing exactly what the answer is.
“You, Nova,” he says, growling in my ear. “Only you.”
He carries me to our bedroom and pulls up my shirt. He kisses my breasts softly, still so tender from being engorged, and he runs his hands around my back, pulling me to him.
“I love you, Nick,” I say, ready for him to explore all of me... so long as our baby stays asleep.
“Does that mean you’re ready for my rocket?” he jokes, taking my hand and pressing it to his hard cock. We laugh, and I relish this playful banter with the man I married.
“I sure am,” I tell him, taking his hand and pressing it under my jeans. His fingers find my pussy, the soaked through panties revealing my unbridled desire. “See? My launch pad is ready for takeoff.”
He kisses me as he lays me on the bed, promising to love me forever.
And I kiss him back, knowing he’s my forever too, no matter what galaxy we are in.
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Also by Frankie Love
THE ENTIRE FRANKIE LOVE COLLECTION
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HIS LUCKY CHARM: An Irish Mountain Man
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THE COMPLETE COLLECTION
Stand-Alone Romance:
KINKY RESOLUTIONS
WILD AND TRUE
Stand-Alone Bad Boy:
BIG BAD WOLF
Stand-Alone Mountain Men:
MISTLETOE MOUNTAIN: A MOUNTAIN MAN’S CHRISTMAS
HEART OF GOLD: A MOUNTAIN MAN’S VALENTINE
HIS LUCKY CHARM: AN IRISH MOUNTAIN MAN
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About the Author
Frankie Love writes sexy stories about bad boys and mountain men. As a thirty-something mom to six who is ridiculously in love with her own bearded hottie, she believes in love-at-first-sight and happily-ever-afters. She also believes in the power of a quickie.
Find Frankie here:
Frankie Love
www.frankielove.net
[email protected]
