by Medley, Lisa
And now? She was truly and completely in his world. If the sick bay and the reservation had been new and strange, there was nothing to compare this experience with.
Noah’s voice sounded through the air all around her. “Ela, come back to the bridge. We need to prepare for docking.”
She turned and made her way back toward the front of the ship, where Noah sat, hurtling them to some unknown destination.
***
Noah reengaged the autopilot. They were a half hour from docking and the Blue Moon Hotel was visible, floating near the Moon as they approached. While the structure was still not large enough to be visible with the naked eye, Janson had insisted it be tethered so that amateur astronomers could see it with their telescopes. The structure had no permanent outside lighting but a neon sign that could be activated on opening day, like a cosmic billboard, hung at the ready. Space was already going to hell.
He’d spent the last hour forcing himself to calm the fuck down. He hadn’t called ahead to warn Tessa and Cole they had an additional visitor. They’d know soon enough, and it wasn’t like there was anything he could do to change it anyway. It was the conversation with Janson when he got home to the SpaceXport that he dreaded most. Janson couldn’t keep her hidden away from the world forever. Locking her up in the sickbay or sending her away, even to the reservation, clearly wasn’t the answer either.
He’d have to keep her close instead. The only one he trusted to keep her safe was himself.
Great job so far on that front, Wright. Way to go, asshole.
He released his lap belt and moved to meet her just behind the bridge.
“This way,” he said, reaching for her hand to pull her to the wall with him.
Her momentum pushed her in close against him, her face inches from his own. Her dark brown eyes shone, and his body reacted to her nearness against his will, his cock hardening. He shifted sideways so she wouldn’t feel him against her leg.
He grasped her shoulders and pushed her toward the floor until her feet rested near the footholds. “Slide your feet beneath the loops. Stay here. I’ll be right back.”
Noah pushed off and floated to the back then returned with two unused cargo straps. It wasn’t ideal, but this rig was a one-seater. He’d have to strap her down like cargo to keep her from becoming injured when they docked. The landing would be smooth and easy, nothing like their launch, but there was no way he was stuffing her back into a locker in the hold. Like she’d have gone for that plan anyway.
“These straps are just to hold you in place while we dock. Don’t panic. I’ll be right there.” He pointed to the captain’s chair a few feet away. The Moon grew larger in the viewing window by the moment.
He stretched the straps across her chest and hips and secured them to lash points on the wall on either side of her. “I’d suggest you hang onto one of the straps as well. Just to be safe.”
She nodded and curled her hands around the hip strap, her knuckles turning white.
Noah covered one hand with his own, squeezing gently. “It will be fine.” His voice echoed back to her with the translation, sounding less than certain even to his own ears. He leaned in and brushed his lips against hers, gently at first, then, when she didn’t resist, he grasped her waist and pulled himself against her. Her hands bunched the waist of his flight suit and her lips parted for him. The whoop, whoop of an alarm at the bridge snapped him back to reality.
He pulled away and pushed off, turning toward the bridge, her taste still on his lips. He didn’t look back at her, telling himself the task at hand was all that mattered. While technically true, his rapidly beating heart and his rock-hard cock encouraged him to complete the previous task.
The docking point was in view.
Things were about to get a whole lot more complicated.
***
Tessa waited impatiently at the docking bay for Noah to arrive. While it was true the skeleton crew would welcome the fresh food—no one enjoyed NASA’s dehydrated meals—it was Noah she really wanted to see. They’d been fast friends since the first day Janson had recruited them from their astronaut training exile. He was like a brother to her even though she already had six by blood. None of her true brothers really understood what she was doing out in the desert on the base, let alone in space. Hell, some days she wondered herself.
Noah understood all of that and more. He got her. And she got him.
Their friendship had been forged in fire when they’d survived the space/desert debacle together. Cole eased up beside her. “Precious, you’re more nervous than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rockers.” His arm snaked around her waist, and he nuzzled her neck, leaving a warm, wet kiss there.
“I’m just glad he’s back. I worry about him.”
“I know you do. It’ll be good to see him.”
The door buzzed and clicked in front of her, and Noah appeared through the window as the far docking door opened. She smiled at him and waved. As he walked down the long docking ramp, something caught her eye. Tessa leaned in toward the window.
“Holy shit,” she said.
“What? Something wrong with the ramp? No alarms.” Cole pushed his face in close beside her to look through the glass.
“Jesus Christ. Is that…Ela?”
***
The four of them sat in Tessa and Cole’s quarters as Noah recounted exactly how he’d managed to bring the Apache princess to space. So far, it had been a one-sided explanation. Ela sat stoic in the corner as Tessa fitted her with a new transcom. Noah had a feeling the exchange was about to get a whole lot more animated.
“There. All set,” Tessa said, squeezing Ela’s hand and backing away to the edge of the bed.
Noah paced by the pod port window facing the Earth-side view. The entire structure rotated every six hours so each guest could enjoy a fully orbital view of the station. Six thin cuffs spun around strategic sections of the hotel—dining hall, recreation center, spa—generating gravity. Each guest could generate or diminish their room pod’s gravity on demand as well. Of course, gravity meant no view as the individual cuffs engaged and began to spin. It was a trade-off and true of all but the two premium penthouse rooms where select guest could enjoy both gravity and a view…for a price.
One such penthouse room was currently claimed by Tessa and Cole. Ensuring quality control, they’d said.
“You’re damn lucky to be alive, Ela. That was a stupid move,” Cole said, pouring a drink and handing it to Noah.
Ela sat silent, surprising and worrying Noah. She was either broken or plotting. Neither option pleased him.
“Trust me, we’ve covered that ground. The question now is, how do I get her home without Janson finding out?”
“You can hide her again at docking. Go back for her after everything is unloaded. Otherwise, I don’t see an option,” Tessa said.
Noah looked over at Ela, hands crossed in her lap and unengaged. “I’m pretty sure she won’t be getting back into one of the lockers. I had to use the transcom, too. There will be recordings to deal with.”
“Then you walk out the door with her and tell Janson you took her along intentionally. He’s still afraid of her exposure. You can use that,” Cole said.
Tessa nodded. “And, she’s here now. It would be a shame not to enjoy and experience everything the Luna—I mean, Blue Moon—has to offer. She’ll be the first official guest.”
“There’s that,” Noah said.
“Let’s get you two set up next door. Tessa’s right. Might as well enjoy the night and the day tomorrow before you have to head back. Besides, you brought some nice steaks with you. Who’s up for a moonlight barbeque?” Cole said.
***
Ela changed into the clothing Tessa shared with her in the small pod bathing area. She could hear Noah outside the door changing as well. He seemed less angry with her after their exchange with Cole and Tessa, which eased her anxiety somewhat. She’d made a rash decision hiding away on his ship. She knew that now. As gruff
as he’d been with her, he’d still kissed her. She hadn’t forgotten that.
Studying her reflection in the mirror, she smoothed her hair with a brush, another gift from Tessa. Again, she was at the mercy of others to provide for her. Once, not long ago, she’d been the provider. That rabbit on the reservation was one of many she’d hunted in the desert to help feed her people. Letting others care for her was difficult, although it seemed Noah had been and continued to do just that despite her actions. How much more before she pushed him away completely? Did she even care?
Remembering the hole in her gut as he’d driven away from her on the reservation answered that question. If she were to be stuck here, in this time, there could be worse people in the world to spend it with.
She adjusted her clothing, trying to make it all more comfortable. She’d left the constricting “bra” on the knob on the back of the door. Why anyone would wear such an uncomfortable garment eluded her. She did pull on the leather jacket Tess had given. Space was cold.
Drawing in a long breath, she steeled herself to face Noah once again then opened the door.
Noah turned and stared at her long and hard. She fidgeted under his gaze, uncomfortable and unsure. His eyebrows wrinkled closer together.
“What is wrong? Have I displeased you? Again?” Ela asked.
Noah’s lips pressed together in a thin line as he shook his head. “No. Let’s go. Dinner should be ready.”
He crossed the few paces to her and reached for her hand, lingering a bit longer than was comfortable. She waited, expectant as he loomed over her, tension coiling inside her. What did she want from him? Forgiveness? Acceptance?
He stroked a hand down her hair then cupped the back of her head. She peered up at him, looking him in the eyes for the first time since they left the ship. “Ela, you make me crazy.”
Her hand slid up his torso to rest on his chest, the small gesture validating his advance. Noah pulled her in for a kiss that sent fire through her body. Yes, this is what she wanted.
A knock at the door broke the moment. “Chow’s on! Let’s go!” Cole called.
Noah retreated, breathless and undone. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead in a tender gesture. She wondered if he could feel her heart galloping in her chest.
“We’d better go. He won’t give up,” Noah said, turning and leading her toward the door.
***
Cole greeted them on the other side, with a shit-eating grin from ear to ear. “What’s up, buttercup? You kids getting along okay?”
“Well enough,” Noah said, leading a wordless Ela behind him as they followed Cole down the narrow hallway. “Where’s the mess hall?”
“Oh, we don’t call it anything as mundane as that. Janson calls it the Moon Dance Dining Hall. Wait till you get a load of this.”
They wound single file through the windowless and stark white hallways of the central gravity cuff encircling the equator of the complex, more utilitarian than luxurious with barely room for two people to pass one another.
Cole stopped in front of what appeared to be an elevator. “Prepare to be impressed.”
The lift door opened into a pressurized glass shell attached to the outside of the hotel. “Is that safe?” Noah asked, hesitating.
“So far so good,” Cole said, then laughed. “Now’s not time for a crisis of confidence. In for a penny, in for a pound, right? Seriously, it’s all checked out. That’s what this little foray is all about. Testing. Testing. Testing. Hop in.”
Noah entered the glass cabin. Ela turned and pressed her hands against the glass wall, peering down into the black nothingness below them and at the Earth in front of them. The hotel was only tethered to the moon, not built directly onto its surface so the moon-side view was only offered every few hours with the station’s rotation, another ingenious Janson touch. While there was nothing in the Outer Space Treaty limiting actual construction on the moon for peaceful purposes, amendments were pending on restrictions for commercial use and zoning. More importantly for Janson than the legalities of what he was doing was that a permanent structure would offer a permanent view. No one had considered a tethered space station with its own cosmic billboard as a viable option until Janson pieced it together, trip after trip, and built the thing.
The door closed with a whoosh and the cabin began its descent to the center of the complex. Upon arrival, they opened into a larger lobby area leading to two enormous brushed steel doors, where pinpricks of light shone through tiny holes in the steel like constellations, forming Orion on one side and Leo on the other. As they approached, the doors opened to reveal a circular dining hall. More than a dozen dining tables and four times that number of chairs filled the center. A glowing bar curved around one long section of the far wall where most of the skeleton crew of engineers, aka hotel staff, currently resided, drinking and laughing. Tessa waved from her stool near the center where she held court.
The hall was impressive, considering it was pieced together one trip at a time and was currently moon adjacent. It could have been any ballroom in any high class hotel on Earth.
“What do you think?” Cole asked.
“Not bad,” Noah answered. “You’ve been busy.”
Cole’s mouth curled up from one corner into a smile. “Come out and see this.”
Noah and Ela followed Cole to a round, porthole-shaped opening. Cole waved his badge against the lock reader and the door opened into a small enclosure. A sign on the inside read: Entering Zero Gravity. Proceed with Caution.
The door behind them closed. “Hold onto your asses. Things are about to get fun.”
Cole mashed a red, palm-sized button and the next door opened.
Noah felt his body begin to rise, his feet briefly hovering above the floor then higher as the gravity began to reduce. He reached for Ela’s hand, and she grasped his. He kicked off of the doorway and into a long curved-glass viewing area. Cole followed.
“This sucker goes all the way around. Basically it’s an anti-gravity track. The cuff spins around the dining room so dinner doesn’t go awry, but guests are free to come and go along the space track at will for an after-dinner float. Ain’t that a peach?”
Ela’s eyes were wide with wonder as she floated beside him. She’d been weightless on the trip up, but had hardly been able to enjoy it, what with his yelling and all. He wanted to make this opportunity more enjoyable for her and promised himself not to ruin it.
“Go on, then. Make your way around. Dinner will be up in about fifteen minutes. You’ll find me at the bar when you’re done.” Cole tipped an imaginary cowboy hat. “Ela.” He depressed a similar red button on the door and returned to the dining hall, leaving them alone along the track.
Ela reached out and grasped his shirt then pulled him to her, pressing her body along his. A shy smile curled at the corners of her mouth.
“You will kiss me again, yes?” she asked.
Noah’s heart beat picked up. They floated, horizontally now, their bodies pressed together like lovers with the dining hall doorway to their left and the universe to their right. Hell, yeah, he would kiss her. His hands slid up her back and held her head, her long, silken hair shot out in every direction like a firework explosion. He stifled a laugh and took her mouth with his. Her hands clutched his back, grappling for purchase. Free floating wasn’t giving him the contact he craved. He wanted to feel her weight against him and cover her with his own. In reality, making out in antigravity was awkward and futile. Their bodies seemed to repel one another. His passion and frustration grew in equal measure.
The whoosh of the door startled him into separating from Ela. Tessa pushed around the open door. “You two staying out here all night?”
Ela’s cheeks pinked and Noah wondered if they both looked as guilty as they were.
“Nah, we’re ready. Just enjoying the sights.”
“Uh huh,” Tessa said.
***
Ela stood near a long, metallic table as each person filled their
own plates with all manner of foreign foods laid out buffet style. The only thing she recognized was meat—perhaps deer or bison—and beans. She paused for a long moment at the end of the line because nothing looked familiar.
“You’re going to want that slice of chocolate cheesecake. Trust me,” Noah said.
She chose the plate with the dark substance nearest to her and carried it back to their table. It smelled wonderful. Sweet and rich, like honey, but something else. Chicory? No…she couldn’t name it.
She sat to Noah’s right at a large cloth-covered table, Cole and Tessa in the other two seats. The rest of their people sat at the remaining tables but close enough she could overhear their conversations. They were curious about her, that much was clear.
Noah had called her his intern. She had no idea what that meant, but they had nodded and left them alone. She picked up the meat with her fingers and tore off a bite with her teeth. The juices ran down her chin. It was delicious, and she began to devour it. After all these long weeks and months, finally a food she understood. The beans were equally as wonderful, and she used a piece of bread to scoop them off the edge of the plate and into her mouth. She was so delighted with the sustenance, she didn’t notice until she finally looked up from her now empty plate, that her tablemates were staring at her.
“I guess you like steak and baked beans,” Tessa said and laughed.
“Yes,” Ela replied.
“Well, darlin’, wait till you get a load of that cake. I gotta see this,” Cole said.
“Yeah, I think maybe we’ll take that back to the room with us,” Noah said, looking back toward the nearby tables full of spectators. “This might not have been the best idea.”
“Oh, don’t worry about them, Noah,” Tessa said. “Ela, do you want some more dinner?”
