by Tasha Black
Stars swam before Cecily’s eyes and then the pleasure was lifting her up, up, up.
She was barely conscious of Solo’s rough cries as he swelled impossibly inside her.
They clung to each other helplessly in the throes of their shared climax.
When the last of her tremors had ceased, Solo rolled onto his back, pulling her onto his chest.
She lay there, listening to the slowing beat of his heart as he stroked her back.
“We are one now,” he said quietly.
She smiled.
“This makes you happy?” he asked, kissing the top of her head.
“Yeah,” she said. “Though a lot of decisions have to be made now.”
“Like what?” Solo asked.
“I like my rock and roll lifestyle,” Cecily said. “Do we have to settle down?”
“Why would we have to do that?” he asked.
“We didn’t use protection just now,” she said.
“Protection?”
“Birth control,” she said.
“Ah, but I am supposed to have a family,” Solo said. “Aerie instructed me to enjoy all aspects of human brotherhood. Do you not want children?”
Cecily thought about it.
“I guess I do,” she said. “But I don’t want to have to stop doing make-up and special effects to have them.”
“Why would you have to stop?” he asked. “Can I not care for our young during our travels?”
Cecily laughed. “You know, I think you’d be good at that.”
“Of course I would be good at it,” Solo said, sounding slightly affronted. “I’m a bio-engineer, and an efficiency expert. Our children will be healthy and extremely well-managed. And of course I will read them many adventure stories. Though they will not need them because they will grow up learning movie stories from their mother’s work.”
Cecily smiled.
“Is this to your liking?” Solo asked.
“Yes,” she said. “I can’t believe I’m saying it, but yes. Yes, it all sounds perfect.”
“It is perfect,” Solo agreed, sealing it with another kiss on the top of her head.
And though the visions of what their future held were spinning in her mind, Cecily found it easy to close her eyes and drift off as her mate stroked her hair.
23
Cecily
Cecily bid farewell to the last fan in line at her booth and then threw a “break time” sign over the table.
Solo had already headed over to where Bea and Kate were hosting a panel discussion about their upcoming film.
Glacier City Comic Con was bigger than the last three put together. And for their little group, the news of the upcoming movie made them headliners.
Cecily smiled at the size of the crowd as she approached.
Solo, Kirk and Buck were watching from the back of the room. Solo waved to her and she hurried over to join them.
On the platform, Bea, Kate and Dirk were sitting behind a table along with a moderator.
“How did you get involved in the project?” the moderator was asking Dirk.
“I really liked the graphic novel,” Dirk said. “Bea’s vision for this film is amazing. And of course working on the movie will allow me to spend more time with my daughter. I don’t know if any of you are familiar with the special effects work of Cecily Page, but she’s a phenomenal talent.”
Before Cecily’s amazed eyes, Dirk slid an iPad out of his bag and held up an image of one of her shifting masks for the audience to see.
Kate had told her that Dirk was constantly showing off her picture and telling everyone who would listen how talented his daughter was, but Cecily hadn’t taken it seriously.
Dirk’s eyes landed on hers in the audience and he pulled the screen down hurriedly, as if she had caught him with his hand in the cookie jar.
“Anyway,” he continued. “There’s a lot of fresh talent on this film and I’m glad they’ll let an old guy like me take part. I have a feeling I’m going to learn a lot from working with Beatrix Li.”
“Beatrix, do you have any parting words for your fans?” the moderator asked.
“Uh, no, but I think Kate does,” Bea said.
Kate grinned.
“Be yourself,” she began.
“And worlds will follow,” the crowd shouted back.
“Thanks for coming out everyone,” the moderator said with a smile.
The crowd dissipated and Cecily and the guys approached the platform.
“How did it go?” she asked Bea.
Bea shrugged coolly, but her eyes were sparkling. Classic Bea.
“It was awesome,” Kate said. “Sorry you missed most of it.”
“Oh, I saw enough,” Cecily said, giving Dirk a look.
He glanced down in a guilty way.
“Hey, Dad, want to go for a little stroll?” she asked.
“That would be great,” he said, grabbing his bag and leaping off the platform. “See you guys.”
They walked together to the hallway just outside the convention hall.
“Listen, Cecily,” Dirk said. “I’m sorry if I’m coming on too strong.”
“Hey,” she said, sliding her phone out of her pocket and tapping her fingers on the screen for a moment. “There. Check your email.”
She watched as he opened the iPad and clicked on her email.
“Password is aliensummer, all one word, lowercase,” she said.
His eyes widened slightly, but he typed it in.
“I know we missed a lot,” Cecily said. “I thought you might want pictures.”
She had made him a password-protected webpage with pictures from her childhood. Kate had snagged a box of family photos from the storage locker when they were searching it for clues. Cecily and Solo spent an afternoon at a print shop scanning in the best ones when they arrived in Glacier City.
Then Cecily had set up the page so each one could be captioned to let Dirk know everything she could remember about the day.
There were birthdays, zoo trips, graduations and missing teeth, and even shots of her building sets for the school play.
A few included pictures of her mom. She knew those might hurt Dirk to see, but she had a feeling he would like the memories anyway.
“Cecily,” he breathed.
“You can show those to people if you want, or you can keep them all to yourself,” she told him. “But you’re part of my life now. So when we add the next birthday picture, I hope you’re in it.”
Tears streamed down Dirk’s cheeks. He crushed Cecily into a bear hug.
“Damn it,” he sobbed happily. “I’m supposed to comfort you when you cry, kid.”
“Hopefully I won’t need it,” Cecily said. But she hugged him back as hard as she could. It was good having family again.
“Where’s that fella of yours?” Dirk asked. “I’ll bet he helped you with this. I need to shake his hand.”
“He did help me,” Cecily said, letting go.
Dirk took her by the hand and they headed back into the convention hall.
Solo was standing with the others, talking with another tall, broad shouldered man who was leaning on a cane as he spoke.
“Well, if you need a venue, I recommend the Glacier City Zoo,” he was saying in a deep voice. “I think the board owes my wife a favor.”
He turned and left, waving to a curvy lady in a gray pantsuit and pink scarf who stood in the far doorway to the corridor.
“Wait, was that…?” Cecily couldn’t finish the question - it was so unlikely.
“Westley Worthington,” Beatrix finished it in a shell-shocked way. “In the flesh. He liked my graphic novel. And he was so nice.”
“Holy crap,” Dirk said, looking after the well-dressed man with the cane.
“Was he suggesting the zoo as a location for us to shoot?” Cecily asked. It didn’t seem like a good location for any scene in the movie.
“No,” Bea said slowly, looking down at the ring on her finger.
<
br /> When Cecily looked up from Bea’s finger she saw Solo on his knees in front of her.
“Oh,” she managed, her heart pounding in her ears.
“Cecily,” Solo said, a slight tremble in his voice. “Will you marry me?”
“Yes,” Cecily said immediately. It was easy to say yes, when the man asking the question was already her soul mate.
He held out a slender coppery ring.
“This is made from the penny that was in my pocket the day I met you,” he told her as he slipped it onto her finger.
Suddenly a veil dropped over the room and Cecily saw a scene spread before her.
Kate was turning to see the opening bathroom door of the rental they’d shared back in Philadelphia.
She looked shorter than usual.
The door opened all the way to reveal… herself.
It dawned on her that she was seeing it all from Solo’s point of view.
She saw the beauty of her curves beneath the towel, the way the droplets of water clung to her hair, the kindness in her own eyes.
And she felt his happy agony of the mate bond, already locking the two of them inexorably together. The weight of it was both honey-sweet and frightening within Solo’s chest.
The veil slipped away as Solo slid the ring back off her finger.
“What she doesn’t get to keep it?” Kate chided Solo.
He strung it on a chain and offered it to Cecily.
She took it and slid it over her head, then went on her toes to kiss him, long and slow and sweet.
“I love you,” he whispered into her hair. “I will follow you everywhere.”
“You will never be bored,” she whispered back.
“Want to get married at the Glacier City Zoo?” he asked.
“Only if the others will do it too,” she said.
“I was hoping you would suggest that,” he said. She could hear the smile in his voice.
And though everyone around them began chattering excitedly and her back was being patted in congratulations, Cecily’s senses were filled with nothing but her beautiful alien mate.
24
Solo
Solo stood at the top of the meadow that spanned the space between the elephant enclosure and the wild dog habitat at the Glacier City Zoo.
There was a beautiful view of the sun setting over the water and the buildings of Glacier City glimmering in the distance.
But Solo chose to ignore that view, instead squinting to try and make out whether Cecily and her friends might be coming out of the visitor’s center.
He felt no trepidation. The marriage was but a ceremony. Their real bond had been made for him from the moment he had laid eyes on Cecily. In truth from moments even before that, when he had touched the kitchen utensils she had touched before him, and seen a fleeting vision of a woman with flowing ginger ringlets and gentle eyes.
He only felt anxious to have her by his side. This day of preparations and hiding from one another was not to his liking. Besides, the whole thing smacked of inefficiency. It was nonsense that they had arrived here in separate vehicles, not sharing their meals or their lodgings as usual.
To his right, Buck and Kirk waited for their brides as well.
And in the first row of folding chairs more brothers and their mates looked on.
Bond held a small and adorable baby in his arms. Beside him, Posey riffled through her bag, pulling out all kinds of small things that were presumably meant to help care for the tiny creature.
Rocky and his mate, Georgia, shared a kiss in the next set of seats.
Beside them, Rima was talking to Magnum and pointing at the far side of the zoo. Solo wondered if she was explaining the complicated system of levies that held this side of Glacier City afloat - or maybe recounting the tale of how Westley Worthington had sacrificed everything to save this city in the name of his beloved.
Solo longed to examine the blueprints for the system himself, but his new friend West had merely clapped him on the back and told him to get married first and then come for a visit to pour over as many blueprints as he liked.
Solo wondered if he might pursue work as a consultant in what Earth scientists called civil engineering. He was fascinated with the challenges of maintaining a city in the face of Earth’s vast fluctuations in wind, water and temperature. It reminded him of his own work on Aerie designing ships to withstand the journey of light-years. So long as he could do it from a laptop on the road with Cecily and their children, he felt the work would be a perfect match for his skills.
There was a slight commotion and he looked up to see Kate emerging from the visitor’s center.
Her blonde hair was straight down her back and the simple white gown she wore did not distract from her lovely brown eyes, which filled with tears the moment they gazed upon Kirk.
Beatrix came next. She wore a white lace gown with fingerless lace gloves to her elbows. Her hair was swept up on top of her head. A black velvet sash around her waist was an homage to her everyday favorite color.
Beside him, Buck sighed happily when he saw her.
But Solo was already watching the doorway for Cecily.
At last she emerged.
Her coppery curls were loose around her shoulders, matching the wink of the copper ring that hung from the delicate chain around her neck. The pale cream satin gown she wore was beautiful against her milky complexion.
She walked toward him with a quiet confidence, a solemn expression on her beautiful face.
Solo thought his chest might rupture with joy.
A soft trumpeting sound came from the second row of seats.
Solo looked down to see Dirk Malcolm blowing his nose while Aunt Stacy patted his back.
He glanced back at Cecily, who grinned and rolled her eyes slightly.
Laughter bubbled in his chest, and suddenly this was just another wonderful adventure with his mate.
The words of the ceremony went quickly. Solo managed to remember his part.
And when it was all over and he was permitted to kiss his bride, he made sure to go slow and sweet so that it would be a kiss she could remember forever.
Then suddenly music was playing and Beatrix had kicked off her shoes and begun to dance, her hair already coming out of its bun as Buck laughed and tried to keep up.
Kate and Kirk danced in each other’s arms. Though Solo was certain the tempo of the music was not proper for that kind of dance, he was glad that the two of them appeared to be more than content.
“Now what?” he asked his mate. “Do you want to dance?”
Cecily gazed out at the crowd of their friends looking happy but ponderous.
“I just want to remember it,” she said at last. “Things change in time, but for right now we’re all together, and everything seems to be perfect.”
Solo slipped the rose out of his top jacket button.
“You can replay it again as many times as we like,” he told her, holding out the bloom. “I’ve been holding onto this all day. It should be practically overflowing with memories by now.”
She smiled, like sunshine after a rain.
“Do you have time for a picture with your old man?” Dirk asked, jogging up to them.
“Sure we do,” Cecily said, looking up at Solo, her eyes dancing. “We have all the time in the world.”
***
Thanks for reading Solo!
Keep reading for a sample of the next Stargazer Alien Mail Order Brides book: Drago.
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http://www.tashablack.com/stargazer.html
Drago (Sample)
1
Arden
Arden Green was dreaming of peach trees.
In the dream, she was trespassing again.
Most days she managed to keep her head down in the lab. She documented every conceivable action of her charges from sun up to sundown with quick breaks for lunch and dinner.
But now and again the endless indoor routine got the best of h
er and instead of eating her lunch she slipped out the back, across the field and past the rhododendron hedge to the farm on the other side of the lab.
It was no surprise that was where her dream had taken her.
Arden peered around the hedge.
Just as when she visited in her waking hours, there was no sign of life on the other side. Not only in the orchard - there were no sounds of people or machinery coming from the rest of the farm either. Arden sometimes wondered how a farm could be run with so little activity.
But for today, she was grateful for the opportunity to convene with nature for a moment.
She stepped into the orchard. The air was rich with the scent of dewy grass and loamy soil.
The wildly gnarled branches of the trees overhead were at odds with their prim, perfectly spaced rows. Feathery green leaves trembled lightly in the breeze.
Prunis persica - the common peach tree. It was not native to North America. Like the men Arden cared for and studied, it had been transported from far, far away.
Arden lifted her hands and let the leaves tickle her palms as she walked between two of the rows.
Feel the sun on your face, taste the summer in the air.
These things are timeless pleasures.
Compared with them, Drago is a passing thought.
But when she closed her eyes to soak in the sunlight, it was his fingers caressing her hands, his smile warming her face.
Suddenly she was aware of the breeze against her skin.
In the dream, she opened her eyes.
And Drago was there.
He stood just down the row of trees from Arden, his hands outstretched to mirror hers. Sunlight glinted golden in his hair.
Arden gasped.
He wasn’t supposed to be out of the lab.
Drago’s blue eyes blazed into hers as he took a deliberate step forward, and then another.
Arden froze, waiting for him. Her heart pounded as if she had just run a marathon.