Nebula Nights: Love Among The Stars

by Melisse Aires

  "I will?"

  He grinned, his face creasing with amusement. "You know, I believe I'll surprise you more often. Makes you malleable." He bent and grasped her chin firmly in his fingers and held her there for a kiss, his mouth warm and fresh.

  Lifting his head, he released her. "I'll see you later then."

  Kiri watched him saunter away and then slid out of bed. She did a dizzy little dance on the carpet, grinning so hard her face hurt. He wanted her with him all the time. She was going to travel with him. Except … that meant spending days on a space ship. In deep space.

  She tripped on the trailing comforter and landed on the bed with a thump. She ran her fingers through her hair and clutched her head with both hands. Deep space—no light outside her window except the stars, no Earth II under her feet. Depending utterly on a fragile ship and its crew to stay on course for a destination days away, past meteorites, space pirates and other dangers she didn't even want to think about.

  She was so quarked.

  * * *

  Kiri couldn't swallow a bite of breakfast. Not until she was ensconced at work did her nerves settle. Clad in new smocks and with better coffee for sale, she and Maury took turns carrying samples out on the concourse to the other businesses nearby and to travelers. Kiri's Kaffe turned the biggest profit in its short history.

  That afternoon, Illyria finally returned Kiri's link. She was clearly on edge.

  "So, Marc Moon …" Kiri urged, glad to be distracted from her own worries.

  Illyria gave a ladylike snort. "That man is impossible. I don't care if he does kiss like a god, I never want to see him again."

  Kiri grinned. "He kissed you?"

  "Yes," the blonde blurted. "Against the wall, with his hands all over my—well, you know."

  "And then?"

  "And then nothing. He informed me that he'd be glad to make me the happiest woman in New Seattle if I would ditch my escort."

  "Ow. That's a bit crass." Kiri decided not to mention the man had had a date himself.

  Illyria nodded, but then her gaze skated sideways. "Then he sent me this."

  She held up an electronic tablet. "It's a contract to supply his New Seattle shops with coffee—if I have a late supper at his penthouse."

  A chime sounded and she looked away. "Oops, must go. That's my dad. Talk to you soon."

  "I want details," Kiri called.

  As the link winked out, she revised her opinion. She wasn't sure Illyria was going to be able to hold out against the coffee magnate. This might be good if Marc Moon applied that steely determination to pleasing his partner.

  Kiri grinned to herself. She was happy. She wanted everyone else to be happy too.

  Chapter 27

  She and Stark had dinner together by the windows. It was a rare evening, the lights of the city below visible through big breaks in the clouds. She told Stark about her day and asked him about his.

  Then he took her to bed, where he introduced her to the unique pleasure of being blindfolded and toyed with, first with the electroplasm balls and then with his hands and mouth. After she'd come twice, he untied the silk scarf and showed her how to please him with the balls. Then he had her ride him and touch herself until she came again. Finally he flipped her onto her back and took her hard and fast until he shuddered in her arms. That might have been her favorite part. Hard to choose from so many options.

  Afterward, he held her, lying on his back with her draped across his side, her head on his shoulder. She lay there, drifting in a haze of contentment.

  "May I ask you something?" he asked quietly, his fingers moving slowly on her back.

  "Sure." She tipped her face up toward his, admiring the line of his jaw in the soft lamplight.

  "Why are you funneling credit to a private investigator?"

  Kiri froze. Then she lifted her head and pushed away. He let her go, merely crooking one arm behind his head to watch her.

  "How do you know that?"

  "I make it my business to know what's going on around me, kitten. If you want to use my credit for something, I will know why."

  She leaned on her elbows, focusing on the swirl of dark hair in his armpit. Even that was sexy. Of course the pose also made his biceps bulge and revealed the tender skin on his inner arm.

  Kiri shot him a wary look. She opened her mouth and closed it again, biting her lips to steady them. "I'll tell you. I—I wasn't trying to keep it a secret, honestly. Just hard to talk about."

  "What or who are you looking for?"

  "Who." Her voice cracked. "For Kai."

  "Who is he?" Stark's voice was cool and smooth as the glass in his big windows.

  Kiri looked at him, but he blurred in a wash of liquid. She blinked hard, scowling as her tears ran down her cheeks.

  "My little brother. At—at least he's not little now, but …"

  Stark's face changed, softened. He moved then, sliding his arm around her waist and pulling her against him once more. "Come here. You said your parents are gone."

  "Yes. Murdered."

  "Ah, kitten. Tell me." He used his thumbs to swipe the tears from her cheeks.

  She nestled into the heat of his body, leaning her chin on her hand, on his chest. He was so warm and she was suddenly cold, a chill that emanated from deep inside.

  "I was thirteen. Kai was eight. We lived in an apartment over my parents' shop. The neighborhood had been going downhill, and my parents were talking about getting out but they didn't have enough credit yet.

  "For my birthday the week before, they'd fixed a private sleep cubby for me in a storage area under the stairs. My airbed and my things—games, a holovid reader. It was night. I woke because I heard my father calling to Kai to hurry, to come and hide with me. But then—"

  Stark's hand cupped over the back of her head, his other arm around her. His heart beat beneath her palm, strong and steady.

  "—then other voices, rough and ugly. Strangers. My—my mother screamed. I didn't—I didn't know what to do. Whether I should climb out and look for Kai, or stay hidden."

  She closed her eyes tightly. "Then something—someone hit the outside of my cubby and slid down. Blood leaked under my door. The pool grew and grew. I thought … it would swallow my bed."

  Stark cupped the side of her face, wiping her tears away again. "Finish it, Kiri. Then you can rest."

  "I don't know much more. I passed out, or something. The next thing I remember was the police station."

  She took a deep breath. "They told me later my mother died on the stairs, my father outside my cubby. They—they said if he hadn't, the slavers would have found me too. His blood sprayed—"

  "Enough." Stark turned, and pulled her into the hollow of his body, her legs between his, her face in his throat, his arms tight around her. "Enough, kitten."

  "But Logan, listen. I have to keep looking for Kai. You see that, don't you? He's out there somewhere, I know he is. They took him, but he's alive somewhere and I have to find him, have to bring him home. He needs to be home, with me."

  He spoke against her hair, his hand stroking warm up and down her back. "Yes, I see that. And we'll find him. At least… we'll search. You do realize, kitten, that he may be…dead."

  "I know," she whispered. "But I … I think I would feel it if he was really gone. Will you—will you help me?"

  "I'll help you." He stroked her back again. "There's something else," he said. "What is it?"

  Kiri nerved herself to confess the last piece of her torment. "I was a coward. I hid when I should have gone out. I could have hidden him with me. They wouldn't have found him, and he'd be safe. With me."

  "No." Stark's voice was hard, implacable. "Kitten, they would only have taken you as well. You were a child. You're not very big now; then, I'll wager you were a skinny slip of a girl."

  He thrust his fingers under her chin and forced her head up, looking into her eyes. "No more guilt, kitten. None of what happened was your fault. It's very common for survivors of an horrific ev
ent to experience, but you deserve none of it. It stops here, tonight."

  He waited, holding her gaze as she looked at him searchingly. He meant it. He didn't think she was to blame for Kai's kidnapping.

  Slowly, Kiri nodded. She drew a sobbing breath of relief and relaxed against him.

  Something unlocked around her heart, some hard band that kept it tightly locked away in cerametal, safe from breaking. Stark might lead her on strange new flight ways, might inveigle her into acts she'd never dreamed of, but he was beside her all the way, his arms around her, his deep voice in her ear, his will adamant. She could trust him.

  At long last, she was not alone.

  * * *

  The next morning Stark woke Kiri with a kiss. She stirred and opened her eyes slowly to smile at him. With her looking at him like that from his pillow, he considered getting back in the bed with her. However, he was already dressed for his office, a full slate of meetings set.

  "All right?" he asked her.

  She nodded, looking shy. "I—I haven't told anyone about my family—about what happened since I was sent to the orphanage. Thank you for listening."

  A strange, sweet pain swelled in his chest. He brushed his fingertips along her cheek. "Thank you, kitten. You honored me by sharing it. I'll see you this evening. We'll have dinner at Jasmine."

  She grinned crookedly. "Starry. This time I can dress appropriately."

  He chuckled. "Yes you can."

  When he walked into his New Seattle office, a slim, erect Indigon woman bowed politely from the desk outside his private office. "Sir."

  He smiled at her. He had a full day of meetings, but first he wanted Kiri's affairs settled.

  "Azura. Any information yet on the investigator, Finder?"

  The Indigon nodded gravely. "Afraid so, sir. The man was once reputable, but no longer. He gambles."

  Stark bit back a curse. More gambling. Kiri te Nawa attracted trouble like a black hole attracted space matter. Lucky for him he had learned long ago how to tip the odds in his favor. "How bad?"

  "It is apparently an addiction, sir. He had no credit left and was in debt to the Lucky Moon Casino in New Seattle until he received the credit from your account. However, instead of paying his debt, he bought a ticket on a galactic transport."

  "And he's now on his way to ... where?" Stark asked.

  "He is enroute to Frontiera, sir."

  Not Serpentia, as he'd promised his client. Frontiera, the wild planet with plenty of room for a man or woman to disappear.

  "Would you like the authorities alerted to his arrival, sir?" she asked crisply.

  Stark nodded. "Yes. I want to know if he's actually gotten any information for Ms. te Nawa or if the entire search has been a fraud."

  Finder might have information to pass on, at least a starting point. Because Stark meant to involve the IBI, Intergalactic Bureau of Investigation, as well as a private investigator of his own who would work with them. If Kai te Nawa was alive and on one of the planets that registered citizens, they would find him.

  If he was dead, or elsewhere, Stark would help Kai's sister deal with that.

  That evening, he took Kiri to dinner at Jasmine again. She was indeed appropriately dressed in a long wrap sweater and wide-legged slacks the color of a ripe orange. She wore his collar, as Stark had informed her he wanted it visible on her throat when they were out together, and a wide cuff bracelet of beaten gold that he gave her before they left their rooms.

  Every time she moved her hand, to pick up her glass or take a bite, he watched her eyes slide to the cuff and pause.

  "I take it you like the bracelet," he said, amused.

  She smiled. "I may never take it off."

  "Good. I'll enjoy fucking you wearing only my gifts of jewelry."

  And he did.

  * * *

  The next day Kiri worked out with Rak, and then Natan gave her a cooking lesson. This started when she asked him how he got the scrambled eggs so fluffy. Upon learning she'd never scrambled an egg, his pale green hair nearly stood on end, and he whisked her into his galley.

  Since Stark was gone for the day and Maury had insisted on opening Kiri's Kaffe herself that morning, Kiri followed Natan. All she'd had room or equipment for in her tiny apartment was to heat packaged foods and cut up the occasional aqua-farmed fresh fruit or veg. Natan had every kind of cooking equipment she'd ever seen and many she hadn't.

  By the end of their session, she'd learned to make several simple recipes including Stark's favorite cookies with bits of real dark chocolate. In return, she taught Natan a few things about choosing and grinding coffee beans for the most flavorful brew.

  They then had a spirited discussion on creating the perfect latte. Natan was adamant that one must have real cream and Kiri was just as adamant that flavored soy creamer was the best. Their discussion was saved from degenerating into an actual argument only by Natan's impeccable manners. Plus, she was so fascinated by the way his hair waved around his throat when he was agitated that she kept losing her train of thought.

  Then Rak stuck his head in the galley, brows raised. "Those cookies I smell?"

  Kiri waved her hand at the array of plump, crisp cookies on the trays. "Try one. My first batch."

  He picked one up, took a bit and nodded. "Almost as good as yours, Natan."

  Natan smiled smugly.

  "I doubt they'll ever match Natan's," Kiri admitted. "But my coffee's better."

  The chef nodded graciously. "It is indeed."

  She grinned. Hard to stay mad at a Pangaean. They were too darn diplomatic.

  "All right," Rak swallowed his bite of cookie and grabbed another. "Time for your self-defense lesson."

  Kiri hurried to change and meet the pilot back in the small gym.

  Soon Kiri was not only perspiring, she was rubbing a new bruise on her thigh.

  "All right, let's try that one again," Rak said.

  "I'll need to go to the space port after lunch," she said. She still had a business to run.

  "You should stay put. Things are bad on the streets." He frowned at her.

  She frowned back. "Stark doesn't stay home just because things are bad."

  "Y'know, he's just looking after your personal safety." He moved into a new attack pose, and Kiri watched him carefully.

  "I know," she said. "So sweet of him."

  Rak gave her a look that said he didn't trust her compliance, but he merely showed her how to repel an attack from the rear. After the third time, Kiri succeeded in slipping free. She whooped in triumph.

  "If I'd had a blade or a shocker, you'd be down and out," he told her sourly.

  She took a deep breath and faced him, ignoring the weariness tugging at her. "So show me how to avoid that next."

  "The most important thing is to always be aware. Who's around. Some of the races are too big to fight, and some are too fast. A Serp can have you tied in a knot before you blink. Better have a laser ready for one o' them. Now, that ganger that shoved you into the sex room? She was human and smaller than you, but she got the drop on you because you weren't expecting trouble."

  "Next time I will be," Kiri gritted. That bitch was going down if Kiri even saw her again.

  "Uh-huh. Which brings me to the number one rule for personal safety. Stay out of areas where trouble lurks. And in this damn city, it's everywhere. Slavers, druggers looking for their next fix, and all the rest of the port garbage."

  Kiri nodded respectfully. That was the truth. The concourse where she worked was safe during the busy hours, but the gambler had been murdered in the service passage behind his business. But she had the shocker now.

  She showered and Rak flew her to the space port. Kiri looked around as the hoverway carried her through the space port. Her heart gave a thump of excitement as she spotted an empty kiosk on a busy corner with a neat holovid sign that read 'For Lease'. She'd talk to Stark about that this evening.

  She spent the afternoon working beside Maury and then turned the s
tand over to her niece for the evening. Rak picked her up and they flew to Stark's penthouse.

  He was in his office, the door closed, so she smiled at Natan who was bringing a tray with a carafe and single cup and a glass of blush wine from the galley. Stark, she had learned, could and did drink coffee at any hour of the day or evening. Natan smiled back, handed her the glass of wine and carried his tray into Stark's office.

  In her room, she found a set of beautiful luggage waiting, cream with silver fittings. There were two big cases and one smaller one, which she opened to find cosmetic and jewelry cases. She fingered them. Holy quark, she was really going to travel with Logan. Her hand shook and she took another hasty drink of wine before she spilled it. Her, in deep space? She wondered if ships doctors administered sedatives to travelers who were scared out of their wits?

  She showered, changed into a poppy-red sweater and leggings, draining her wine as she applied light cosmetics, then hurried through the penthouse to Stark's office. Natan had left the door cracked and she could hear Stark's voice inside.

  She peered through the crack in the door. He sat in his big office chair, his back to the door and two holovids open before him. She wouldn't bother him if he was involved in business. Maybe she'd just go get another glass of wine to calm her nerves. But Stark's tone held her there.

  "I don't care if they think I'm playing favorites," he was saying, a bite in his voice. "Masterson understands family comes first, the rest of them will just have to fall in line. I'll be on Frontiera in two weeks. We'll discuss the deal in more detail when we tour the site."

  On the left, a lean, hawk-faced man with burnished blond hair sat somewhere with a bowl of blue behind him and bright light on his face. A clear sky and sunlight on snowcapped mountains. Frontiera, and these would be his brothers. That must be Creed, the precious metals miner.

  In the other holovid, a man lounged against a backdrop of woven fabric. His long hair was a darkest auburn Kiri had ever seen. Joran's eyes were Stark's, his face similar enough to tell they were brothers, but subtly different. His skin was deeply tanned.