Her breath caught. "Should we look up at infinity?"
Yesterday he stopped them because he needed more time, time to show her what he had become. Could she ever look at him as her equal, a scientist in his own right? What did he do now?
"I think it's time to see Jupiter." She walked past him and returned to the telescope.
Again, he watched her set up the equipment, but couldn't help wondering if maybe at last he truly was looking at infinity, or if they were destined to collide, then drift away.
* * *
Before turning the telescope to the largest planet in the solar system, Wynn went to her comfort zone, and took in the red planet. Up on the ceiling in Garner's home, he glued one red jewel right above her bed to represent Mars. Why did he put it there?
More importantly, when would she learn?
Maybe an asteroid brought them together, odds even harder to hit than winning ten lotteries in a row. But maybe it didn't mean what she thought, maybe being with Garner was only a brief stop, an intersection, a flash that would allow her to move on and not forever wonder what could have been.
At least she would never mourn the unknown. The man didn't want her, maybe he never had, and that knowledge alone was worth everything.
She stared at the rust red globe. One day people would live on that planet. The sky would look different there, not her home, not her path.
Neither was Garner.
A lesson she should have learned when he never spoke to her again after sleeping with her one time. Since their reunion he seemed to be testing her, and if he needed that many starts to figure out if he wanted her or not, the answer was clear.
Back then her dream of having him in his eyes had only been a fling It was time she accepted the truth. As a scientist, she was taught to see the facts and put them together. If she compiled her data on Garner, she could write a second dissertation, and have irrefutable evidence to prove her case. She simply needed to open her eyes.
His soft footsteps drew closer and she shuddered when he came up right behind her.
"You know, you managed to do what every astronomer dreams of." His low voice rumbled through her.
"What's that?" The entire ride to the observatory she worried about the launch being a month and a half away, but she needed to view it as an opportunity. Again, she promised herself to take control of her life, start paving the way for what happened after her gig with Personal Space took off into the universe. She had to face it. To Garner, she was a high-priced decoration, a title she never wanted.
"You discovered something. Something no one ever knew existed, and you found it." He inched closer.
"There are many things not discovered, more than what is discovered." She stepped away from the telescope. If he needed any more fodder for his book, he could get it himself. "Even things we thought we knew can be completely different. Can you imagine everything that we don't know?"
"It does boggle the mind if you think about it too much." Rather than look in the telescope, he went to her side. "Sort of like finding the one in a billion asteroid."
"All you have to do is go exploring," she said.
“Is that the answer?” He took her by her shoulders and turned her toward him. “You know what my research uncovered first?”
Even with him gazing into her eyes like she was the only one he could see, she somehow managed to shake her head.
He lowered his face to hers, stopping shy of their lips touching. “I just figured out that you never kiss me first.”
Since the day she met the man, when he stood up for her cause before he ever even knew her, she wanted him. Not that much later she fell in love with him. There was never a more gorgeous man. He really should have been a movie star. “Because I’m never sure.”
“About what?” He curled his arm around her waist.
She willed herself to keep her voice even. “If you want me.”
His focus firmly on her, he slid his hand down to her backside and brought their bodies together. Even through his jeans, she could clearly make out the growing bulge pressing against her. “I think I have definitive proof I want you,” he said.
Unable to resist him, she leaned up and connected their mouths.
The moment their lips touched, he wrapped his arms around her, held her tight and bent her back, deepening their kiss.
Since their reunion, they had been in this position twice before, but in this kiss, in the way he wrapped his arms around her, even in the moan that escaped his throat, everything felt different.
Like the previous night, they ended up pushed back against a wall, their hands traveling over the other.
As he kissed down her neck, he unbuttoned her shirt. Every bit of skin he revealed, he kissed, nipped, and tasted. He tossed her shirt aside, kissed the top of her breasts and dipped his tongue into her cleavage before reclaiming her lips once more.
The sensations the man generated in her were almost too much for her to fully wrap her mind around. If he stopped them again, she didn’t know what she would do, and she pulled back.
Panting, she licked her lips.
“Wynn.” He swallowed.
“Do you still want me?”
“Remember the day you returned to me?” He pulled off his shirt and dropped it to the floor.
She had no choice but to caress his bare chest. In her mind, she still pictured the Garner of five years ago, but since then he had come into his own. “Vividly.”
After kicking off his shoes and pulling the fly of his jeans open, he reached around her and unfastened her bra. “Then you’ll remember that I said I think about you all the time.”
The second she let the garment fall, he cupped her breasts in his hands and grazed his thumbs over her hard, sensitized nipples.
At his attention, she gasped. “I remember. You said it wasn’t all good.” Those words would forever be embedded in her mind.
“You know what wasn’t good?” He continued to undress them, first unbuttoning and pulling down her pants and panties. Then, after retrieving his wallet from his pocket, he did the same with his clothing. His erection sprang free, but before she could touch him, he caught her wrist. “You didn’t answer the question.”
Her mouth watered at the sight of him, but even more at how he took control. Yes, time gave him confidence. They weren’t two insecure grad students anymore. With his free hand, he opened his wallet and took out a condom.
Oh, this time they weren’t stopping. They were going to make love, and she wasn’t going to stop him. Maybe they were here to make things come full circle. They could have a different ending.
She slid off her shoes, stepped out of her pants and spread her legs. “Tell me, Garner, what wasn’t good?”
“All the times I went to bed hard and horny and thinking about you.” Again, he wrapped his arms around her, lifting her slightly and settling them on the floor of the observatory, cushioning her head with his shirt.
The image he painted for her only served to stoke her arousal. “Did you picture something like this?” At last she took him into her hand, giving him some slow, savory strokes. When they were together all those years ago, they barely spoke, didn’t tease and play. Instead, they acted fast, maybe too fast. Perhaps they needed the time apart after all.
“Like that.” He closed his eyes and kissed her. “Did you think about me? You never answered the question.”
“What do you think?” In the course of the last few moments, they were back to Garner and Wynn, the two astronomers who could conquer the world and the universe. They were here and they were together, and all she wanted was for him to make love to her, make it real. The weight of his erection in her hand, the way he moved with her, made her doubts begin to fade.
In answer to his question, he skimmed his hand down between her thighs. As his fingers worked their magic inside her, she held her breath. It had been way too long since she had been with anyone, and even those brief enc
ounters she couldn’t help comparing to the one night with the man next to her.
“This is how I always picture you.” He added a second finger. “Wet and wanting me.”
Though amazing, his actions only served to tease her, make her want worse. “Is that all you envisioned?”
He pulled away, making her squirm, and he opened the condom. “What did you picture?”
She took the sheath from him, rolled it over his erection and then she lay back. Her body craved feeling his weight upon her. “You.”
“Yes.” Finally he was there, on top of her, and he gave her a deep kiss as he took his time slowly entering her.
Without resistance, her body accepted him. He filled her, and she sucked in her breath. At last, with him inside her, she had what she lacked all these years.
“Wynn,” he murmured against her lips and didn’t move.
Did he feel it as well? Were they meant to be together, joined in every way possible? At the moment, nothing mattered. Their past, good or bad, was their past. All roads led them here. At having her fantasy realized at last, she vowed to make the most of their time. “Make love to me.”
“I thought about this.” He stared into her eyes and thrust into her.
At his harsh but welcomed invasion, she arched her back. “Do everything you thought of.” She wrapped her legs around him. “I want it all.”
At her words, he let loose, propelling his body into hers.
She held him tight and closed her eyes, focusing on how their bodies fit together, how he used his body and actions to edge her closer toward her orgasm, alternating between deep fluid strokes that hit her in all the right places. He ground his hips to hers. Closer, and closer.
“Garner.” As if they had been together for years, they instinctively found their rhythm. Their bodies worked to give the other the maximum pleasure.
“You feel so good.” He cupped her bottom, sliding her leg further up his back, embedding him even deeper. “I can’t hold back.” His words came out breathless, his body shaking with his impeding release. “I’ve wanted this too long.”
Somewhere in the haze of her arousal, a flicker of their first time, her first time with anyone, came into focus. She remembered thinking exactly the same thing. Back then, she hadn’t known what she was doing, but this time, knowing Garner wanted her and desired her, and was on the apex of an orgasm because of her, pushed her ever closer to her climax. “Garner.” The delicious pressure built, radiating out from her core and taking over her body. She dug her nails into his shoulders and her whole body tensed. “I’m there.”
“Come.” His voice came out low and demanding. “Come with me.” He drove into her. “Now!”
Her body and her mind obeyed and suddenly those amazing pulses consumed her, the ones that signaled she had reached the apex of pleasure. Ecstasy took over, overwhelming her. “Garner!”
“Ah!” With one last plunge into her, his body throbbed in time with hers as he obtained his ultimate satisfaction.
They held each other. Again, his lips brushed over hers, and he lowered his face into the crook of her neck. “I always pictured this.” Slowly, he moved off to one side and gathered her up into his arms. “You still never answered my question.”
“I thought about you, maybe more than I should.” She rested her head on his chest and traced an abstract pattern on his skin with her fingertip. Somehow they always ended up on the floor of an observatory.
He pulled her closer.
“I wanted this, maybe more than anything.” At her admission, her stomach twisted.
“That’s what I wanted to hear.” He hooked his fingers under her chin and tilted her face up to his. “Kiss me.”
Without hesitation, she did as he asked. Satiated and relaxed, she played with his lips, taking time to suck his lower lip then his upper, before melding their mouths together.
A low chuckle escaped his throat. “If you keep this up, we won’t be able to make it back on the plane before I need you again.”
“What now?” She searched his eyes for answers.
“At sun up, we’ll fly back home and get on with things.” He moved her hair away from her face.
Part of her wished they never had to leave. “We’ll do great.”
“I hope so. This book has been giving me issues, and the pressure is on with Personal Space.” He rubbed his hand up and down her shoulder.
“This is all easy stuff, we’ll make it through.” A chill taking over her, she cuddled up against him. Once the launch took place, where would that leave them?
“What do you mean?” With a groan, he sat up and rounded up their clothes.
“The book will write itself once you get started. For Personal Space, we are hired pretty faces to make things all nice.” She shrugged and forced herself to stand. Private sector work meant being a talking head to ensure the investors were happy. She hated giving up the science for a designer outfit. Though she had to admit, she loved the scarves. Amid the mess on the floor, she found her shirt and put it on without her bra. Sex, especially not in a bedroom, was always messy afterward.
Garner stood as well. “Perhaps rather than doing any work, you and I can make cardboard cutouts of ourselves, and then we can go off and play.”
Her chest constricted and a strange shudder ran through her as a weird déjà vu feeling took over her body. She turned her back to him and wrapped her arms around her shoulders.
“What’s wrong?” He walked over to her and pressed his hand on her back.
“Garner.” After the sensation subsided, she found her panties and pants, then she turned to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. They couldn’t start fighting, not when they made it this far. “I spent five years following your career. If anyone can pull this off, it’s you.”
“Do you think Personal Space is a joke?” He went to push her back.
Rather than answer, she held him tight.
“Just admit it.” On the second attempt, he succeeded in pushing her away and began yanking his clothes on.
No matter if they made love or not, the man was going to confront her. “I never said that. Your job is just not the same as others in the field.”
“So it’s not science?” His voice came out terse, accusatory. “Just tell me, Wynn. Say what you feel.”
“Why does it matter?” Something about this whole conversation smacked too familiar. Suddenly she was back in an observatory as a graduate student, and she could almost pinpoint the moment she lost Garner. She wouldn’t allow it to happen a second time.
“What?” As if he skipped a beat, he shook his head.
“What does it matter what I think?” In an attempt to hold back the tears, she pressed her lips together.
He stomped across the room to her. “It always mattered.”
She swallowed. “I think it matters to you, and if it does, then you need to do something about it.” Not wanting to stand there and stare at him, she returned to the telescope. Jupiter was no longer in her view, so she looked out at the nothingness of space.
Again, he came up beside her, but he took her hand. “That’s what I needed to hear.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at him. “What happens now?”
“At sun up, we’ll fly back home and get on with things.” He moved her over and looked into the telescope.
“What are you looking for?” She laced her fingers in his.
With a sigh, he shook his head. “Infinity.”
“Let me know when you find it.” Instead of looking into the telescope, she stared up at the sky through the open roof. The stars were there, and her home was there.
Chapter Eleven
The doors of the private elevator leading to the penthouse opened and Wynn turned to Garner to find him staring at her.
Her cheeks heated. Since they left the observatory early in the morning, they shared their little glances and peeks, but no touches or kisses. Pa
rt of her thought they would stop at a hotel, sleep, make love again and then return home, but instead they used a caravan of jeeps to head back to the plane.
What happened now? Her eternal question never had an answer.
His focus solely on her, he motioned forward and opened the door. The grand front room of the penthouse greeted them, his suite of rooms to the right, hers to the left.
She stopped in the threshold. Did they go to his room? To hers? Were they together?
“Here we are.” He grabbed her hand and the warm connection she missed ran through her.
Yes, they were here. She waited, willing to follow where he led.
Instead, he kissed the back of her hand and let go, leaving her cold and wondering what was happening. “We have a video conference in an hour with our investors. I’m going to clean up.” He gave her one last look then turned right.
For a moment she stared as he disappeared around the corner. He didn’t turn back to find she wasn’t following him, didn’t call her name, he simply left.
Why was she surprised?
Caught in a black hole of her own thoughts, she headed the opposite direction.
On automatic she made her way into her suite of rooms. Intentionally not thinking about anything, she went straight to the bathroom, stripped off her clothes, and got in the shower. Garner offered her the best of everything, including instant hot water. He simply held back on giving her the one thing she wanted most…him.
Somehow she was always doomed to think she had him, then was forced to watch him walk away.
Last night he said he wanted her, implied he had always wanted her, then he made love to her, and in that one act she thought they overcame some of their obstacles. Now all she knew for certain is she must be one lousy lay to have the same man ditch her twice.
He never wanted her, he only wanted her research and he wanted to make her crazy. Well, maybe his company couldn’t get a probe up in the air, but his mission with her was accomplished. Once that rocket lifted off the tarmac, she would be certifiable.
By the time she washed, dried and dressed herself, she had run the gamut of thoughts about her and Garner.
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