by Trina Novak
STARS APART
~~ Celestial Mates ~~
Trina Novak
© 2016 Trina Novak
All Rights Reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locations is purely coincidental. The characters are all productions of the author’s imagination.
Kindle Edition
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Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Epilogue
An Excerpt from Star Child
More from Celestial Mates
More from Trina Novak
Chapter One
“Think positive,” I muttered as I looked at my reflection in the steamed-up mirror in my bathroom. I wasn’t really the kind of girl who repeated affirmations to herself in the mirror, but my co-worker Stephanie said she did it every morning and every night and it had totally turned her life around.
So, what the hell. I decided to give it a shot.
“Think positive,” I said again, louder. “Be... uh... positive.”
Man, I really sucked at this. I had no idea what to say.
“It’s almost Friday. Just one more day of work. Then you can...”
Then I could what? Wear pajama pants for 48 hours straight? I stared into my own green eyes in the mirror, once again at a loss for words.
“Listen Cassandra,” I said to myself, straightening my back and pointing a stern finger at the mirror. “You’re a good person. And things are going to work out for you. Maybe not today, but soon. Something incredible is waiting for you. You have to believe that. Ok?”
I stared at my reflection in the mirror until I got distracted by a crazily long eyebrow hair. What was it about turning thirty that suddenly made my eyebrows want to grow a million miles long? With great effort, I suppressed the urge to check my roots for gray hairs and instead threw on a robe and padded out into my living room.
The sun was down and the room was dark, long shadows licking the walls like soot. I reached out to switch on the lamp next to my couch, and as I did, I heard a voice call out from behind me in the darkness.
“Were you talking to yourself in there, Cassandra?”
I jumped like a startled cat and the lamp toppled over, casting a wild swath of light across my ceiling as it fell. Then I turned to see Keptin, my assigned agent from the Celestial Mates matchmaking agency, sitting at my kitchen counter with a glass of wine in his hand. The sight of him always startled me, even under the best circumstances. He was four foot nothing and weighed probably no more than fifty pounds soaking wet, with skin that was whiter than white and hair to match. He looked like a tiny wisp of a cloud that had been twisted into the shape of a funny little man.
“Keptin!” I shouted. “You almost gave me a heart attack. How did you get in here? I know I locked the front door.”
Keptin took a gulp of wine and shrugged. “I’m interdimensional,” he said with a wink, his voice slightly slurred. “I don’t need to use doors. Or cars, or shuttles, or bicycles, or any other boring means of getting from point A to point B.”
“Right, right,” I replied, picking up the lamp off the floor and setting it back on the table. “Still, Keptin, it’s a bit rude to just pop in, literally, to someone’s private residence like this. You could’ve called first.” I eyed the open bottle of pinot noir next to Keptin. “And hey, wait, are you drinking my wine?”
“Guilty as charged,” he said, putting up his pale hands in surrender. Keptin was such a strange little fellow, and showing up unannounced and pilfering my wine definitely wasn’t the weirdest thing I’d ever seen him do. “You want a glass?”
“Are you offering me a glass of my own wine?” Part of me was annoyed with him, but it didn’t last long. Somehow he could be both completely exasperating and infectiously loveable at the same time. Maybe it was one of his powers as an interdimensional being.
“Yes, I’m offering you a glass of your own wine,” he said matter-of-factly. “Really, Cassandra, this whole ownership concept that your species is so obsessed with is quite tiring. Wine is wine. It’s meant to be drunk. Or drank. Whatever. English isn’t my first language, obviously. My point is, where I’m from we share everything. Now, have a drink with me. We need to talk. And sit down. Your immense tallness makes my head spin.”
I was only five foot six, but according to Keptin I was basically considered a giant on his planet. “So what’s up?” I asked, taking a seat and accepting the glass of wine he offered me from his small pale hand.
“What’s up, as you say, is that I’m going to lose my job,” Keptin said, training his icy-blue eyes on me. “Or, to be more specific, you’re going to make me lose my job. My supervisor at Celestial Mates put me on probation. If I don’t find you a match, I’m sunk.”
“So find me a match, then,” I replied.
Keptin tipped back his head and let out a howling laugh, his little body shaking with giggles. “Oh, find you a match! Yes, it’s that easy, is it Cassandra? Why didn’t I think of that before? I’ll just find you a match!” He let out one last squeaky giggle, then turned serious. “Have you forgotten that I’ve found four matches for you already, and you turned them all down? You’re very lucky, young lady, that you exist in this particular dimension. In some of the other dimensions that Celestial Mates operates in, the process works much differently. Clients aren’t always given such broad choices.”
“Come on, that’s not fair. Those were bad matches and you know it, Keptin.”
“Really? What about the suitor from Acklan-B?” he inquired.
“That dude was a macho alpha male jerk,” I said with a wave of my hand. “Thirty seconds into meeting me and he was already talking about claiming me and breeding and putting his seed in me. Like I was just a piece of warm meat. Yuck.”
“And the next gentleman? What was so wrong with him?”
“That wasn’t a gentleman, Keptin. That was basically a giant dragon with a man’s face. I mean, I know I told you that looks didn’t matter as much as personality, but come on. A dragon shifter is one thing, but that dude was basically just a straight-up dragon.” I shuddered remembering the man’s beady eyes, his pointy teeth, and his even pointier tail.
Keptin shook his head and sighed. “I suppose you’re right. And maybe the agency is right too. Maybe I’m just not suited for this line of work. I know I only got the position because I’m interdimensional. It helps with the job, being able to work in different timelines and different universes, different planes of existence. But being interdimensional doesn’t necessarily mean you know the first thing about the intricacies of love.” He took a sip of wine and turned to me, his eyes full of sadness. “I fear I’m not very good at my job,” he said.
“Well, you’re still new, right? I’m sure there’s a pretty sharp learning curve,” I told
him.
“Yes, this is true.” He fixed his eyes on me, so large, so blue. “And you, my dear, are a very tough customer. Your perfect match is not readily apparent, which is why I’ve thrown some wild cards at you, like the dragon man you so summarily dismissed.”
“I don’t think I’m a tough customer, Keptin. I’m just... particular.” Even as I said it, I knew it wasn’t quite true. Maybe I was a tough customer. Maybe I was expecting too much. But I was dealing with Celestial Mates, after all. Their matchmaking track record was impeccable. And they had the entire universe and even multiple dimensions to pull potential matches from.
“Yes, I see that, Cassandra. I also see that you’re deeply emotional, and a romantic at heart, but you’re also strong and independent, the kind of woman who needs a union of equals. You desire someone who can protect you without coddling you. A man who is strong but not overbearing, sensitive and tender yet not a pushover. Someone who loves your physical being with an all-consuming passion, and also equally loves the many intricacies of your mind.”
“Exactly. See Keptin, you’re not so bad at this. That was very insightful.” I put my hand on his thin arm; his skin felt like warm rice paper.
“Yes, but the difficulty is in the conflicting nature of your personality,” he said with a sigh. “Like most humans, you’re a walking contradiction. You’re traditional yet rebellious, shy yet assertive, and practical but with your head in the clouds. So many variables...” He trailed off, staring into his glass of wine as if the answer was floating somewhere in the deep burgundy liquid.
“So, what’s the plan?” I asked. With Keptin’s less than stellar track record, I wasn’t holding out hope that he was about to hit a home run, but for better or worse he was my agent, and I was stuck with him.
“I have another wild card to throw at you,” he said. I groaned and started to offer a protest, but he cut me off. “Just give it a try, Cassandra. This man is also a hard to match case, so I feel like maybe it might work. And he’s royalty! He’s the Overlord of an entire planet called Azakia, just outside of the Andromeda sector. Doesn’t that sound good?”
Honestly, royalty didn’t mean that much to me. Sure, it would’ve been nice to live comfortably, but that wasn’t the point. There were plenty of women on Earth who used Celestial Mates as a gold-digging operation, and I wasn’t one of those women, not by a long shot. Still, Keptin was kind-of my only hope. If the Celestial Mates process didn’t work for me, I’d have to go back to using the free TerraMatch app, which was a disaster of epic proportions. I’d gone out on dozens of dates using TerraMatch, and almost every man immediately followed up by sending a holographic projection of his dick to my holophone after the date. I mean, honestly, did guys really think that worked?
“Ok, fine. Let’s try another wild card,” I conceded.
“Great,” Keptin said, hopping down off the kitchen stool and springing into action. “I’m glad you agreed, because I already went ahead and set up a meeting. He’s calling in on your holophone in...” He looked up at the ceiling for a moment. “Oh my, in five minutes. We must hurry!”
I wanted to ask Keptin if he was looking at some invisible interdimensional clock, but I had no time. “Five minutes? Keptin, I’m wearing a robe! I haven’t even brushed my hair!”
He pushed me through the hallway and into my bedroom. “Throw something nice on, quick. Then come straight back. We don’t want to keep the Overlord of Azakia waiting.”
I pulled half my clothes out of my closet in a frenzied rush, spilling dresses and skirts over the bed. What to wear? Something classic, something that says I could be the wife of a world leader? Or perhaps something a little sexy, something that says I’m not a stuffy diplomat’s wife?
With no time to decide, I split the difference with a classic red dress. It was tight enough to show off my curves, but the neckline and hemline were tasteful. It would have to do.
A quick swipe of lip gloss and a little powder on my t-zone and I was ready. At least, as ready as I could be with Keptin’s maddening five minute notice. I walked out into the living room and twirled around.
“How do I look?”
“Ravishing,” he said, giving me a warm smile. “You look like a queen, my dear.”
“Well, I’m definitely not a queen. Just a secretary.”
“I’m not sure what that is,” Keptin said, pursing his lips. “Some sort of teacher?”
“I wish,” I told him. I’d always wanted to be a teacher, preferably an English teacher, working with young kids and teaching them to love books, to love language. But then life happened, and somehow I ended up a secretary instead. I’d always meant to go back to school, but there was just never enough time, never enough money. “It’s... don’t worry about it. It’s boring. And if all goes well, my silly job will be a thing of the past soon enough. Now, let’s meet Bachelor Number Five.”
Keptin switched on my holophone, casting a bright blue beam in front of us. I smoothed out my dress and gave my curly blonde locks one last tussle.
“Ready, dear?” he said, turning to me with a smile.
I nodded, feeling butterflies churn wildly in my stomach. I knew it was silly to get my hopes up – after all, this wasn’t the first holophone meeting with a potential suitor, and so far every match had been a complete bust. Still, I couldn’t help but think that maybe this time would be different. Maybe this man would be the one.
Keptin fiddled with my holophone, entering in the satellite info that would connect us to the mysterious Bachelor Number Five. Then I heard the machine whirr and creak, and the bright blue light which emanated from the front swirled and pulsated, taking shape.
And before my eyes, a man appeared, in holographic form.
Oh, and what a man he was.
I know I’d said a million times that looks didn’t matter, but that was before I saw him.
He was the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen.
Yep, I was pretty sure he was the one.
Chapter Two
The man’s eyes were a brilliant, clear green, like the ocean on a warm cloudless day. And there was both a kindness and a strength in his eyes, a soft yet intense quality that played deliciously off his chiseled bone structure. Of course, everyone has their types, and perhaps to a different woman he would seem only pleasantly attractive, or just okay. But for me, this man was my type. He was the template for which all other men hoped to live up to. He was the person I’d imagined when I closed my eyes, the face I hoped that I would one day meet and feared that I would never see.
And there he was, in hologram form at least, standing in front of me, like a dream made real. I felt my heart pound in my chest, my hands trembling, my stomach doing somersaults.
Yeah, he was the one all right. At least, he looked like the one. I just needed to talk to him, to see if his inside matched the outside. I hoped, like I’d never hoped for anything before, that it would.
“Oh bugger,” I heard Keptin mutter as he continued to fiddle with my holophone. “Something’s wrong with your connection. Hold on, I’m working on it.”
“Can he see us? Can he hear us?” I waved a shaky hand at the man in front of me. “Hello?” He didn’t react.
“Not yet. We have a signal on his end, but I can’t get... Oh, bugger.” He typed more codes into the holophone, his tiny body hunched over the device. “Isn’t bugger a funny word? I picked it up from a contact here on Earth. I think it’s what you might call a dirty word, but it sounds just adorable to my ears. Don’t you think?”
“I don’t know, Keptin.” Why was he rambling on about a stupid slang word when the man of my dreams was standing in front of me, so close but so far out of reach? “Can you just hurry up and get this thing working?”
“I’m trying, dear,” he said, sounding a bit exasperated.
“Keptin...” I whispered, “I think he’s it. I think he might be the one.”
Keptin’s little head popped up from behind the holophone, his icy blue eyes twinkli
ng. “Really?”
“Maybe. I mean, yeah. Yeah, Keptin. I have a really good feeling about this.”
He let out a long contented sigh, his thin lips turning up at the corners. “That’s wonderful, Cassandra. Now let me just...”
He flipped a switch in the back of the holophone, and I saw the man’s eyebrows raise, his eyes widen just a bit. He took in a deep breath, and then he spoke.
“Hello, you must be Cassandra,” he said. Oh man. His voice was deep, resonant – completely intoxicating.
“Hello, it’s nice to meet you,” I replied, my voice a little shakier and higher pitched than I wanted it to be. I started to speak again, but the man interrupted me.
“I can’t hear anything,” he said. “I can see you, but I can’t hear you. Can you hear me?”
I nodded, then pried my eyes away from him, turning to Keptin. “He can’t hear us,” I told him.
“Working... on... it...” Keptin said, his face a picture of pure concentration.
I turned back to the man, shrugged, then held up a finger, which I hoped was the universal signal for give us a minute.
“I understand,” he said. “We’ll just wait until the audio issue is resolved.”
And then we just stood in front of each other, staring into each other’s eyes for what felt like an eternity.
It was such a strange feeling to see this man as if he was standing in my living room, just feet from me. If I reached out my hand, I could’ve touched him – but he was just a hologram. My hand would pass right through him. Right in front of me, but a million miles away.
But still, even from a million miles away, his eyes cut though me like a laser. I smiled and gave him a small wave, hoping he couldn’t tell how bad my hands were shaking. Man, he was tall too. Tall, dark, and impossibly, monumentally handsome.
He smiled back, which immediately sent a jolt of thrilling electricity through me. Somehow his smile was both friendly and sexy at the same time: a slight mischievous curl to the lips, an enticing raised eyebrow, green eyes soft and warm.