Jessica E. Subject BUNDLE (Intergalactic Heat) (9 page)

“You spent the night with a stranger?” She’d done the same thing, but the date happened after weeks of planning. It wasn’t on a whim. Then again, Tamara became open to dating outside of her usual type, and had been uninhibited sexually since she’d returned from Las Vegas.

“Not a stranger. Remember my one-night stand I told you about?”

She nodded. Her friend radiated with excitement.

“Well, I was hiding in the bathroom from my date. He kept babbling on about fruit fly mating. The only time he shut up was to check out every other woman in the restaurant. I mean, hello, I’ve got plenty for him to look at. Anyway, when I finally got up enough courage to return to the table, I left the bathroom and ran right into Josh. He’s up here on business. He said that his business meeting was almost over and asked if I wanted to meet up after.”

She found a glimmer of hope. She might never see Frey again, but she could get out and date like Tamara, find the right guy and have the family she’s always dreamed of. “So what did you do about your date?”

“I paid for my portion of the bill and left him sitting there. Josh met me at the coffee shop down the street an hour later and we went back to his hotel room.”

Her friend glowed, the same as she had after sex with Frey. “Will you see him again?”

“I’m not sure, but when I told him I’d be down there next month, he said I could stay with him. And we exchanged our new numbers. I guess that means there’s no woman in his life right now.”

Her mood brightened due to Tamara’s happiness. They sat on the couch and watched reruns of
Firefly
on the sci-fi channel while finishing off the tub of ice cream.

Her eyelids became heavy from a night of no sleep. She stood up. “I’m going home.”

“You can crash here,” Tamara offered.

Her phone blasted some rock song before Carrie could respond. Her friend grabbed it from the end table and looked at her. “Just wait.” She went to the kitchen to talk then stuck her head back out and whispered, “It’s Frey.”

Her stomach twisted. Why was her date calling Tamara and how’d he get her number?

“Would you like to talk to her?” Tamara asked him.

When Tamara went back into the kitchen, she assumed the answer was no.
Great! Now my one-night stand is trying to make a date with my best friend.
Maybe he believed Earth girls really were easy. She went to the kitchen to say goodbye to Tamara, but saw her best friend writing on the notepad on her fridge. She swallowed the lump in her throat. They weren’t even going behind her back; they were planning a date right in front of her.

Her phone. That must have been how he found Tamara’s number. And she had talked up her best friend so much to him, too.

After grabbing her purse from the living room, she rushed toward the door.

Tamara stepped in front of her. “Oh no, you don’t. You’re not walking out on me like you did to Frey.”

“I won’t stand around while you arrange a date with my one-night stand.” Tears formed, but her anger held them in.

“Oh, Care, I’m sorry that Peter stole so much of your self-confidence that you’d think I would even consider dating someone you’d been with.” She wrapped her arms around her. “I would never do that to you.”

Carrie wanted to hide under a rock. Had she really said that to her best friend? “I’m so sorry. I was just so disappointed with the way my date ended.” No excuse would make up for her accusation.

“Yeah, well Frey was, too. He expected you to be there when he woke up. That’s why he wouldn’t talk to you; he was afraid you’d hang up on him. He didn’t know what he’d done wrong.”

She took a step back. Had she misinterpreted everything?

Tamara handed her a piece of paper. “He wants you to stop by his house. You have to go there anyway since he has your phone.”

She should make things right with Tamara, but exhaustion overwhelmed her. Too tired to deal with anyone, she wanted to get home to bed before she said something else she’d regret. “What does he want?”

“Besides to give you your phone back? He wants to talk. I get the feeling he was looking for more than a one-night stand, too.”

Chapter Twelve

Under his human image, Frey had more confidence yet he could not stop himself from pacing in front of his window. Would Carrie show up and if she did, would she just take her phone and leave him again?

He took a glance around his small bungalow. Her phone sat on the counter dividing his living room from the kitchen. It would give him a chance to invite her in. Nothing else seemed out of place, but he took a quick trip through the house to make sure; sitting still proved impossible.

When he left the bathroom after wiping off the sink for the fifth time, he heard a car pull into his driveway. As she stepped out of her car, he decided to let her ring the doorbell before opening the door. He didn’t want to appear too anxious.

“Hi.” His throat constricted. Her weak smile did nothing to hide her red, puffy eyes. He’d unintentionally caused her pain and now he needed to make everything better. He wanted to pull her into his arms and absorb all of her pain. Instead he waited for her response.

She stared at her feet. “You have my phone?”

Right to business.
Well, he refused to let her go so easily this time. “Yes, come in while I get it for you.”

He returned to the foyer with her phone and found her only a few steps inside the doorway. “Carrie, we need to talk about last night.”

Tears formed in her eyes. “I’m very grateful for the….gift you gave me. I will always remember you for that, and the wonderful night we spent together.”

Unable to hold back any longer, he set the phone down on a side table and pulled her into his arms. He kissed her forehead then trailed kisses down her face to her lips.

She responded briefly before pulling away. “I can’t do this.”

His heart ripped wide open, but his arms would not let her go. “Why? Are you afraid of what I really am? Does being with an alien disgust you?”

Her expression changed to shock. “No, last night was very special. I have no problems with what you are. I will never forget you.”

He lowered his hands to her waist and kept her in front of him. “Then why? Why can’t you be with me?”

“I understand why you want to experience other women, but I don’t want to be tossed away when you’re done. I can’t handle that again. It’s easier to just leave this now and remember our one-night stand.”

Resting his hand under her chin, his thumb brushed across her cheekbone. Her heart was still so fragile after her husband had left her, but he could not let her walk away. “There is a reason I took so long to find my perfect match. It relates to me being an alien, but there’s so much more involved.”

“Why then?” Even on the verge of tears, her cold words pierced him. “Why should I feel special that you picked me to have sex with?”

He leaned down to kiss her neck then moved his lips to her ear. “Not only did I want to find a gorgeous woman to share my gift with, but I was looking for more than a one-night stand. Ginnunians mate for life.”

***

She gasped. Had she heard him correctly? “For life?”

His light kisses on her neck sent thrilling sensations through her body, coming to rest between her legs. She resisted the temptation. She didn’t want to go through all that pain again. “Why should I believe you?”

He stood upright. His hands rested on her arms and he held her with his gaze. The black pools of emotion returned. She saw his fear, his desperation.

“I can’t make you believe anything, but Carrie, you are my only mate. I never have and never will be with another. If you are not with me, I will live and die alone.”

After only one night of staring into his revealing alien eyes, she knew he wasn’t lying. They gave everything away. She leaned into his chest and he surrounded her. Her body gave way to exhaustion and her tears flowed. As he kissed them away, she asked, “So what do we do now?”

Will we date? Will we move in together right away?

As if he’d read her mind, his mouth crushed hers, his kiss numbing her thoughts. He scooped her up in his arms. “Let’s not worry about the future just yet. You look like you need to sleep.” He carried her to his room and laid her down on the bed.

As he lay behind her, molding his body to hers, he changed to his alien form.
This is my Frey now
. His blue, elongated fingers combed lightly through her hair, bringing her a sense of peace. Then he rested his hand on her belly.

She closed her eyes and heard him whisper, “Rest now my love, because in nine months our baby will be born.”

Unknown Futures

Chapter One

“Miss Jewel Barnaby?”

Her eyes darted toward the tall, austere man in surprise, nervous tension knotting her shoulders. She almost didn’t respond. No one had called her Jewel since she’d left the hospital two years ago. Instead they called her ugly, freak, or monster. The doctors had done all they could, but despite the several surgeries and multiple, painful skin grafts, everyone in Prescott, Ontario would always know her as the girl who was splashed in the face with acid on the biggest night of her teenage life.

They’d been in his garage, grabbing blankets for the after-prom party. When he’d tried to get fresh with her, she’d had to tell him, a jock through and through, she wouldn’t sleep with him, that she’d preferred women. But he didn’t take no for an answer. Pinned against his truck, her heart racing in panic, she kneed him in the groin. Doubled over, he’d grabbed sulfuric acid from a shelf behind him and splashed it in her face. Everything after that moment became a blur until she woke up in a hospital, groggy with painkillers, a tube stuck down her throat. She couldn’t see a thing with the bandages covering her eyes, but felt and heard her mother by her side.

From then on, some of her neighbors looked at her with disgust, sympathy, or fear. Others glanced away when she passed, as if she didn’t exist, including her old friends.

The chauffeur simply smiled at her as he reached for her two oversized suitcases. His professional, impassive demeanor calmed some of the butterflies dancing in her stomach.

Standing on the curb, she stared down the road, sure neighbors spied out their windows, wondering why a limo would be picking
her
up.
I need a break from this place.
As she slid over the leather seat of the Ford Excursion limousine, her stomach tightened. Madame Evangeline’s text had been brief.
Pack
for two weeks. The limo will meet you in front of your building in an hour.
She’d had no time to do anything but change and throw clothes in a suitcase
.

Until now. Had applying to 1Night Stand really been a good idea? She could end up with her date running away, screaming. And why had Madame Evangeline told her to pack for two weeks when her date was only supposed to last one night?

She had no one to report to, though, no one who would worry she’d be gone for so long. She didn’t have a job. When she handed in applications, she was often told the position had already been filled, and once she’d poked her head back in to ask a question and seen her resume being ripped up before she’d even left the building. All the university courses she took were through distance education. With so much free time, she often kept well ahead of her studies so she had no assignments due for another month.

Her parents wouldn’t miss her either; her mother had died a year before from breast cancer. They’d spent so much time together in the hospital. She’d been Jewel’s closest friend, her ally, the one person who’d accepted her unconditionally. And now she had no one. Her father only cared about his bimbo of a girlfriend, and made sure to keep the airhead away from his lesbian daughter. Jewel rolled her eyes. She preferred a woman with a brain, not an ass wiggle and an annoying laugh.

In the last two years, though, she hadn’t had one date, not even a night out with friends. No one wanted to be seen with her, and after a day of stares at the local college, when she’d gone there to write an exam, she’d returned home and applied to the 1Night Stand dating service. She’d read an account of the wondrous matchmaking abilities of Madame Evangeline on a
Yahoo
group for burn victims. If Josh had found love, why couldn’t she?

Jewel had no idea what her date looked like or where she’d meet her. Looks really didn’t matter, but she wanted an age, a name, something…. And where was she going? Packing for the Sahara Desert was not the same as packing for the Arctic Circle, so she’d included clothing for both and every climate in between.

When the limo merged onto the highway, she reached into her tote bag for her ereader. Taking her mind off the purpose of her trip might ease her rolling stomach. Throwing up in the luxurious car did not seem like a good idea. She loaded up the most recent book from her favorite science fiction romance series—involving an alien species not as uptight about homosexuality as humans—and became lost in a world more hospitable than her own.