Catching Stardust (13 page)

“Are we having a picnic here too?” Maia asked from beside him. She looked genuinely thrilled at the idea and he knew his plan for their night had been the right one.

“Yes and no.”

“You’re very mysterious tonight.” She laughed and stroked her free hand up and down his arm. Her hand on his bare skin made a million nerve endings come to life.

“I’m pretty sure you’re far more mysterious than I am. There’s still so much I don’t know about you. I feel like I’ll never figure it all out, but I’m going to start trying to tonight.”

She frowned at him a little and he instantly wished he hadn’t said that. “Sometimes a little mystery is a good thing.”

“True.” He stopped walking and turned to face her, stroking her cheek with his fingers. “Whatever you’ll share with me, I’d like to know.”

Her frown softened and his spirits lifted again. What was it she didn’t want him to find out? Was she hiding something? Something big?

“A tiny bit farther and we’ll be there.” He ducked under a low canopy of trees, pulling her with him.

She stopped under the tree near the opening. “Where are we going exactly?”

“Just up those stairs to the top of the dam.”

She glanced up the stairs then back at him, uncertainty and logic clearly bothering her in this situation. She definitely wasn’t comfortable going into dark, secluded places with a man who was barely more than a stranger. But she didn’t have anything to worry about as long as she was with him. He’d protect her from anything, never hurt her or take advantage of her being in a situation like this—a situation that promised privacy.

“I promise I’ll tell you the second I intend on become a murderer so you never have to wonder with me, okay?” he teased. “And I have no intention of becoming one tonight or any other night.”

She smiled at his joke. “Okay. I’ll trust you. But if you try to murder me up there while we’re alone, I’ll throw you over the side of the dam.”

He laughed. “Deal. I’d like to see you try to throw me anywhere. You’re too tiny to be effective.”

She gave a quick pull on his arm and he stumbled. “You might be surprised,” she said with a big grin. “I’m stronger than you think.”

“I bet you’re a lot of things.” He recovered his footing quickly and squeezed her hand

Hot, sexy, smart and sassy were all among the things he already knew about her. Now he could add funny and feisty to the list—a long list of qualities he was growing to really like about her.

They climbed to the top of the stairs and ducked under another low canopy of trees. The stairway hadn’t been maintained in a few years since it wasn’t in use anymore. There was a time when anyone visiting the dam would have been allowed to climb to the top to take in the view, but those days were long gone now that homeland security was tighter everywhere with possible risk or vulnerability.

Maia sucked in a breath beside him. Her eyes were focused on the site before her. A large picnic blanket with a few pillows sat waiting for them. A basket of food and a bottle of wine chilling in a bucket of ice were engulfed by a glow from the multiple lanterns surrounding the whole area. It really was beautiful and as romantic as he’d hoped it would be.

I’m going to owe James big time.

“Worth the climb?” he asked.

“Absolutely.” She squeezed his arm with both hands almost giving his arm a hug.

Feeling her body pressed up against his side made his pulse race. The evening was off to a great start and he couldn’t wait to see where the rest of the night took them.

Chapter Ten

Maia couldn’t believe the sight before her. The picnic itself was outstanding, but the view beyond it was absolutely breathtaking. On one side of the dam was the park they’d just walked through and on the other side was a beautiful blue lake, twinkling in the twilight.

Zander was so sweet to plan all of this for a girl he barely knew. How had she been so lucky to find him out of all the people she could have run into that first night in the park?

“How did you arrange all of this?” she asked, stepping forward to get a better look at the picnic spread before them.

“I have a buddy who works for the Westchester Parks Department. He made a few calls on my behalf.”

“This is too much, Zander. You shouldn’t have gone to all this trouble.”

“It was worth it.” He sat on a large, square pillow and motioned for her to do the same. She did, tucking her skirt around her legs so she wouldn’t accidentally give him a peek at something she wasn’t quite ready for…yet.

He opened the bottle of wine and poured them each a glass. In the picnic basket, she found take-out containers of food. One looked like a couscous salad with speckles of green and orange and red vegetables mixed through it. Another was a pink, creamy pasta she’d never seen before. The last was the shape of French fries but green underneath some kind of breading—definitely not potatoes.

“What is all this food?” she asked, taking the lids off the containers one by one and smelling them. Their aromas were so appealing and interesting. She couldn’t wait to dig in and taste them all.

“Couscous and grilled vegetable salad, penne a la vodka, and fried zucchini. I didn’t know what you liked to eat so I asked James to pick up a little selection of things.” He laughed. “Maybe I should have been more specific. I don’t think these things exactly go together.”

“Everything smells delicious.”

He handed her a fork and then rummaged through the basket for a second. “I don’t think he gave us any dishes. We’ll have to share. Unless of course you don’t want to risk sharing germs and then you can pick the one you want.”

He was so considerate compared to Orion who just took what and who he wanted. She could really get used to this kind of treatment.

“We’ll share.” She stabbed a penne noodle and tasted it. The creamy sauce was heavenly. So delectable and savory. She closed her eyes and sighed. “Sweet heavenly Gaia this is amazing.”

“Gaia, huh?”

She swallowed.
Damn it to Hades
. She should have been smarter and thought before she spoke. Now what would she say that wouldn’t make him suspicious of her? “I—uh… It’s just a silly saying really.”

“It’s okay. I like it.” He took a couple of fried zucchinis and dipped them into a marinara sauce before popping them into his mouth. A dollop of red sat on his lips as he chewed.

“You dripped a little.”

“Where?” he asked, looking down at his shirt.

“Not your shirt. Here.” She reached out her hand and tried to wipe the sauce off his lip with a swipe of her thumb. His lips were warm under her touch and she paused for a moment, distracted by the heat. His mouth opened slightly, his breath caressing her skin.

She pulled her hand back. “I think I made it worse.” Reaching for a couple of napkins, she wiped off of her thumb on one then tipped a bottle of water onto the other, wetting a corner of it. Wiping it across his lip, her breathing shuddered. Being so close to him, focusing on his lips—delicious lips that practically begged her to lick them—it was terribly hard to remember why she shouldn’t let herself fall for a guy from Earth.

He pressed his hand to hers, stopping her from wiping his lip, which was long clean of the tiny bit of sauce that had been there. She tried to take her hand back, but he held it firmly in his for a moment, his gaze never wavering from hers. Even as he placed his dampened mouth to her palm, kissing it gently, his gaze held hers.

The urge to crawl across the blanket and into his lap was overwhelming. Tingles of excitement sprang to life in her belly, mixing with the wine.

His mouth left her palm and he placed another gentle kiss on her wrist instead then a few more up her forearm. As he moved along her arm, she found herself leaning in to him more and more. Every part of her begged to be kissed no matter how loudly her logic yelled at her not to let him.

As he kissed the fold of her elbow and gave the sensitive skin a tiny lick, her last level of resistance and logic crumbled. Every nerve in her body felt like it had come to life in the last few seconds, she practically vibrated with anticipation and arousal.

She used her free hand to cup his chin, forcing his mouth away. Her skin instantly missed the heat of his lips, his breath—his tongue. More than anything else right now she wanted to kiss him, hard on the mouth. She wanted to be with him.

But she couldn’t.

“Let’s go for a swim.”

He blinked. “What?”

“A swim. In the lake. Let’s go.”

“We don’t have swimsuits.”

She grinned and cocked an eyebrow at him. “Who said we need suits to swim?” She jumped up from the picnic blanket before he could protest and wandered down to the water’s edge.

With only the light of the moon shining down, she slipped out of her clothes and into the lake, hoping the cool water would somehow put out the fire in her belly that Zander had started.

***

Zander stood at the water’s edge beside the pile of clothes that had been on Maia’s body only moments before. The thought of cold lake water caressing her naked body made his hardened length strain against his pants even more than it already was. He dropped the extra blankets he’d snatched from beside the picnic setup, slipped off his shoes and dropped his pants. When in Rome, right?

As he pulled his shirt over his head and stood there naked on the edge of the river, he glanced back up to find Maia waist deep in the water staring back at him, a smile on her face as she studied him. All of him. Unfortunately, it was too dark for him to make out much more than the silhouetted curves of her breast as they disappeared beneath the surface of the water.

Water that appeared to be glowing.

How was that possible?

It looked as if there was an illumination in the water that surrounded Maia. Was there some kind of plant or bacteria life in the lake that he hadn’t realized could cause a bioluminescent reaction?

Zander stepped into the water expecting it to light up and change the way it had around Maia. But it didn’t. The water stayed the same, not even a hint of brightness or color. Weird.

Maia disappeared under the water as he wandered out to where she was—where she had been. He watched the surface of the water, wondering where she would come up for a breath. When she didn’t appear after a few seconds, his heart started to pick up its pace. Where was she? How could she hold her breath so long?

He scanned the surface of the water, looking back and forth across the section in front of him the way he’d seen lifeguards do it at the pool. Still nothing.

“Maia,” he called. She had to be here somewhere.

The darkness engulfed him. Maybe she had come up for air somewhere just out of his limited line of site. Maybe she was already back by the shore. He turned and scanned the area where they’d both disrobed and saw nothing but piles of clothes.

“What are you looking for?”

Maia’s voice startled him and he turned quickly to find her only a few feet away, the water around her not appearing to glow as much as he remembered it. He took in her appearance. Other than being completely soaked from her swim, she looked fine. He sighed and sunk into the water so only his head and shoulders broke through the surface.

“I was looking for you. Where’d you get to?”

“I just went for a quick swim. The water is so beautiful here. I didn’t mean to make you worry.”

She looked more amazing now—soaking wet, hair slicked back off her face, makeup washed away—than she had when their date started. She radiated happiness.

“It’s okay—” A splash of water hit him directly in the face. He wiped a hand across his eyes. “Hey. You better watch it or I’m going to have to throw the nice-guy act out the window and splash you back.”

Maia giggled and splashed him again. “I don’t believe you would.”

“Damn right I will.” A grin spread across his lips. If she wanted to play, he would play. He moved to send a splash in her direction, but before the water reached her, she’d dived under again only to resurface a few feet over.

“You missed.” She giggled again before splashing him.

This time, he reached out quickly, ignoring the water as it hit him in the face and grabbed a hold of her wrist so she couldn’t disappear again. She tried to splash him again with her other hand, but he turned his head in time to avoid the water, then splashed her, finally getting her back.

She squealed and laughed.

“It’s not nice to splash your date, you know,” he teased, letting go of her wrist so she could swim away from him if she wanted. Instead, she lunged at his shoulders, trying to push him beneath the surface. He easily held his ground. “It’s not nice to try and dunk your date either. You know you’re too little to dunk me, right? Trying is useless.”

“You could let me dunk you.”

“I could, but that would give you a false sense of strength against me. You’re lucky I’m not dunking you back.” He laughed at her continued attempt, enjoying the feeling of her warm hands on his body. “Giving up yet?”

She stopped pushing on his shoulders and ran her fingers down his arm instead. “Fine. I give up.”