Catching Stardust (6 page)

Damn it to Hades, why did this guy have to be on Earth? Why couldn’t he be from somewhere else in the galaxy instead so at least they could have a hope of dating?

“Your eyes,” Jude spoke, breaking into her thoughts. “They’re so—unusual.”

Her gaze flitted from Zander to Jude and then quickly to her shoes. Her stomach dropped and her palms instantly beaded with moisture, which she tried to casually wipe on her dress as she pretended to straighten the material.

Way to act as if you don’t have something to hide.

Crap. What was she supposed to say about her eyes? Normally people didn’t notice the little details in her irises—the tiny map of stars advertising the part of the universe she was from like a house address would here on Earth. The identifier was usually so small and inconspicuous only people who knew what they were looking for would see it. It was a quick way of identifying someone’s origin when you met him or her on a far off planet.

But the bright lights of the museum must be enough to not only allow tourists to see the small print and details on displays, but also little details on each other. Not good.

Hopefully, this Jude guy didn’t know what he was looking at. Hopefully, Zander didn’t either. What could she tell them that would make logical sense, ‘cause she certainly couldn’t tell them the truth?

“What do you mean?” She prayed her voice sounded innocent. “I see people with green eyes all the time.”

She tried to laugh it off, but she couldn’t bring herself to meet his gaze for longer than a fraction of a second. If he was familiar with the displays in the museum, he may notice a similarity in her eyes. She couldn’t have that.

“It’s not the color, but something else,” Jude said.

As he leaned forward, she made the mistake of looking up at him, meeting his gaze. Instinctively she leaned back slightly, but didn’t break eye contact with him. Her pulse pounding in her throat, she held her gaze steady.

Suspicious people always looked away when confronted. She didn’t want to appear as if she had something to hide, even if she did. Hopefully he wouldn’t see what was right in front of him.

Zander leaned closer to get a better look too. Even though she knew she was treading in dangerous territory, she somehow didn’t mind his close proximity.

Jude stood straight again, finally vacating her personal space. Zander, on the other hand, continued to linger near her. Instead of feeling uncomfortable with his closeness, she shifted toward him as if pulled by some kind of tractor beam.

“There’s something different about them. Are they contacts?” Jude asked.

Oh, thank Gaia.

“Yes, they are contacts. Of course that’s what they are.” She let out the breath she’d been holding as her heartbeat slowed back to normal. “It’s this new thing where you can get little designs sort of stamped on to the contact along with a color. It’s very new, so not too many people know about it yet. If I take these out, my eyes are just plain old boring blue.”

She laughed and smiled, hoping to Hades they would take her explanation at face value and drop the subject. Maia waited uncomfortably to see what they’d do next. It wasn’t like she could do some kind of mind trick on them to make them believe something if they didn’t want to. That would be a very cool and useful talent, but not one she possessed the power of.

Jude shook his head. “It’s amazing the things they can do nowadays with technology.”

“Yes, it is. I’m constantly amazed at the new things you…
we
discover here.”

“So,” Zander said, clearing his throat. He’d been silent through the whole conversation about her eyes. Did he think they were unusual too? “What brings you to the museum?”

“Oh, you know. Looking at space stuff.”

Trying to figure out a way off this planet.

She smiled weakly. “I haven’t been here before.”

Liar.

“I thought I would stop in and see what it was like.” She shifted uncomfortably. That sounded believable, didn’t it?

He grinned as if he were a proud father. “And do you like what you see so far?”

Her eyes traveled across his features again, imagining a strong chest under his formal button-up shirt. Oh yes, she certainly liked what she saw. “Uh, huh,” she said, nodding like a bobble-headed tourist’s souvenir. “It’s um, very good looking—nice! It’s very nice here.”

She licked her lips, her mouth suddenly drier than the Sahara under the noonday sun. She watched as his lips parted slightly, mimicking hers. What would those lips taste like? What would they feel like pressed against hers?

“Can I show you around?” Zander asked.

“Do you work here or something?” She followed him as he walked up to one of the displays and she pretended to look at them as if she could learn something new.

“I give guest lectures here every couple of weeks,” he started. “I’m actually an astronautics engineer over at Arius Industries. Jude is another one of our scientists, but he wasn’t lecturing today. He’s just here for emotional support. His, not mine.”

“Nice,” Jude shot him an expression full of fire. “I don’t need your emotional support, but thanks for making me look like a douche in front of the pretty girl.”

“It’s okay,” Maia said, enjoying the banter and obvious camaraderie between the two men. “I don’t think you’re a douche.” Honestly, she wasn’t sure what that meant, but she was pretty sure he wasn’t one.

The three of them stopped in front of a picture of a black hole. Maia was always amazed at the beauty of the universe even after spending almost her eternity a part of it. This photo was especially gorgeous, the colors surrounding the black hole mesmerizing.

“This is a picture of a black hole taken by the Hubble Telescope,” Zander said, sounding very lecturer-like. “This particular supermassive one weighs billions of times more than our sun.”

“It’s amazing.” Maia wasn’t lying. She did find it amazing. Almost as amazing as hearing Zander speak about the cosmos with such passion filling his voice. Maia watched his lips move as he spoke for a few more minutes, telling her things she already knew. She tried her best to remember to nod once in a while to appear as if she was learning the information for the first time.

The truth was, she only half listened. The other half of her brain kept imagining those soft-looking lips of his trailing along her skin with wet kisses, tasting her, teasing her, setting her delicate nerve endings on fire. A tremble raced up her spine at just the thought. What would she feel if he ever actually touched her?

It really had been a long time since she’d taken a ride on the Milky Way with someone, hadn’t it?

“This stuff here,” Jude said, pointing to the illustration, “is the same kind of matter that we see surrounding stars. It’s called—”

“The accretion disk,” Maia finished for him.

The words spilled out of her mouth before she could censor herself, her mind too distracted with thoughts of Zander’s hands and mouth roaming her body. Her words hung between them. Heat flared to life in her cheeks.

She shouldn’t have known that little factoid. Shit.

Jude and Zander both turned from the picture of the black hole to stare at her, mouths gaping open, eyes searching hers for answers since she seemed to have more of them than they probably expected. They shared a quick glance at each other before settling their questioning eyes on her again.

“I didn’t realize you knew so much about black holes already,” Zander started. “I wouldn’t have spoken to you like I was giving a lecture if I’d known you were already familiar with this stuff.”

“It’s okay. I want to hear what you guys have to say. I really don’t know much. I only knew that one, little, insignificant thing. I shouldn’t have interrupted you, Jude. Please go on. What were you going to tell me next?”

His mouth went into a straight line and his eyes narrowed as he evaluated her. “How much do you know about this stuff?”

All of it.

“Not much really. I only learned about that accretion…thingy from one of the other displays.” Her eyes flickered away from his, unable to hold his gaze as her fear of having her true identity found out caught in her throat.

Breathe. Stay calm. They don’t know. Lots of people know stuff about stars and space and whatnot. It’s not so weird.

“Really? Which one? I don’t recall reading black hole information anywhere other than here.”

Maia swallowed hard. Why was Jude being so thorough in his questioning? “I don’t remember exactly. I think it was over there somewhere.” She pointed in the general direction of the rest of the exhibits. She didn’t know if there was anywhere else in the museum that mention this particular information, but at that moment, she would give anything to have Jude leave to go in search of it. Maybe it would keep him busy and off her case, since she’d obviously given away she knew more than she should.

“Well, I think it’s great you know so much about the universe already,” Zander said, smiling at her. “Have you seen the planetarium show yet? I think there’s a viewing about to start if you want go see it with me. I can get us in for free.”

His smile was a tiny bit crooked. She couldn’t help but smile back at him, his relaxed cheerfulness contagious and so needed after the stress she’d been feeling. “Sure.” She nodded her agreement; happy to be moving away from the black hole in the room she feared she’d almost been sucked into, and on to something new.

Zander motioned for her to follow him as he wove his way through the displays and crowds easily. They skipped the queue of people waiting for the next showing and ducked under the partition blocking the entrance to the planetarium. He nodded at one of the museum workers standing nearby and pulled open the door for Maia.

He guided her into the darkened theater. A shiver of excitement shot through her spine as Zander’s hand rested on her lower back, her knees suddenly feeling weak. He quickly pulled his hand back as if thinking he’d just overstepped a boundary. But he hadn’t, at least not in her mind. In fact, she longed for him to touch her again. And there were a few other places she wouldn’t mind him touching her either.

Being in a dark room with a man, as delicious and tempting as Zander, would make it very hard to focus on the show. She had a feeling it was going to be incredibly difficult to keep her knowledge about the cosmos to herself as well. Especially when she was so easily distracted by Zander. When she was distracted, her internal censor didn’t seem to function properly. She needed to remember that regardless of how hot Zander was and no matter how much she felt some kind of attraction pulling her to him, she couldn’t succumb. She wouldn’t be here long enough to bother getting involved with him.

Maia noticed Zander peeking at her out of the corner of his eye when he thought she was looking around the theater. Did his mind keep wandering to places it shouldn’t too? What if he was thinking the same things she was and actually decided to act on them? What would she do then? Would she be strong enough to walk away or would she get weak-kneed and gooey again?

She forced the ideas away. She couldn’t be with Zander in any way. He was from Earth and she was from Pleiades—no possible hope for a future. No sense even dating.

Or mating.

Chapter Five

“This way,” Zander said, walking over to the seats in the middle of the third row—the best seats in the house. He motioned for Maia to sit next to him then Jude took the seat on her other side.

Zander had actually forgotten his friend was still with them. The second he’d touched the small of her back, it was as if anything beyond Maia stopped existing. All he could focus on was the attraction sparking between them.

“The show should start any second,” Zander said, turning to face Maia. He couldn’t get over how amazingly beautiful she was and how knowledgeable she appeared to be about the universe. Her mix of good looks and brains was a turn on.

“What do you mean? Aren’t we still waiting for all those people queued up out there to come in and find seats?”

She had a good heart too—thinking of others before herself.

“Not this time. This is a private showing.”

“Really? How’d you manage all this with only a nod at the guy out there?” Maia grinned and pointed at him accusingly. “Wait a minute. Was that some guy code nod for bringing a girl in here? Like a secret handshake but without the handshake? Do you do this so often with girls you pick up at the museum you have non-verbal code with the other staff?”

Jude and Zander shared a knowing glance. “I wouldn’t say often,” Jude replied before Zander could. “But, you know, when the opportunity arises…”

Maia leveled her gaze on Zander and he felt his brow moisten. Good thing the lighting was so low in the theater. There’s no way he’d ever live it down if Jude saw him sweat under Maia’s accusing stare.

Her mouth twisted up at the corners. “Have you had a lot of opportunities
arise
in here, Zander?”

He shrugged. “Some girls find the whole space thing sexy. Who am I to disprove their belief system?”

“So you do it out of the goodness of your heart? That’s very sweet of you. So kind really.” She nudged him with her elbow across the small armrest separating their seats. “Good thing I find space sexy too, huh?”