Whoever said space was cold, never found love from the stars ... Some people never learn. This is the tune playing once again in Alex Beaumont’s head when he sees a vision in white attracting odd glances in the quiet little seaside resort of Padstow. He came to get away from it all, to bury himself in work, to forget every man he ever falls for eventually needs to get away ... from him. Adrift in the universe, Mani searches for a place to call home. The planet he finds is cold and inhospitable, not at all what he was expecting. He feels lost and alone, until a stranger’s smile warms him. And with that smile comes another kind of heat, one he’s never before experienced. Love is not what Alex ever imagined it to be. They say space is infinite, but the distance between what Alex wants and what he has experienced romantically seems to be growing ... until now. Like a shooting star, he’s about to fall long and hard. Will he crash and burn, or find the love he’s always dreamed of when looking at the night sky?

Space, Man

Alex coughed and leaned away, although he held on.


“Be careful.” Despite his innocent intentions and the resulting Good Samaritan act, Alex glanced around, checking to see if anyone had stopped to watch. His muscles had tensed; his heartbeat sped. He wanted to let go, back up, but couldn’t, and not entirely for the right reasons. The man had almost fallen into the water, but Alex was painfully aware he held onto a stranger clad in a very peculiar garment that not only revealed muscle definition to the eye but also to his touch. Hard and sculptured lines drew Alex’s hands to wandering as if drawn by a magnet, the pull so strong, resistance made him tremble. He managed…barely, and speaking of bare, even the briefest touch over that compact and well cut torso made Alex swell with more than anticipation. The man might as well be nude.


Chapter 3