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

Swallowing the last morsel, the new arrival pushed back his plate and sat, blinking. When the blinks grew more rapid and then slowed, until his eyelids began to droop, Alex stifled yet another sigh. The hour wasn’t late, but clearly, whatever had happened to David had taken its toll. He required sleep, and as host, Alex had to see to his needs. Stupidly, he hadn’t thought that far ahead. David seemed harmless enough, and if Alex were in a similar situation, he would be appreciative if someone took care of him. Such charity was a rare thing these days. Maybe David would be…


Alex slammed down a shutter on the word grateful. Plenty of men would take advantage. He wasn’t one of them. Maybe because he was too used to being the one others used.


Chapter 5