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

“You are not a…” Mani frowned, his brow twitching, his gaze wandering. Finally he came up with, “World leader?”


Alex laughed. Mani wasn’t much of a con-man if that was his game. “No. I’m no one important. I’m nothing. If you’re about to say ‘take me to your leader,’ I warn you, rain or not, I’ll kick you out on your ear.”


The frown deepened between those violet eyes, making Mani look austere. “I do not know this kicking out on an ear, but I do know one thing.” His frown softened, and his eyes sparkled. “You are not nobody, or nothing. You are a very nice man, and a very attractive one.”


Despite the bad grammar, the possibility that someone was taking him for some kind of odd ride, and the fact he had promised himself countless times over not to get involved with another beach bum, Alex’s heart fluttered. He couldn’t help wondering how it would feel to kiss those soft pouting lips, and he hated himself for it. He hated the stranger even more. 3


Chapter 11