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 drifted on a cloud, silken tickling feathers brushing lightly over his lips, tasting of nothing, yet making him think of morning dew on a rose.


Even for Alex, that sentiment was over the top, but he was lost so deeply in the sensation he couldn’t help feeling overemotional. The giddy passion of lust that had ridden him so hard almost took a step back. Those feelings still existed but this…Alex likened the kiss to the spun out disconnected impression of daydreaming. Oddly, his pulse slowed. His stomach and chest, so often plagued with a feeling of tightness lately, relaxed. For all of a few seconds, Alex accepted he felt happy.


Then, he remembered whose lips firmly pressed against his, and he pushed Mani away. This might be what he wanted, but his conscience stepped in. He shook his head at the alien.


“We can’t. You can’t do those things with me.”


Mani frowned, leaning in, only Alex’s firm hand keeping his body from pressing too close.


Chapter 16