Stars On Fire Read online

  She rolled her eyes. “Fine. We’ll do the plain black one. I just wanted to make you a little more stylish.”

  “You don’t like my style?” Side by side, we left the accessories section and headed to the registers at the front of the store. She was in a navy blue summer dress that pressed her tits tightly together and hugged her petite waistline. A gold necklace hung around her throat, a pendant of a dog hanging on the chain.

  When we got to the register, she tried to pay for the wallet.

  “Slurpee, no.” I snatched it out of her hand.

  “My dog ruined it.”

  “And I’ll replace it.” I pulled some bills out of my pocket and handed them to the cashier.

  “Oh, come on. I feel so bad.”

  “I shouldn’t have left my wallet behind.”

  “Well…you were distracted.”

  I paid for the wallet, and we walked out of the store. I slipped my ID and cards inside the flaps and then returned it to my pocket. “How about we pick up Torpedo and go to my place?”

  “Wow, that was forward.”

  “I’m a forward kind of guy.” We walked to her truck as she pulled out her keys. “What do you say?”

  “I have to be at work early in the morning.”

  “Then bring a bag.”

  “But then I need to drop off Torpedo on the way.”

  “Couldn’t he just stay at my house while we’re at work?”

  “Then I’d have to come over tomorrow.”

  “Is that so bad?” I asked, looking at her curves in that dress. “We’ve only got a couple of days left. Let’s make them count.”

  She smiled slightly, sexy and shy at the same time. “Alright…just make sure you clean up your valuables so Torpedo doesn’t eat them. He won’t just chew on a wallet. He likes shoes, silverware, rugs…”

  “So, anything?” I teased.

  “Pretty much. You’ve been warned.”

  TORPEDO IMMEDIATELY WENT into the backyard, his favorite part of the house. He sniffed out the grass, explored a couple of trees, and then found a nice spot in the shade to relax. His eyes were on the birds on the branches, watching them hop around and chirp.

  Charlotte set her bag on the arm of the couch. “He’ll never want to go home now…”

  “You ever think about renting a house?”

  She watched her dog out the back door. “When Cameron and I broke up, I was just in a hurry to find somewhere to live. Stacy told me my apartment was available, so I just took it. But I’m thinking of buying something in the next year or so. Got to keep saving for that down payment.”

  “That’s exciting. You and Torpedo can have your own backyard.”

  “Yes. He would love that. When Cameron and I first went our separate ways, Stacy offered to let me move in for a while, but I wanted my own space. But now I think it would have been a smart idea. I would have all the money I need for a down payment on a house. Rent is expensive…”

  My house was paid off because I’d used all my bonuses from the air force, my college stipend that I didn’t need, and my salary from NASA. But I didn’t say that to her because that would really make me look like a douchebag. “I have an idea. Why don’t you move in here while I’m gone?”

  Charlotte gave me the most incredulous look I’d ever seen. “What?”

  “I won’t be here anyway. You can keep an eye on the place for me.”

  “But an alarm could do that.”

  “Not as well as a person. It’s a win-win. You guys save some money, Torpedo gets a backyard, and my house is being put to use.”

  “Neil, I could never do that… I would have to pay you rent, at least.”

  “No.”

  “Then utilities.”

  “That’s a fair compromise.”

  She still looked at me like I was crazy. “You don’t need to make an offer like that. Really. Torpedo and I are fine where we are.”

  “I really don’t mind. It’s kinda sexy to think you’re sleeping in my bed while I’m gone.”

  “Well, I figured I would take a guest room. I mean, we’d be just friends at this point…”

  True.

  “Besides, you don’t want a big dog sleeping in your bed either. He sheds.”

  “A little hair never hurt anyone.”

  “You say that now…” She chuckled. “How long will you be gone?”

  “Three months. And if you still need to stay here a while when I return, that’s okay.”

  “No…that wouldn’t be a good idea. Three months is plenty of time. I’ll pick up extra shifts to speed things along.”

  I’d never invited someone to live with me before, but I asked Charlotte without thinking twice about it. I’d be on the moon working on the rover program, and she would be sleeping in my house, watching TV on my couch, and doing whatever else. The idea of her bringing a guy home didn’t cross my mind until now, but I felt strange telling her she couldn’t bring anyone to the house.

  “I won’t bring any guys over. Torpedo doesn’t like it when I do that anyway.”

  At least now I didn’t have to ask. “He doesn’t seem to mind me.”

  “I know…which is strange.” She picked up her bag again then carried it into my bedroom. “I can’t believe I’m going to live in an astronaut’s house. I’m gonna go through all your stuff, look at your porn, and rifle through your underwear drawer.”

  “You’re probably going to find a lot of old engineering textbooks, my fighter jet models, and my porn is on my laptop, so that shouldn’t be hard to find.”

  She put her bag on my dresser and looked out the back window. French doors led to the backyard, so she could see her dog enjoying the outdoors.

  I followed behind her, imagining what panties she was wearing underneath that dress.

  She went to the back door and closed the drapes so we couldn’t see outside anymore. Then she peeled off the straps of her dress and let it slide to the floor. Her thong was bright blue, the color of an Easter egg.

  She sauntered toward me, looking better than any porn video I’d ever watched. Her hair was slightly curly today instead of being straight like it usually was. With that gold necklace around her neck and nothing else on, it made her look even more appealing. As she walked toward me, she pushed her panties over her ass and let them slide down her legs.

  My dick was so hard, so fast, I actually felt a little dizzy.

  She rose on her tiptoes and pulled my shirt over my head. “You’ve made such a generous offer… How will I show my gratitude?” Her palms pressed against my chest and glided over my skin, her nails slightly teasing me with their sharpness.

  I wanted to sink inside that pussy and never leave. I wanted to inch further and further until I felt her mind, body, and soul. Most of my flings were short-lived and always required a condom, but sometimes they lasted a little longer, so we skipped the protection.

  I wanted to skip it now.

  “Are you on the pill?” I undid my jeans and slid off my shoes.

  Her eyes shifted back and forth as she looked into mine. “Why?”

  “You know why.” I stripped down to my birthday suit and backed her toward my bed.

  The arousal in her eyes diminished, a slight look of pain all the more noticeable because it was such a contrast to her mood before.

  I had no idea what caused her mood swing. “What? I’m clean.”

  “It’s not that…”

  “Then what’s the problem?” Even if the atmosphere had changed, my mood hadn’t. I still wanted her to the exclusion of all else. I still wanted our naked bodies to come together in a burning-hot passion.

  “Well…I can’t have children.” Her voice hiccupped just a little, her emotion breaking through even though she tried to hide it. “So, I don’t take anything…” Her eyes moved down as the sadness kicked in, as if she was ashamed of the admission she’d just made.

  God, I was such an asshole.

  The thought skipped my mind because I reverted bac
k to the question I asked my lovers. Now I felt like an idiot for forgetting all the personal stuff she’d confided in me, the very reason her husband left her. “I’m sorry… I wasn’t thinking.”

  “It’s okay…” Her eyes were still down like it was anything but okay.

  I’d ruined this. I mentioned the one thing that bothered her, the one thing that robbed her of her sunshine. Now that I’d zapped her mojo and ruined the moment, I didn’t try to get it back. There was nothing worse than forcing something that wasn’t meant to be.

  I walked to the curtains and opened them again, revealing a perfect view of Torpedo on the grass under the tree. His eyes were closed like he was dozing off.

  She turned and looked out the window, looking so damn sexy.

  I pulled back the covers and got under the sheets. My large palm patted the spot beside me. “Come here.”

  She came into bed beside me, her cheek pressing against my chest. Her arm wrapped around my waist, and she tucked her leg between my knees. “He looks happy out there.”

  “He does. This is the perfect place for you guys.”

  “Yeah…I think you might be right.”

  I opened my nightstand and fished out the lab papers I’d just picked up after work. I set them beside her. “If you’re open to the idea, I am too.”

  She lifted the paper so she could read the details. She scanned it before she tossed the paper aside, like the results mean nothing to her. “I haven’t been checked in a while…not that I was having a lot of sex before we met.”

  “They take walk-ins at the clinic.” I didn’t want to sound too needy or apply too much pressure. Maybe she just wasn’t interested in that level of intimacy. I’d never had a woman turn me down, but Charlotte had been different from everyone else since the beginning.

  The corner of her mouth rose in a smile. “You really want this to happen, huh?”

  Every man on the planet didn’t want to wear a condom if they didn’t have to. “Only if you do. If you aren’t interested, I understand.” I had to play it cool, to come off indifferent rather than needy. It wasn’t like Charlotte was my girlfriend or something.

  “I’ll go tomorrow.”

  I tried to hide my enthusiasm, but that was nearly impossible. I could feel the tightness in my face as my cheeks contracted slightly, making my lips curl into a gentle smile. I could even feel the softness in my eyes, the giddiness in my veins.

  She watched me, her eyes filling with affection. “You want me to go now?”

  “No,” I said with a laugh. “You’re worth the wait.”

  “Why do we have to wait?” The change in subject must have made her forget about the stupid thing I said, because she rose up on her arms and crawled onto my chest. She pulled her panties over her hips and straddled my hips. Her curtain of dark hair fell over one shoulder and dragged across my skin. Her perfume entered my nose and made me inhale a deep breath. Her bottom rested on my waist, her pussy pressing against my semi-hard dick.

  It didn’t take long for me to get hard.

  Just a few seconds.

  When she leaned over me, her sexy tits entered my line of sight. With hard nipples and a firm shape, they were the nicest boobs I’d ever seen. Perfect size and perfect shape. She moved farther up my body until her face hovered above mine. She arched her back and slowly lowered herself until her tits pressed against my hard chest.

  Fuck yeah.

  Nothing sexier than feeling a woman right against me, feeling her tits and her curves, feeling her hair brush against me. My hands circled her waist, and I pulled her tighter against me even though we already as close as paper and glue.

  Then she kissed me.

  Fuck.

  Those small lips were so full, so easy to feel. They knew how to kiss, how to seduce a man until he was nothing but bursting testosterone. She pulled my lips gently into her mouth then gave me some of her tongue.

  Nice.

  Her kiss became more intense, picking up in speed and turning passionate.

  So what if she couldn’t have kids? Her husband really walked away from this?

  All of this?

  Fucking idiot.

  My hands gripped her cheeks, and I squeezed them hard, moaning into her mouth. My fat cock pressed against her body, oozing from the tip because I was ready for her. I was ready like a man was ready for a woman, ready to work my ass off until she was satisfied. I was just as passionate about women as I was about space, but this woman turned my passion into an obsession.

  Torpedo came to the door in my bedroom and started to bark.

  That little asshole.

  Charlotte didn’t halt to pay attention to her dog. She ignored him like he wasn’t there, like she hadn’t heard him bark to come inside. Her hands were all over me, her lips were aggressive. She wasn’t stopping for anything—not a damn thing.

  And I wasn’t stopping either.

  SHE SAT across from me at the table, wearing one of my t-shirts with messy hair and slightly smeared eyeliner. We had been hot and heavy in the bedroom, making us both sweat. Neither one of us looked our best anymore, but it didn’t dampen our attraction to each other.

  She had an open bottle of beer in front of her. A pizza box sat between us, and we ate right out of the box without using plates. She picked up a slice and took a bite, her elbow on the table because she was completely real and in the moment.

  I could stare at her forever.

  She took a few small bites, chewed with that little mouth, and then washed it down with her beer. Like she was one of the guys, she fit in perfectly. She held my gaze without looking away, as if she didn’t give a damn that she’d dropped her manners.

  Torpedo lay on the floor, his snout resting on his paws as he waited for scraps to fall.

  “You like the pizza?” I was in just my sweatpants since she took my t-shirt.

  “Pizza and beer are a staple to me.”

  I kept eating, watching her cute mouth move as she chewed. “It’s a rare treat for me.”

  “So you can keep up that body?”

  “No. So I can be healthy.”

  She rolled her eyes. “No one stays in shape to be healthy. They do it to get laid—which is perfectly fine.”

  “Getting laid is definitely a perk. But if I’m not in perfect health, they’ll deny my launches. Even if my blood pressure is a little high, they’ll scrub my missions until I get my health under control.”

  “Really?” she asked, lowering her slice because she was genuinely surprised. “That’s crazy.”

  “Not really. Think about it. You’re up there without access to health care. If you have health issues, how are you gonna survive? NASA and Space X never want to have an astronaut die in space. That’s terrible publicity.”

  “That’s never happened before?”

  “Not on the ISS or Lunar Labs. If things go wrong, it usually happens during launch or reentry…and that has nothing to do with health issues. Those are just unfortunate catastrophes no one could control or predict.” It was exactly what happened to my father. It didn’t matter that he graduated at the top of his class at Berkeley or that he was the best test pilot in the air force. His rocket exploded—and it had nothing to do with him.

  She nodded slightly, probably remembering what happened to my father. He was part of some experimental missions and he was simply unlucky—no better way to put it. While he had a terrible death, he wouldn’t have changed anything. He knew the risk and did it anyway—because his life was about the stars. “Does that ever scare you?”

  I’d be lying if I said it didn’t. Anyone who said they weren’t scared was full of shit. “Yes.”

  “And you do it anyway?”

  I nodded. “One day, you’re going to reach the end of your life. In those moments, you’re going to regret the things you didn’t do…not the things you did do. Every time I launch, I’m strapped into that chair in my space suit, listening to Houston count down over the intercom. I feel the jets come to life, fee
l the structure detach from the rocket so it can fly into the sky. In the back of my mind, I know it might be the last moment I’m alive. But I’m also eerily calm because I accept my death if it comes to that. This is what I’ve dedicated my life to…and I’d die for it.”

  She didn’t pick up her slice again or drink her beer. She stared at me with open eyes, as if my words continued to echo in her mind once I finished talking. “You’re so brave.”

  “My ambition outweighs my fear.”

  “How did you become so passionate about this? Because of your father?”

  “He’s not the only reason.” But he was definitely the seed that had been planted into my mind. “The answers to our existence lie in the universe. I don’t know exactly where…but they are out there. All the components of the universe are also found in us…hydrogen, carbon, sulfur. The universe is composed of the same stuff…which means we’re part of the cosmos. The more we understand our universe, the better off we’ll be. Billions of years from now, our sun will burn out and leave us in perpetual darkness. Unless we leave this planet and find another place to live, our civilization will cease to exist. My mission is to continue the human race…even though I’ll never live long enough to see that outcome.”

  She wore the same expression as before, like she didn’t know how to react to my response. “That’s…heavy.”

  “It’s stuff you don’t want to think about, but I never stop thinking about it.”

  “You said you didn’t want to have children, so you aren’t thinking about the future for your children.”

  “My brother will have children. My friends will have children. Sometimes people can be so terrible to one another…but they are still worth fighting for. We spend our time bickering about politics and religion, but there are more pressing matters. This is what I’ve dedicated my life to because it’s important to me. But all these efforts might be pointless since our earth is dying.”

  “Then why are you bothering with this?”

  “It’s always good to have a backup plan, right?” I grabbed my beer and took a drink.

  “You’re very special, Neil. Not too many people are smart enough to do what you do. There’s even fewer that actually care about it.”