Catching Stardust (18 page)

Zander slipped his other hand behind her. She felt so good wrapped in his arms this way, her body rubbing against his with each sway to the music. Everything about this moment was intoxicating and his head felt off-balance.

She tilted her head up to look at him and her long hair brushed against his hands. He loved her long, wavy tresses and fought the urge to slide his hand up her back to tangle in them.

They danced together, completely lost in each other until the song ended and a new, faster one started. He couldn’t pull his hands from Maia’s waist. He wanted to stay right here, with her staring at him, forever.

She popped up on her toes and her lips brushed quickly against his, surprising him and leaving him wanting more. He always wanted more from her. He pulled her closer, savoring every millisecond of her lips on his so he would have more to remember her by when she was gone again, back to wherever it was she came from. Her hand went to the base of his skull holding him tightly as she kissed him harder.

He released her and took a small step back, letting the tiniest amount of space snake in between them. “I can’t kiss you like this here.”

She dropped her arms to her sides, but didn’t step back. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I was embarrassing you.”

“You’re not. Trust me.” He slipped his hand into hers and led her off the dance floor and back onto the grass. They stopped at the bar and he ordered them each a drink. “But I can’t keep kissing you like that and then still be expected to hold an intelligent conversation with anyone.”

He shoved a tip into the bartender’s hand and took their drinks, handing her one. “I can’t kiss you again then walk away from it like nothing happened and try to get on with our date. No. Kissing you like that makes me want to keep kissing you like that.”

“And the problem is?”

“We’re at a party with a bunch of people around and not alone, like I’d like to be with you.”

“Hey, man, where’ve you been? I was looking for you,” Jude said, walking up to them, completely oblivious to the conversation he was interrupting.

“We were dancing,” Maia said, giving Jude a kiss on the cheek in greeting. “It’s nice to see you again, Jude.”

“You were dancing?” he laughed. “Now I really wish I’d found you a few minutes ago. You usually have to pay for entertainment like that.”

“Ha, ha. Very funny.” Zander patted his buddy on the back as an unsaid invitation to shut up. He didn’t need his friend trying to humiliate him in front of Maia. Zander was more than capable of doing that himself.

“How about this party, huh? It’s a really clear night. Have you been inside? The view is stunning tonight.”

“We haven’t made it in there yet. I guess I’ve been too busy enjoying the view out here.” Zander winked at Maia. He wasn’t necessarily trying to be cheesy, but there was something about Maia that made him keep saying stupid shit.

“Wow. Okay. Moving on.” Jude cleared his throat and turned to Maia, specifically aiming his next question at her. “Anything in particular you’d like to see in the sky tonight?”

Maia shook her head. “Not really. Although I guess I wouldn’t mind having a look at Orion if it happens to be in the section we’re looking at tonight.”

“Oh, really? Why’s that?”

“I don’t know. I guess I haven’t seen him—it—in a while.”

“Him? You speak of the constellation as if it’s a friend.” Jude leveled his gaze on Maia. Zander wanted to step in front of her and protect her from his friend. Why was Jude speaking to her as if he were accusing her of something?

“Well, Orion is supposed to represent the hunter, right? So I guess I said him by accident.” Maia shrugged, looking unbothered by Jude’s question.

Zander wasn’t unbothered though. He wanted Jude to drop all this nonsense with Maia already. Enough was enough. Jude needed to find a new hobby because going after Maia—trying to find something to go after her about, was boring, pointless and annoying.

“Oh, see I thought maybe you had some kind of familiar connection to him or something.” Jude leaned in.

Maia’s gaze fluttered between the two men. “It would be hard to be familiar or connected with a constellation, wouldn’t it? Unless of course I woke up in a science fiction movie this morning and no one told me.”

Zander wanted to reach over and smack Jude across the back of his head. Maia was obviously uncomfortable being scrutinized by Jude and yet Jude couldn’t take a damn hint.

“Where’s the ladies room?” Maia directed her question at Zander. “I need to freshen up a bit after all that dancing.”

Zander pointed. “It’s inside and to the left of the front door. I’ll wait for you right here.”

He watched as Maia wove her way gracefully through the crowd of people milling around on the grass. When she disappeared inside the building, he turned to Jude.

“Okay, spill it,” Zander said, his annoyance coming through loud and clear. Jude had been fidgeting and uncomfortable around Maia and it was time to find out why. “I can tell there’s something up with you, so what is it?”

Jude’s face lit up and he glanced around them. Everyone near them was deeply involved in their own conversations and no one appeared to be interested in what Jude had to say in the least. Jude looked back to Zander with a gleam of something in his eye. “I’m getting closer.”

Zander shook his head. “Closer to what?”

“To figuring it out. I knew there was something up that night in the park with the data, but I couldn’t make sense of it. Now I know there’s something weird going on.”

“You said yourself earlier today you didn’t find anything at the park. Why won’t you move on to something else?”

“I can’t believe you would give up so easily when the biggest discovery of our time—the thing we’ve both been waiting for—has fallen right into your lap.”

Zander took a swig of his drink. Too bad he couldn’t get drunk since he had to drive back to the city. Talking to Jude about this again and again was certainly enough to make him want to drown his sorrows in a few extra drinks.

“I want there to be some big discovery too, but unless you can convince me there is, it’s time to let it go.” Zander moved to walk away.

“It’s about Maia.”

Zander stopped. His curiosity piqued. He turned back to Jude, getting close so no one would overhear whatever it was Jude thought was so damned important. “What about Maia?”

“You know the cup Maia was drinking from the other night when you guys got off the train? The one I said I’d toss out for her? Well, I didn’t throw it out. I tested it. The results came back just before I left to come here and they’re pretty interesting.”

Zander ground his teeth together. He felt as if Jude had invaded his own privacy instead of Maia’s. “Why would you do that?”

“Because I had to. I don’t know why I had to, but something told me that I should. So I did.”

There were limits to research, and invading someone’s privacy by testing them without their knowledge wasn’t permissible. This time, Jude had stepped over the line from devoted scientist to creep. “You’ve gone too far with this. You’re letting your imagination run wild and take over your rational thought.”

“You’re letting your dick do your thinking for you.”

Zander downed the rest of his drink in one gulp. Damn him. Jude was right.

If Maia wasn’t in the picture, Zander would be all over this anomaly and would be right in the trenches with Jude, figuring it out in anyway they had to until they had an answer. Instead he was out on dates with Maia and his brain turned to mush every time he smelled her perfume. Damn it. The girl smelled like flower blossoms floating on the breeze of a spring rain. How could he possibly resist?

“Okay, so you’re right, but you can’t blame me. I mean, look at the woman.”

“True, but before you go getting too involved with her, there really is something you should know.” Jude paused.

Zander leaned forward, urging him to hurry up and say whatever it was he had to say before Maia came back from the restroom and interrupted them. He didn’t want to be excited about whatever it was Jude had discovered by using Maia and testing her behind her back. But he couldn’t stop his pulse from racing in his veins at the possibility of finally having answers that made sense. “What did you find out?”

“This whole time, I’ve felt like there was some connection between Maia and the data not meeting up right. Now I don’t have everything figured out, but what I have found can’t be ignored. I tested Maia’s cup and it came back with a very unlikely result. Stardust.”

“Stardust. I don’t get it.”

“I don’t either, but the result can’t lie. Maia’s cup was covered in particles that are consistent with stardust.”

Zander laughed. He couldn’t help himself. It was too funny. “Okay. You need to go home and sleep or I’m going to have to take you to the hospital and ask the doctors there to put you in a coma so you can get some much needed rest.”

“I’m serious. Those particles couldn’t have been anything else. There is something not right about Maia and how she magically appeared in the park.”

“You’re right.”

“I am?”

“Yep. We should call NASA and tell them we have an alien among us.” Zander shook his head. “So good luck with that. Let me know how they take the news.”

“Stardust. Doesn’t that intrigue you even a little bit?”

“There’s a little stardust in all of us.” Zander rubbed his temples trying to think of a logical explanation for the finding. Sure it was a little unusual, but there had to be some mistake or reason. Maia wasn’t an alien. “Okay. We got those drinks right before we got on the train to come home. We’d been outside all night. Maybe there was some kind of star-related activity in the atmosphere that night and somehow we had some kind of cosmic dust on ourselves. I bet if you’d tested my cup, you would have come back with the same results. Whatever the case may be I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell Maia you think she’s an alien. Meeting a nice girl in the city is hard enough as it is. I don’t want her to ditch me because of my crazy friend.”

Maia came back and stood beside Zander, handing him a fresh drink. “I stopped to pick up refills on my way back. But virgin this time since I wasn’t sure how much longer we’d be here before driving back to the city.”

“Thanks. That was really sweet of you.”

“So what conversation did I just walk in on? It looked intense and interesting.”

“It was just some results that Jude got back from the lab today, but I’m afraid the results were rather inconclusive and disappointing. Isn’t that right, Jude?”

Jude’s gaze flittered between the two of them. “That’s right. So disappointing in fact, I’m going to go grab another drink, fully loaded.”

“You’re not driving home tonight are you?” Maia asked. Zander admired her concern for someone she barely knew.

“No, I’m taking the train with a few other colleagues. If you’ll excuse me.” Jude wandered off leaving Zander and Maia alone again.

Zander couldn’t help but sigh with relief that Jude had been considerate enough not to bring up his crazy accusations about Maia
to
Maia. It was hard enough trying to impress someone without having to make excuses for crazy friends at the same time.

And yet, Jude’s words lingered in his head.
Stardust.

He eyed Maia as she sipped her drink and smiled up at him. True, she was different than any other woman he’d met, but wasn’t that sort of a true sentiment for every person when they met someone they really liked? And true, she did have the most unusual eyes he’d ever had the privilege of gazing into, but that was because of the contacts. Well, and because of the emotion he saw coming from somewhere deeper inside her.

But was she so different he could entertain the idea she might be an alien?

Nope. Not a chance. He’d kissed her lips. He’d caressed her skin. Nope. The only thing otherworldly about her was how stunningly beautiful she was.

“You okay?” she asked, bringing him out of his thoughts.

“Better than okay. I’m here with you.”

She smiled and looked at her feet coyly. “You’re too sweet.”

“You wanna get out of here?”

“You’re ready to end our date already?”

He cocked an eyebrow. “I didn’t say that.”

“So what did you have in mind then?” She set her drink down on a nearby table. Zander did the same, placing his hands on her arms instead.

He shrugged. “Head back to the city. Maybe a little night cap at my place on the rooftop.” He rubbed his hand along the exposed skin of her arm. He could think of a lot of things he’d like to do with Maia tonight, but he wasn’t about to get his hopes up. Bringing her back to his place, getting a chance to relax in the comfort of his home, talking, finding out more about her and spending more time with her—alone, that would be more than enough for tonight.

“Sounds good to me.”

Zander led the way back to his car, stopping briefly to say a few quick goodbyes as they went. They passed Jude with a curt nod and were back at the car moments later. Jude’s assumptions filled Zander’s thoughts again.

He didn’t want to think about Jude or the results that didn’t really prove anything. But they couldn’t be completely ignored either. Jude was right about one thing. If Maia really was an alien, it would be the biggest discovery of their careers. This one finding alone could set them up for life in the scientific community. Not to mention what it would do for the Arius Industries personal space travel line.