AVAILABLE
In TRADE PAPERBACK!
HARD
CANDY Anthology
Fortune's Star
~ An Erotic Science-Fiction
Novella
~
In
the heart of the Imperial Stars, past and future collide,
as ghosts converge in battle for a fortune-teller’s
soul...on Port Destiny Station.
Luxi Emery was perfectly
happy with her position as the receptionist for Armored
Media Corp. Then her hidden talent for seeing the
future awakened -- and exposed a black-mailing con-artist
haunted by a malevolent ghost. It was a lose-lose
situation, and Luxi had only a single shred of hope.
Her future awaits
on Port Destiny Station. A future intertwined with
Amun, the handsome diplomatic telepath, and Leto,
a ghost-haunted cyborg with very human carnal appetites.
If they can resolve a few…intimate…details.
Yet a darker future
is chases Luxi: they are not alone, and Leto’s
is not the only hungry ghost hunting for her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- 0 -
Armored Media Corporation
Estrella City, Temperance Prime
Luxi smiled as the data
from the feed jacked into the base of her skull flowed
smoothly through her internal computational array.
The upgrade had been well worth the credits. The department's
incoming and outgoing communications data was barely
touching her conscious thoughts, with not one trace
of lag-time.
She turned her face to
the tall windows right by her desk and peered out
over the city's vista. Sunlight gleamed on the towers
and spires of Uppercity's business district. Below
her, two-man gliders and private sedan cruisers wove
around massive freight hovers as they zipped along
the traffic-filled airways.
Musing on the different
levels of speeding air traffic, she ran her fingers
lightly over her hair, making sure that the silver
clip was still securely fastened. She didn't need
her rolled and coiled waist-length hair unraveling
and getting caught on the data-jack. As curly as her
hair was, the bright red strands had a nasty habit
of wrapping tightly around the feed wire. She utterly
refused to cut it, not when it was her best feature,
so keeping it tightly bound was her only option.
The entry door chimed
gently then slid to the side, opening with a soft
hiss. A tall businessman stalked in from the outer
hallway.
Luxi stared at the tall
man filling her tiny receptionist alcove and felt
every hair on her body rise. Her throat tightened
for no good reason what so ever. "Welcome to
Armored Media Corp." Her voice came out breathless.
There was something terribly
wrong with him.
He didn't look
odd, in fact, he might have been considered handsome.
He had strong, clean-shaven features and his shoulder-length
sable hair was neatly trimmed. Broad shoulders filled
out his simple but sedately expensive fawn overcoat
with no sign of the paunch that most Uppercity businessmen
carried. The single-button chocolate dress suit he
wore under his long coat was also understated, but
the super-fine material and the tailored cut reeked
of money.
She'd seen lots of businessmen
dressed like this, and quite a few from off-world
that were dressed far more exotically. None of them
had ever given her a case of the chills.
He turned to Luxi and
smiled. "I'm here to see Gentle-fem Symposia?"
He held out his data card.
And every instinct in
Luxi's body screamed that she was in danger.
Luxi took the card very
carefully so as not to make actual physical contact
with his fingers. She swallowed. "One moment
please." She swiped it through the desktop scanner,
then routed his data to Gentle-fem Symposia's office.
His information consisted of a single name, and that
was it.
Vincent
Luxi frowned. He must
be some kind of private consultant. She handed the
card back.
He turned away and stared
at one of the tasteful, but boring prints on the cream
wall by the inner door. Luxi was clearly beneath his
notice, and that suited her just fine.
Mercy Symposia, Director
of the Executables Department of Armored Media, strode
briskly into the reception alcove from the inner door.
As usual, she appeared conservatively professional
with her dark blond hair in an elegant upsweep, yet
sleek in her tailored black suit-dress. Chin up and
smiling, she took Vincent's outstretched hand. "I'm
so glad you could see me on such short notice."
Vincent bowed over Gentle-fem
Symposia's hand, then released it. "I found an
opening in my schedule that permitted."
Luxi transferred data
while keeping half an eye on the pair. What was it
that set her off? Very casually, she stood up to get
a better look. She swept her hands down her sleek
and less than expensive, but nicely tailored, dove-gray
business dress. She fiddled with a few folders on
the upper ledge of her desk while trying not to look
directly at either of them.
Mercy's smile faded as
she spoke with the gentleman. The conversation sounded
like any other business discussion, and yet she seemed
nervous.
Vincent stood with casual
deference and nodded in complete understanding. He
spoke in mild and polite tones, but his smile seemed
a tad sharp and his eyes…his black eyes…
Luxi awakened her quiescent
mental talent from the depths of her mind, and focused
it on what she was feeling. Synchronicities, the lines
of coincidence and possibility ruled by the decisions
made in the here and now, clarified and stretched
outward into bright skeins that created the warp and
weft of potential futures. Her attention slid down
the threads of prospect, decision and chance that
the unnerving man shared with her boss, seeking the
future they would create.
She cringed. This man
was a con-artist that preyed on fear. If Gentle-fem
Symposia did business with him even once, her boss
would never be rid of him.
Luxi turned away. If
she said anything to her boss, she would have to tell
Gentle-fem Symposia how she knew. She had no doubts
that she would be believed. Psi-talents were not unknown.
Most people showed some trace of telepathy or telekinetic
ability, but strong talents were rare. And her talent
was very reliable.
That was the problem.
Exposing the existence
of her particular talent would cost her, her job.
The ability to track potential futures was just too
much for any company to deal with. No one wanted to
know that someone else was privy to their business
decisions before they even made them. It didn't matter
to them that she wouldn't know if she didn't actually
look. They were all so busy angling for an advantage
over the next company, it wouldn't occur to them that
she simply did not care.
But if she didn't say
anything, Luxi would lose her job anyway. The company
would not take kindly to Gentle-fem Symposia's embezzlement
to feed this man's need for cash. The office would
be closed for months during the investigation. Mercy
would be indentured to the company for life and her
staff disbanded, including the receptionist.
Luxi's possible futures
burned in the back of her mind. No matter what she
chose, her future was no longer here in this office.
There was nothing she could do to stem the tide. The
real decisions were not in her hands. Once that man
had entered Mercy's life, Luxi's future had been doomed.
Keeping silent would not save her.
But Gentle-fem Symposia's
gratitude might.
There was one slim chance
that Luxi would not end up living in the under-city
slums -- but it was slim indeed.
Luxi shut down her holographic
display, pulled out her data jack and set the communications
switchboard on auto. Damn it, I really liked this
job! She took a steadying breath and lifted her
chin. "Ms Symposia, that man cannot be trusted."
Mercy turned a sharp
look Luxi's way. "Luxi, you have no idea what
you're talking about. He's a monk."
A monk? Luxi swallowed
but held her supervisor's gaze steadily. "Gentle-fem
Symposia, with all due respect, he's a blackmailing
con-artist."
Her supervisor frowned.
"What?"
The man suddenly focused
on Luxi. His black eyes narrowed. "Miss, do you
know what you are saying?"
Luxi stared coldly into
his eyes. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I do."
Abruptly her small secondary talent stirred within
her. She had no grasp on it or control over it, the
talent came and it went as it pleased. It wasn't particularly
useful. All her little talent saw was the threads
of the past -- and ghosts.
As she stared into Vincent's
black eyes, her second talent suddenly opened wide
and showed her why her skin was crawling.
Vincent was possessed
by a second soul. It was staring straight at her from
within his eyes with malignant intent. It was very
dead, and very hungry.
Vincent suddenly smiled.
It wasn't pretty.
Luxi literally felt the
ground move under her feet as her future abruptly
reshaped itself.
* * * * *
Mercy Symposia's office
was not particularly large, but it boasted a full
wall of solid windows that overlooked the heart of
Estrella City's corporate district. Her broad desk
was an understated work of art made of real imported
blackwood. Mercy tapped at her keyboard and frowned
thoughtfully at her holographic display.
Luxi sat in the elegant
back-curved chair before the desk with her hands folded
quietly in her lap. She had been right. Mercy had
not had any difficulty believing, once she understood
Luxi's odd talent. Fortune-tellers were a dime a dozen,
but none of them in Estrella's, upper-city or below,
had the accuracy that Luxi possessed. It was not something
she talked about.
The silence lay thick
in the office.
Luxi swallowed hard.
"I'm…I'm sorry, Gentle-fem Symposia."
Mercy sighed and folded
her hands on her desktop. "I have been having
strange dreams and odd…occurrences, in my condo.
I was led to believe that this man was an expert on
such things." She gazed at her hands rather than
at Luxi.
Luxi turned to get her
purse hanging on her chair's slender arm. She pulled
out a slim data card and set it on the desk. "This
is a friend of mine. She'll take care of that for
you, and she won't ask for more than she's worth.
If you have any other problems, she'll tell you who
you can trust."
Mercy took the card.
She glanced briefly at it then tapped the edge on
her desk. "When you told me, what you told me…
I was under the impression that there was a lot more
that you…didn't say."
Luxi closed her purse
and nodded. With the entire company hard-wired for
surveillance, 'embezzlement' was the one word that
never came out of your mouth.
Mercy hands clenched
into fists. "You just saved my career, didn't
you?"
Luxi clutched her purse.
"None of that will happen now. You're safe. He's
not after you any more." He's after me.
Mercy pressed her fingers
to her brow and released a breath. "Damn it,
Luxi, you just saved my ass and I have to fire you!"
Luxi nodded miserably.
She had done the right thing. She knew she'd done
the right thing, but it still hurt like hell. "The
company cannot afford to have me work in their offices."
She closed her eyes. "I'm a…an information
leak."
Mercy leaned back in
her chair and glared at her closed office door. "It's
also company policy to report strong talents. Once
it's recorded on your personal essay, it goes on your
resume. Not one company will hire you."
Luxi stared at her purse.
"I know."
Mercy scowled at her
hands. "You could have kept your mouth shut."
I would have lost
my job anyway. Luxi lifted her shoulder in a half-hearted
shrug. "I'm a nice girl. It's what nice girls
do."
Mercy blinked, then smiled
bitterly. "Nice girls, huh?" She stared
at her holographic display and tapped her desktop
with a manicured nail. "Loyalty should be rewarded
-- not punished!" Abruptly, she leaned forward.
"Luxi, can you look for yourself? Can you see
if there is any way I can help you? Any way at all?"
Luxi's fingers tightened
on her purse. Within her mind, her talent hummed and
possibilities dropped into place. This was it. She
had reached the juxtaposition moment she'd been waiting
for, the turning point in her personal future where
everything came together and hinged on a single decision.
She glanced up at her former supervisor. "As
a matter of fact, there is."
~
1 ~
Port
Destiny Station
Imperial Space - Outbound Corridor
"We are approaching
dock to Port Destiny spaceport," the shuttle's
gentle voice announced. "Please secure all personal
belonging in preparation for return to gravity."
Luxi woke from her nap
and stretched in her padded chair. The shuttle had
taken nearly an hour to cross the distance from the
star-liner to the spaceport. A zero-gravity nap had
filled the time nicely.
She peered up over the
heads of the other shuttle passengers. The yawning
mouth of Port Destiny's sixty-five meter wide docking
bay door filled the forward view-screen. The cylindrical
station slowly took on truly gigantic proportions.
All of a sudden, Luxi had no trouble at all believing
that the station employed over sixty-five hundred
people.
From the star liner's
stateroom view-screens, the station had appeared small.
Measured against the spaceport station she had transferred
from, Port Destiny station was small. It was
only a little over eight kilometers long and archaic
in design. Rather than a modern docking ring around
a habitat globe, Port Destiny was an old Terran-built
station that was tubular in shape. The entire barrel-like
body of the station turned, generating nearly normal
gravity the old-fashioned way, by centrifugal rotation.
Luxi pursed her lips.
Port Destiny was practical rather than aesthetically
pleasing, but practicality had its advantages. Since
the entire station turned, pocket regions of the station
were less likely to lose gravity through unexpected
power outages.
"Please remain in
your seats until the shuttle has come to a complete
stop," the shuttle's voice continued. "Please
have your data cards ready for swift assessment through
customs. Thank you for traveling with Imperial Princess
Starlines."
Luxi reached into the
zip-sealed breast pocket of her deep violet jumpsuit
and pulled out her holographic data card. The card
marked her identity, such as it was, the last of her
personal credits, and her passage through the corridors
of space on her way to a new planet, a new job and
a new life. A reward from Ms. Symposia for her loyalty
and the price she had paid for it.
The first moment she
had touched the card, Luxi's talent for reading the
future betrayed that her arrival at the card's final
destination would mark the beginning of a long, stable
career marked by utter misery.
She was going to loathe
her new life.
However, a crossing thread
marked a single moment in time heavily weighted by
chance, hinting that an opportunity for a better future
could cross her path before she ever arrived. It was
only a whisper among the tangled threads of synchronicity.
A possible knot of juxtaposition whose threads were
not yet in place. Others had yet to make decisions
that would bring this moment of opportunity forth.
That slim possibility
had been enough to make Luxi sell every trace of her
entire life. One hand-carry bag and the card were
all she had left.
Luxi's hands tightened
on the arms of the chair as the view-screen filled
with the interior lights of the station's dock. She
had traveled for sixteen days and eight jumps from
star system to star system, on two different star-liners,
to reach that moment. It was here, on Port Destiny
station, that the tangled threads of opportunity,
chance and decision would cross. It was here that
her last chance for happiness would occur. Her talent
hummed actively within her. Possibility was coming
closer to being opportunity with every breath she
took.
Luxi hoped with everything
in her that the opportunity presented itself soon,
because yet another moment of synchronicity was actively
chasing her with malevolent determination.
The ghost-possessed monk
Vincent was trailing her across the stars.
She could feel his vile
intent crawling across the threads of possibility
into her future. Her talent warned that no matter
what course she charted, sooner or later he would
catch up with her. From that meeting, all her lines
into the future ended in a single moment marked by
a single decision, a decision that was entirely in
her own hands.
With not one hint of what that decision would bring
-- or cost.
* * * * *
Customs was a huge, well-lit and crowded
hallway that curved to the right. Three lines of passengers
moved at a crawl past plain and featureless cream
walls painted with a broad band of bronze. The long
lines ended in a wide doorway blocked by full-body
scanners and armed guards in dark uniforms. Their
snug, half-armored doublet coats were emblazoned with
Sojourn Corp. across the breast, and swords
graced their hips. In the sealed environment of a
space station, where a pinhole could mean the deaths
of thousands, energy weapons were tightly controlled.
Even the state-of-the-art live-steel blade worn by
Imperial Officers could not cut through armored plating.
Luxi tucked an errant wave of her red
mane behind her ear. The shuttle's zero-g had really
done a job on her hair. She was going to have to dig
out her brush and re-braid the whole mess.
Boredom weighed heavily. It had been
a long, dull flight, then a long, dull wait, and then
this long, dull walk.
She arrived at the gate to enter the
station proper, and had to force herself not to yawn
in the guard's face.
He winced. "Please don't yawn,"
he said softly. "I'll start doing it, then the
rest of the guys will do it, and it looks really bad
on surveillance."
Luxi smiled to cover the almost-yawn.
"You? Yawn, when you have such an exciting job?"
She turned over her data card for assessment.
"Oh, yeah…" He rolled
his eyes and grinned. "I'm so fulfilled."
He slid her card through his hand-held reader. The
light over the doorway scanner went green. He returned
her card and handed her a folded flyer emblazoned
with the station's logo. "Welcome to Port Destiny
Station." He leaned closer and added in a stage-whisper,
"…where nothing ever happens."
"Thank you." She glanced at
the station flyer. "Personally, I've had enough
adventure already."
The guard snorted. "Then you are
going to love Port Destiny."
"I certainly hope so!" Luxi
grinned and stepped through the scanner, towing her
overstuffed hand-carry bag on its small wheels. No
alarms went off. She released a small breath and continued
on, grinning foolishly as she strode past another
set of guards, and out of the customs ring. It was
time to find her future.
The good news was that she didn't have
to worry about getting on the next flight for a whole
thirty hours, so she had thirty hours to figure out
where she needed to be -- and be there.
The bad news was that she didn't have
the credits to get even a cheap room to rest in for
any of those thirty hours. Her berths and meals were
included on the star-liners, but the spaceport stopovers
had proved very expensive. According to her personal
account, she had just enough credits left to get a
cup of kaffa and a snack. If she wanted a decent meal
before her next flight, she was going to have to do
something to make the credits to buy it. Luckily there
wasn't a spaceport that didn't have a kaffa shop,
or a kaffa shop that didn't appreciate a good fortune-teller.
Letting the corporate office know that
she could read the future could get her fired, but
here in the middle of nowhere, it was a way to make
a little cash.
Luxi held up the paper flyer the customs
officer had handed her, reading as she walked. According
to the flyer, there were seventeen kaffa shops in
the station's Garden District Concourse. And according
to her talent, she definitely had an appointment with
one of them.
Luxi approached the row of lifts that
would drop her on the Garden District Concourse. Her
talent shifted within her.
Something didn't feel right.
She stopped, letting the other shuttle
passengers brush by her. Now what? She frowned
in concentration, trying to get a better grasp of
what she was feeling.
Synchronicity was out of place. Taking
the lift wouldn't put her in the right place in the
right moment in time, for the future she was chasing.
Luxi rolled her eyes in disgust. Great,
a complication… Following the lines toward
the future was proving to be a real pain in the ass.
She glanced around. Okay, so if I'm not supposed
to go down the lift, where am I supposed to go?
There was a small hallway off to her right. Something
clicked into place. Ah…
Following the thread of synchronicity,
Luxi slipped through the line of passengers and into
the small hallway.
The hall ended at a single lift access.
According to the sign by the call button, this lift
led to the cable-car tramway that traveled from one
end of the station to the other, right through the
station's center. No one was waiting for the lift.
Luxi's brow rose. Apparently it was
not a popular mode of transportation. But this was
where she was supposed to be, so… She pushed
the call button.
~
2 ~
Luxi stepped out
on the tramway deck trailing her carry-bag and grabbed
onto the rail that ran all the way around the tram
station. Gravity was very minimal this close to the
station's center.
Not one person was waiting
on the tram.
On the other side of
the deep track where the cable-tram would pull in
was a huge window, and beyond it, the floor of the
world turned upward very slowly, meters and meters,
and meters, away -- all the way overhead. Oh Glory…
She suddenly felt as
though she were falling, and falling, and falling…
Luxi had to consciously
make an effort not to fall over. According to her
sense of perspective, the entire world was revolving
sideways at a dizzying distance. She tore her gaze
away and turned her back to the window. Okay, let's
not look at that anymore. She swallowed, suddenly
understanding why the tramway had few passengers.
According to the chrono
on the wall between the two lifts, she had about five
minutes to wait for the next tram. Once she was on
it, the tram would reach a stop just short of every
five minutes, and she had seven stops before she would
reach the stop she wanted. That should be long enough
to do something about my hair. Brushing her hair would
also give her something to concentrate on, rather
than the dizzying view. She knelt and dug into her
bag to retrieve her brush.
Brush in hand, she stood
to tug the elastic free from the end of her braid,
then dug her fingers into her thick curls to get it
out of the braid. It took more effort than she thought
it would to untangle the long coils enough to pull
a brush through it. The bright copper of her waist-length
mane blazed in a cloud of sunset waves against her
deep violet suit. She winced. Her hair was beyond
frizzy. The ship-board sonic projection vibro-showers
and antibacterial lighting had not been good for it.
Brushing it in low gravity did not help any. She shook
her head and kept brushing. Well, at least her hair
wasn't dry and crispy…
The lift door on her
far left opened up and three laughing people came
leaping out of the lift, floating on the light gravity.
The tallest was a pale young male with sleek creamy
blonde hair that swept well past his shoulders. His
charcoal-gray silk formal frock coat flared open to
his knees, showing off the expanse of his gently defined
bare chest. His trousers were skintight black velvet.
His two companions were
slender black-haired fems dressed in snug and aggressive
black leather trousers and tall boots. They were nearly
masculine in build, with only the gentle flare of
hips and the slight curve of breasts under their cropped
halter tops defining their gender. They were also
armed with long and short blades, where the male was
not. Their bare arms and bellies proudly displayed
sword-cut scars across their light golden skin. Their
mouths were wide and their up-tilted black eyes flashed
with humor as they towed their beautiful companion
toward the tram-track.
Luxi watched them avidly
as she pulled her brush through her springy curls.
From the looks of the sword scars, the fems were a
lot older than their youthful forms suggested . It
was entirely possible that the male was also far older
than he appeared. Clearly, she was looking at an Imperial
lord and his two bodyguards.
The young male turned
to look at Luxi with violet eyes set in an exquisitely
perfect face. His glossed pink lips opened on a spectacular
smile.
Luxi froze. Wow…pretty.
Another man came out
of the lift. His strongly masculine face was pale
as marble, without a trace of blush. His metallic-silver
hair was drawn back and fastened in a smooth straight
tail that fell just past his shoulders. His full-body,
high-collared jumpsuit was of deepest black yet it
shimmered with rainbows. Absolutely comfortable in
the light gravity, he moved with the inhumanly effortless
grace of the mechanically enhanced. He was simply
gorgeous in motion. He stalked around the incredible
trio with the careful inattention of a predator trying
not to startle his prey.
Luxi blinked. There was
something odd about him… His hair was true metallic
silver, a color no living hair could possibly emulate.
Her mouth fell open. He was a cyborg -- the most perfectly
crafted, utterly human-looking cyborg she had ever
seen.
He lifted his chin as
though scenting something interesting and turned to
look at Luxi with eyes the color of steel -- and shadow.
Luxi's talent jolted
hard. Good Glory…
The cyborg was animate
and conscious, but he wasn't alive. The spirit of
the living man he had once been burned in the depths
of his gaze, a spirit that had not fled with the loss
of his living body; a ghost perfectly contained in
fully robotic flesh.
Within her, synchronicity
suddenly dropped into place.
The cyborg was a key
to the future she was looking for.
Luxi jerked her gaze
away from the stunning ghost. A haunted cyborg?
Life was getting stranger by the second. She lifted
the brush to her hair, to do something rather than
turn back to stare at him. Her talent for sensing
synchronicity shimmered within her. Apparently she
was supposed to see him, and he was supposed to see
her, so he had something to do with her new future,
but what?
She scowled, trying to
read the lines, but just could not see what was supposed
to happen next. The future was still too vague. Apparently
the decision to set things in motion was not hers.
Someone spoke at her
elbow.
"Huh?" Luxi
turned.
The beautiful young lord
and his two dark-eyed companions stood only inches
away. Luxi's eyes opened wide. This close, the young
lord was breathtaking. His face had only the slightest
touches of cosmetics outlining his impossibly violet
eyes. Even his perfume was gorgeous.
He asked her a question.
She had no clue what
he said. Luxi lifted her shoulder in a small shrug.
"I'm sorry, but I don't understand?" She
really, really needed to get an upgrade for her internal
translator.
"He says that you
have hair like living flame. He'd like to know if
you would care to join him for sex."
Luxi started and turned
her head to find the cyborg standing by her left elbow.
She hadn't even seen him approach. She was forced
to look up. He was head and shoulders taller than
she was. And this close, he was absolutely stunning.
The lord was lovely but the cyborg's arresting face
was utterly, powerfully masculine.
Something in her stilled,
as though holding its breath.
His dark silver brows
rose. "Are you all right?"
Luxi released her breath
and felt her cheeks heat. She'd been staring. "Sorry…
I…" What had she been thinking? She didn't
have a clue. Her mind had utterly blanked. "I
don't know your name."
"I'm Leto."
He smiled.
"I'm Luxi."
Her voice came out breathless. Glory above, his smile!
She felt the listening stillness wash through her
again.
Leto tilted his head
toward the lord and his two fems. "He's waiting
to know if you want to have sex."
Luxi blinked. "He
wants…what?"
Leto lifted a pale hand
to cover his chuckle. "Sex. He wants to know
if you want to have sex with him and his fems."
Luxi glanced over at
the beautiful lord then bit her lip. "Could you
tell him, I'm flattered, but I don't normally have…?"
She winced. "Relations, with people I don't know?"
Leto tilted his head
and replied to the lord.
The lord rolled his eyes
in obvious amusement. His two companions dissolved
into giggles. The lord glanced at the cyborg and asked
a question.
Leto raised his chin
and turned away.
The lord watched Luxi
expectantly and smiled.
Luxi peered up at the
cyborg. "Leto, what did he say?"
Leto folded his arms
across his chest and glanced down at the deck. "Tell
you what; I'll translate what he said for the price
of…" He turned to Luxi and lifted a silver
brow. "A kiss."
"A kiss?" Luxi's
breath caught. This spectacular man wanted to kiss
her?
His shadow-filled eyes
focused on her. "Will you kiss me?"
Glory yes! Luxi
licked her lips. "Okay."
Leto's eyes widened just
a hair. He leaned downward, very slowly.
Luxi tilted her chin
up to meet him. His lips brushed hers. Warmth, breath…
He was warm, he breathed. Her eyes drifted closed
and her lips parted under his. Their tongues met,
explored, parried. He tasted like fresh clean water.
He smelled of rich leather.
He cupped her shoulders
in his strong hands.
She reached for him and
her hands settled on his hips. His shimmering suit
was warm under her palms and felt like exotic leather.
Vibrancy and darkness pulsed in a delicious yet shivery
combination under her fingertips. She spread her fingers
and pressed her palms against him to feel more of
it.
His hands slid up her
neck, drawing tiny shivers, and his fingers slid under
her hair. He cupped her head and angled her mouth
to deepen the kiss, stroking her tongue, tasting her,
encouraging her to kiss him back.
Heat, hunger, urgency…
A small moan escaped her throat. Her hands slid around
his waist, pulling him closer.
His arm closed around
her waist, pulling her tight against his body.
He was warm, and excited.
She could feel the hard length of his erection against
her belly. Moisture dampened her panties. The simmering
dark within him brushed against her heart with unexpected
fire. Her talent awoke in a searing rush and suddenly
she could feel his bare skin under her palms -- and
along her entire body where they touched.
Leto abruptly pulled
away, blinking, clearly startled.
Luxi grabbed onto his
belt, refusing to let him go. "Did I do something
wrong?"
He frowned down at her.
"I 'felt' you." He licked his lips. "You're
vitae sensitive? You can feel life forces?"
"Not exactly."
She blushed. There was just no way to say this gracefully.
"I feel…ghosts. I'm necro-sensitive."
"I see." Leto's
brows lowered and his eyes narrowed. "Did you
know that I was…?" He took a breath and
his jaw tightened. "Dead, before you kissed me?"
She nibbled on her bottom
lip. "I knew that you were a cyborg with a…ghost."
He stilled, then his
eyes narrowed. "And you kissed me anyway?"
She frowned up at him.
"Is there a reason I shouldn't?"
He blinked and gave her
a sour smile. "About a million of them; all religious
and having to do with necrophilia."
She raised a sarcastic
brow. "Funny, you don't kiss like a corpse. You're
warm, you breathe."
He barked out a laugh
and stared downward. "I didn't think so either,
but some people seem to have a problem with it."
He shook his head and folded his hands slid behind
him. "I was originally a nano-based cyborg. Biological
machines replaced my body cell by cell. I'm not living
tissue anymore, but I'm still me and perfectly functional;
just not biological, so to speak."
Luxi snorted and glanced
down at the heavy line of his erection straining against
the seam of his suit. "You felt awfully biological
to me." Her fingers tightened on his belt. She
had the most incredible urge to pull him close and
'touch' him again.
Trilling laughter reminded
Luxi sharply that they were not alone. She turned
to face the grinning lord and his dark-eyed, aggressive
companions.
The lord gestured, shot
out a rapid-fire list of incomprehensible statements
at Leto, and glanced at Luxi briefly. He watched the
cyborg expectantly.
A windy roar announced
the sudden arrival of the tram.
Leto nodded at the lord
The lord grinned, then
turned to his two fems, and they all moved toward
the tram through the tram-station's low gravity like
swimmers through water.
Leto tilted his head
at Luxi. "Is that your bag?"
Luxi frowned at the tram.
It was going in the wrong direction. "Yes, but
that's not my tram."
Leto snatched for the
handle of her bag and caught her around the waist.
"It is now." He jumped.
FORTUNE'S
STAR
A Featured
Novella in:
HARD
CANDY
Anthology
With
Sheri
Gilmore & Angela
Knight
|
|
Morgan
Hawke tells a futuristic tale that will scorch
your sheets! In Fortune’s
Star, Luxi, Leto and Amun all have issues,
which have made forming relationships difficult.
Their discovery of each other, physically and
emotionally, is entertaining and arousing. Fortune’s
Star is a big, bold, blistering tale of the
search for love and sex with a paranormal twist.
... Hard
Candy is
not for the faint of heart (or body)! But
if you want to be mentally and sexually stimulated,
give this anthology a whirl. I thoroughly
enjoyed it and give Hard Candy my highest
recommendation.
Reviewed by: Trang
|
" --- eeeeeeeee!!! It's
so good!!! All of it is so good!!! Morgan Hawke's
Fortune's Star had my heart in my mouth with it's
thrilling plot, as well as it's deliciously decadent
sexual heat. Wow, I'd so buy a full fledged novel
of these characters and this universe. It caught hold
of me completely, like the very best scifi novels
do. Honestly, when I'd seen the excerpts, I didn't
know what to think, because I couldn't get a sense
of the story they were set into, but the full deal
with everything in context, it's utterly gorgeous.
All the stories are good. Heck
great *^_^*... But Fortune's Star really really did
it for me. All beautiful plot layers and delicious
characterization. Rich details and a whole universe
that was gloriously exciting."
Mooncat
>^,,^<
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
Morgan Hawke's "Fortune's
Star" is the chef-d'œuvre
of this book and also the longest offering.
The story plays in the same universe as her
other "Star" sci-fi erotica novels
but doesn't contain their very strong BDSM
features; it has only a few.
The genuine fortune-teller
Luxi is on the way to her new and boring job.
On Port Destiny Station she meets Leto, a
cyborg housing a human spirit, and Amun, diplomat
and telepath. Luxi becomes Amun's assistant
and their lover. They defeat an evil spirit,
and she decides to stay with the two men.
This is one sensually erotic
story! Morgan Hawke is an excellent writer
who knows how to seamlessly combine sci-fi
with erotica and a love story without ever
losing her focus on the story. The world-building
is thought-through and exciting, the characters
are sexy, always true to how they are supposed
to be and believable, and the sex is scorchingly
erotic, the ideal combination. Ms. Hawke is
a true storyteller with an immense talent
for engaging the reader's mind and body.
If you're in the mood for
an erotic read to titillate the senses, the
last story alone is enough to justify buying
this book. All in all a very satisfying anthology.
Reviewed by Iris
|
Get
Yours NOW!
eBook
- Loose Id Books
Trade
Paperback - Amazon.com
The
Imperial
Stars Series
(click
covers for Excerpts)
"This
series continues to blow away the cobwebs
on sci fi romantic erotica! It not only creates
a believable world for the characters to play
in but draws the reader into the fast paced
action and allows them to relate to the emotions
of the people that populate it.”
-- Patrice
- The Romance Studio-Blue
|
|
|
|
|
