Between Venus & Mars (The Soul Mate Tree Book 3) Read online

  He pushed a button and the machine hummed. A vibration rippled through the plassteel frame of the vehicle.

  Kyle motioned toward the door on the other side of the cab. “Hop in.”

  “Hop? Do I look like a roo to you?” She did hop then, couldn’t help clowning for him, bounding with her feet together around the vehicle before slipping in the other door to sit beside Kyle.

  He chuckled at her antics. “Just don’t try and eat me.”

  Gods, he did look edible. Something clenched deep inside her, sending tingles of awareness through her. She fought the urge to reach over and touch him.

  Her inner desire warred with her mother’s words of caution.

  Closing her eyes, she laid her head back on the seat as the vehicle lurched into motion.

  He’d joked light-heartedly, but a wall resonated between them. She needed to come clean about their kiss and the way she felt.

  “I liked it when you kissed me. I really did.” She risked opening one eye.

  A gentle smile played across his lips. “But?”

  His eyes stayed glued to the windshield and the world outside the vehicle.

  “But . . . I don’t know anything about this stuff. About what people do when they . . .” Her cheeks heated. Her head spun. “I was scared. I wanted to do . . . stuff . . . with you. But babies, and things, happen when people . . . don’t they?”

  “It was just a kiss.”

  Had she misread everything? “Was it really just a kiss?”

  “No.” His tone weakened. “It was more. It was . . . that.”

  “And, you see, I don’t even know what that really is. I mean, I have kind of an idea, but . . . damn it, I got scared.” She turned away, her cheeks burned hotter. “Gods, you’re trapped on a planet with probably the last virgin in the whole fucking galaxy.”

  Kyle relaxed into his seat.

  It all made sense now.

  A little over two decades ago the Tyvar Procedure swept the Core Worlds into a new sexual revolution. One hundred percent effective birth control, on a level never before available, had put women in control of their sexuality and eased the stresses sex placed on them. Unwanted pregnancies in the galaxy had dropped to effectively zero. The process was easily reversed any time a woman desired a child. Most girls underwent their Tyvar before puberty, with only a small percentage refusing for religious or medical reasons.

  Still, in the two decades since its development, the Tyvar hadn’t filtered out too many of the rim worlds yet. A world like Zana’s, with almost no contact with the rest of the galaxy, may not even be aware of the procedure.

  And many of the rim worlds forbade any birth control. Smaller, backteched populations needed to grow, so governing elders limited options or simply didn’t make contraception available in any form.

  And then there were those planets. Certain societies resisted putting women on an equal footing with men. Rare, ancient, misogynistic beliefs continued to resonate through certain sectors of the galaxy.

  What was Zana’s home world like? He’d need to get her to open up.

  He’d felt Zana’s interest in his kiss. For a Core Worlds’ woman, taking things to the next level would have been an easy choice. Maybe sex had become too easy.

  Zana, on the other hand, would have been hesitant, inhibited. Her fears had rightfully made her leery. Thank the galactic gods, she’d put the skids on. It never occurred to him she could get pregnant. It just didn’t happen any more in the Core Worlds, not until the couple was ready.

  He’d never met anyone like Zana. He felt a connection, an easy camaraderie, and an attraction on a level he’d never experienced.

  Whatever it was between them, he knew he had to pursue it . . . carefully. Let her know he had her best interests in mind, and would do anything in his power to keep her safe. Only then would she be able to set aside her reservations and inhibitions.

  Only then would she be able to bloom into the woman he saw beneath the rough exterior. Only then would he be able to unlock her passion.

  Kyle had a feeling unlocking Zana’s passion would be the best, most unique experience of his life. And if he understood her world correctly, hers as well.

  Chapter 7

  The skeletal remains of Los Angeles spread out in all directions as far as her eyes could see. Crumbling skyscrapers with shattered windows leaned at awkward angles. Some had fallen into piles of debris, others reached into the foggy skies above like giant, skeletal fingers.

  Zana took it all in as Kyle drove the half-track down streets of crumbling concrete. The dark streetlights and signs featured strange symbols and writing in the ancient, Old Earth language known as English.

  Galactic common had a basis in English, yet held enough influences from other languages as they were melded in, to make the signs she saw now almost indecipherable. Even those with pictures made little sense. Line drawings of stick people doing . . . what?

  The city was so vast, she couldn’t imagine how many people it must have taken to justify this expanse of development. Her entire tribe could have lived in one small section of the huge metropolis.

  “It doesn’t end.” Her breath caught as her gaze traveled up the side of a building whose top was lost in the fog above. “Did all the people of Old Earth live here?”

  Despite the gloomy weather, Kyle’s eyes held a twinkle. “Los Angeles was one of Old Earth’s larger cities, though certainly not the largest. How many people live on Konga 10?”

  “My tribe numbers two thousand five hundred sixty-eight, with twenty-seven more babies in the womb. We are the planet’s only population.”

  The census had been taken just a month ago and the tribe had celebrated their expansion over the previous counting. She’d thought it a large population before seeing this city.

  An easy smile stretched Kyle’s lips. “On Thelbous 2, where I live, the entire planet is one vast city, much, much bigger than this. There are over twelve billion people living there.”

  “One massive city? No fields, or forests, or croplands? How do you exist?” Zana couldn’t wrap her mind around such a concept.

  “We have parks, with grassy areas and some trees. Foodstuffs are vat-grown and produced in huge factories. The planet is self-sufficient, though we do import luxury items from some of the other Core Worlds.” He shrugged.

  Zana shifted her gaze out the windshield.

  Across the roadway, a vast crevasse yawned with no clear pathway to drive around. Crumbling buildings and debris blocked the side streets. The roadway continued on the other side and a fallen beam had made a thin footbridge across the chasm, where the roadway continued onward.

  “We’ll have to make our way around this.” Kyle threw the half-track into reverse.

  “Couldn’t we walk from here?” How much city could be left to cover?

  Kyle shook his head. “That would take days.”

  The ruined landing pads and maintenance buildings of the Los Angeles Starport stretched out in both directions along the ocean shore. Kyle searched his memory for the location the Marshals had selected as the least destroyed to rebuild as their supply base. He’d only been here once, on a supply run, and then he’d come in from above.

  “I think it’s south of here.” He turned the half-track to the left and headed down the coastline.

  The fog cleared and a setting sun winked off waves lapping the sandy beach. Large, white birds winged overhead. Others swam the choppy waters, occasionally plunging in to snag a struggling fish in their long beaks. Cool breezes wafted off the ocean through the open windows of the vehicle, bringing a briny freshness to the musty interior.

  A half hour later, he found the base.

  Newer plascrete replaced the ruined concrete of three landing pads surrounding a command center constructed of pla
stoid sectional pods large enough to house a crew of twenty and enough parts and supplies for a thousand-man mission.

  Dusk was settling around them as he parked the half-track in front of the main entrance. He beamed the headlights toward the doorway so he could locate the access panel.

  Kyle breathed easier when his retinal scan opened the door and switched on lighting in the entry. He could probably have used the loading crane on the back of the half-track to break in, but this was so much easier. Luckily he’d been part of the group stationed here ten years ago, and his information was still in the database.

  A thick layer of dust coated everything. The command com came up without a problem, and he pulled the cleaning droids out of storage with just a few keystrokes.

  Zana stood wide-eyed as the droids zipped around her, vacuuming, dusting, and scrubbing. “Can I take one of these little guys with me when we leave?”

  Kyle chuckled. “No cleaning droids on Konga 10?”

  Zana shook her head. “No droids at all.”

  Kyle doubted he could live on such a primitive world.

  The little droids appeared almost comical as they zipped around the room. Outside of Bixby, the only other droids she’d ever laid eyes on made her gut boil with anger.

  Zana clearly remembered standing with her tribe, rounded up at gunpoint as the thieves herded their livestock into the large freighter and sent droids and robotic harvesters out to clear the fields, and empty the silos and storage barns. Her people had no weapons, no way to fight back.

  Her father and the other tribe elders had managed to keep everyone calm, kept them alive, but the Halocynes took everything, not even leaving them a couple breeding animals. Bastards. They damn well knew her people would starve to death.

  Yes, the tribe elders had stashed away enough seeds to restart the crops. But it’d take months for those seeds to mature. Only the discovery of the kelp beds off the coast had saved the population of Konga 10 from starvation in those first few months.

  They’d never thought to stock the oceans with life, either. How the kelp started growing, only the galactic gods knew. But now the precious kelp beds were almost depleted. There would soon be nothing to eat until the crops fully matured. The starving population looked toward a bleak future. There just wouldn’t be enough food.

  Then Zana had come across the shipwreck.

  With nothing but hope, and a desperate plan, she’d headed out.

  Her uncle had discovered schematics for an animal cloning facility on his Galaxynet terminal. It was something even Konga 10, with its limited technology, could build. With it, they could produce animals to restock the herds quickly, possibly fast enough to turn back the tide of famine looming over them, if they could also obtain live cell samples of animals they wanted to clone.

  But herd animals were no longer raised on the Core Worlds. Disease and extinctions had taken their toll. Technology had replaced husbandry. Technology Konga 10 didn’t have the time to implement or the galactic credits to purchase.

  Her Uncle Onwin remembered seeing the vast herds and flocks, abandoned on Old Earth to fend for themselves when the humans took to the stars. Together, she, her father, and her uncle, had hatched this desperate plan.

  The samples she’d collected here represented the survival of her tribe. She needed to get them home as soon as possible. The crash, the tree, everything that had happened since she’d arrived here seemed to work against her accomplishing her mission.

  Now Kyle gave her hope she might actually succeed.

  He slid behind the data terminal and brought up a complicated looking screen. Clicking and typing, at least he seemed to know what he was doing.

  Zana leaned over his shoulder. As she did, his musky, male scent invaded her senses. So incredibly sexy, she involuntarily clenched.

  She wanted him. She wanted whatever it was to happen between them. She’d been scared . . . pushed him away. Could she bring him back?

  Zana placed her chin on his shoulder. Nuzzled his neck. “What’cha doin’?”

  He leaned into her, the warmth of his cheek caressing hers. “Connecting to your ship so I can download the parts needed and cross-reference them with what we have stored here. If we’re lucky, we’ll be able to get it repaired.”

  He pressed a key, and the display did a funny, spinney thingy. “And now we wait.”

  She raised her chin from his shoulder, instantly missing the contact.

  He pushed back the chair and rose, spinning to confront her. Mischief twinkled in his eyes. “Would you like a drink?”

  “You mean, like alcohol?” Her tribe made rice wine and also vodka on the years of bumper potato harvests.

  He opened cupboards at the back of the room. “If I remember correctly . . . ah yes, here we are.”

  He held up a dark, magenta bottle and two stemmed goblets. “Storvian Merlot, aged over ten years.”

  Zana crossed her arms and leaned her hip against the console. “How did you know that was there?”

  He chuckled and uncorked the wine, dusting out the glasses with a cleansing wipe. “I was on Old Earth a few years back, during the timber culling. I came here for a supply run. The logistics officer had no problem doling out refreshment from his stash.”

  “You’re a cop?” Did that matter?

  Kyle lowered his eyes. “I was here helping the Galactic Marshals search for a missing person.”

  Which was neither a yes nor a no.

  He filled one of the glasses then glanced back up at her. Those golden brown, buttery eyes, so inviting. “Want some?”

  “I don’t drink . . . much.” She had been allowed tastes.

  To his credit, he only poured her about half of what he’d poured for himself. “Start with that and let me know if you want more.”

  She took a sip and let the rich, fruity liquid slide down her throat. A slight burn followed all the way to her stomach. She placed her hand over her chest. “Oh.”

  “Was that a good oh or a bad oh?”

  She smiled. “It was an I don’t know oh.”

  It certainly wasn’t enough to keep her from taking another sip.

  “So you were here before?” Her Uncle Onwin had told her a little about the timber culling.

  “Yup. Some nasty business, but I was out of most of it.” His eyes glazed as he took a sip of his wine. “My team spent two months trying to track down a missing librarian from the Ultarian Archives. Never found him though.”

  Zana’s stomach warmed, and it wasn’t from the wine. Her uncle hadn’t been full of shit. “Was his name Onwin Cantori?”

  Kyle’s eyes flew wide. “How could you know that?”

  “He’s my uncle.”

  Over the next hour they talked, shared stories, and eased into a friendly camaraderie. Kyle’s tale confirmed many of the stories her Uncle Onwin told her about Old Earth and why he’d come here.

  He never actually admitted being a cop. Then again, he never said he wasn’t one either. Did it matter?

  She’d never actually met a galactic marshal before, though she’d been told they did make contact with Konga 10 from time to time. Her father certainly didn’t place a lot of trust in them.

  Maybe it would be better if she didn’t know.

  Somewhere along the way, the wine bottle drained to almost empty, though she was pretty sure Kyle had consumed the bulk of it. They sat side by side on a long couch. At one point, Kyle’s arm had found its way around her shoulders. The warmth of being this close to him fused with the hazy buzz of the wine swirling in her head. Zana relaxed and opened up, spilling story after story.

  “And when he appeared, he landed right in Aunt Val’s lap.” Zana giggled, remembering that night.

  Kyle must have caught her mirth because he began chuckling. He had the
most infectious chuckle, causing Zana’s giggle to explode into a full rolling belly laugh.

  What followed was five minutes of seriously trying to stop laughing, tears rolling down both their cheeks, and raucous explosions of continuing laughter.

  In the end she was panting, biting her cheeks, and quivering with restraint. His arm remained comfortably around her.

  Kyle gasped for air and wiped his eyes. “I don’t think . . . I’ve laughed this hard . . . in years.”

  “You’re fun.” She drew in a deep breath, finally under control, though if he even dared giggle, she’d lose it again.

  He went quiet for a long moment. His breath evened out and his face grew serious. His eyes softened as he gazed into hers. “I really like you, Zana.”

  “I like you too, Kyle.” She did. He was an easy guy to like.

  He was so close, his nose nuzzled hers. “I’d like to kiss you again.”

  “Kiss me?” Her stomach jumped. “I . . .”

  Just fucking say yes.

  He put his index finger to her lips. “Only a kiss.”

  Her throat suddenly dry, she swallowed and nodded.

  He pulled her closer as his lips descended on hers. Soft yet firm, his mouth connected. Warmth spread from her chest up to her cheeks.

  Before she could fully commit, he pulled back. “I think that was a better start than before.”

  Frustration bit her. “It had better be just a start.”

  A sexy smile played across his mouth. “That is my intent, but I’m ready to put you in control.”

  “Me?” Zana’s stomach dropped. “I don’t know—”

  “What do you want? What do you feel?”

  “Could we kiss some more?”

  Kyle nodded. “I’d like that.”

  He waited for her to approach him, without pulling her forward or even leaning toward her, though his eyes did soften.