Explored By The Mountain Man In Space Read online

  But none of us guys were gonna come out with those deal-breaking details to Farrow, explain just how rough it is up here.

  I rigged a sheet across the one-room cabin to give the space around the “bed” a little privacy, but it doesn’t do anything to help with the compostable toilet and the shower outside. It’s roughing it, to the extreme.

  Knowing there’s nothing I can do to make this place more hospitable in the next few minutes, I grab a pair of jeans and a flannel shirt. Pulling on my thick canvas coat and gloves, I leave through the back door. I live in the mountains, and this woman knew that coming into it.

  Not wanting to scare this woman entirely—hell, I have plans with her tonight that involves my cock and my bed—I walk back inside and grab a wool blanket. The ride is gonna be cold and she’s gonna need to stay warm.

  So later we can both get hot.

  Five years is a hella long time to go without a sweet pussy in my bed. And I may live in the mountains and be accustomed to roughing it, especially now, but I know a thing or two about women. They need to be wooed.

  I hop in my rover and head toward the landing site. We all have access to two-person rovers—basically a small car on all-terrain wheels, just without, ya know, air conditioning or heated seats. We used to have to share these things, but since so many men left, they’ve been divvied up.

  The day is fucking miserable, dust storms have been hitting us hard for weeks, and today is no exception. My windshield is covered in red dirt the moment I pull out of the mine.

  The drive to the landing site takes me a little under an hour, and when I arrive I see most everyone is already here, passing around moonshine and standing in the geodesic shelter. The landing is hundreds of meters away, and from where we’re standing we can see the shuttle on the horizon.

  Our women are coming.

  Dax hands me a drink. “You ready for this?” he asks. Dax and I met on the ship coming here five years ago, and he’s one of the only men I consider to be my friend out here. He tracks the animals on Vitaie, lives out of a backpack, and rides a horse-like beast most weeks, exploring the planet.

  “I’m ready, but damn, I can’t wait to see what woman you’ve got. She’s gonna need to be special to put up with living like she’s in the Wild West.”

  Dax grins. “I know, right? That’s why I’m glad there’s an algorithm that paired us. I could never have found a woman on my own who would put up with me living off the grid.”

  “I read in a report that Farrow had twelve million women apply. That’s a helluva lot.”

  Dax whistles. “I saw that. Which means the odds that we’ll have our perfect match are high.”

  I point to the sky ahead, and we watch as the shuttle lands. All fifty men are here, silent. This is the most excitement we’ve had in five fucking years.

  The big screen in the landing center lights up, registering everything that’s happening on the shuttle. There’s a collective exhale as we see that the landing is happening without a hitch.

  We’ve all been given directions on how to proceed.

  The women will be given the name of their spouse upon landing, and we will each hold our tablets, with our names in big letters. It’s like we’re waiting to take them on a fucking limo ride from an airport back on Earth.

  I’m not one to get nervous, but next to me I see Dax sweating bullets.

  “Don’t laugh at me, man,” Dax says, shaking his head.

  I nod. “Sorry man, this is all new territory. Who the fuck thought we’d be getting mail-order brides? It’s like we’ve gone back in time two hundred years.”

  Dax straightens the collar on his flannel, smooths a hand down his beard, and I smile at the poor fucker who is clearly worked up over this.

  Me? I just pull back my shoulders, lift my chin, and wait for my woman to find me.

  I’m not scared. I’m just ready.

  I came to Vitaie to start over, to be my own man, and to make sure the shit that happened to my family never happens to me.

  Now there’s no going back. I’m gonna be here for the rest of my life, and so is this woman.

  I’ll start things off by showing her exactly who is in charge.

  3

  Nick Hugh.

  Okay. I can do this. I can be married to a man named Nick.

  Nova Hugh.

  It doesn’t sound terrible.

  I adjust my winter coat. I was told I’d be living in the mountains, and so I bought boots and clothes that were appropriate.

  Leather. Insulated. Waterproof.

  I am not here to half-ass this and I want my husband to accept me as a serious partner—not someone who wants the glitzy life, like he may have heard I used to lead.

  “You look intense,” Aurora says to me. She, Cassie, and I are standing side by side waiting for our turn to get off this damn spaceship.

  I pull my waist-length braid over my shoulder, pull the zipper on my fleece-lined parka to my chin, and readjust the straps on my backpack.

  I could hike the freaking Himalayas right now.

  I silently say his name again. Nick Hugh. Nick.

  “You okay?” Cassie asks me, her eyes creased in worry.

  I nod. “Yeah. Just. What if he hates me?”

  “Then he’s a freaking idiot,” Aurora snorts. Then, taking a more serious tone, she sets her hands on my shoulders. “Nova. You have the best body I’ve ever seen. You are funny in surprising ways, and you’re always above reproach. In six months, you’ve never said a mean thing when the women here have been giving you the evil eye since day one. You are a gem, and Nick is lucky to have you. Okay?”

  “Also, you’re a virgin, the most unlikely virgin on this ship,” Cassie adds, raising a brow. “It’s like the Holy Grail when it comes to mail-order brides.”

  I swallow, regretting ever telling her about my lack of sexual experience.

  “It’s now or never,” Aurora says, looking down the gangplank.

  Biting my bottom lip, I walk off the ship tentatively. While I know logically that the atmosphere on Vitaie is a mirror of Earth, I don’t breathe easy.

  I’m more nervous now than I was when I was a presenter at the Grammys.

  Everything I see matches what I saw on the tablet. Red mountains in the distance, orange dirt pathways, and a large geodesic structure straight ahead where our men are waiting.

  And while I care about Cassie and Aurora, right now I am solely focused on one thing.

  Finding Nick’s name on a screen.

  Looking into his eyes.

  Falling madly and deeply in love.

  All fifty women are off the ship, and we silently walk toward our fates.

  The dome’s door opens, and we file in. It’s eerily quiet as I step inside. Already I see women locking eyes on a man and walking toward them nervously. A few men seem to recognize me, even go so far as to nudge the person beside them and point.

  Breathe, Nova. You got this. There was an algorithm at work. I’m here to meet my perfect mate. My soulmate.

  I smirk. No pressure, right?

  Some men are smiling, most are grim-faced, all are in beards, flannels, some have knit caps on, others are in Carhart-like coats. I scan the room, looking from tablet to tablet in the men’s hands.

  Finally, though, I see the name I’ve been looking for.

  Nick Hugh.

  “Nick?” I step toward him. A massive him. A six-foot-four, broad-shouldered man with a dark blond beard, hair that needs a cut, and steel blue eyes that meet mine.

  I expected a mountain man, someone rugged, a man made for adventure.

  But I did not expect a man who would give a bearded Ryan Gosling a run for his money.

  His eyes flick over me, his mouth set in a frown as if I am the last woman he wanted as his wife. I swear he literally scoffs. At me.

  “Nick?” I repeat. “I’m your wife. Nova. Nova Maraday.”

  When he continues to say nothing, just keeps looking at me as if I’m an alien, I wond
er if he can hear me. Is there some strange sound-space continuum I didn’t read about?

  I look around. Other couples are talking.

  Hugging.

  Kissing.

  Wow! Okay, so some women here are just getting straight to business.

  Nervous and weirded out that my husband, who looks like he could fight a bear with his bare hands, is nonplussed by the fact I am standing in front of him, I start to ramble, “I mean, I guess not Nova Maraday anymore.” I laugh. “I’m Nova Hugh now. Your wife. The one you, um, requested?” I smile tightly, hoping for some acknowledgment that I’m here.

  I exhale as I watch his eyes roam over me, head-to-toe. When he looks back up, he doesn’t meet my gaze, instead, he gives a half-laugh, and a headshake.

  “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me, Farrow,” he says in a low growl.

  My brows knit together, my stomach churns. “Farrow? What does he have to do with...?”

  Nick sneers. “He made this match, right?”

  “Um,” I say, licking my lips. “His computer program did.”

  “Right. And you’re seriously here—for me? This isn’t like, a joke?”

  Tears prick the corners of my eyes. “A joke? No, this isn’t a joke. It’s our life.”

  Nick scans the room, pairs are already leaving and headed toward the cargo drop to get their luggage and as many of the supplies as they can take back in one load.

  We each have a crate of items waiting for us besides our personal things—food and seeds. Six months’ worth of items for our survival before the next delivery arrives. That one will only be resources, no humans on board that time. The hope is that they will be delivering baby cradles and cloth diapers by then.

  “Our life. Right.” Nick shakes his head again as if I’ve done something to him.

  “Do you know who I am?” I ask. “Is that the problem? I mean, I know nothing about you so I wondered how it might play out.” I shake my head, flustered at how absolutely cold he is being to me. I expected some possible push back, but I really felt confident that the algorithm would find me a partner who would accept me for me.

  “Do I know who you are?” Nick runs a hand over his beard. “Every person in America knows who you are.”

  “Well, we aren’t in America. I hoped for a fresh start.”

  He looks down at me as if he is both angry and bored to death.

  Awesome.

  “I don’t know what to say... I mean, is this going to be a problem?” I ask.

  Nick laughs. “Is this going to be a problem?” he repeats sarcastically.

  “Look, what do you want from me? I just spent six months flying here to be your wife. Are you going to give me a chance?”

  He clenches his jaw, assessing me. “I don’t exactly think I have a choice, do I?”

  I close my eyes, refusing to cry. He’s being so cold and cruel... the opposite of what I was wanting in a man. I wanted someone as far from my father as possible. I wanted someone soft and gentle, forgiving, and capable of finding the good in people—not their weak spots.

  But within five minutes, it already seems my husband knows where I bleed most easily.

  He’s judging me without knowing me at all.

  My worst nightmare, come to life.

  “Look, let’s get your shit and get out of here, okay? I don’t want to stand around and have people looking at you.”

  “Looking at me?” I frown, not taking my eyes off his. They are icy cold, but also pools of deep, dark blue that I seem to drown in.

  “Yes, looking at you.” He takes my hand in his, its big and calloused and his grip could break bones is he wasn’t careful. “Every man in here is looking you up and down like they want to have you for dinner,” he says, practically dragging me out of the dome.

  I look back trying to catch Cassie and Aurora, but they are lost in a sea of people.

  “You know what I’m talking about, Nova Maraday. I bet you love that shit.”

  “Hey,” I say, my voice even, pulling my hand from his. The wind whips around us and I’m glad I braided my long hair. “Don’t be mean. I don’t notice that stuff. You don’t know anything about me. And I’d rather stay in this dome than leave with you if you can’t at least introduce yourself.”

  “You want a hello?”

  “Stop with the questions. I just told you I wanted a hello,” I say, flustered.

  I lift my eyes, refusing to cry. What I see above us takes my breath away. There are two moons in the sky, swollen and milky white. The day has turned to night and suddenly I feel a very long way from home.

  “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” he grunts.

  “Yeah,” I manage. “The most beautiful.”

  “Well, just so you know, you’re beautiful too,” he says, softer this time. “That’s why all those bastards were looking at us. They were jealous as fuck.”

  Now there are tears in my eyes, and I wipe one away, my eyes still on the sky filled with a million stars.

  “Was that your way of saying hello?” I ask.

  “Look.” He sighs as if resigned to the fact I am coming with him. “You can’t stay here. The hostel is still full of the dirty sheets and towels that the hundreds of men who left for home didn’t clean up. It’s not fit for any woman, but especially not for someone like you.”

  I stomp my foot, wanting him to understand my intentions. I may have grown up in Hollywood, but I don’t need Rodeo Drive. “Just so you know, I’m not a spoiled brat. I’m your wife. I want to come to your place, I want this to work. Can you at least try here?”

  He looks at me warily. “Whatever you say, princess.”

  “Thank you,” I tell him. “And please, try not to judge a book by its cover, okay?”

  He shakes his head. “Let’s get your stuff into my rover. And then I’ll take you to my cabin.”

  I nod, following him toward the cargo that has been mechanically unloaded. “And then what?” I expect him to make a joke about taking me to bed, consummating our marriage or something along those lines.

  And the truth is, even though he is a brute, he is also the most handsome man I’ve ever met. Which is saying something. Growing up, my next-door neighbor was Zach Efron.

  But he doesn’t make a crack about sleeping with me.

  “And then, Nova, I’ll show you to your bedroom.”

  “My room?” I ask. “I thought the cabins had only one bedroom.”

  “They do,” he says, turning away from me. “I’m fine with taking the couch.”

  4

  You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. I want to punch Markus Farrow in the jaw. And next time I see him, I fucking will.

  Which, I’m guessing will be never considering I just signed a lifelong contract to stay on this planet and can’t exactly get on an outbound flight from Vitaie.

  Out of twelve million women who applied to come here, he marries me off to the daughter of the man who destroyed my family?

  I know I could have started this relationship off a little softer, but I was shocked. Literally struck silent the moment I saw Nova.

  Nova fucking Maraday.

  Her family tosses people aside like modern-day Vikings. They have one mission and one mission only. Extending the reach of their empire as far as possible, not caring about the number of casualties left in their wake.

  Of course, my family couldn’t be further from the kind of people the Maradays are.

  We Hughs value our commitments. Our virtue is the only fucking reason I didn’t walk away the moment I laid eyes on her.

  On Nova.

  Well, virtue, and also the fact that she is a goddess in the flesh.

  Nova, with her round ass and rounder, doe-like eyes, her hair golden— reminding me of the sun on Earth. Her skin is as milky and creamy as the moons above us, and her eyes shining as bright as the stars in the motherfucking sky.

  The moment I saw her my cock started twitching, my blood started pumping, the idea of taking her in my bed, filling
her with five years of pent up desire, rushes through me like a force to be reckoned with.

  But the fact that I want to take her in my arms and spread her thighs isn’t the only thing on my mind when I see her.

  Because besides being a walking pinup girl, she also represents everything that destroyed my family; everything that propelled me to move here in the first place.

  And the worst thing? The worst thing about it all? She has no idea who I am. No idea what her family did to me. Did to my parents, my siblings. Did to my fucking nieces and nephews. Did to everyone’s future.

  She has no clue.

  Now she’s looking at me for answers, asking me to say hello. How am I supposed to say hello to her with all these memories of what it was like after my family was ruined flashing through my mind?

  Memories of me signing up for this mission, memories of me saying goodbye to my family, believing I could hit a payday up here that would secure everyone’s futures.

  She looks up at the sky and my eyes follow hers, and for a second I can’t breathe. Looking up into the galaxy is the only thing that keeps me sane most nights. When you look up there you can’t help but think how small you are, how inconsequential you are to the whole meaning of life.

  You can’t help but think how meaningless you are.

  After grabbing Nova’s things and stowing them in the back of the rover, knowing I’ll have to come back out tomorrow to get the rest of the cargo, I explain to her how to get in, how to close the door and buckle up. I walk around to the other side and jump in myself.

  And then, sitting beside her, it starts to sink in.

  There’s no one else here but her and me.

  It’s just us.

  Now and... forever.

  I said I’d stay on Vitaie and agreed to take a wife, because hell yeah, I want to have children, a family. And the idea of carving out that legacy on an unexplored world, My offspring being the first generation born on Vitaie; that’s thrilling as fuck.

  But the reality that I’ll be doing all of that with the woman who brought me here in the first place? That irony is not lost on me.

  “Nick?” she asks, bringing me back to reality.