Made in the Stars, Page 3

asked shyly.

  Keylann had been joking, but she thought about the question for a moment, and then said, “Yes, as a matter of fact, it was. I had a wonderful time.” She slipped her fingers into her friend’s hand, squeezing gently. “Thank you for being my best date ever.”

  Torina turned toward Keylann, their faces just inches apart. As Keylann looked into Torina’s eyes, a warm feeling grew inside her.

  Softly, she said, “I’m glad my date stood me up.”

  “Key, do you remember after a bad date a while back, you said that maybe you should expand your search to include women?”

  Keylann nodded.

  Torina took a deep breath. “Well, after that date, I included women in your search.”

  “Oh, so what you’re telling me is, I’ve been stood up by a woman?”

  Torina shook her head. “No, Key, I’m your date.”

  Keylann smiled. “Really?”

  “Is that okay?” Torina asked, hope written all over her face.

  Keylann moved closer and gently kissed Torina’s lips, withdrawing a bit to see her reaction. “Does that answer your question?”

  Torina stroked Keylann’s face gently. “I’ve known for weeks that we were perfect for each other. I didn’t need the profile matching system to tell me that, but I couldn’t ethically give you a date with me while I was your Mate Tech. After you returned from Valdan, you said that you might need to hire someone else. I officially resigned your case right after our call ended, thus ending the ethical conflict.”

  “I’m glad that you did.”

  Torina rolled on top of Keylann, kissing her softly. Keylann wrapped her arms around Torina, and they kissed again with a passion that neither had ever experienced before. It seemed to last forever. The world disappeared, all sight and sound gone. They were together in a warm haze of mutual need and desire.

  Finally, Torina said, “I love you, Key. I’ve loved you for weeks. Long, agonizing weeks that I sent you out in search of someone else, always hoping that you would come back to me.”

  “I think that part of the reason none of my dates worked out was that none of them were you,” Keylann said. “Well, that, and the fact that they were all jerks.”

  “Really? How long have you known?” Torina asked.

  “I don’t know. I mean, I didn’t really admit it to myself until a few days ago, but in the back of my mind, I knew what I wanted before I went to Cartise Gamma. I just needed time to work things out. Then I wasn’t sure if I should tell you. You’ve always been so professional with me. I was afraid to say anything.”

  “Let’s go away together,” Torina said. “My parents live on Raylene. We could go and visit them.”

  “Raylene? How many steps is that? I’d be too sick to walk by the time we got there.”

  “No, you’ll be fine. You don’t get there by wormhole—it’s too far. We’ll take one step to space dock. Then we’ll walk onto a starliner and travel through hyperspace. It takes about five days to get there. We’ll have five days together on a luxury ship. Then we can stay with my parents for as long as we want. We could even get jobs there and buy a place of our own. I have forty thousand credits saved, that’s a start,” Torina said.

  “I have almost that much. I’d have to see what it’s like there before I’d commit. It isn’t like Valdan, is it? I mean, they don’t eat cows, do they?”

  Torina laughed. “No, they have yeast and protein factories just like here. They have lots of open space… Not like Valdan, but close.”

  “I’d love to see it with you. Let’s just call it a visit to start with until I see if I like it.”

  Torina kissed her again. “That’s fine with me. I don’t want to live anywhere that you don’t love.”

  Keylann rolled on top of her, looked into her beautiful, brown eyes, and then kissed her, reminding herself that they were in a public park and not in her bedroom. The things that she wanted to do with Torina couldn’t be done here. She rested her head on Tornia’s shoulder, enjoying the feeling of closeness.

  “Key… um… I have a confession to make. I… sort of… knew that Markus ate cows. I deleted it from his profile before I ran it.”

  “Why?” Keylann asked in confusion.

  Torina absently pushed Keylann’s hair back behind her ear. “I couldn’t let you find someone else. It would have killed me.”

  Keylann giggled as she buried her face in Torina’s neck. “I’m all yours, love.”

  About the Author

  Jim Proctor has worked as a research engineer and scientist for more than 34 years. An avid reader of science-fiction and fantasy since high school, he began writing his first novel around 2009. He especially enjoys writing short stories.

  Find Jim Proctor on Facebook at www.facebook.com/IndieAuthorJimProctor

  And on Goodreads at www.goodreads.com/author/show/4349301.Jim_Proctor