Stuck in Stardust

By Elle Driver

After agreeing to help lead a team to a Mars colony, superstar horticulturist Shonda Williams is tasked with keeping the peace when a pair of duplicitous passengers make her question if the crew will make it to the colony at all in Stuck in the Stardust.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bryant Street Shorts
• Release date: Mar 7, 2023
• ISBN: 9781094459233

Elle Driver

Elle Driver is a mild-mannered civil servant who adores her husband and kid, and loves writing different romance tales to share with others when she can.

Book preview

1

Launch

Year 2030, Alternative Universe

Nothing made the earth move beneath her quite like her fiancé’s mouth. He had his soft lips against hers, lightly brushing across them. She’d missed him all day.

It wasn’t unusual for them to spend the day apart. Shonda worked at a small botany firm, sometimes teaching short classes and workshops at school. Ren was a navigator and pilot for Haligtree, the big-shot space launch provider and spacecraft manufacturing company. As a result, they only spent a few hours together each day. But a rare opportunity had recently presented itself when they were both invited to apply for a mission they could work on together. They’d worked together before, but nothing quite as extensive and important as this opportunity — a trip to Mars.

Going to Mars was something Ren had always wanted and envisioned for himself. And Shonda had been right there envisioning it for him; she’d never really considered going to Mars herself, but this Haligtree mission called for all kinds of vocations. So when Ren suggested that she throw her hat in the ring with her current research, she surprised both of them by doing that very thing.

Applying to go to Mars was out of Shonda’s comfort zone, but it seemed like a good idea for their relationship. They’d been together for a few years, engaged for one, and were now seriously planning to have a child. And the idea of conceiving and having a child on such a mission was both terrifying and exhilarating. They’d both been on pins and needles waiting to hear back from Haligtree.

Shonda was in the grocery store when she received the call. She had a pineapple in her hands, but quickly put it into her handbasket and clumsily groped around her blazer pocket for her phone, nearly dropping it in the process.

Dammit, she said, her finger slipping and answering the phone before she meant to. The person that was calling asked if it was a good time, which made sense considering she answered cussing. But it was good news. She’d been selected. She called Ren immediately and found that he had received the same news at almost the same time.

The moment they saw each other later that day, they crashed together, mouths pressing so quickly and so hard that their teeth clicked; her arms went up around his neck and his fell to her waist, then his hands slid down her back to her hips, her ass, and finally back up. She almost tried to climb onto him, but they were the exact same height and it made it a bit harder. He felt unbelievable.

Sometimes Shonda worried that Ren felt too good, because she wanted to spend as much time as she could in his presence, in his embrace. Being with him made everything else fall away, which was a good thing when she needed that escapism — but a bad thing when she needed to focus on the real world.

They fell onto their bed and Ren rolled her onto her back, pulling at her shirt, her pants. She stripped out of both, and watched him while he tore his clothes off. He was lean, but toned.

He worked hard to develop muscle mass and keep it up; his thighs were her favorite really. She couldn’t help but want to bite and kiss them every time she saw them. Which was exactly what she did. She sat up and grabbed his hips, pulling him close enough to kiss one thigh and then the other, brushing her face across his cock, leaving the quickest kisses there. When she bit his left thigh, he groaned and she nuzzled his balls.

"God…." Ren said.

She looked up at him and he was staring down at her, his face so serious, his eyes dark. She took his dick into her hand and stroked it slowly, solidly, before putting it into her mouth, still moving her hand over the heated skin. He tasted wonderful. She circled the head of his shaft with her tongue every time her mouth got to the tip, flattening her tongue as she moved to reach as close to the base as she could.

You can’t make me come that fast, he said gruffly, pulling away and pushing her back on the bed.

She fell back with a little squeal, and he was there to catch the end of the sound with his mouth. He maneuvered his tongue and his cock inside of her: in and out, sliding back and forth repeatedly. He held her jaw with one of his hands while he rubbed her through her panties with his other hand. It made her wiggle beneath him. He took that as a cue to slide down her body, leaving a trail of kisses.

He pulled her panties down her thighs and tossed them onto the bed, replacing the small triangle of cloth with his open, hot mouth. He swirled his tongue around her clit carefully, methodically, only increasing the pressure and the speed when she lifted her hips. Now, he stroked his tongue inside of her the way he’d done to her mouth, the way he fucked her. It was like she was a star projector when he was touching her, filling her with any part of him: light casting bright pinpoints of illumination everywhere like a disco ball. She was floating in the pleasure of his touch.

Ren went still, lifting his head to look at her. Are you out in space? he whispered.

She smiled, running her hands through his loose hair, finger-combing the black, soft locks. Not yet, baby, but I’m going to be.

He kissed her hip and rested his face on her stomach for a moment. We’re both about to be. It’s really happening, Shon. Both of us… in space. Together. It’s really unbelievable.

She stroked his face. It really is. And a baby. Our space baby.

Not if you don’t let me do my job, he said, lifting his head and kissing her mound again.

She opened her arms and her legs to him, biting her lip, because even after so many years, being bared to him left her still so vulnerable. He got between her thighs and was pushing into her almost in the same motion. She tried to wrap her legs around his hips, but her back was arching from taking him so quickly, and her eyes were in the back of her head.

He lifted her hips with his hands to make their coupling even deeper and she cried out, spasming around him, eyes still rolling.

Ren, she gasped. It’s a lot.

You always say that, he whispered into her neck, but his breathing was ragged too.

It’s always true, she groaned, but the moment he started moving, she felt an orgasm well in her belly. Oh, fuck.

Not yet, hold on, he said, pulling out of her.

Oh, my God, no. She tried to pull him back down into her with her legs, but he was stronger than her; he kept above her, arms on either side of her head. How could you?

You tease me all the time, he panted.

Not when you’re inside me and about to come, she said. He looked down into her face and arched an eyebrow. Okay, fine, maybe it has happened before.

He slid back into her before she finished her sentence and her entire body gave a huge sigh, relaxing around him until he took his rhythm back up, hips pumping between her thighs, her nails dug into his back. She could feel when he was about to come. He got so hard. She felt the stretch of it. And his movements became harder, jerkier. He pushed deeper into her body and she held onto him as the waves of bliss mounted on top of each other, lapping up her body. So, can we come now? she asked, her voice breaking.

Yes, he ground out, slamming into her now. Yes, yes, fuck yes.

She screamed, pulling her hands away from his back to tear at the duvet beneath them because she was terrified she’d actually bloody his back with how hard she was pressing her nails into him.

Ren put his hands back beneath her hips again, lifting her to him, situating himself as deeply as he could while dropping his head against her shoulder, the air from his ragged breathing pushing against her neck.

Is your back okay? she finally asked, still trying to catch her breath.

It feels fine, he said. His heartbeat continued to hammer against her.

You always say that, she said.

It’s always true, he replied, laughing.

Cheeky bastard, she said, stroking his hair.

We’re a matching pair, I think, he said.

We are, she agreed, the last word morphing into a groan when he moved his hips from side to side, like he was getting more comfortable inside of her. Ren.

Shonda, he said, kissing her shoulder.

She could feel him starting to get hard again; and she immediately started getting turned on again. He moved in and out of her gently, taking some of the pressure away. She tightened around him and this time he groaned.

He leaned up to cover her mouth with his. I can’t get enough of you.

"I don’t want to get enough of you, she said. I want all of it."

He pushed back to the space that was too tight inside of her and she arched again. I know you do, he said into her neck, biting her while he started to fuck her again.

I love you, she gasped, every part of her body tightening around him.

Everything felt