Captain Gil Fleming of the Nebula Zephyr has gone far undercover in his quest to to find and rescue his brother. The last person he expects to see in a crummy bar on a frontier planet is Maeve, the AI from his ship, with whom he is in love. It’s been months since he left the ship to undertake this solo mission. Jake and Red are fellow crew members from the Nebula Zephyr.
The excerpt:
“Want to dance?” The question was a breath of air on her ear and she turned into Gil’s arms with a smile.
“I’ll take a chance, soldier,” she said, head tilted and eyebrows raised. “My current dates are duds. Think you can do better?”
Depositphotos
He led her onto the dance floor and they melded together into a sizzling dance suited to the fast tempo the bar’s AI was currently playing. Maeve leaned her head on his chest and allowed herself to go with the flow. This was nothing like their decorous dances at the human wedding a few years ago. This was all about pent-up longing and mutual need and desire. She ground her hips against his obvious arousal and Gil nuzzled her neck and kissed her. She swayed and spun through two songs following his lead as they stayed plastered together and then he grabbed her hand and said, “Come to my room with me?”
She surveyed him, taking note of his scruff, which she found sexy, and his general tough demeanor. “Oh seven hells yes, big boy. Let me say goodbye to my friends.”
Gil tugged her away, toward the rear of the bar. “They’ll figure it out, sweetheart. I don’t want to kill anyone tonight before I get you in my bed.”
With a giggle she waved in Jake and Red’s general direction, stumbling a little as if drunk. Gil caught her and put his arm around her waist again as he guided her out a back door and into a dark alley. He caught her in a huge hug and captured her lips for a brutal kiss which left her breathless. “Lords of Space, I’ve missed you,” he said, resting his forehead against hers. “I don’t know what the seven hells you’re doing her but I’m glad. I should be livid at the risk you’re taking but—”
STAR CRUISE CAPTAIN’S STORY by Veronica Scott
Captain Gil Fleming has taken a mysterious leave of absence from the interstellar cruise ship Nebula Zephyr and disappeared. Maeve, the ship’s governing Artificial Intelligence is the only one who knows why he left and where he went. Desperately worried after months of silence from him, she takes drastic steps to organize a small rescue mission of loyal crew members.
Can she manage to create and maintain a humanoid body as ancient aliens taught her to do, driven by her love for the captain and fear for his life? Or will her challenges and anxieties overcome her determination to find and rescue Gil, resulting in failure? As the humans on her team struggle to accept the AI they’ve known and worked with for years in her humanoid form, they have to place all their trust in her because in the wild territories at the edge of the Sectors civilization where she wants to take them, there’s no law and no help to be had. Will they find Gil Fleming in time? And if they do, how will he react to Maeve and the others interfering in his private war? Is the love between the two of them enough to overcome the challenges ahead? A 41K word novel.
Amazon Apple Books Kobo NOOK GooglePlay
