To The Moon And Back

Chapter Eighteen

Selene blinked her eyes open, bracing herself for the bright sunlight she was accustomed to in her east-facing bedroom, but found only the dim emergency lights of the chamber. Where the hell was she? With the confusion of sleep still riding her she closed her eyes again and took a deep breath, mentally replaying the past day. Rocket... emergency... Moon... traitorus friends... evil glowing eyes... rock fall... chamber...

That was it, she was trapped in the centre of the <oon like a bad sci-fi B-movie plot. Wasn't that just swell? Exactly what she needed, a nap sitting on the cold, hard ground. She gave an experimental wiggle but her butt was not as numb, nor as cold as she expected it to be. Chamber... rocks... floor... warm thing her cheek was currently pressed up against...JOHN!

Her eyes snapped open and she stiffened in shock. That was his warm, uniform-covered, chest she was currently drooling on. She glanced down even though she already knew what she would see. Yep, those with his firm thighs her not-so-firm gluteus maximus was perched upon. And yes, those were his strong, muscular -but not in an over-the-top bodybuilder way- arms encircling her waist, pinning her to said chest. This was not a drill. I repeat, this was not a drill.

She took a steadying breath, not wanting to disturb him since he had to be tireder than she was. He'd been the one to come out and rescue her and the band of idiots and deserved to get a little shut-eye. She needed to stay calm, if she moved she would think too much about where she was, but also how much she badly needed to find a bathroom that she was pretty sure didn't exist down here in the tunnels. Great, just fan-bloody-tastic.

What she needed was a distraction and, since she was not going anywhere any time soon, she might as well take advantage of the situation -not to mention her current lap-perched position- to indulge in a good old staring session. After all, she was never going to see him again, so she might as well look her fill and commit him to memory as best she could.

Up this close, she could see things she'd never noticed before, like the dusting of golden stubble that had formed on his cheeks and chin. And there, just on the side of his jaw, she spotted a tiny red mark where he must have nicked himself while shaving. She liked his jaw, it had a bony sharpness to it, as did his cheekbones and there was just a hint of a dip at the sides of his mouth where she knew little dimple indents formed when he smiled wide enough.

His chin was touching his chest, having drooped as he slept, and his hair, that thick, luscious hair that looked like it had been spun from gold and would feel like silk to the touch, had flopped forward. It was messier than it had been when she'd first seen him, even after he'd removed his helmet. That superhero curl at the front was a little less defined and not as sleek and her fingers itched to smooth it back into place.

The thought made her giggle to herself, a superhero curl on a real-life Superman. Because that's what he was to her. Sitting here on his lap, encircled in his protective arms, she felt truly safe for the first time in so long. Not just since this whole ordeal had started, but probably since she was a little girl on her daddy's knee. Women these days had to be so careful, they were taught to be suspicious of everyone, to remember that men might not always be who they said they were and that putting your trust in the wrong person could be so dangerous. And boy had she found that out with Atlas and Cosmo.

John was different though, she'd known instinctively with a bone-deep surety. She just knew that he'd never be one of those people who would lie to get what he wanted, he just radiated good-boy honesty with a straightforward attitude while still being sensitive and caring. He'd looked after her from the moment they had met, paying attention to her and seeming to know just what she needed to help get her through, which was more than the people she had called friends for years had done. Sure, he hadn't answered all her questions, but he'd been honest in telling her why and, even with that, over the time they had spent together she still felt like she'd gotten to know him well enough to make that judgement.