Excerpt from (From the Distant Past) a WIP

Kat is part alien and part human. Jar'san is her artificial intelligence implant. Nolan is the human man she is falling in love with. Feeling unneeded Nolan has left her in Hawaii and sailed away in his boat. Nolan is unaware the she is not fully human. 

Glancing at the desk, she saw his cell phone next to her purse. Turned off. “Damn him. He’s trying to avoid talking to me.”

“Jar’san!“ she shouted.

“Yes Kat,” the AI answered immediately.

“I don’t care how you do it…but find him. If he doesn’t want to be around me anymore, then he’s going to say it to my face and not in some damn note.” Hurt clutched at her heart squeezing it tight. Anger seethed and brought her blood to a boil. 

“Okay Kat.”

She sat on the bed with her legs crossed. Her foot kicked and twirled as she waited impatiently for Jar’san to search.

“Kat, he filed a trip log this morning. He’s heading for Australia. That’s the place he was bound for when we first met.”

The nausea returned but this time it had nothing to do with her drinking the night before. “How long ago did he leave?”

“According to the sailing plan he filed, he left about three hours ago.”

She burst into motion. Not waiting on the elevator, she raced down the stairs, hailed a cab and fidgeted in the back seat with barely concealed irritation, while it took her to the warehouse. Rushing inside, she removed her halter top while running across the floor toward her capsule. “You aren't going to get away from me that easy mister.”

Ripping her shorts and panties off, she donned her original panties and slapped the triangles in place. Hastily, she buckled her weapons belt around her waist. Dashing for the door, her furled wings burst into being on her back. Outside she spread them wide and leaped into the air. Flapping them furiously, she climbed into the sky and turned in the direction Jar’san instructed.

“I do hope no one sees you,” Jar’san quipped.

“I don’t care if the world sees me.” When the island fell behind, she increased her altitude. “Locate him.” She ordered, in a clipped mental voice. Her thoughts burned through her mind, riding on the waves of the anger and hurt she felt.

Accessing the GPS, Jar’san complied. After flying for about an hour, he addressed her. “Found him.”

“Good, show me.”

She followed his directions, and soon spotted the tiny speck of his boat on the horizon. Although it seemed like a dreadfully lengthy time, she gained on the boat and at last, flew directly above it. Furling her wings, she dropped from the sky like a stone toward the boat below. At the last second, her wings spread to halt her plummeting fall and she landed lightly on the rear deck.

He must have heard the swoosh of her wings, because he turned in the pilot’s seat to face her. His eyes grew wide as silver dollars and his jaw dropped open.

****

“Kat? How? How did you find me? How did you get…?” His initial expression of surprise changed to one of shock. “You have wings?”

Her wings shrank and became hidden behind her back. “I have a lot of abilities you aren’t aware of. Being able to fly is just one of them. We can talk about that later, Mr. Nolan Steelson, but right now there’s something far more important we need to discuss. Why did you leave?”

As he climbed down the ladder getting closer to her, he answered. “I thought I explained it in my note. You don’t need me around anymore.”

“Maybe I should be the judge of whether I need you anymore. I like having you around more than I can begin to tell you. Maybe you don’t like being around me. If that’s the case then say it to my face, here and now. If you do, I’ll fly away and you won’t have to deal with me anymore.” Tears formed in her eyes. She scrubbed at them angrily.

“It’s not like that…”

“Then, tell me what it is like.”

“I feel so useless. I don’t want to be a burden or someone unneeded just hanging around. I think that’s part of the reason Leah broke up with me. She believed she would have to support me. I can’t stand that thought.”

“Oh please.” She snorted. “First of all, I’m not fuckin’ Leah. You’re not a burden and you’re certainly not useless.”

“There’s something else.”

His feet shuffled slightly. He was clearly, uncomfortable, and wanted to say something but was afraid to.

“What? What else,” she snapped.

He took the remaining steps across the deck that separated them. Pulling her into his arms, he kissed her on the lips. “I want more from you than just a platonic friendship,” he said, when he broke their kiss. “I don’t want to force myself on you in that way.”

“Wow.” She licked her lips and smiled. “Do that some more. I like kissing you…a lot.”

“Kat.”

“Don’t Kat, me. Reading about it and watching it in movies is no comparison to the real thing. Damn.”

Pulling her close, he kissed her again. Deeper this time, with tongues twisting.

“So,” she said, in a near breathless whisper. “You’d like our relationship to be a more physical one? I have no problem with that.” She smiled. “No problem at all.”

“Are you sure?”

“When the hell are you going to turn this boat around and head back to Hawaii. We’re getting farther away all the time. Maybe I should shoot you in both legs to keep you from running away again.”

“You’d honestly shoot me?”

“Damn right I would if it kept you near.”

He stepped back and gazed at her from head to toe. “God, Kat. You’re nearly naked.”

“Does it make you uncomfortable seeing me this way?”

“Oh yes. Uncomfortable to the max.” Turning, he clambered up the stairs. “Uncomfortable in a good way.” He said over his shoulder and chuckled. “The more I see, the more I like what I see.”

He turned the boat and headed back. The next time he looked at her, she had put on her dress. “Damn that’s too bad.” He mumbled, thinking he’d said it too low for her to hear. Her wink and smile quickly told him otherwise.

“Just wait until we get home.”

“Huh?”

“You heard me.” She chuckled.