First and Last, a holiday short story from Ellora's Cave Available in print and e-book Setting: Luna, 2114. Lunarian law requires 24-year-old Shayna Goldstein to marry before she's 25. She's dated everyone in New Brooklyn, but Gideon Landers, the first man who kissed her, haunts her memories, preventing her from loving anyone else. Desperate, she consults a matchmaker, who sends a reluctant Shayna to Farside Colony to meet her mate. The commander of Farside Colony, Gideon Landers has never forgotten Shayna. That he's been matched with her is a dream come true, but will Shayna be willing to live in the remote colony?

Reviews

Rating: 4.5 from RomanceJunkies.com… ”FIRST AND LAST is a stimulating look into the look into the future
where you’ll realize that finding love is just as confusing then as it is now.”

Rating: 4.25 from Night Owl Romance: “paced with intensity and eroticism.”

Rating: 4 stars from eCataromance reviews... Sensuality Rating: sensuous... “I loved this book!”

Rating: 4 from Just Erotic Romance Reviews (JERR)... Heat level: H...“a quick read packed with a lot of meaning... The chemistry...kept this story interesting and flowing. Enjoy!”

Rating: 4 from Coffee Time Romance... “This is a fantastic sizzling romance. From the futuristic setting of New Brooklyn to hot and steamy sex scenes, this story will keep you enthused from the beginning. A definitely fast but fun read.”

Rating: 4 from Fallen Angel Reviews... “frank and graphic erotic descriptions of the sex between the lovers...very emotionally satisfying... many futuristic romance readers will enjoy this story as much as I did!”

“Wonderful futuristic romance!”
ParanormalRomance.org

Excerpt

New Brooklyn, Luna

Chanukah, 2114

Shayna boarded the ziptrain to Farside with both dread and excitement warring in her soul. The desolate moonscape outside the train reflected the chill fear in her heart. She loathed uncertainty, and until she met her mate, her future was clouded. But she wanted to marry, and not only because she desired to stay on the moon. The truth was, she was just plain horny. Though she was technically a virgin, she had married friends, had dated plenty, and fooled around enough to realize she wanted to make love. She needed it. She dreamed of it every night, but wouldn't give herself to just anyone. She was picky.

Lulled by the train's smooth movements, her mind wandered to the first time she'd been kissed-really kissed-by a male.

When she'd turned thirteen and started at yeshiva, the secondary school she attended after graduating from cheder, she hadn't a clue about what was going on. The air was constantly charged with a tension she now understood was born of sexual repression. Flirting and gossip about boys had dominated conversation.

And the prime topic had been Gideon Landers, even though boy had been the wrong word for him.

Gideon. Tall and dark, broad-shouldered and handsome, with a deep voice at age eighteen, he'd already matured. The girls whispered about the bulge in his Slicksuit, his burgeoning beard--everyone wondered if he was still a virgin.

Shayna had tried to ignore the gossip. She'd claimed that he was arrogant, although her day didn't seem complete without seeing Gideon's smile, bright against his tanned skin, at least once. So she'd bantered with him, telling him jokes and anecdotes, just so she could see his smile. Years later she'd realized that she'd had a schoolgirl crush on him.

He'd graduated and joined the Officer's Corps, but had returned to yeshiva to talk with students about joining the corps. She'd been sixteen, and for the first time she'd seen him as a man, and a very sexy one at that.

He'd asked her out to coffee. They'd stayed late, closing the place down. When it was deserted, he'd pinned her in a chair with his much larger body and kissed her.

She remembered the strange sensation of someone else's tongue caressing her lips. Her mouth had opened in surprise, and he'd pushed his insistent tongue all the way in. Because he'd been straddling her and holding her close, she'd felt his heart pound through their Slicksuits. As his pulse speeded up, it seemed to echo her racing heart.

Everything in her body, every cell, every vein, seemed to ignite with a fire she'd never before experienced. Electricity zipped along her nerve endings. She'd become hot, her armpits had dampened, and sweat had slid along her skin. Though she knew her Slicksuit would convert the perspiration to usable water, she was still embarrassed. Was she supposed to react this way? She'd kissed boys before, and this had never happened. Would he see how she was sweating, and be repulsed?

He stroked her neck, and the gentleness of his touch disarmed her completely. She'd grabbed onto his shoulders with shaking hands to anchor herself in the tumult of emotion and pushed her tongue back against his. He'd taken that as some sort of signal, and began to move his tongue inside her mouth in a mesmerizing dance. She didn't know the tune, but improvisation seemed to be okay with Gideon. Their tongues played together endlessly, it seemed, and she could have kissed him forever. She reveled in his flavor, his unique scent-was it sandalwood? She didn't know, but she liked it.

Desire flamed through Shayna's body, bringing her back to the present. She tugged at her Slicksuit's collar, opening it. The ziptrain's recirculated air cooled her but still she squirmed in the seat, driving her wet pussy against the cushions. She was glad that the train's car was empty except for her; she could come, and no one would know. It would be easy. Just the memory of Gideon Landers' kiss turned her on.

He'd wanted to go further, and had. He clasped her breast, and she thought she'd go right out of her mind when one of his fingers flicked across her nipple. Even through her Slicksuit, it was the best thing she'd ever felt.

He'd eased his mouth away from hers to flutter kisses down her neck'oh heavens, was he going to kiss her breast? That would be too much for her. Would the Slicksuit dry out before she went home? How could she explain a big wet spot to her mother?

She'd pulled away, and he'd bitten her neck. With a yelp, she'd convulsed, driving a knee up and into him.

"Shit, Shayna!" Gideon howled.

"You bit my neck!" She'd been outraged.

"It's called a hickey, little girl." He massaged his crotch.

Stung, she snapped, "Don't call me a little girl, and don't do that in front of me."

He shot her a resentful look from beneath dark brows. "I'd like to do a lot more."

"You'll never get the chance."

After that awkward interlude, he'd left to continue his career in the Officer's Corps. She assumed he'd be stationed very far away.

But now, looking back, she realized that she'd compared every subsequent kiss to that one. No man had come close to lighting her up the way Gideon had, damn him. She resented the hold that one kiss had on her imagination. She couldn't help dreaming of Gideon Landers, fantasizing about him, and that wasn't good.

Now she had a shidduch, an arranged marriage. But what if she didn't like the way this one kissed? How could she give herself to someone who couldn't even kiss? What if he couldn't match the brief moment she'd shared with Gideon? Away from New Brooklyn, her friends and family, she'd be alone with only a loveless marriage and old memories to sustain her.

What if her only satisfaction would come from a fantasy lover?

The efficient ziptrain stopped at Shayna's destination all too soon. She'd wanted more time to contemplate her future. Her map showed that Farside consisted of several globular, metal domes connected by sealed Plexiplus tubes, with the ziptrain station at the hub. At least, Shayna hoped that everything was properly sealed. She adjusted the cuffs of her Slicksuit, pulling out the retractable gloves to cover her hands. Shoving her braid down her back, she lifted her transparent cowl to encase her face and head before stepping out of the ziptrain onto the platform. The suit would recycle all her bodily wastes and convert them into usable gases and liquids; the wearer could survive in the chill vacuum of the moon for several days, if necessary.

Then she noticed she was the only person on the platform suited from head to toes. Feeling like a rube, she pushed the gloves back as a dark man standing on the platform laughed in her face.

Shayna stiffened as she met a pair of amused gray eyes belonging to Gideon Landers.

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