Ms. Brown. Everyone knew her by that name, or at least those she tried to recruit for the Space Service did. For once, though, she wanted to be someone else, maybe herself. If she could shed the black designer suit and lose the title, she could simply be Paige.
The moment she’d signed the contract with the top-secret organization, she’d left Paige and the life she knew behind. Living in the shadows had been easy with her husband by her side, until agents destroyed the portal to the space station to keep terrorists from getting their hands on alien technology. Her husband—her only link to her old life—remained trapped there until the powers-that-be deemed it safe to repair the link.
She regretted agreeing to his traveling there for training while she remained on Earth, anxious about his welfare and resentful of the separation.
She continued to recruit for the Space Service, her work all she had to distract her from thinking of her faraway husband and empty bed. It wasn’t until the divorce papers had been forwarded to her communicator, from space, that she’d regretted signing the lifetime contract. Her husband hadn’t waited for her, choosing to bed some extraterrestrial bitch light years away.
She scanned her thumb across the ignition of her luxury sedan—only the best for members of the Space Service. None of it mattered anymore. She’d lost her enthusiasm for fostering relationships between Earth and the many worlds in the universe sustaining intelligent life. No, she wanted to stay on her home planet and find the love and happiness she’d thought she once had with her ex-husband.
She smirked, considering the possibility of her dream if she didn’t find any new recruits soon. The Space Service would revoke her contract. Her last three prospects had turned down her offer of an “out of this world” work environment, not once, but repeatedly. Why hadn’t she found the same strength, all those years ago to turn down the man in black who’d visited her and her husband? Though if she didn’t recruit, what would she do for a living?
Foot on the brake, she glanced back at the house of her latest failure then pressed the button to shift into drive.
An honorably discharged former Marine with no ties to keep him grounded, he met every criteria for the ideal recruit. A fine male specimen, too. His dark, alluring eyes, smooth bald head, and well-defined muscles rippling under milk chocolate-colored skin stirred desires dormant inside her since she’d thumb-printed away her marriage.
She hadn’t meant to arrive when he was in the shower, but would never apologize for the view of Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Handsome, wearing a thin white towel around his waist when he’d greeted her at the door. The image would remain forever implanted in her mind, the reference for every fantasy from that day forward. She should have thought to capture a digital image of him before she’d left, her forty-year-old brain known to dispose of information she’d rather remember.
Merging onto the highway, heading home, she sighed. Why could she no longer convince anyone to sign their life away? She’d contracted twenty men and women already. Had she lost her touch?
She hadn’t had to head hunt these people herself, either. Her handler fed her all the important information regarding her prospects, including education, family, and any details she could use for leverage, such as a criminal record. All she had to do was persuade them they wanted the adventure of a lifetime. The thrill of the job had ended for her though. Perhaps the individuals she’d approached in the past few months had sensed her lack of enthusiasm.
Bio:
Jessica Subject started writing to encourage her daughter to read. Now she writes to keep herself grounded. Although she reads many genres, she enjoys writing Science Fiction Romance the most and believes everyone in the universe deserves a happily ever after. She lives Southwestern Ontario, Canada with her husband and two kids and loves to hear from anyone who has enjoyed her stories.
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