Partners

by Cricket Starr

The last thing that synth and former pleasure slave Reyna wants on her asteroid belt prospecting claim is a partner, even one as sexy as Steel. She figures the man will quit but the claim is Steel’s means to freedom and he’s not about leave, particularly when he has a hot woman who doesn’t know he’s a synth sharing the work...and his bed.The pair has everything in common except the truth so when all is revealed it could be the end of their partnership -- or the beginning.To My To me partnership is defined by trust so the idea of having two people hiding who and what they are and yet becoming partners and forced into trusting each other made for an interesting story dynamic. Also there was a lot of humor in the idea of highly sexual beings trying to avoid being seen that way while still being highly sexual.But the big idea was that once love enters a relationship that becomes the real truth, and all the lies can end up irrelevant. I hope everyone enjoys my story as much as I did writing it.PARTNERS By CRICKET STARR EXCERPT As she expected, her visitor was waiting for her, leaning against the wall that faced the entrance to the room and what she saw of him nearly knocked her breath away. As she’d guessed from the size of his suit he was big and male…and oh stars, how very, very male he was.Reyna took in the dark, short-cropped hair, lean well-favored features, and the way his black long-sleeved shirt clung to his arms, shoulders, and chest, especially his chest. His leggings clung tight too, outlining his thighs, and framing an impressive package, leaving no doubt as to size, shape, and interest. Definitely interest.Reyna watched it stir before she realized she was staring and quickly cut back to look at his face. His eyes were beautiful and the expression in them was almost enough to make her forget about what she’d seen in his crotch.For a moment she couldn’t tell what color his eyes were. They seemed to change from brown to green then to a near gold and the irises grew wide as she stepped towards him. Pure sensual interest was in them, and a knowing look…the look of a man who knows what he wants and already figures he’s going to get it.Reyna had seen that look a hundred times in her past, a past she’d just as soon not be reminded of. Instantly irritation tempered some of her reaction to him.But then she took a deep breath and caught his smell—all spice and something else, like sand on a beach. She took another deep breath and stepped back, shaking her head to clear it. Sand on a beach, when she’d not been on a planet with an ocean in how long? Where had that come from?Closing her eyes, Reyna grappled for control over herself. She’d been in space way too long if she reacted this fast to a man.

Genres: Romance

95 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Also publishes as Janet Miller.

During the weekday Janet Miller, sometimes better known as Cricket Starr, is a mild-mannered software engineer who writes code and design documents. But at night and on weekends she turns to the creation of offbeat stories about imaginary pasts, presents, and futures, where ladies become warriors, or go to the stars to find love, and a man really can save a struggling software company.

But no matter when the story happens, or where the hero or heroine is, there will always be adventure, humor, and meaning to the tale.

Her writing has won her multiple awards, recommended reads, stars, unicorns, and hearts and even a couple of trophies that look really good on her bookshelf next to her printed books.

Reviews

[Romancing the Book · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewer: Violette
Review copy provided by publisher

Reyna is a synth, an engineered body designed to emulate humans. With a stronger bone-structure, longer life spans, and a healthy sex-drive, synths were essentially created to be slaves to their human counterparts: the men to do physical and sometimes sexual labor and the women to be pleasure slaves. Reyna purchased her freedom, buying out of a contract as a pleasure slave, but as a synth, can do nothing else but mining or return to the brothel since they are discriminated against. For obvious reasons, she chooses mining. This will be her big break. Find hyperore, the equivalence of gold in this world, and she will be a rich, satisfied synth who can live a normal, human life.

Her plan is shattered by the arrival of Steel, her new mining partner, and every woman’s wet dream. Steel is handsome, beautifully built, and compassionate, but he has a secret. Like Reyna, he is also a synth. Steel comes into space to search for hyperore, hoping to buy his freedom from his mistress with the money he earns as a finder’s fee. He hasn’t been ‘pleasing’ her of late because his sexual attraction to her has fizzled, so he strikes a bargain: instead of her selling him, he’ll go mining to make her rich.

From the moment they see each other, Reyna and Steel have a mutual attraction that literally jumps off the page. Once these two consummate their desire, it becomes positively explosive. Not only are the erotic scenes incredibly hot, the banter between the characters as well as their individual drives is very realistic. At the heart of a Sci-Fi story is the aspect of world-building, and the author creates a believable world with empathetic characters. Cricket Starr manages to pen a tale that is as much about romance as it is about humanity, and our need to feel accepted, wanted, and loved.

I would highly recommend this book for Sci-Fi lovers, as well as anyone looking for an introduction to the genre.