She is dark haired, dark eyes with long lashes, a proud chin, high cheekbones. She is gazing unwaveringly at him, long curly blond hair, pimples on his face and jaw, viking boyishness, cold eyes. She presses her full figure to him, hands seeking, exploring. He is cool disinterest; one hand in his hair, head looking up to the ceiling. Her purpose serious, single-minded, neither urgent nor demanding, simply without pause she looks and looks and looks. He reaches closer to her, puts one arm around her and bends to her ear to say something and she wraps her arms around, underneath. He pulls away, always avoiding eye contact. They do this over and over and over. She wants to kiss him, devour, fuse. When they do embrace he keeps one hand in his pocket. She is undeterred. He detaches and walks off into the crowd. For a split second she stands still. Perhaps she doesn’t believe it. Then she follows, jerked forward as surely as if a tether had pulled her. She reaches out to him, grabs his arm. She holds him there.

About the cover – Chris Pine played Captain Kirk in the new Star Trek, Tom Hardy played a young clone of Captain Picard in Star Trek Nemesis, the last Next Generation film.