Diesel liked Juliana, but if they had a chance to be together, he’d have to keep her in the dark about where his parents had immigrated from, which was an entire galaxy away from Earth. Hard to do with a spouse, especially if he expected to stay the Fearless Leader of this operation, and he did want to keep his job.
The secrecy that would be required for a lifetime was daunting. That was really why no Alpha had ever married a human. Would he be the first? Would he simply ditch his family and his responsibilities here to move back to Alpha-Prime with his human wife?
Or would he cave like almost everyone else had, and distance himself from someone he loved? Or, worse, spend a lifetime either drugging her into forgetting things she should know or blasting her in the face with the Defender to keep her knowledge of his alien identity and his parents’ planet of origin completely erased.
Chapter Seven
Friday morning, Doraydo, Arkansas
Juliana fretted over every single detail while getting ready for Diesel to show up. She wanted to ask him a bunch of questions—the ones she’d neglected to ask the first time they met, especially the one regarding the dark entity she’d heard was caught roaming around causing trouble in the Boogieman Affair.
She also wanted to kiss his hiking boots off and discover if he was looking for a girlfriend. If not, perhaps she could ask him for a job. No. That would be weird. The job would keep her here in southern Arkansas. Did she want that? Not up until she’d met Diesel. In fact, she had relished the idea of the money she’d earn with the article because she wanted to travel back to Washington State and investigate her own past.
In the meantime, was she looking for a boyfriend?Maybe. Someone to share her lonely life with?Getting warmer.A husband?Ding-Ding-Ding. Definitely.
She did want to get married, of course, and she especially wanted a huge family with a greater than average number of children, but until meeting Diesel a few days ago, she had expected to be alone for the remainder of her life.
Since that disastrous, child-hating boyfriend in her first year of college, she’d only dated sporadically, usually because of well-meaning friends’ blind date setups and never more than once with any guy. Was that pathetic? Maybe.
Miss Penny told her once there were worse things than living alone. Juliana wasn’t certain that was true.
While she expected to spend her life alone, it wasn’t what she longed for. Each year that went by without any prospects made her more and more sad about her future.
Juliana wanted a big family. She wanted holidays filled with lots of laughter, lots of family and lots of memories. She had no memories of her parents or any family members. That was why she was so determined to find answers.
She loved being among books as part of her regular job in the campus library, but eventually she’d have to get a job that paid more.
If she wrote a great article for Finder’s—whether she found evidence of aliens roaming in Alienn, Arkansas or not—the bonus money would give her enough to travel for a while and ultimately move forward with her life.
But for the first time since she started college, she wanted to remain in the area and explore the boyfriend potential she saw in the Fearless Leader of a famous local truck stop.
Meeting Diesel had somehow changed the anxious feeling in her bones that she needed to leave the area as soon as possible. That deep, annoying, uneasy feeling had been part of her life since leaving the orphanage. Something about Diesel made it dissipate. He made her feel safe and she wanted to feel safe. He also generated some rather salacious thoughts, especially at night, starring Diesel completely naked and in her bed. She’d never felt that with any other man. Ever.
She glanced at the clock. Only an hour until he arrived. She’d gotten up at the crack of dawn to prepare. Everything was in place. Juliana had even cooked, preparing homemade soup. She wanted to impress him. She wanted him to like her. She wanted him to kiss her again. She wanted to lure him to her bedroom. Should she try it? Would he go?
There was a sound at her front door. Was he early? Was he as anxious as she was to meet up again?
Juliana walked toward her entryway and heard something knock against the outside of the door. She popped it open without checking through the peephole, expecting to see Diesel, but no one stood there. She looked down and saw another apple with a single bite taken out of it dead center on her welcome mat. Again? Really?
Juliana looked to the left out into the parking area. Nothing. To the right was a central garden area between the apartment buildings. No one was around.
Miss Penny opened her door. “Hello, Juliana.”
“Hi, Miss Penny.” She picked up the apple to carry it inside.
“What are you doing today?” her neighbor asked pleasantly.
“Actually, I have a date in a little while.”
Miss Penny’s weathered face melted into a fierce frown. Juliana paused, struck by surprise. She’d never seen Miss Penny frown before. Just as quickly as she’d shown unhappiness, Miss Penny softened, losing her stern expression. Even so, she didn’t quite smile when she asked, “You have a date? Land sakes, child, that sounds exciting.”
“I hope so.” Juliana grinned, unable to help herself.
Miss Penny tilted her head to one side. “So who is this young man?”
“His name is Diesel Grey. He’s the…uh…manager at a truck stop.”
For a moment, Miss Penny looked as if she’d decided Juliana was only joking, but then realized Diesel wasn’t some figment of her imagination and was actually a living, breathing human coming to call.
