Diesel’s head was swimming with questions and worries and not all of them coming from her. He still had to address the threatening apple issue, vowing to discuss it with Cam. But right now he should go back to Alienn and talk to his security-minded brother about the Big D and its apparent failure.
It was a task he suddenly wanted to avoid, because he worried what Cam might do to Juliana if the Defender didn’t work to erase her memories. He’d probably want to use the old method of human memory erasure, the one that involved big syringes. Diesel decided he didn’t want to share this information with anyone. He’d have to research her possible dream memories on his own.
“I should go,” Diesel said absently.I need to either figure this out quickly or, worst-case scenario, talk to Cam. Pronto.
“You’re leaving?” Her question came out sounding so forlorn he reconsidered his options.
Diesel checked his watch. It was not very late. He’d only been here an hour. He should go. But he really wanted to stay.
If he hadn’t been mistaken, right before this disturbing dream revelation, she’d been leading him toward her bedroom. While he wanted to go in there and explore Juliana more than anything in this world, he also needed to consider all the interesting facts zipping through his head. Like the disturbing memories she shouldn’t have. Like the fortune card he should have collected.
His earlier conversation with Cam slid into his mind. What if he’d taken the portable Defender Cam had offered? Would Diesel really have been able to snatch the card from her fingers, whip out the weapon and zap her for only five minutes to keep her from remembering it? Ugh. He sounded like Cam. Did he want to zap her again? No, never again.
Besides, if she was having dreams about that supposedly erased time, he had larger issues. It would be so much easier to tell her the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. He’d do it if he wasn’t convinced Cam would throttle him and drop a still-experimental Defender bomb on Juliana’s head once he was incapacitated.
Diesel studied her beautiful eyes and calmed down. She put a hand on his arm and he relaxed even more. “Don’t go yet,” she said. “I didn’t mean to make you angry.”
“I’m not angry.”Not at you.He pointed to the card in her hand. “I don’t get it. I don’t know where it came from. Is it possible you picked it up in the truck stop somewhere and simply forgot about it?”
She pondered what he’d said, looking down at the card. She appeared uncertain. “I guess it’s possible.” She frowned, but put the card back in the box on her coffee table.
“What else would you like to talk about?” Diesel asked.
She bit her lip.
“It’s okay, Juliana. Ask me whatever you want to know.”
“Will you answer the question I asked about the Boogieman Affair?”
Diesel took a deep breath. “Sure. That was just blown out of proportion. It was a story about a stray, injured dog that had the element of a childish telephone game added to it.”
“What does that mean?” Her beautiful brow furrowed.
Diesel moved closer, wanting to fold her into his embrace. “It started out as a report of an injured dog on the outskirts of town. When our animal control people went to look, they couldn’t find him right away. By the time that evening ended, there were outlandish reports of an entity skulking around town inflicting evil on everyone it saw, which was not accurate.”
“Really?”
“Yep.”
“That’s the company line?”
He lifted one shoulder and let it drop. “That’s the story as I know it.”
“So it’s not like the monster from the Legend of Boggy Creek in Fouke, Arkansas or anything like that?”
He shook his head. “That story was way before my time, but no, nothing like that in this case.”
“I see.” She thought over what he’d said for a few seconds and a winsome smile appeared on her face. “Are you going to forever kiss me whenever you don’t want to talk about something?”
“Probably,” he said, taking a step closer, wanting to resume their earlier steamy kiss. “It’s obviously more fun than erasing your thoughts, puny earthling.”
Juliana seemed to relax. Diesel drew her into his arms again. The kiss they shared was as gentle as he could make it. He could stay in this moment for a lifetime and be content. Kissing Juliana was exquisite.Shewas exquisite. The dance began again as they kissed and embraced and kissed. Juliana wrapped her arms around his middle, pulling him backward toward her hallway and presumably her bedroom once again.
He shouldn’t go. He shouldn’t allow her to lead him there. Diesel wanted to go to her room more than he’d ever wanted anything in his life. What might happen there? Diesel couldn’t wait to find out.
Ding-dong. Ding-dong. Ding-dong.
The doorbell startled them out of their sensual journey. The first ding broke them apart. The rest weren’t needed, as the sound had the effect of pouring icy cold water on any further kissing or dancing down the hall toward her bedroom.
