Before he could stop himself, Diesel pulled her close, kissed her hard, passionately and quickly, and left before they had the opportunity to start dancing back toward her bedroom.
If he stayed a moment longer, kissing her in that way any longer, that’s exactly where they’d end up.
Chapter Nine
Saturday night, parked in front of the Big Bang Truck Stop
Juliana had driven the familiar distance from Doraydo to Alienn in record time. She parked in the same spot as last time, turning the car off purposefully since she didn’t have the memory of doing it last time.
During her previous visit, she’d woken up slumped in the front seat of her car like a two-year-old who missed a nap.
Not wanting to make the same mistake, she took a late afternoon nap before driving to Alienn to ensure she was awake for tonight’s “date” or whatever it was.
She’d even packed an overnight bag and socked it away in her trunk, just in case she ended up unable to drive herself home. Not that they’d end up in bed together, necessarily, but what if they split a bottle of wine, or two?
Or what if they had several cocktails during whatever dinner he prepared? What if she drank too much? She would never drive after drinking, so the overnight bag was not presumptuous at all, right? It was for safety’s sake. She told herself the lie over and over to feel better about the fact she was presuming quite a lot.
Juliana got out of her car, locked it, slung her purse over one shoulder and entered the Big Bang Truck Stop convenience store.
Instead of Paulo, the clerk she spoke to last time, a young woman also dressed in silver lamé watched Juliana from behind the low cashier’s counter. Her sparkly shirt showed quite a bit more cleavage than Paulo’s. She was seated on a stool, heels dug into the spindles below to keep her balance. Her arms were crossed as if ready to do battle, which also helped showcase her more than ample boobs to a greater extent. She was very pretty and slender, with shoulder-length dark hair and striking blue eyes that seemed to spark with electricity.
She likely would have been prettier if she smiled. So far, she hadn’t. She wasn’t wearing a nametag, but Juliana smiled and approached the counter to ask directions to Diesel’s office and ensure she knew where she was going.
The woman didn’t smile in return. Instead, she seemed to study Juliana with a judgy gaze. Given her expression, she obviously found Juliana wanting.
“Help you,” she said, not asking, but demanding in a curt, impolite tone. Juliana wasn’t the sort of person who would rat out an employee for being discourteous, but this woman—someone she’d never seen before today—made her reconsider.
Juliana dropped her smile and said, “I’m looking for Diesel Grey’s office. It’s in the back corner, right?”
The woman’s mouth pursed until it looked like she’d just sucked the core out of a vinegar-soaked lemon. She took quite a long time to come up with a single-word response. “Right.” Her gaze intensified with growing hostility.
Juliana looked back at her for only a moment, wondering what her problem was. As she walked away, another woman came into the store, voicing a loud complaint about the water in the window washer containers not being clean enough. “How often do you change them? Once a year whether they need it or not?” the wound-up woman accused.
Juliana expected the woman behind the counter to growl the customer out of the store, but instead she heard, “Oh no. I’m so sorry, ma’am,” in a tone that sounded as sweet as honey-soaked cake. “That’s just completely inexcusable on our part. I’ll send someone outside right away to change it for you.”
Juliana looked over her shoulder to see the clerk pick up an old-style phone, push a couple of digits and ask in another very syrupy tone for someone to service the wiper stations out by the pumps.
The customer was also surprised by the swift positive response, stammering, “Well…um…thanks for getting right on this.” She left the store, presumably to head back to her car.
Juliana narrowed her eyes at the girl behind the counter. She returned back to her arms crossed, attitude-filled stare when she noticed Juliana watching her. Curious.
She didn’t know what she’d done to earn the wrath of this woman, but brushed it off and headed for the Fearless Leader’s office.
Juliana noticed a fortune-teller box with Maxwell the Martian inside. She stopped in front of the small, telephone booth-sized prop as a powerful memory slid into her brain.Diesel stood behind her with his palm pressing firmly against her hand. Together pushing in and holding the red button down to receive the fortune as his whole amazing body connected with her from shoulder blades to thighs.
She touched the button again, holding it down as she remembered how good Diesel smelled, standing so close to her, when he’d helped her get a fortune from the machine. The last kiss they shared suddenly lit her imagination up with possibilities for tonight’s meeting. What would happen? She couldn’t wait to find out.
Maxwell started moving in a jerky fashion. The small alien’s lips started moving in an erratic, mechanical way. “Bing Boing Boppity Bop Boing Bing Bing!” Maxwell said, and stopped moving.
Five seconds later another small gray paper the size of a business card shot out of a slot next to the button. Juliana picked it up.
On the first side was the coupon for five percent off a gas purchase. Juliana turned the card over and read: “Our Fearless Leader loves kissing you, too.”
“Getting a second opinion?” Diesel said from right behind her.
Juliana jumped, dropping the card, and watched as it fluttered to the floor, coupon side showing. She hadn’t heard him sneak up.
Diesel bent to pick it up, but Juliana collapsed quickly to her knees and beat him to it, yanking the small card away from his fingertips.
