“I do feel the same way, Juliana. I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind since the first time we met. That is the truth.”
Diesel towered over her. She tilted her face upward. Their lips were suddenly very close yet again. He was about to kiss her, his head was moving closer. It was like they had magnetic strips embedded in their lips and every time they got close enough their mouths wanted to stick together permanently.
“O Fearless Leader?” Alice said. Juliana noticed her nametag was now perfectly in place.
“What is it?” Diesel lifted his head and turned toward Alice in one smooth move. Remarkably, he didn’t even sound like he wanted to take her head off. Juliana did, though. She clamped her lips shut to keep her tongue in her mouth.
“Nova is looking for you.” Alice glanced at Juliana, giving her a onceover gaze before looking at Diesel again.
Nodding, he said, “What does she want?”
Alice shrugged. “She didn’t say. But it seemed important.” She glanced at Juliana with a smirk, as if to say, “No more kissy-kissy for you, missy.”
Diesel said, “Thanks. Next time you see her, tell her I left for the evening.”
“You’re leaving?” Alice seemed shocked. Her frowning gaze landed on Juliana as if she was to blame. “But…um…well, should I have her call you?”
“No. Tell her to either leave a note on my desk or get in touch with Cam. He’s on duty this weekend. I won’t be back until Monday morning.”
Diesel grabbed Juliana’s hand, not giving Alice a chance to respond or question him further. He didn’t stop moving until they’d exited the convenience store, the jingle of the bell above the door heralding their departure out to the parking lot.
“Do you need to stay at work?” Juliana asked, hoping he didn’t.
“Nope. I’ve been there long enough. One of my brothers is on duty this weekend. He can deal with whatever comes up.”
“Where are we going?”
“I thought we’d go into town and search for aliens.”
Chapter Ten
“You’re going to help me search for aliens?” Juliana asked, a quirky sweet smile shaping her lovely mouth. Diesel was so smitten.
“I thought that’s what you wanted to see.”
“I want to take a tour of Alienn, certainly, but I didn’t expect an actual alien hunt.”
“Well, I hate to disappoint you before we even get started, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up that we’ll actuallyseeany little green aliens with red death rays shooting from their eyes.”
“That’s okay. I’d be delighted with a few great stories, even if they are from bygone days, that I can include in my article.”
“What kind of stories?”
“I’d like to hear the kind of tale that will make folks who buy this special edition of the Finder’s guide book eager to travel here to check it out so they can see it for themselves.”
He pointed to his vehicle, a truck he’d had a few years. It was blue, had four-wheel-drive and was still in pretty good shape. She grinned. “I wondered what you drove.”
“Oh? Why? What did you think I’d drive?”
“Honestly, I sort of expected the Fearless Leader of the Big Bang Truck Stop to drive a spacecraft or possibly a Mars rover.”
He laughed. “Impractical. I’d never be able to fit either of those vehicles in my garage.”
“True. And my third guess as to what you drive regularly wouldn’t fit either.”
“Third guess?”
“Tractor-trailer.”
