He wanted to show her everything that was important in his life. He wanted to discover if she would relish the simple pleasures he enjoyed. Like his screened-in back porch with the tranquil view of a pond and the wall of trees beyond the water’s far edge, leading to a vast, dense forest.
If he’d wanted privacy he could have taken her immediately to his home, but often his life was not his own. He had lots of surprise chores because he was part of a large family. He’d never noticed before because he’d never had a girlfriend before. An unreasonable goofy feeling swelled as he thought the word “girlfriend.”
Not that the interruption level in his ordinary life would be lower at his place or his parents’ house, but at least when he wasn’t at the truck stop, Cam wouldn’t be racing around shooting his Defender off every five seconds and making Diesel’s love life more complicated.
Axel glanced at Juliana and said, “The representative can’t meet tomorrow at ten. As a matter of fact, he’d like to meet with you right now.”
“Too bad. I’m busy right now. Why don’t you represent me this time? Take him and show him whatever he wants to see. You’ll have fun.”
Axel’s hands went up in a conciliatory gesture. “If I could, I would. Trust me, I already tried that, but he’s rather insistent that it needs to be you and he wants to meet,” Axel looked down at his watch, “well, about five minutes ago.” His brother’s sheepish grin told Diesel that at least Axel was on his side with regard to Juliana. He also wouldn’t have interrupted or called him here without cause.
Diesel stood and left a very quiet Juliana seated on his sofa. She didn’t quite seem awake yet. That might help later on with the doozy of an explanation he’d have to render. They’d driven here and then somehow she’d made it into his office without remembering how she got there.
“What is this guy’s problem anyway? Nothing is scheduled on the books for a meeting today. He can reshape his request tomyschedule. And today, especially now, is not a good time for me.”
Before Axel could say another word, a man in the rather unusual Royal Caldera Cruise Line uniform—definitely constructed from fabric not of this world—pushed Axel aside and marched into Diesel’s office, looking rather perturbed. There were rules about those below coming up without an invitation. Diesel was about to inform this man he’d broken all of them.
“My problem, O Fearless Leader, is that I’m not a representative for the Royal Caldera Cruise Line. I’m an inspector for Royal Caldera. I’m here to conduct a surprise examination of the premises, including all of the facilities.”
Juliana asked in a very confused voice, “You have cruise lines coming here to the truck stop? Like big boats? How odd.”
Juliana stood up and her attention immediately focused on the unusual material of the man’s uniform. It was made of a popular Alpha-Prime manufactured display fabric. The back of his suit jacket could show a live television broadcast or emergency information in the event of an accident.
The outer part of the uniform could also be programmed, like it was now, to display images like a 3-D kaleidoscope of swirling shapes morphing into small dots, breaking apart and blowing around his jacket like the screen saver display on a computer.
Juliana’s eyes fixed on the inspector’s jacket. “What kind of material is that?”
The inspector frowned. “Alpha-Prime standard spacecraft uniform fabric. Why?”
Juliana’s eyes narrowed. “What is Alpha-Prime?”
Chapter Thirteen
Alpha-Prime sounded like an online service that would be top notch at everything it did. After asking what it was, she didn’t care if she found out. What was wrong with her?
Juliana’s brain felt extra foggy as she stared at the vibrant fabric. The material looked like it was alive. She blinked a couple of times, staring at the unusual jacket. She couldn’t seem to focus.
It was like most mornings she lived. She typically couldn’t form sentences until her first cup of coffee. But she’d already had two cups of coffee this morning, hadn’t she? One cup before he made pancakes and one during the meal.
She remembered last night, vividly. She remembered this morning equally well. Juliana even remembered that she was wearing clothes borrowed from Diesel’s sister. But how had she managed to doze off after arriving at the truck stop? She had not even a shred of memory as to how she’d made it into this room.
“Is this your office, Diesel?” she asked, momentarily forgetting about the strange fabric the intense inspector wore. “How did we get here? I don’t exactly remember.”
The man with the strange suit looked at her like she was an alien after asking about Alpha-Prime, whatever that was, and like she was drunk for asking how she’d gotten into Diesel’s office.
Her eyes slid shut, wanting to remain that way, but she blinked them open. A quick glance around the room yielded no kind of mirror. She hoped her hair wasn’t standing up on end or mussed like she’d been rolling around kissing Diesel for a good long while on his comfy sofa. Then again, she couldn’t remember that very well either. Is that what they’d just been doing? Was she so far gone from his kisses she couldn’t remember recent events? Given that they were falling madly in love with each other, she guessed it was possible. But certainly curious.
She’d woken up a few minutes ago in the middle of kissing Diesel with no recollection of how she’d gotten all the way from the truck stop’s parking lot to a room inside the building.
The third man in the room, presumably Diesel’s brother, although she’d never met him before, looked very uncomfortable.
“Is this woman an earthling? She shouldn’t be in your office. Isn’t this private?” asked the inspector with the interesting animated shirt.
“Yes. She is. And, yes, it’s private. However, Iinvitedher into my office,” Diesel said. “You, on the other hand, just barged in here. You are supposed to remain below.”
“Be that as it may, if you want this galactic way station to be a regular and continuing part of the Royal Caldera Cruise Line port of call, you’ll cooperate. As an inspector I have more leeway regarding rules.” The man puffed up a bit, acting like he was important and not being treated as his obvious superior station should be handled.
Diesel opened his mouth, looking rather annoyed, but the man Juliana presumed to be his brother said, “Inspector Centauri, why don’t we leave and let Our Fearless Leader wrap up his meeting? I’ll take you to get a bite to eat.” He reached for the man’s arm as if to guide him out of the office.
