“What do I have to do, put in some money?”
“Nope, just push the big red button with the palm of your hand.” Diesel took her wrist and placed her palm against the four-inch-wide button. His fingers slid over the back of her hand to exert enough force to push the button.
The connection between the two of them was electric. If her hand wasn’t covered by his, it would be visibly shaking.
He moved close, hovering over her, their bodies almost but not quite touching. At least, not at first. Maxwell started moving in a jerky fashion and Diesel leaned in behind her, exerting more pressure on her hand.
When he made first contact with his chest against her shoulder, she inhaled deeply, taking in a big dose of his wonderful scent. His chest remained connected to her back, his palm pressed firmly on her hand. He was warm and tall and he smelled really good. Inside the box, Maxwell’s lips started moving in a jerky, mechanical fashion.
“Bing Boing Boppity Bop Boing Bing Bing!” Maxwell said.
Diesel kept his hand on hers for five more seconds until a small gray slip of paper the size of a business card shot out of a slot next to the button.
“There you go.” He slowly pulled his hand from hers, easing his chest away from her back. She immediately missed his touch.
Juliana reached for the card, unwilling to admit her hand trembled slightly from the recent contact with the Fearless Leader.
On one side of the gray business card was the Big Bang Truck Stop logo, a semi-truck with the wordskeep on truckin’on the side panel coming around a ringed planet. Along the bottom, a message said, “Welcome, Earthling! Present this card to the cashier for a 5% discount on gas!”
“Awesome, a coupon.” Her tone did not convey a single shred of enthusiasm.
“Look on the other side. That’s where your official Maxwell the Martian fortune will be.”
She flipped the card over, expecting to see something like, “You will meet a tall, gorgeous stranger.”Already have, thank you very much.
A short rumble of laughter sounded from Diesel’s chest, but he only smiled when she glanced over her shoulder at him. Juliana focused on the words printed on the card and felt her cheeks heat: “Maxwell the Martian says, Our Fearless Leader thinks you’re very pretty, too.”
Chapter Three
Diesel shouldn’t have put his hand on Juliana’s for the fortune. He really shouldn’t have continually read her mind as they stood together. And he was truly walking on the edge of catastrophe by projecting his feelings into the fortune she got.
He studied her again, like he’d been doing pretty much since meeting her in front of Nova’s desk. He mentally walked down the list of all the things he liked about her so far. Her hair was a beautiful blonde color.
A strand had brushed his cheek when he’d helped her with the fortune, proving it was as silky and soft as it looked. She was taller than the average human female. Perhaps six or seven inches shorter than his six foot four height.
Her body was slender, but not too skinny. She was absolutely curvy in all the right places. Her smile was captivating and flashed instantly when she was amused. Plus, she wasn’t afraid to laugh at herself. He liked talking to her, even though he’d have to watch what he said.
She turned toward him, a really adorable blush staining her cheeks. “You think I’m pretty?”No.I think you’re exquisite.
He forced a strong shake of his head to keep from admitting the truth out loud. Pointing to the glass box, he said, “Maxwell does.”
“But aren’t you the Fearless Leader?”
Yes.“Sometimes. Not always.”
“Maybe I need to speak to someone else then.”
He almost shouted the denial, but managed to speak in a civil tone. “No. You can talk to me.” He focused, trying to clearly read her specific intent and ensure it wasn’t nefarious. He held his breath as he waited to confirm the vague impression he’d registered earlier when he took a quick look into her very pretty head to ensure she wasn’t a true threat.
For some reason he couldn’t get a good read on her particular motives. He typically got strong initial impressions when he peeked inside human minds and could usually figure out anyone’s primary intent.
Juliana was different. She was harder to read in some ways, easier in others. He clearly understood she thought he was attractive, but the part about her general motives for asking questions at the truck stop was cloudy. Could be for her Finder’s article, as she said. If not, what was her primary motive?
Looking into the human mind to assess threats was often an imprecise practice, especially for his limited abilities. Usually he could only clearly read extremes at an initial meeting.
Like any ability of this nature, there was a wide range of talent. His youngest brothers Gage and Jack were like Diesel—they got feelings of extremes, such as love or hate, harmless or dangerous. His brother Cam could get actual words and sentences before someone spoke. So could Cam’s twin, Wheeler. It was a useful skill, because often people didn’t say what they were thinking. They’d thwarted a couple of robberies by being forewarned.
Axel only got images, which he said was fairly useless in the art of mind reading. During one of the robberies, he’d only seen sky and clouds in the mind of the guy holding the weapon.
