“Oh? What do you know how to cook?”
“I’ve never done it, but I did watch a video and I’m pretty sure that I could make a sandwich.”
He grinned. “No doubt you could, except that I don’t have any sandwich stuff.”
“Bummer.” Her face lit up again. “Oh. I’ve also seen a video where someone made scrambled chicken eggs in a flat pan.”
Cam wasn’t a big egg fan and didn’t keep them on hand. “Sorry. I don’t keep a lot of things to eat here, mostly snacks. If it wasn’t for takeout, I’d probably starve to death.”
“Takeout?” Her eyes narrowed. “Like fast-food?” She straightened and looked like she was about to add another something interesting to her bucket list.
Before she said anything, he asked the obvious. “Want to go out somewhere to eat?”
“Yes, please!” Ria’s expression lit up like a star gone nova. How was he ever going to live without her? He mentally shook off that depressing notion and prepared to head out again.
“Maybe we could try out the food court at the nearest mall.” She clapped her hands.Oh joy.Then again, seeing her react as though he were taking her on a lavish dinner date was worth eating overcooked mall food any day.
“Whatever you’d like,” he said and meant it. He’d do his best to give her that star-gone-nova expression no matter what she asked of him. Her wish was his command. He was sappy, but in a good way. Not like before.
His mood suddenly darkened. Thoughts of the earthling who’d broken his heart into a thousand pieces a mere two years ago hadn’t crept into his mind in a long while. He kept the difficult memory away by indulging his foolish whims at the human karaoke bar, hoping to flush the whole waste of his time out of his system.
Cam couldn’t help but compare Ria to Shelly, the girl who’d convinced him love would never be a permanent aspect of his life. They were so vastly different, in looks and attitude and almost everything. Well, they had one thing in common—money. The two women came from two different planets in two different galaxies, yet Cam still managed to fall for another female who came from the wealthy class.
Shelly had expensive tastes. She always needed to have the best, do the best, be the best and only ever spent time in the best of the best places. Shelly wouldn’t have been caught dead at the mall. And she especially wouldn’t haveeatenat a food court.
In the six months they were together, Cam had burned through every cent he made and then some. The land he’d been in the process of purchasing played second fiddle to any trifle Shelly set her sights on. Cam justified the expense, telling himself he wouldn’t need the land when they married because they’d have to leave Earth and live on Alpha-Prime. That was the rule.
Once an earthling discovered aliens lived on Earth, he or she had two choices: face a permanent memory scrub or relocate with their Alpha beloved to a planet a galaxy away.
His recollection of the day he planned to propose to Shelly crept in, further lowering his mood.
He’d thought everything was absolutely perfect until one second before he opened his mouth to pop the proverbial question. The perfect place, the perfect time of day, the beautiful way she looked—as always. He well remembered the nervous, fidgety way he felt as he worked to come up with the perfect words, wanting his proposal to be spontaneous and not sound rehearsed. Perhaps if he’d spent as much time realizing what kind of person she was versus what he wanted her to be, it wouldn’t have hurt so much.
Her look of disgust the instant before he would have knelt to ask her to make him the happiest man in the galaxy was seared in his mind, and on his heart.
Cam shook off the bad memory the instant Ria put her hand in his. He lodged a smile in place and headed toward the SUV in the garage.
The nearest mall was not a giant one with several floors and acres of stores, but it was a two-story affair with several escalators. The infamous food court held pride of place in the middle of the mall.
Doraydo, Arkansas, was a college town filled with young people and a ready clientele eager to ring up their charge cards and slap down some dollars at the mall. Cam had grown more familiar with the town since Juliana came into his brother’s life. She’d called it home before moving in with Diesel.
Cam kept an eye out for his eldest brother and his sister-in-law-to-be. It would be just his luck to run into them in Doraydo. He hadn’t expected to see anyone he knew in the Road Rash, either, until his brother strolled on in. Hopefully Diesel and Juliana had better things to do on a weeknight.
The long drive to Doraydo seemed to take no time at all, thanks to Ria. She was so easy to be with. They talked about their childhoods, him growing up in a house full of siblings and her growing up as the only child. They were still laughing about his antics with his many siblings when he pulled into one of the mall’s parking lots.
They held hands easily and naturally, a distinction he didn’t miss or try to curtail. She liked holding hands and so did he. As he’d anticipated, her face glowed as she surveyed all the options on offer in the food court. She wanted to try several cuisines, just in case it was her only chance to visit a mall. She started off with a small hamburger and fries from one place, got a taco from another popular fast-food chain stall, mini-corndogs from a third and ended her meal with a giant cinnamon pastry for dessert.
Cam, in an effort to help her try every single offering, ordered sweet and sour chicken from the Chinese place, so she could try a bite—or six—along with two fortune cookies. He’d never had food court potluck before, but it was certainly fun watching Ria try things he’d basically grown up on.
They demolished most of the food and decided to take dessert back to his place. She couldn’t hold another bite, but managed to talk him into an after-dinner java from a bustling coffee shop. They sipped their coffee as they strolled through the mall hand in hand. The nail salon was two stores from the exit. He didn’t know how he’d missed it on the way in.
Ria gave him a pleading look that was more eloquent than any words. He could deny her nothing. She fairly bounced into the place, grinning infectiously as the nail specialist showed her different colors of polish.
Perspective was an interesting mechanism. He adored watching Ria experience Earth and what it had to offer an alien from another planet seeing it for the first time.
He would have taken her to the Nebula Nail Salon in Alienn, but Diesel or Axel might spot them there. Not that his brothers ever went to get their nails painted. However, Cam had a healthy respect for the enthusiastic grapevine that wound through Alienn, and it was rooted in the Nebula Nail Salon. If he took Ria there, the gossip mill would churn into action because he didn’t typically date—well, he dated, sort of, but not anyone more than once. And never anyonefromAlienn, either.
The town’s nosy Parkers wouldn’t let him get away without a wide telephone-tree worthy notice put out to the whole town about his business. They certainly wouldn’t hesitate to chat about a beautiful, exciting, and carefree Alpha illegally visiting Earth. Everyone in town knew about Cam’s permanent bachelor status. If he so much as drove by the salon in Alienn, all of his siblings would likely find a reason to come out to the center of town and spy on him.
