Dawn Autumn (9 page)

Fred wasn’t worried. Jay was as good as his.

* * * *

“What do you want to do tonight?” Fred asked, taking a slow swallow of beer. They were having pizza and salad that night, camped out on her couch with the radio on. His gaze never left hers. In spite of the blue glasses, he managed to look impish.

Suddenly it got hard to swallow. Jay felt flames lick at her cheeks as she remembered how he’d interpreted her suggestion to stay in last night. Sweet, hot kisses. Monster bowl of popcorn slathered with salt and butter.
Star Battlefield
on the TV and teasing on the couch. So far he’d contented himself with kisses, but it was getting hard to content
herself.
Too much more of him and she was going to forget why she was saving herself.

As if he could read her mind, he looked down and smiled at his plate. “We could go up to the roof and stargaze, see who can name the most planets.” He was making it easy for her.

Oddly, Jay didn’t feel grateful. “That’ll be tough to do with the city lights drowning them out, but it might be fun anyway. Sure, let’s do it.” They finished their dinner and cleaned up.

Fred kissed her as she was about to go out the door. Long, shivery moments later, he eased back. “Sure you want to go up?”

She pulled in a shuddering breath. “We’d better.”

With a dangerous smile, he kissed her fingers, then took her small hand and led the way.

The night was clear, with a full moon riding the sky. Surrounded as they were by rooftops that led into larger buildings, there wasn’t much of a conventional view, but the night had a magic of its own.

Perhaps the company had something to do with that.

They sat on a bench made from an old plank and a couple of crates and admired the silvery wash of moonlight over the cityscape. For the first time, Fred took off his sunglasses in her presence.

Startled, Jay leaned over to look at his eyes, but he stayed her with a light hand on her knee.

“Just don’t freak out, okay?” He waited until she’d stilled, absorbing his warning, then slowly turned to look at her.

Jay gasped. His eyes reflected the moonlight like twin, smoky mirrors. She started to tremble, braced herself to back away.

He held her hand, his grip gentle, yet unbreakable. “Easy, sweetheart.” Slowly, he raised her hand and kissed the back, then turned it to place a tender kiss on the inside. “You know me.”

“I ... I’m not sure ....”

“I am.” His hand slid into her hair, easing her forward. His eyes glowed, but the touch of his lips just below her ear, down her neck, was familiar and welcome.

Her body didn’t know that it was supposed to fear him.

Unfortunately for him, her mind was working overtime. “Stop, Fred!” She wrenched back, tempted to bolt, knowing he’d stop her. “What are you?” she whispered, terrified, half suspecting he was a demon come to slay her.

He sighed. “I’m a traffic cop ... of sorts. I specialize in alien immigrations, as I told you. Our building serves as an outpost, a gateway to your world. Through your world, I should say. There’s not much of interest here for most travelers.” He shot her an apologetic glance. “Too backward.”

Her mouth worked. Questions crowded her brain, demanding answers. Unfortunately, what came out first was, “What do you want with me?”

Fred’s lips quirked as he glanced away, over the city. “I think that’s obvious.” He looked back at her, studied her face. “I want to take you back with me.”

Spooked, she jumped up. There was no getting past him, so she backed up a couple of steps. “L-look! You’ve got the wrong girl. I’m totally wrong for you.”

The grin he’d been fighting broke free. “That’s not what you were thinking last night.”

Horrified, she stared at him. “Can you read my mind?”

“I don’t need to.” He shifted on the bench, leaning back against the wall in an elegant sprawl. “You’ve wanted to see my eyes so much—come and take a closer look.” He gave her a wolfish grin.

She backed up another step. “I want to go back downstairs.” She said it as firmly as she could, hoping he’d relent.

“You want to run away. I hadn’t thought you were a coward. Is the bad girl with the big guitar thing all an act? Or maybe you’re just intimidated by the real me. You never feared me when you could look down your nose at me.”

She gasped. “I never did!”

“Never?” he mocked.

“Well, it wasn’t
my
fault you dressed like a geek. And you did it on purpose! Why?”

His teeth gleamed. “We used to have problems with our token human female tenants chasing me around. Normally, I don’t mind that, but it gets tricky when you have a woman knocking on your door at all hours, wanting in. I solved it by making myself unappealing to even the most desperate woman. That’s the Fred you knew.”

The picture he was painting of his revolving door and a procession of women in and out of his life soured her. He might be an alien, but recently, he’d been
her
alien. “So you’re a playboy.”

“And you’re prejudiced. Not that I‘m shocked, since you grew up on this backward little rock.”

“Backward? And I am not!”

“Then why are you cowering over there? Afraid the big, bad alien is going to eat you up? Baby, you’ve already had a taste of my worst.” He laughed. “Well, maybe not my worst, but we’ll get to that.”

Chills and heat fought for roadway in her veins, confusing her already stressed brain. Her ears were buzzing, and the night was getting fuzzy on the edges. “I’m not going to be your latest fling.” Before he could even answer, the concrete rose up to meet her.

Jay moaned as he was tucking her into bed—her bed. The night had gone much as he’d figured, except he hadn’t counted on her swooning. Under the right conditions he wouldn’t mind, but not when she landed on her butt in front of him. It had been a shock, and she was going to have a few bruises, but there’d been no way he could catch her.

Funny, he hadn’t thought she was the fainting type. Next time he had to spring something on her, he’d make sure there was a soft landing handy.

“Fred?” She squinted at him, then blinked and focused on his sunglasses. She frowned uneasily.

Trusting that it would all come back to her and that she wouldn’t bolt in the night, he gave her a half smile and kissed her lightly goodnight. “You’ve had a busy evening. Sleep on it awhile.”

He let himself out, locking the door behind him. It was going to be tricky, taming an Earth girl, but he’d done it before, not that he’d ever planned to keep one of those.

At least he’d had time to show her the softer side of his personality before showing her his real character. He was no prize, and he’d used up all of his store of virtue with her. Women found his true personality as maddening as they did irresistible. He was willing to share his body freely, but Jay was the first woman he’d desired to share his soul. She was a fitting mate, if he could just get past her provincial fears.

Fortunately, he had just the tool for the job.

Chapter Seven

A noise woke Jay out of a fuzzy sleep. Shifting, she discovered what felt like bruises forming along her back. The roof. Fred.

Tossing back the covers, she slid out of bed, relieved to find she was wearing her silky pajama bottoms and the tank top she’d had on last evening. She checked her clock, discovered it was just after three AM, and sighed. She was too tired to run off just then. Besides, if Fred hadn’t sucked out her brain or anything by then, odds were he’d wait until after breakfast.

A noise in the next room distracted her, and she frowned at the sliver of light under her door, suddenly uneasy. Surely it wasn’t Fred, not unless he’d decided to sleep on her couch. Could he be watching a movie?

Just in case, Jay eased out of bed and grabbed the baseball bat in the corner. Padding to the door, she squinted through the peek hole she’d installed after her first Close Encounter.

An alien was in her living room.

Shock made her suck in her breath. Her hand tightened on the bat as she stared at the six foot cricket poking around in her cupboards. Another praying mantis-like hand came out of her bathroom not a foot from her face, almost giving her heart failure.

Her toilet flushed.

Swallowing a scream, Jay backed away from the door, never taking her eyes from it. As quietly as possible, she threw the latch on her window and eased it open.

Her doorknob rattled.

All thoughts of stealth flew out of her head. Opting for speed, she shot out the window, dragging her bat over the frame. Slamming the window shut, she clattered up the old escape and pounded on Fred’s window. When he didn’t show up instantly, she hammered harder, and then pulled the bat back, ready to smash the glass.

Fred’s face appeared in the window. “What the—” Cursing, he threw up the casement.

She risked a look at the empty fire escape, convinced that a killer was on the way up. The next instant she launched herself through Fred’s window, nearly braining him with the bat. He dodged and reached out to catch her as she tumbled through. They ended up sprawled on the floor with her on top.

He raised his brows over the top of his shades. “You could have just knocked, baby.” Grunting, he removed her elbow from his naked ribs and slid her into a more comfortable position. “Now tell Freddy all about it,” he purred, caressing her satin clad thigh.

“Not now!” she hissed, batting away his hand as she tried to leaver off him. “There’s an alien in my room!”

Instantly he was on his feet and buttoning his pants, leaving her sprawled indignantly on the throw rug. He slammed and locked the window, then tossed off the couch cushions. Lifting the lid, he reached in and pulled out a wicked looking rifle. “Stay here.”

Jay gaped at the door as he slipped out. No way did she want to tangle with the aliens, but ... Shooting a nervous look at the window, she hurried to the door and flipped on the light. Taking a deep breath, she eased open the door and peeked outside.

Nothing. Just an ordinary stairwell and the view of her open apartment door.

Seconds ticked by. Her room was the size of a shoebox—surely Fred would have searched it by now ... unless the alien had got him.

She gulped. Surely not. She couldn’t deal with a giant cockroach at three AM, and certainly not without a mega size can of Raid. Fred was supposed to rescue her—that’s what men were for, smashing bugs and opening stuck jars.