Chapter Four
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Axel wasn’t certain how he’d gotten so lucky as to be exactly where he wanted to be, passionately kissing the girl he’d been dreaming about for the last week and a half, but he was joyous. The kiss was nothing short of enchanting.
He ensured she made the first move, but he’d wanted to kiss her the moment she jumped in front of him. Once he discovered her intent, he joined in. He wrapped his arms around her to hold her close and let her know he approved of this spontaneous action. He also didn’t stop kissing her. He’d let her lead for as long as she wanted, responding in kind.
Axel didn’t know how long they kissed, but he finally had to disengage when he heard someone behind him clear their throat, loudly. It sounded like one of his brothers. No one else would annoyingly bother him when he was kissing the perfect girl.
The taste of her on his lips, Axel turned his head without releasing Lucy to see his brother Jack grinning like a loon. Jack was his youngest brother. The one they could always talk into volunteering for things. He was even a good sport about it. Mostly.
“I need a bottle of water,” Jack said by way of explanation, his grin widening.
“I’m not stopping you.” Axel gestured to the refrigerated case nearby.
His brother took two steps toward the water, asking as he passed, “Aren’t you taking over Cam’s duties again today?”
“Maybe. Why?”
“No reason. I just saw Director Patmore wandering around out there a minute ago and figured he was looking for you.”
Axel glanced at the clock on the wall above his brother’s head and flinched. He needed to go in a few minutes, but not quite yet. “I have some time, mother hen.”
“Just trying to help you out, Bro.” Jack grabbed a bottle of water out of the case, which Axel then snatched out of his hand.
“Thanks. I needed one, too.”
Jack gave him a mock dirty look as he grabbed another bottle of water from the case and turned to Lucy. “Are you sure you want to involve yourself with a guy who treats his little brother this way?”
Lucy giggled. “I only know about sisters and how they treat each other. Trust me, you have it made.”
“Figures you’d be on his side,” Jack said and laughed.
Axel checked the clock again. “I do need to get going here pretty quick or I’ll be late, again. And we both know that Director Patmore can be rather difficult if tardiness is involved.”
“The story of our life together so far,” she said with a winsome smile. “Director Patmore running my life on the ship as well as at the stops along the way.”
“Will you meet me later today?” Axel asked, unwilling to release his arm from around her waist just yet.
“Yes. Where?” she asked with a sweet smile.
His brother stared at them in rapt attention. Axel leaned forward, inhaled a delicious breath of her perfume and whispered in her ear, “Let’s meet right here in three hours. Okay?”
She nodded.
Jack said, “Wait, I didn’t get that.”
“Exactly my plan.”
“Come on now. Where and when are you two meeting?”
“Sorry, Jack, you aren’t invited. Go find your own date.”
His brother, amused expression in place, saluted Axel with his bottle of water and moved away. Finally, they were alone.
“Will you truly meet me?” she asked.
“Can you get away?” He tilted his head in the direction of the docked cruise ship. “Is there a better time for you?”
“No. I can get away in three hours.”
“Great.” Axel looked once more at the clock on the wall. He needed to leave, but couldn’t seem to let her go.
“Until then.” She placed a chaste kiss on his cheek. The spot tingled from her lip prints. She was the one to move away and exit the store. Axel watched after her as he paid for his water, and his brother’s, too. He wasn’t sure he would have been able to leave her presence if she hadn’t been the one to depart first. He missed her the moment she left his side.
Three hours later, Axel returned to the convenience store, heartened by the communication he’d received from Director Patmore. The Royal Caldera Forte’s next trip was not scheduled to stop at the way station for two months and the cruise line had adjusted future trips to account for the potentially problematic volcanic activity on the route. The company had also confirmed the ship would stay for two whole days, which would help quell the resentment from the store owners.
He saw Lucy the moment he stepped inside. She was with someone. The older woman was elegantly beautiful, with silvering blonde hair swept up in a complicated and stylish arrangement. She was dressed to the nines in the latest Alpha-Prime fashion.
Lucy caught his gaze and shook her head slightly. The lady started speaking and Axel figured she was likely Lucy’s wealthy employer.
Axel winked at Lucy and went to the opposite side of the store. He pretended interest in a rack of sweet and salty snacks and waited for the other woman to leave so he could ask Lucy out for a date. He had plenty of time now that his shift was over and Cam was working. That meant his brother was back in charge of the return of the ship, not Axel. He was free. Well, he still had to help organize the refueling, but that wasn’t an issue for today.
He studied the snacks as a pang of hunger struck him. He couldn’t remember his last meal. Peanuts were a good choice. Chocolate was even better. Chocolate-covered peanuts might be the ultimate snack choice. He heard the doors slide open behind him and someone entered the store.
“Mr. Grey!” Director Patmore said in an overloud voice. “I’ve been looking for you.”
Axel turned. “Guess I’ll have to find a better hiding place.”
The woman with Lucy cleared her throat very loudly and gave the director an annoyed look.
Director Patmore, not taking the hint, changed his direction toward Axel in mid-step, turning instead toward Lucy and the other woman. “Ah, Mrs. Duvall. How are you enjoying your stay here on Earth?”
Mrs. Duvall lifted her sharp gaze. “It’s…well…” She paused with an expression that seemed to be desperately trying to find a word that wasn’t disparaging or rude. “It’s interesting.”
“Excellent.” Patmore sounded overly pleased, as if he’d suddenly realized she was being polite and now he didn’t know how to extract himself from his approach.
“Did you say you were looking for me, Director Patmore?” Axel wasn’t trying to help the director so much as disengage Lucy’s employer from further discussion. Still, he thought he saw the barest glint of gratitude in the other man’s eyes.
“Excuse me, Mrs. Duvall. Enjoy your shopping.” To Axel, Patmore said, “Well, Mr. Grey, did you get my missive?”
“I did. And I forwarded it to Cam because he’s on duty today. But as to your departure and the fuel needed two days from now, I have everything set up for the Royal Caldera Forte’s scheduled departure.”
Patmore gave him a stare. “Shouldn’t you be part of the meeting since you were the one to shepherd the ship in ten days ago?”
“Nope. I filled in for Cam then and now he’s back in charge.”
“You filled in last month, too. And you were available for the departure and arrival of that visit.”
Axel nodded. “Yes. All of us brothers help each other out from time to time. Family, you know?”
Patmore narrowed his eyes as if he’d never heard the concept of family or how they operated in his whole life.
“As far as the fuel needs, we are ready to go, Director Patmore. No worries this time in that regard. As to anything else, you’ll have to check with Cam.”
“If your brother has returned to his duties, then where is he?” the director asked. Axel though sourly it was almost as if the man deliberately intended to take up all his precious time with Lucy.
“Check in his office, he’s probably there waiting for you.”
“I see. I guess that will be fine. It’s likely too much to expect that whatever person in charge this time around would greet me as I leave the ship.” Patmore sniffed. And the drama queen is back.
“I figured you’d be happy to be back to normal and have Cam in charge.” Surely, he didn’t prefer working with Axel. Would Cam feel the same way about Patmore? Likely not.
“I simply hope that you won’t be switching back and forth each time we arrive. The constant change is exhausting.” He turned on his heel, showing Axel his back. Axel made a face that Lucy apparently saw, because she grinned in his direction.
Patmore exited the shop, nodding once to Mrs. Duvall and Lucy before leaving.
Axel tried not to take offense at Patmore’s clear preference for his brother or the apparently exhausting trial of them switching places to help each other out.
They’d had a rather interesting time during last month’s arrival and departure, but things had worked out well from his perspective.
Across the room, Axel overheard Mrs. Duvall say, “All right, then, make your purchases and meet me back on the ship. Don’t be late.”
“No, ma’am,” Lucy said. “I won’t be late.”
Mrs. Duvall swept out of the convenient store. Lucy’s employer never once looked in his direction. Hopefully she hadn’t even noticed him. Lucy had, and that was all he cared about.
The moment the older woman was gone, Lucy gave him a grin that was big enough to light up the world. Axel couldn’t help but return her exuberant smile. He stopped studying the sweet and salty snacks. Lucy was the only thing worth his attention, and what he really hungered for.
Lucy carried a few small toiletries as she approached him.
“I thought she’d never leave,” Lucy said, juggling the items in her hands.
“I’m just glad you’re able to meet me.” Axel reached for a small shopping basket from the stack in the wire holder next to them. He opened the handles so she could drop her purchases into the bottom.
“Thanks.”
“My pleasure.” He took her arm. “How much time do you have?”
“Only about an hour.” She looked downcast. He put his fingers under her chin and lifted her face. Her smile came as he stared deeply into her luscious light green eyes.
“No worries. That’s plenty of time for the date I have in mind.”
“Date?” Her whole being brightened with the word.
“Yes. I’d like to have a date with you. I likely should’ve asked if you want to have a date with me, so let me be clear. I’d like to take you out, Lucy. Will you go with me?”
“I’d love to go out on a date with you. Where will we go? What will we do?” She glanced at the automatic doors leading out into the large way station that featured all sorts of interesting things for space travelers to enjoy. “Since we only have an hour.”
The basement level of the Big Bang Truck Stop had been designed several decades ago with the idea that space travelers wouldn’t be able to go out into Earth territory because of the strict secrecy of aliens hiding in plain sight. That meant they brought all things Earthly inside. The space was as large as a football stadium and three stories high in some places. It included every kind of shop imaginable, from art galleries filled with creative and popular earthling prints and sculpture to baby zebras in the petting zoo. It was billed for all ages, but mostly children went there.
Axel thought for a moment about where he wanted to go and what he wanted her to see.
He didn’t want to take her anywhere in the basement facility. They could do that anytime in the next two days. There were several places he’d love to go to with her on his arm downstairs to show her off. But not right now.
Instead, Axel wanted to take her someplace special, out of the facility. He wanted to show her something she couldn’t see in the basement. He wanted to create a special memory of a beautiful place in the Arkansas woods that they could tell their grandchildren about. He might be jumping the gun, as this was only their first date, but Lucy was special and he was smart enough to realize it.
Axel wondered if she’d balk at leaving when they weren’t truly supposed to.
“What would you think about leaving the facility to visit a place nearby?” He braced himself for her to shut that down.
Color came up in her cheeks. She was so beautiful. He wanted to kiss her again. But he didn’t. He admired her blush, taking a moment to fall even further in love with her.
“In town?”
“No. Someplace else. It’s something I’d like to show you in the woods nearby.”
“A surprise?” Her cheeks bloomed with more color. She seemed eager to go wherever he wanted to take her. It was foolish to be falling in love with someone he barely knew, but his brother had done it…come to think of it, both of his married brothers had done very similar things with the loves in their lives.
Diesel fell in love with an earthling—well, she was actually not quite all human—and Cam fell in love with someone off the last luxury liner that had visited Alienn.
A month later, Axel was extremely interested in someone off another luxury liner. Interestingly ironic, but perfect as to following in his brother’s footsteps regarding love from an airship.
“I’d love to go see Earth. But I don’t have special permission to leave the way station.” Axel shrugged. “That’s okay. Just stick with me.”
“We won’t get into any trouble, will we?”
“Of course not. Or my name isn’t Axel Grey, and it is.”
“I read that your brother is the Fearless Leader in charge of this place.”
“True.”
“And that another brother, Cam, has invented all manner of important devices for Alphas, especially those living on Earth.”
“Also true.”
“May I ask what you do here?”
“I oversee communications for the most part, both down here and upstairs on the Earther side, but I also handle the liquid bauxite refueling for the ships that dock here from Alpha-Prime.” Wow. You’re a gas station attendant. Way to show off.
“But we also fill in for each other on occasion. Diesel is away for the day so Cam and I are in charge this go around.”
“Oh, so is that why we can go outside? Because when you’re in charge you don’t follow the rules? You just break them left and right to suit your own desires.” Interesting word. Desires. He had desires all right.
Axel laughed. “No. I would never break any rules outright.”
Her eyebrows rose slightly at his not entirely truthful statement. “Okay,” he amended. “How about we don’t break the important rules? Let’s just say the rules can be bent a tiny bit now and again for special occasions.”
“Is this a special occasion?”
“Our first date is a very special occasion.”
Her brows lowered and her smile grew. “So where will you take me on this clandestine rendezvous date and special occasion away from the basement facility.”
“You don’t want to be surprised?”
“It’s not that, I just don’t want to seem foolish going off to parts unknown with a stranger.”
“We aren’t strangers. We’ve danced.” And kissed. I liked the kissing best.
“Still, I feel like I should assess the risks before bending the rules here.”
“Good point. Okay. What would you think about going to a small pond surrounded by lots of trees?” Axel watched as her eyes lit up. Her whole being lit up as though she’d wanted to do what he suggested for the whole of her life and was now finally afforded the opportunity.
“That sounds incredible. I’ve heard there’s lots of water and very tall trees on Earth. Is that true?”
“Yes. That is true. There’s lots of water, lots of tall trees and actually lots of interesting things to see.” There was a hidden swimming hole about ten minutes down the highway headed toward Doraydo. He could take her there and be back within the hour without grief.
“Okay.” Her eyes lifted as if she considered water and tall trees the very definition of her heart’s desire. “I wouldn’t mind seeing some tall trees or a nice body of water, as long as it’s close. We can bend the rules a little.”
“Yes. It’s very close. I know the perfect spot.”
“Are you sure we have time?”
“Yes, I promise I won’t make you late.”
Unless you want me to make you late, so you can be let go from your position with the prestigious Duvall family and move to Earth to spend the rest of your life with me.