Veronica took a swig of hard apple cider. Nothing like a bit of liquid courage before telling her best buds she had volunteered them to take on interns.

The Legal Beagle was pretty busy for a weeknight. Off-duty cops were shooting pool and drinking beer everywhere she looked. Hopefully her roommates wouldn’t yell at her in public. And even if they did, in the relative din, maybe no one would notice.

Part of her was just glad to get them all together. Trinity always kept odd hours, and it seemed like Brooke hardly ever got a break from teaching martial arts at her gym lately. Veronica couldn’t remember the last time they’d all been out for a night on the town.

Sadly, this wasn’t going to be one of those nights.

“So I know we’re all snowed under,” she began, a little too loudly.

Brooke looked up, her blue eyes cold as ice. She already smelled a rat.

“You’re telling me,” Trinity muttered.

“My friend Georgia called me today,” Veronica continued doggedly.

“The one who married an alien?” Brooke’s serious expression broke into a sunny grin.

“Yeah, that Georgia,” Veronica said.

“If she wants to come and stay it’s not a problem,” Trinity said immediately, one brow arched. “We can always make time for her, especially if she brings that husband.”

Georgia and her two friends Posey and Rima were all over the news. The three of them had met and married three unbelievably gorgeous guys who happened to be aliens. It was wild to know someone who had become an instant celebrity.

Veronica wondered again why Georgia would need her help finding internships for people when the world seemed to be her oyster right now.

“Are they coming?” Brooke asked.

“No,” Veronica said. “She called because she wanted me to find internships for a couple of people.”

“She wanted what?” Brooke asked.

“Does she seriously have nothing better to do than arrange internships?” Trinity asked.

“She’s a super nice person,” Veronica explained. “And she’s very practical. Apparently, my mom has been posting on Facebook that we’re all short staffed.”

“Do they have tech experience?” Trinity sounded excited.

“I have no idea,” Veronica said. “But the one I met was spooky good with Zeus.”

“Isn’t Zeus the killer dog?” Brooke asked.

“I wish you wouldn’t call him that,” Veronica said.

“I’m sorry,” Brooke said. “Let me rephrase that. Isn’t he the dog that you rescued from a fighting ring, and won’t let anyone near him without roaring at them and gnashing his giant teeth like he wants to eat them?”

“He is,” Veronica admitted.

“Wow,” Trinity said. “That’s amazing.”

“Yeah,” Veronica said, mulling it over as she stared into the murky depths of her cider.

“Yeah,” Brooke said with feeling.

Veronica looked up from her cider to find Brooke gazing at the entry to the pub.

The door was open and the light from the lamppost outside silhouetted three gigantic men. The muggy air from the street had turned to fog and the effect was as if the Legal Beagle were being infiltrated by three rock stars.

Or three…

Aliens.

“Veronica,” a familiar deep voice said.

Lobo.

“Hi,” Veronica said weakly.

“Oh my god,” Trinity said, “they’re—”

Brooke elbowed Trinity in the solar plexus before she could finish her sentence.

The men strode toward them.

Veronica found her eyes locked with Lobo’s once again. He was flanked by two other men, each a hulking specimen of masculinity. But she had eyes only for Lobo.

Could he really be an alien?

“These are my brothers,” he told her. “Conan and Hawkeye.”

Conan smiled, his hazel eyes twinkling. He had a youthful air about him.

Hawkeye smirked and nodded.

“Hello, boys,” Veronica said, pretending she wasn’t freaking out. “These are my friends, Brooke and Trinity.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Brooke said with her cocky pirate smile. She was all swagger, and Veronica had never been so impressed. Her own cool seemed to have evaporated.

“Hello,” Conan said, gazing at Brooke like she might know all the secrets of the universe.

“Trinity,” Hawkeye said, offering his massive hand to Veronica’s shy friend.

Trinity looked up from her cider, her eyes traveling slowly up Hawkeye’s impressive frame to meet his eye.

“Hey, there,” Trinity said, grabbing his hand and shaking it.

“Thank you for meeting us,” Lobo said quietly to Veronica. “We appreciate that you are willing to shelter us. We will work hard for you and protect you with our lives.”

“Uh, wow, hopefully it won’t come to that,” Veronica said.

“If it does, we are at your service.”

He was gazing down at her with such intensity. It was hard to remember where they were, what they were supposed to be doing. He wasn’t physically touching her, but his eyes and even his voice seemed to caress her.

“Let’s get out of here,” Brooke said, her voice cutting through the din of the bar.

“You are not pleased with us?” Conan sounded dismayed.

“On the contrary,” Brooke said. “We’re very pleased. We want to get down to business but a place like this is only good for small talk.”

“She is correct,” Lobo said, without taking his eyes off Veronica. “We will go, brothers.”

He gestured for her to lead the way.

Veronica hopped off her stool and headed for the door with Brooke and Trinity in tow.

The heat outside was like a blanket after the frigid air conditioning of the bar. Mist clung to the pavement of the little town, swirling around the lampposts that led back to the old academy.

She heard the door to the pub close. When she looked back, she half expected to see no one behind them. After all, this was just like her dream - the man, the mist…

But the three aliens followed, looking no less impressive than before.

Lobo jogged to catch up to her.

“Veronica,” he said. “You seem… unsettled.”

“I guess, I just, didn’t realize…” she trailed off.

“Did you not know we were from Aerie?” he asked her directly.

She shook her head.

“But Georgia explained that she would contact you,” he said.

“She did,” Veronica told him. “But she didn’t say you were… from Aerie. Though now that I think about what she did say, it makes sense.”

“The women at Stargazer are very concerned about the privacy of their phone lines,” Lobo explained. “They fear that the government may be listening in to their calls.”

“Oh,” Veronica said. “Why would they be doing that?”

“Many reasons,” Lobo said. “Mostly because, although they have access to our brothers, they may fear what secrets could still be hidden.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Veronica allowed.

“Also, several of us… escaped,” he added.

“What do you mean escaped?” Veronica asked. “Were you being held prisoner?”

A pained expression marred his handsome features for a moment.

“We were treated kindly,” he said. “But it’s true that the scientists from your government and the leaders from mine preferred for us to stay in the lab.”

“Why?” she asked.

“They wanted to see if they could make us click,” he said. “That is, become permanently human, so that we could stay in these forms forever.”

“Did it work?”

“No,” he said sadly. “At least, not for those of us in the lab. The proper way is through mating with a woman.”

Veronica felt the blood rush to her cheeks. She had heard something about this from the news stories, of course. But the frank way he spoke about it made her blush.

“Is this not polite to talk about?” Lobo asked.

“What?” Veronica asked. “No, no, it’s fine. It’s just interesting.”

“I see,” Lobo said.

She could hear the smile in his voice but she didn’t dare look up at him. Instead she concentrated on the sidewalk.

“So what did you do in the lab?” she asked, grasping for something, anything, to say that didn’t have to do with mating.

“The scientists hoped that sexual stimulation would cause us to click,” he said.

Veronica suddenly pictured Lobo, naked and magnificent, chained to a wall, a female scientist on her knees pleasuring him as government officials watched and took notes. She felt her heart begin to pound.

“It did not work,” Lobo said lightly. “Watching a video stream is not the same as mating.”

Oh.

Veronica wasn’t sure if she was relieved or disappointed that there had been no actual sex.

“So Georgia busted you out of porn jail, huh?” Veronica asked.

“She and her sisters, yes,” he agreed. “It is my hope that we can remain hidden so that her treachery is not exposed.”

Veronica glanced back to see Trinity and Brooke chatting with the other two enormous men.

“I don’t know that you guys are exactly easy to hide,” she said.

“You refer to our appearance?”

“Yes,” she said.

“We were created to be pleasing to the women of Earth,” he said. “Our sole purpose is to find women to mate with us. Fitting in wasn’t in the design criteria. We were meant to be exceptional.”

He sounded matter-of-fact, not boastful.

“Well, kudos to the design team,” Veronica said drily. “But the fact remains that you are going to be exceptionally hard to hide.”

Lobo stopped abruptly.

Veronica almost tripped trying to stop too.

“If our presence endangers you, we will leave immediately,” Lobo said.

Wow.

“So you’re new to the planet,” Veronica said. “You have no idea how this world works. You’ve only lived in a lab. And you would be willing to go out there on your own, without any help, just because I’m worried?”

“I would be sad to do so,” Lobo said. “But yes, we would manage somehow. We could not impose upon you and your sisters.”

“They aren’t my sisters,” Veronica explained. “They’re just my friends.”

“Your friends,” Lobo amended.

“What would you do?” Veronica asked. She had no intention of throwing him out, but she was curious.

“I imagine there is a college or university nearby,” Lobo said. “There we might find young women who would accept us as mates and help us find trades.”

Somehow his assumption that women would desire him did not sound cocky. And he certainly wasn’t wrong.

“But that would not be my preference,” he added.

“What would your preference be?”

He hesitated before answering, as if considering his words.

“I prefer to stay here with you, Veronica Nunez,” he told her, his voice a note deeper than before. “I want to know you better.”

Veronica was mortified to feel her face go red again. Was this what she was reduced to? Falling for a cheesy pick-up line from an alien?

“Why do you want to know me better?” she asked stubbornly.

“You work with animals,” he said. “This is the occupation of a compassionate and intelligent person.”

“Oh,” Veronica said, completely taken by surprise.

“And you already choose to accept the love and loyalty of a creature whose culture you do not share,” he continued. “Which means that a mate like myself might be able to make you truly happy.”

Veronica was unable to formulate a coherent response.

“If you decided that was something you wanted,” he added lightly.

They had nearly reached the old academy building. The waxy leaves of the rhododendrons shone in the streetlights.

“I’m not interested in finding a… mate,” Veronica said, pulling herself together. “But don’t worry. I’m going to help you and your brothers. I promised Georgia that I would.”

“Thank you,” Lobo said flatly.

If she hadn’t known better, Veronica would have thought he was disappointed.

But he couldn’t actually want to be with her. They had only just met.

No, he was offering himself to her as if he were a commodity - his body in exchange for her protection.

And as tempting as that sinfully sexy body was, she would never take advantage of him in that way.

Besides, Veronica had been around the block. After the last time she’d gotten burned, she had no interest in being with a guy who was involved for the wrong reasons.

Her life was finally back on track. She wasn’t going to throw away her sanity.

Even if it was literally for the guy of her dreams.