by Susan Grant
Finally Jared came inside, his hands filled with a heavy platter of steaks. The sight of Cavin brought him up short. “Hey, Jana,” he said and put the platter on the counter. “How’s the nun life these days?”
Jana shot him a frown and a mimed “shush.” The men shook hands.
Cavin had so many qualities in common with Jared. For one, they were both military officers. Would fate allow them to someday be friends? Here on Earth, she hoped. Not pitching tents on Mars because they’d been evicted from the planet.
As conversation swirled around him, Cavin quietly absorbed it all with an adorably hungry expression. It was almost poignant, to Jana, the way he seemed to enjoy the chaos of her family. She was reminded once again how little exposure he’d had to a family environment. You can give him this. A gift.
That was, if her family still saw Cavin in a favorable light after they found out who—and what—he really was.
Everyone took seats at the table. Mom asked Cavin, “How long are you going to be in town?”
“It will be, perhaps, a long visit,” he answered evasively.
“Mom, Grandpa, do you mind if Cavin and I stay the night? We don’t feel comfortable going to a hotel.”
Evie made a noise.
Jana narrowed her eyes at her. “My apartment was broken into. Nothing was stolen,” she said to everyone’s sounds of dismay. “It looked like someone went through my files.”
Evie looked worried now. “Funny you should say that. The police told me there was a prowler in my house today. The neighbors saw some guy dressed in ghetto chic. With lots of bling.”
Jana and Cavin froze.
“Nothing was taken, either,” Evie went on. “But someone went through my newspapers, and when I came in, Sadie was hiding under the bed, trembling more than usual. I never saw her so distraught. We’re staying here, too. I don’t feel safe at home right now.”
Icy fear filled Jana’s chest. Was it the REEF? While Cavin didn’t believe it was the assassin who’d broken into her apartment, it was pretty damn likely the killer had come looking for Cavin after hearing of the EMP. And missed him. Narrowly.
While Jared, Mom and Grandpa argued over what lines political detractors and journalists should never cross, namely breaking and entering to look for dirt, Cavin glanced covertly at his gauntlet, checking for the REEF’s proximity. He met her eyes and shook his head.
Relief trembled through her. The REEF was not omniscient. He wasn’t a mind reader. He’d found his way to Evie’s house only because of the news. Now all she had to hope was that he’d found nothing in the newspapers that could lead him here.
What kind of danger had she brought to her family?
They’ll be in greater danger if you do nothing at all.
Mom wore her matriarch face, but Jana knew she was frightened. “Of course, you may stay. And for as long as you need to be here, my children. I fear for your safety.”
“Your worst nightmare, Mom,” Jared said. “All of us moving back home.”
“I’ll hire security for each of you come morning,” Grandpa said. “And for you, too, Larisa. Four security agents.”
But the last thing Jana and Cavin needed was someone trailing them, even if it were for their protection. “Make that three,” she said. “I’ve got Cavin. He’s acting as my bodyguard.”
“Are you armed?” Grandpa challenged him.
“Yes, sir. I am.”
“Hmm.” Grandpa liked that, apparently. He went back to eating, his hand slow, shaky.
When the end of the meal came around and Evie’s teens had excused themselves for computer games in one of the upstairs bedrooms, Jana folded her hands on the dining table. “I…actually we—me and Cavin—we have something to tell you.” Everyone’s attention shifted to her, growing worried when they read the tension in her face. You have an expressive face, Cavin had told her.
“You went to Reno, got married,” Jared guessed.
“No!”
“You’re engaged,” her mother said.
“Listen to me. It’s nothing like that.”
Grandpa glared at Cavin. “He got you pregnant.”
Jana slapped her palm to her forehead. “No, no and no.”
Cavin’s mouth gave an amused twist. “This conversation is quite familiar.”
“It’s not about me. It’s bigger than that.” She swallowed. “It’s bigger than all of us.”
Evie patted her bottom. “My butt.”
“Not only does this affect my election, it will affect my presidential election. And all the elections to come, here and around the world.”
Grandpa sighed. “Punkin, I haven’t seen you exaggerate this much since you were a child. What an imagination you had then. Remember the glowing boy?” His irritation melted with affection and the pleasure of old memories.
She pointed to Cavin. “He’s the glowing boy! He’s Peter. Cavin is. He isn’t any more imaginary than you are.”
Cavin nodded, his face solemn. The silence at the table went from deep to bottomless.
“Take my advice and grab a drink, a strong one, before I tell you the rest. It may make it go down easier.”
She felt Cavin’s hand land on her thigh, as reassuring as it was guilty. He regretted putting her in a tight spot. But when did doing the right thing come with a guarantee it’d be easy? Probably never. If the moment Bruce Keene told her she wasn’t invited to the caucus luncheon had been her wake-up call to take action, then equally defining was this moment of revealing the alien threat and her role in it to her family. It would begin the fight of her life, the true test of her character.
And the end of life as she knew it.
Chapter Twenty-One
NO ONE GOT UP TO GET DRINKS. Fine. Have it their way. They’d regret it soon enough. Family Members Found Dead Around Dinner Table. Food Poisoning Ruled Out.
Jana grabbed hold of Cavin’s hand under the table. He squeezed hers back, fingers twined together. Her heart was pounding so loudly it was hard to hear her voice. “About Tala’s nose,” she began. “She didn’t hit a tree. She did, as you suspected, Grandpa, injure her muzzle running into a wreck.”
It was silent for a few more seconds. Then Grandpa scoffed, “We Jaspers are no hillbillies. We don’t have cars on blocks on our property.”
“I’m not talking about a beat-up car. I’m talking about a beat-up spaceship.”
“Get the vodka, Evie,” Mom said. Her voice was even. Calm. “And the single malt for Jared and your grandfather. Six glasses.”
Everyone sat stiffly until Evie returned. No one said a thing until the shot glasses were full.
Without preliminaries, everyone except Cavin tossed back the drink. Grandpa set down the glass with a loud clink. “You were the boy she ran out to see?” But he turned to Jana before Cavin had a chance to reply. “You told me he was magic,” he accused. “You told me he was imaginary.”
“That’s what I thought. But he wasn’t, Grandpa. Cavin is an extraterrestrial.”
In the corner of her eye, she saw her mother reach for the bottle of vodka.
“He was here with his father on a scientific expedition. I thought his advanced technology was magic. He went away when his father had to leave—”
“In a spaceship, I presume?” Grandpa asked.
“Yes. And he returned two nights ago. After we had our family powwow about Dad, I stopped at the Safeway on Douglas Boulevard to pick up some ice cream. Cavin tracked me down and found me. We’ve been on the run ever since.”
By the time she finished the story—with pictures, if she counted the newspaper articles, and visual aids, Cavin’s gauntlet computer and Darth Vader gun—Grandpa’s cheeks were flushed. Fortunately, he’d turned more of a pink, white and blue than a true red, white and blue that would have showed his blood pressure spiking. He was either getting used to shocking news, as she was, or they’d put him on some really good medicine yesterday. “The queen’s consort-to-be, eh, Far Star?” he said, looking Ca
vin over with a fresh eye that was both discerning and, Jana had to admit, admiring.
“This Keira chick sounds like a real ballbuster,” Jared added with sympathy.
Cavin took the ribbing politely, but Jana couldn’t believe they were making a joke out of it. “There are deep problems in Cavin’s government if someone is willing to assassinate a potential royal consort. It doesn’t say a whole lot about that someone’s respect for the queen, either. The only good thing I see in all this is that Coalition turmoil in any form is a weakness that we, Earth, can exploit, if it ever came to that. If Cavin’s plan fails and we were fighting for our lives to the last desperate hour. And by God we’ll exploit everything we can.”
She started to get up, thought better of it and stayed seated. This wasn’t a campaign stop; it was the family dinner table. “There will be some who won’t believe us. Some will say wait and see. I know. I did. When Cavin first told me what I just told you, I denied it all. I covered my ears. But then I saw all he risked coming here and it inspired me. Winston Churchill said, ‘One ought never to turn one’s back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half.’”
Her impromptu, unexpectedly impassioned speech faded into silence. Deep silence. Then, after a shocked moment had passed, Jared said, “Okay, I’m in. Where do I sign up?”
Evie simply applauded, while Mom’s eyes were tear-filled and full of admiration.
Cavin gave her hand a firm squeeze. “Spoken like the world leader you will be someday.”
Grandpa shared a look with Cavin. “Far Star, boy, I have the feeling we’re going to get along just fine.”
Cavin nodded. In that moment, the men became allies: allies in their big dreams for her. But were those dreams more than what she was capable of achieving?
“Winston Churchill also told us that the price of greatness is responsibility,” her grandfather said thoughtfully. “That means it’s up to we Jaspers to save the world, even while under attack. Our duty to others comes before our own interests and ambition. But there is no greater calling than to serve our fellow men and women. I’ve asked you, my family, never to forget that. Never to forget you’re a Jasper.” His veined fist landed on the table. “Now the world will see what this family is made of.”
Jared let out a fighter-pilot whoop. “We’ll show ’em.” He stood, leaning over the table, and gripped Cavin’s hand in a hearty handshake.
Jana pressed a hand to her mouth to keep the tears of relief from starting. She’d done it. She’d gotten her family on her side. But bigger obstacles loomed ahead, like talking their way onto Area 51, for one, without getting her or Cavin shot in the process.
LATER, JANA LAY AWAKE in bed in her girlhood room. Everyone had stayed over and they were now fast asleep. Cavin’s room was at the opposite end of the sprawling house. No accident there; she was positive Grandpa had influenced the arrangements.
Before they retired for the night, they’d set Grandpa on the task of contacting his old friend General Mahoney. When Jana had worriedly asked if the man were still alive, Grandpa had answered, “Not only is he alive, he lives in Las Vegas with a fourth wife half his age. I suppose what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”
Jana had almost made a crack about the rejuvenating effects of sex, only she hadn’t had enough herself lately to qualify as an expert. You agreed to this nun’s life.
Yeah, and now she wanted contract negotiations reopened. She closed her eyes and thought of the hotel room, of getting almost naked with Cavin, and how deliciously close they’d come to making love. If not for Evie’s Honda, they would have, too. He’d be her real lover now, not some imaginary guy she’d pined after for two decades.
Jana let out a disappointed sigh. A sexually frustrated, hungry-as-hell sigh. She ached for Cavin, body and soul, and there was nothing she could do about it. Here at home surrounded by family she’d never be able to get him alone. If there had been any coral nail polish in the house, she might have painted it on her toes and prayed for some action. Sort of like a rain dance, but for sex.
“Squee…”
Jana smiled in the darkness. She was so hungry for Cavin that she could actually hear his sexy whisper. It was as if he were there with her.
Something pinged against the window. A pebble.
She shot up in bed and pushed aside the blinds. Cavin was outside her window in the big oak tree, the same tree that had trapped him when they first met as children. Now, he sat on a thick, horizontal branch, swinging his legs. She coughed out a laugh of delight and disbelief. You’re crazy, she mouthed to him.
His lopsided grin said, Aren’t you going to let me in? as she had twenty-three years before. “Shush, shush,” she cautioned, giggling as Cavin climbed through the window. He seemed huge landing on the narrow bed in her girlhood bedroom. Bits of bark scattered on the sheets and on the floor. He smelled like the outdoors, and his clothing was cold. “You’re half-frozen,” she whispered.
“I was hoping you’d warm me up.”
She bounded to her door and locked it. In a flash, she’d returned to bed. He tossed her beneath him, muffling her laughter with a playful kiss that turned so hot so fast she almost self-combusted. Her narrow bed creaked under the strain of their combined weights as he kissed his way from her mouth to her neck and lower, burying his face between her breasts. She could feel the heat of his lips through the cotton of her pajamas. “I can’t believe you’re here,” she said. “And there…” She sighed when his mouth found what it was searching for. “I say we finish what we started in the hotel.”
“Barring any car bombs, I plan to do exactly that.”
Their clothes went everywhere. When they’d stripped bare, they came together, skin to hot skin. Finally, after all this time, they were going to be lovers. She was almost frantic for him, no time to waste. Nothing would stop them now, she thought in bliss as Cavin leaned over her, his hand slipping under her hips, lifting her—
“Ah, gods, no.” He went rigid, poised over her as if caught in freeze-frame.
“Is it your wound? Did I hurt you?” She hadn’t meant to be so rough.
He shook his head. For some odd reason, he wouldn’t meet her eyes. “Jana…I’m not like other men.”
She took a frantic inventory of the parts he’d need to complete the act. They all seemed to be rock-hard and in working order. “Sure you are,” she said.
“But, to make love to you, I have to assume my true, alien form.”
For a second or two, the silence in the bedroom roared.
His true alien form? What did he mean? Was he green…with pointy ears? Tentacles? Antennae! Her mind spun with possibilities, most of them awful. She didn’t know what to think, or, to say.
“I understand if you no longer want me.”
“You know me better than that.” She lifted her chin and tried to be brave. She was less sure about the sex, though. Depending what he looked like, it might be something she’d have to work into. Probably not tonight. “Cavin of Far Star, look at me. I’ve loved you since the day I first saw you. I’ll love you no matter what you looked like.”
There was a breathless pause. Then Cavin’s mischief-filled eyes lifted to hers. He was Peter, all over again. “Kidding,” he said, his face glowing with held-in laughter.
A sound came out of her that fell somewhere between a laugh, a curse and a sob of relief. “You…you…” She shoved him, but he was too solid to move. “Alien monster. Beast,” she hissed. Trying hard to be fierce, she pushed at him as he tried to appease her, slapping his hands away. How could he laugh so hard and manage to appear apologetic at the same time?
Finally, he overpowered her with brute strength and size. Holding her arms over her head, he pressed their hands into the pillow as he gazed down at her. At first, laughter lingered in his face. Then, for a long, intense moment, he soaked in the sight of her, his expression
open, vulnerable. “Gods, Jana. I love you. With all my heart, I do. I may do my share of kidding, but never about my feelings for you.”
“I know,” she whispered. The intensity of Cavin’s expression touched her, the way the moment seemed to almost overwhelm him: this seasoned soldier, this galactic warrior, this man who was at his very core a sweet and hopeful boy named Peter.
He pressed his lips to her shoulder, kissing her there, his hot hand sliding down to cup her breast, his thumb gently moving back and forth over her nipple until it had hardened, sending a whirlwind of sensation through her. He was clearly savoring her. But she didn’t want savoring, not yet. The last time she savored, Evie’s car blew up and spoiled it all. “If you make me wait any longer to have you, I’ll need to be hospitalized.”
“Intensive care?” he asked.
She nodded. “With little hope for survival. So, am I going to have to call an ambulance, or are you going to—?”
He splayed his hand behind her head and forced her back down to the pillow with a crushing kiss. His knee moved her thighs apart. He was heavy, his body solid, and she craved it, craved his strength. An erotic drumbeat pounded between her legs and in her ears, drowning out her ragged breaths. No one could make her respond as Cavin did. Never had. Never will. From the very first time they shared an innocent, childhood kiss, he’d spoiled her for anyone else.
Then he pushed inside her, filling her, filling her senses, making her drunk on magic.
Magic…
He gripped her hands, whispering to her, his voice rough, raw. But not English words, she realized. His words. Love words. He found her lips again and took her soft cries into his mouth as she swallowed his groans of pleasure. The fierceness of their lovemaking startled her: the sharp intimacy, the poignancy of their reunion, the sense of homecoming. And the fear, it was always there beneath the surface, the fear of losing him. They made love as if every moment counted, because as they’d learned in the past, you never knew how many were left. But the heat of their passion made it easy to forget what was outside the cozy bedroom, hunting them. Relentlessly hunting them.
