Her Alien Savior (12 page)

“I’m sorry for doing that, babbling so much. All you asked was about the restaurant.”

He smiled, white teeth more pronounced against skin that was a shade bronzer. His eyes gleamed a darker blue than before, picking up the sky’s brightness. Then it hit her, for the first time since she met him, which felt like it was ages ago, though it wasn’t, his eyes didn’t have a haunted look. He looked—happy.

“I’m glad you shared with me.”

“And I’m still waiting for you to share with me.”

“I know. How about I do that over dinner?”

She hadn’t thought this would turn into a whole-day sort of thing, but she had to admit she’d enjoyed herself, more than she had in a long time. “What about your umbrella? You bought it, after all.”

“Don’t really need it. I’m sure someone else will enjoy it.” He picked up the uneaten, now-hardened pastries and the coffee cups and dumped them in the trash barrel a few paces away.

She shouldn’t have, but she couldn’t help watching him going. To keep from getting caught, she turned just before he started back her way.

“How are you going to explain this, Marissa?”

Damn. Damn.

Chapter 26

Finn

One moment all seemed fine, they were having a great day, he was dumping the trash in the barrel, the next moment some guy was snapping at Marissa, pointing a finger in her face.

Finn had noticed the guy walking up and down the seawall behind them throughout the day, but had thought he was a random tourist or local. But this guy knew her name and was threating her. He double-timed it and got between them.

“You okay?” Keeping his eye on the newcomer, Finn didn’t turn to look at Marissa.

“What the hell does that mean?” The man’s face reddened under a haircut that was a shade too perfect and clothing too unrumpled. “Why would she not be okay? And who the hell are you?”

Finn eyed him, dismissed him as a non-threat. “Who wants to know?”

“Her fiancé. That’s who.” The man sputtered his words out.

Finn never saw a mention of a fiancé or even a boyfriend in the file. He was sure the files were up-to-date. “Marissa?” He glanced back at her.

Marissa put her hands on her hips, shook her head. “Ex. And not even fiancé. Finn, meet my cheating ex, Joey. And it’s ex-boyfriend, not even ex-fiancé, by the way."

“Bullshit. Did she tell you I just proposed to her? That we went to her father’s gravesite together? Did she? Two-timing whore.”

“I forgot to mention delusional ex-boyfriend.” Marissa added. “Oh, and I better not forget arrogant and self-centered.”

“You bitch. After all I was willing to do for you.” The man raised his arm.

Finn grabbed it, flipped him. The man landed with a thud, flat on his back.

It didn’t even register to Finn that he was going to do it, he simply reacted. “Don’t ever raise your hand to her again. Stay down.” He put his hand on Marissa’s lower back, guiding her. “Let’s go.”

The man, Joey, stayed in the sand.

Finn fought to regulate his breathing, to keep wings from popping and skin from changing. It took all his concentrated effort.

Chapter 27

Marissa

Marissa didn’t want to turn back to look at Joey, sprawled in the sand in an undignified position. “I can explain.”

“You don’t need to.”

She couldn’t tell if Finn was angry with her, believed Joey, or simply indifferent to the whole thing.

“I want to. He’s really my ex. Truly. He asked me to marry him in exchange for funding the restaurant.”

“I believe you.” He was still expressionless.

“Why do I sense something?”

Then just like that, in an instant he turned her way with that same smile he’d given her earlier. “I’m fine. I believe you. He has nothing to do with us.”

Us.
She liked the sound of that, even though she knew it didn’t mean anything. He was a stranger from out of town that would probably be going back home again soon. That was that. “Okay.”

Finn led her to a restaurant a little further down Seawall Boulevard. Luckily, Joey never followed.

Once they had a dinner of shrimp, rice pilaf, and sweet ice tea in front of them, Joey wasn’t quite forgotten but wasn’t at the forefront of Marissa’s mind anymore.

Finn tore through his entrée and almost seemed to be eyeing hers.

“Want some of mine?” She thought it was polite to ask, not really wanting to share the delicious fare.

“I want some of you.” His words drew a heat to her cheeks, she could feel a flush rising. His gaze saw right through to her own desire, barely kept at bay all day. She shimmied in her chair, squirming, trying to drive the yearning away.

Think. Think. Think. Something to say. Anything to keep from wanting to leave and get naked with this man.
What was wrong with her? This wasn’t her at all. “So where are you from?” Did those words really just pop out of her mouth? She couldn’t even control her train of thought, and her mouth went into autopilot.

A perplexed look crossed Finn’s face.
He thinks he’s confused.
He had no idea how she felt.

“I told you. Austria.”

“Okay, is that all you’re going to say about yourself? That you attended private schools, which explains that you don’t have an accent? That’s all I’m getting? After all that I told you?”

“You remind me of someone there.”

Oh, great. An old girlfriend. Just what she needed. To remind a guy of an old girlfriend he never got over. Now she wished she hadn’t asked. “I bet.”

“My grandmother.”

“Oh. I thought—” Now what? It went from bad to worse. Or did it? It went from reminding him of an ex to reminding him of his grandmother. Very unsexy. “I’m not so sure that’s a good thing. I’m sure she’s not young.”

“Actually, she’s not alive.” He took a long drink of the tea.

Now she felt like shit. “I’m sorry.” What else was there to say?

“I meant to say, you remind me of what she was probably like when my grandfather met and fell in love with her. She was a—hu—American.”

“That’s romantic. Were you close to her?”

“She raised me. My mother died giving birth to me. Complications of some kind. My grandmother was brave. She moved to a fairly hostile land in the middle of a warzone, made the most of a life with my grandfather. Risked a lot when she didn’t have to.”

This was the most he’d said to her in one sitting, Marissa didn’t want to interrupt him by saying anything for fear he’d stop.

“Ready to go?” He put his napkin under the plate’s lip, pushed back his chair.

“I guess you are?” She forced a laugh, saddened that he didn’t contribute anything else. “Sure. That’s okay.”

Finn paid the tab, suggested a walk.

The evening was balmy, a light breeze kept the humidity at bay and the salt permeated the air.

Under the streetlamp, he stopped and pulled her to him.

“I want to thank you for today. It’s probably one of the best days I’ve ever had.” He leaned in brushed her lips with his.

“Why does this sound like goodbye?” A sadness engulfed her.

He held her closer, his body hard against hers, his arms around her. The hug was tight, as if he didn’t want to let her go, but yet knew he must. Tears threatened. Marissa didn’t understand why it felt like goodbye. But what was far more alarming was the way that the blues overwhelmed her. She bit the tears back, forced the burning in her nose away. She wouldn’t cry. No, she wouldn’t. She forced herself to think. To speak, to change her train of thought and change the subject.

“Were you close to her?”

He paused. “My grandmother? Close enough. She was foreign. I had a hard time accepting her. Being related to her made me feel different.”

Stay on track. Don’t think about saying goodbye.
“You mentioned she’s not alive . . .”

“No. Died almost two weeks ago. I was out of town on a mission.”

Alarms went off in her head. “Mission?”

“Yeah, military.”

She drew back, looked at his face. His eyes were deep dark indigo pools. His jaw strong, chiseled. The lips that just touched hers were serious, somber.

“But I thought . . . didn’t you say . . . aren’t you a headhunter?”

“Maybe I’m not the kind of headhunter you think I am.”

Chills made their way across her flesh, she fought the urge to push away. “You’re freaking me out now.” She rubbed her arms to scrub the goosebumps away. “I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean. Should I be afraid of you?”

“Never.”

And somehow she felt she could believe this one word. She did believe it. “Then you have some explaining to do.”

A blow to her back felt like a brick wall knocked the breath and words out of her.

A hoodie-covered, shadow-hidden face was next to hers. The tip of a knife pricking at her neck.

“Your wallet, motherfucker.” A gravelly voice was next to her ear.

“Now.” Another voice demanded, this one was higher-pitched. In the background a third figure was silent.

“Let her go.” Finn’s voice was different. Almost scary.

It was a blur, everything moved so fast.

Finn catapulted forward.

The guy holding her dropped, without uttering a sound.

The other guy pounced closer. The third one was immobile.

A flash of steel near Finn.

He grunted, dropped to one knee, rose, and was almost a blur again.

The second man fell. Both men stayed down. The third one ran, but not before his hood fell off, revealing Joey’s profile just before he turned and sprinted away.

“Joey.” The word escaped from her lips. “That was him.”

“It sure was. Doesn’t matter, he’s gone. I’ll take care of him later.” Finn touched her neck. “I want to be sure you’re fine. Are you okay?”

“Yes. Are you? I thought they got you when you fell.”

“I’m good. They—”

He stumbled and fell between the two men on the concrete.

Chapter 28

Finn

The second man had gotten him. A slice on Finn’s arm, another on his thigh. Blood warmed him, the fabric sticking to the wetness.

Marissa put a hand on his arm, then jerked it back. “You’re bleeding.”

He put weight on one leg, not the one with the cut, then pushed himself up. “I’m fine.” His knee buckled. He almost fell, catching himself on the seawall’s thigh-high wall. “I need to rest.”

“We need to get the cops.”

“No police.”

“Why the hell not.” She put both hands on her hips, the little spitfire.

He would have smiled if he weren’t in so much cursed pain. “No police. Can we go please?”

She grumbled, but led him toward her car. He was getting weaker with each step. “You saved my life.”

“It’s nothing.” He heaved the car door open. It felt fifty times heavier than the last time he opened it. He was getting weaker.

She buckled herself in. “Now what?”

“Rest. Somewhere to recoup.”

“You need a doctor.”

“No. Just take me somewhere private.”

“No doctor. No police. What gives?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Simplify it.”

“I’m—” His mind raced. What? Now what could he say? He couldn’t get words to turn into thoughts. “I’m AWOL.” Did he really just say that? Would it work?

“Does this have something to do with your grandmother?”

He latched onto that lie. “Pretty much.” His wings pressed against the skin in his back. He was converting. He had to stop the process, and if he couldn’t he needed to be alone. “I need somewhere.” He leaned the seat back.

“I’ll get a hotel room.”

He didn’t know how much time had lapsed when he felt the car come to a stop, he opened his eyes. They were in a hotel parking lot.

“Be right back.” Marissa pushed her door open.

“Please, no medics or police.”

With a shake of her head, she closed the door.

He was at her mercy. A position Finn didn’t like being in, at someone else’s mercy.

Chapter 29

Marissa

Marissa helped Finn into the room. He leaned against her, his weight heavy until they reached the bed, then he collapsed in it, an undignified heap.

Marissa stretched him out, took a sheet off the second bed and nicked it with her fingernail clippers, then ripped it into strips. She couldn’t see the wound on his leg well enough to access it so she unbuckled his pants and began the slow process of taking them off his long body. She couldn’t allow it to take too long, the amount of blood was alarming.

Pants off, she held a washcloth to the sliced flesh with one hand and tried to weave the strip of the sheet under his thigh and around to the other side so she could tourniquet it, cursing under her breath the entire time. The stupid man wouldn’t let her take him to a hospital. Ignorant!

She studied the wounds. Then she rubbed her eyes. She was seeing things. She rubbed them again. No, his skin, it looked, green. Then it looked like a light fluorescent blue. No, she rubbed her eyes again. She was tired, hallucinating. Three paces later she was in front of the bathroom sink, splashing her face with cold water.

Behind her, Finn moaned. She turned around, dropped the towel, and backed up a pace.

“Holy shit.” Her regress was halted by the countertop behind her.

Finn’s color had changed again. Now it was a bright shifting green. It looked like the brightest chameleon’s skin, rippling under the surface with luminous shades of emerald.

Finn was mumbling something under his breath. She wanted to go closer, but fear froze her feet to the carpeting.

“Marissa, must save Marissa.” His voice was audible now, the words clear.

His skin changed color, becoming a tangerine wave of undulating hues, shifting from his face, down his chest, over his abdomen.

What the hell was going on here? She looked at her purse, on the dresser across the room. She could grab it and her keys and leave. Never see him again. Except he knew where she lived. What was he? She stepped toward the end of the bed, one pace closer to her purse.