under her bra until he cupped her naked breast. She moaned when his thumb brushed across her nipple. It immediately peaked as a swirl of sensations rushed down to settle between her legs.
Then he was falling back onto the pillow, eyes closed, his hand still on her naked breast. “Thank you for taking care of me,” he mumbled.
She drew in a deep, ragged breath. Reaching under her blouse, she took his hand, but instead of removing it, she pressed it against her breast, holding it there for a moment. Then she tucked it under the cover, and straightened her clothes.
It was going to be so hard to tell him good-bye. Maybe she should find a way to end this now…but no, she was doing exactly what she was supposed to do. As long as Zerod was out there somewhere, she could do no less. She walked out of the room. DeeDee was just outside the door pacing, but stopped when Callie came out.
“Is he going to live? His wound looked horrible.” She dragged her fingers through her hair. “Some friend I am, running out on you and all. I just couldn’t…” She visibly shuddered.
Callie wrapped her arms around her friend. “It’s okay. And it doesn’t look as bad as I’d first thought.” She frowned, wondering about that, but then decided she was more used to seeing it, and it did look pretty awful still. “He’s sleeping now.”
DeeDee sighed. “Good.”
“You let us in when you could’ve just as easily turned us away, and you did so with no questions asked.”
“Yes, I did, didn’t I?”’ She cast a sideways look at Callie. “And now you can answer a few of them for me.”
Callie closed the bedroom door. “Have you got something to drink?”
DeeDee nodded and started toward the kitchen.
“Stronger than soda…or wine,” Callie said.
DeeDee raised her eyebrows. It was unusual that Callie ever drank anything stronger.
“It’s that bad?’
“You might want to pour yourself a strong drink, too. A double.”
DeeDee led the way to the less formal living area. There was a big screen television on one wall. A cream- colored sectional sat across from it. A plush beige carpet covered the floor, and in one corner was a mahogany bar. Behind the bar there were shelves of glasses and bottles of alcohol. Callie suspected DeeDee bought the liquor for the pretty bottles rather than the alcohol they held.
DeeDee walked behind the bar, tapped her finger against her chin, then reached inside the small refrigerator and brought out the Margarita mix.
“When all else fails, grab the tequila.” She rimmed the two glasses in salt, added ice, then mix, and two generous splashes of tequila. “Bottoms up.” She handed Callie her drink, then went to the sofa.
Callie followed at a slower pace. How much should she tell DeeDee? They had been friends for a long time. Each one knew the other’s secrets. Callie knew DeeDee hated pain of any kind, calling herself a wuss. That she’d lost her virginity when she was sixteen, and it had been the worst experience of her life. DeeDee had fallen in love at least a dozen times, and Callie also knew, no matter what, DeeDee would be there for her, but would this be pushing things too far?
Callie took a drink, then wrinkled her nose. “Wow, that’ll open the sinus cavities.”
DeeDee shrugged. “You said you wanted the hard stuff.”
“Yeah, I know.” She took another drink for courage, then set her glass on the coffee table. She leaned back, grabbed a pillow, and scrunched it against her chest. “Rogar brought news of my parents. That’s really why he’s here. That, and to take me home.”
DeeDee was just taking a drink. She choked and coughed before she caught her breath and sat her glass down. “Do you think you might have led up to this just a little?”
DeeDee had always been just as concerned about Callie’s past as Callie. She shouldn’t have just blurted it out. “I’m sorry.”
DeeDee’s shoulders slumped. “You’ve known about this since Rogar came to town, haven’t you?”
She nodded, wanting to take away DeeDee’s hurt, and feeling incredibly guilty. How could she have told DeeDee any sooner when Callie was still coming to terms with it herself?
“You didn’t tell me,” DeeDee’s words were filled with pain.
She would never intentionally hurt her friend. “I think I needed for it to soak in, to know that it was real. It’s complicated.”
DeeDee suddenly sat forward, oblivious to the fact she sloshed some of her Margarita over the side of the glass. “You know your past!” She jumped up, set her drink on the coffee table, and ran to Callie, drawing her into a bear hug that nearly stole Callie’s breath.
“DeeDee…air,” she gasped.
“I’m sorry, sweetie.” She laughed and clapped her hands as she sat down. “This is fantastic news.”
“Yes, I know.” Callie smiled.
Suddenly, DeeDee frowned. “I don’t understand any of it, though. How did Rogar get mauled by a tiger?”
How much information should she give DeeDee? DeeDee wasn’t just a friend. She was her
“You’re from another country. I always suspected as much. I mean with your coloring, plus you have those hypnotic green eyes.”
Callie brightened. “You think my eyes are hypnotic?”
“Duh, yes.”
“Thanks.”
DeeDee’s spine stiffened. “Hey, wait a minute. You said someone was trying to kill you? That’s crazy! We should call the police.”
“No, I don’t want to get them involved.”
DeeDee slowly nodded her head in understanding. “Rogar is here illegally. An illegal alien.”
Callie breathed a sigh of relief. “Yes. Well, sort of.” It was almost the truth. He was an alien, and he was here illegally, so that pretty much made him an illegal alien.
“What is he—Greek?”
Now it might get a little tricky. “Symtarian. From New Symtaria.”
Her forehead wrinkled. “Symtarian? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of them.”
“They’re not well known in the States.”
Callie reached for her drink and took a gulp to keep from meeting DeeDee’s gaze. The alcohol burned her throat and made her eyes water. Bad move. She was already starting to feel a little light-headed.
DeeDee leaned back against the cushion and studied her. “You’re not telling me something. I’ve known you way too long not to guess when you’re leaving something out. You might as well spill everything.”
Callie carefully set her drink back on the coffee table. “Really, there’s nothing else to tell.”
“Maybe I should look this New Symtaria up on my computer. What country did you say it was near?”
Callie should have known she wouldn’t be able to get away not telling DeeDee the whole truth. She took a deep breath.
“You’ll have to keep an open mind,” Callie told her.
“I can be very open-minded.”
Okay, DeeDee had wanted the truth. Callie only hoped she could handle it. “New Symtaria isn’t on Earth. It’s another planet. Rogar is an alien from another planet.”
Chapter 15
