Read Online Your Planet or Mine? by Susan Grant - Free Book Online

them into evidence that could link her to this fiasco. “What about fingerprints? Mine are in the database and—”
    “I wiped the car clean. No trace of DNA is left.”
    God bless technology. Cavin grabbed her by the hand and pulled her down the center of the street. By now, all the dogs on the block were barking. A few porch lights were on that weren’t on before. Where could she run and hide where no one would see her? A ski mask would have come in handy. In the future, she’d have to remember to keep one in her purse.
    The heel of her left pump broke off. “Piece of shit.” Oh, Grandpa would have been proud of the deterioration in her language. She hopped along and threw off the other shoe. It clanged against a mailbox. In about two seconds, her panty hose were trashed. Pebbles pierced her heels. “Ow, ow.” She dropped the bananas, thought about backtracking to retrieve them and nixed the idea. She still had the shopping bag and the all-important receipt with her identity attached. Space invaders or not, she didn’t want to be linked to this mayhem in any shape, any form.
    She was still within walking distance of Evie’s house. The plan to commandeer the Honda would still work. She’d be home by midnight. “I have a plan,” she gasped.
    “What’s that?”
    “You go on ahead. Run where you need to. Lose the assassin, and I’ll hide.” She tried to wriggle her hand from Cavin’s strong grip.
    “No, Jana.” Cavin grabbed her wrists and pulled her close. Shadows fell across his face, illuminating the urgency there. His expression was masculine, take-charge. He was adorable, but there was nothing “pretty-boy” about him. With a swell of longing, she realized he was everything she’d been looking for in a man, and couldn’t find.
    Miss Snow…Miss Virgin Snow . She squeezed her eyes shut, the visual equivalent of holding her hands over her ears and singing, “Lah lah lah.”
    “I didn’t know about the assassin, Jana. I’m sorry for that. I thought whoever had pursued me had died in the crash, and never did I assume it was a REEF. Mistakes, all. But if you take off alone, there’s no guarantee the REEF will follow me and not you. At least with me you have a chance. Trust me, Squee.” Again, the pet name made her heart twist. “Like the night you let me take you into the air. We flew.”
    “We crashed. Together we were too heavy.”
    He looked to the sky and shook his head. “Gods, all these years I remember the flying. She remembers the crashing. What about afterward when we watched the moon rise over the water? We didn’t know a word of each other’s language, but it didn’t matter. We didn’t feel the need for speech. Do you remember that?”
    “Yes,” she said in a smaller voice.
    Apparently satisfied by her answer, Cavin tugged her along again, but this time at a reasonable jog. She half limped, half ran to keep up with him. Gasping to catch her breath, she shoved damp strands of hair off her forehead. All of it had spilled out of the chignon she’d anchored with two cloisonné picks, and who knew where those had gone. Her suit was stained and smelled like bananas, and her panty hose hung in shreds. “What are you?” she asked. “The truth.”
    “I’m a man.”
    “Yes, I got that part.” Loud and clear, too. “ Who are you, besides an alien?”
    “I’m a soldier in the Coalition Space Force. I enlisted too young to become a pilot and then when I was finally old enough, I realized I liked what I was doing more. A ground fighter—a ‘grunt’ as it is known here on Earth. Staying alive, keeping my friends alive…I wasn’t looking for glory.”
    His hair was cropped short now, a military cut, but still as shiny as she’d remembered. She wondered what they’d said to him at training camp when he’d showed up with his long braided locks. “What’s the Coalition? Your planet?”
    “No, the Coalition controls thousands of worlds. Including Earth.”
    Jana bristled.