Delivered to the Aliens: Cosmic Connections Read Online Free PDF Page A

spread out and harder to see. Someone is stealing my Bova and I don’t like it.”
    Sophia nodded, thinking about the small settlement the shuttle flew over yesterday. The main drag, actually called Main Street, had a retro vibe, with wide glass shop windows and fading red brick buildings from the previous century. The town had two stop lights, one gas station, one bank, two bars and one cafe. The closest trading post was the next town over. Alton was right. Her first impression of the town was quaint and she wrote the inhabitants off as simple.
    “Listen,” she started, “I’m sorry we got off on the wrong foot.”
    That wicked smile returned. “Think nothing of it. I’ve been staking out the herd for the last week. We got a lot of calves ready for branding. If someone’s going to move, it’ll be soon. I hoped to have it resolved before you arrived.”
    “Just you?” Didn’t he need a team or something?
    “We’re a small sentry post but resourceful.” He moved close to her, the heat of his body radiating like a furnace.
    Sophia gulped. “So you’ll be finished in a few more days.”
    “Mostly likely. Thank you for your understanding. And I’d appreciate it if you don’t go telling everyone about our operation.”
    “Understood.”
    “Good.” He stretched an arm around Sophia, who tensed, waiting for a touch or caress. He reached for the wide brimmed hat on the counter. All her muscles relaxed in disappointment.
    “One more thing,” he said, placing the hat on his head.
    “Yes?”
    He placed a finger under her chin and tilted her head up. His lips claimed her, deeply powerful, like a thirsty man taking a drink after a long day’s work. Sophia’s body responded, humming with fire and her skin tingling. She rocked on the balls of her feet, standing on tiptoe to get more of the tall handsome man. Damn.
    Just damn.
    Alton pulled away. Sophia whimpered quietly. It’d been too long since she had a man kiss her like that. “That’s me being neighborly,” he said with a wink.
    Sophia stood dumbfounded.
    “Why don’t you go upstairs and wash or unpack,” Alton said. His strong hands guided her through the door and up the stairs.
    Finally, alone and watching water fill the tub, Sophia found her voice. “Like hell that’s neighborly.”
     
     

Chapter Five
     
     
    Alton
     
    The sound of an engine pulled Alton out of the barn. The flatbed vehicle rattled across the field toward the house. Zan was back.
    Alton climbed the steps of the porch and into the kitchen. He turned on the stove and cracked two eggs into the skillet. Zan wasn’t going to be happy with him or the surprise upstairs, but Alton might buy some time by shoving food in his face.
    A grin tugged at his lips when he thought about Sophia and the fearless way she stood in the kitchen, wielding a baseball bat. She was a lovely creature. The mighty appealing expanse of her creamy thighs was almost as appealing as the way the Terran woman charged through a strange house wearing nothing more than a thin shirt.
    She had spirit.
    The house already felt like a proper Corravian home: a Brace of two males and their woman. Finally.
    Zan would complain, maybe threaten to walk out and break up their Brace. Alton wasn’t Zan’s first Brace partner. He understood his partner’s reluctance to take a wife. Never comfortable with emotional risk, Zan had been hurt before.
    His partner was stubborn. Obstinate, even. When his mind was made up, changing it was like catching a greased hog.
    He’d come around. Alton was certain of it.
    If Zan did leave… Alton refused to consider that scenario. He’d make it work. Hell or high water, whether Zan liked it or not.
     
     
    Zan
     
    Zan knocked the mud off his boots before stepping into the house. The aroma of bacon and eggs nearly masked the scent of a female. Nearly.
    The large Corravian male paused in the door. His nostrils flared and he breathed deep the bright, citrus soapy smell with undertones of