Read Her Alien Hero (1Night Stand) for Free Online

left him in the suite.
    She caught his gaze and spun the other direction, heading down a crowded hallway.
    Cooper darted after her, dodging yet another swarm of women along the way. “Melinda!”
    She didn’t turn around, didn’t even pause. She marched across the plush carpet, straight through a double doorway.
    Fuck! What lay inside the room, he had no idea, but he followed her inside anyway. He couldn’t let her out of his life forever, not unless she sent him away. No more than he deserved after his behavior. Shoving her out of the suite had been the stupidest move in his life.
    More women mingled in the large room, traveling from one group to another, chatting and laughing. Some men lingered around, too, but the female population in the space far outnumbered them. All authors like Melinda?
    He surveyed the area, tables at one end, a stage at the other. Melinda had to be somewhere. After a few moments, he spied her at the bar in the far corner. He wiped his palms on his jeans and rushed over to her. As the bartender set her drink in front of her, Cooper slapped a ten dollar bill on the counter. “It’s on me.”
    She turned and scowled at him but didn’t refuse the gesture. “What do you want?”
    “I’m sorry. I panicked. I should never have kicked you out.” Regret twisted his gut. He needed her forgiveness more than anything.
    “I’d listen to him.” A short, African-Canadian woman with long, bleached-blonde hair eased up to the bar beside Melinda. “Any guy who apologizes and accepts the blame has got to be worth a second chance. Unless he hit you.” She turned her attention to Cooper, staring him down. “You didn’t hurt her, did you?”
    “No, ma’am. Never.” He gulped at the intensity of her gaze.
    “Fine, talk.” Melinda sipped her drink.
    “I’d rather talk to you back in the suite. I mean, there are some things I’d rather not tell the world.”
    Melinda peered over at the woman beside her, turning her back on Cooper. “It’s room 316. Think I should?”
    She nodded. “Go on, sugar. I’ll let Lauren know. But, if we don’t hear from you within the hour, we’ll come looking.”
    Melinda hugged the woman, obviously a friend. “Thanks, Michelle.”
    When she circled back to him, Cooper held out his hand, praying she’d take it. She slipped her fingers along his palm, the warmth from her touch enough to give him hope he could recover from his previous actions.
    “I’m really sorry,” he repeated once the elevator doors had closed behind them. “I have secrets I’ve never told anyone.”
    She tightened her grip on his hand. “I always knew you had secrets, even when you were only a boy. Why else would your mother have been so protective of you. But I would have preferred you just tell me, not kick me out of the suite. And your life.”
    He blinked hard and rocked in place. “I don’t have a dysfunctional family or anything. Well, maybe I do, but it’s bigger than that. If the wrong people found out, it would be a matter of national security.”
    “Okay…. I told you, I won’t tell.”
    Cooper slammed the red emergency button, not wanting to expose his secret the moment the doors opened to a crowd of people. “My father—he’s no longer with us.”
    “He passed away?” She rubbed the back of his arm. “I’m sorry.”
    “No. He returned to his home planet.”
    Her brow furrowed. “You’re joking, right? Just because I write sci-fi romance. What is he, some kind of mob boss?”
    He shook his head. Here’s where she runs away screaming . “I’m half-alien. No joke.”
    Cooper released the emergency brake, and the doors opened right away. Melinda studied him through shuttered eyes.
    He stepped out, tugging her along with him, but she worked her fingers free. “Are you coming?”
    She knew, had seen the proof. If she didn’t believe him and wanted to be with him, he’d run the risk of ruining the rest of his life. The choice remained hers.
    As the elevator doors