Runaway Bride (Across the Stars: Book 2) by Ruth Ann Nordin

with Mark.  Why did this kind of thing only happen when there was a man involved?
    Tapping her fingernails on the bathroom counter, she finally decided to put her hair up in a ponytail.  She retrieved a green scrunchie that matched her dress and pulled her hair back.  Afterwards, she examined her ponytail and decided it was her best option.  At least, her hair didn’t look as if she’d just gotten out of bed.
    The doorbell rang and she checked her watch.  Great.  In addition to having a bad hair day, she was also running late.  This didn’t bode well at all for her date.  It was going to end badly.  She didn’t know how, but it would.
    She turned off her bathroom light and grabbed her purse before she made a beeline for the door.  When she opened it, she took in Caitlyn’s immaculate appearance and shook her head.
    “Why is it that you always look perfect?” she asked as she stepped over the threshold and shut the door.
    Caitlyn laughed.  “Come on, Sandy.  You look awesome.”
    She locked the door and grunted.  “Yeah, for a garbage bag.”
    “You’re too hard on yourself.  You look fine.  You need to think positive if you’re going to enjoy yourself.”
    “Easy for you to say.  Your prince dropped out of the sky and married you.”
    Crossing her arms, Caitlyn smiled in amusement.  “If memory serves, you thought Chris needed to be hauled off to prison when I first told you he was an alien.”
    “Come on, Caitlyn.  Anyone with common sense wouldn’t believe he came from a planet with no women.”
    “And yet he did, and you’ve seen how happy he’s made me.”
    “That’s true, but I still think you’re nuts for having sex with him right away and then taking him home.”
    “It was the bonding ceremony that made me have sex with him.  I didn’t leave the diner with the intention of doing all that.  Whatever hormone men from his planet have, it’s powerful.”
    “Somehow I find it hard to believe you had to have sex with him.”
    “Well, if things with Mark work out as well as I hope they will, you’ll find out soon enough.”
    Sandy glanced at Caitlyn’s minivan.  She saw Chris in the passenger seat but couldn’t tell if Mark was in the back.  “He’s not going to try doing a bonding thing with me, is he?  Because if that’s the plan, you can count me out.  You might be okay with a stranger doing that to you, but I’m not.”
    “Of course, he’s not going to do that.  And the thing with Chris was different.  He was assigned to me.  Mark has a choice.  He’s being careful, checking all his options.”
    Though wary, she nodded.  “Alright.  But if he emits any hormones, I’ll use my pepper spray.  I need to know more about him before I commit to anything.”
    “He won’t do anything you aren’t ready for.  I promise.  Now, let’s get to my sister’s engagement party before my mother calls to make sure I didn’t forget.”
    Noting the way Caitlyn rolled her eyes, she grinned and joined her friend as she headed for the minivan.  “At least you won’t be the focus of the party.”
    “Yeah, but I expect her to give me ‘the look’ since I appear further along in my pregnancy than I actually am, and I can’t tell her that babies on Chris’ world progress faster in the womb than they do here on Earth.  You’d swear I’m five months along.”
    “If she gives you that look, tell her you think the decorations on a certain table are crooked and she’ll go running off to fix them.”
    Caitlyn giggled.  “That’s a good idea.  I’ll keep that in mind.”
    They reached the minivan and Sandy saw that Mark was, in fact, in the car.  Since he was sitting behind the driver’s seat, she got in on the other side.  She tried to ignore the nervous pounding of her heart.  If nothing else could be said about him, he was good looking.
    “Mark,” Caitlyn said after she slipped into the driver’s seat, “you remember Sandy from my wedding, don’t