Page 32 of Breathless Recruiter

“Damn straight, I did. All I need now is a tiara.”

He held his hands out to his side and gave a graceful curtsey. The thought of this burly security guard, who moonlighted as a superhero, wearing a crown made me laugh. I didn’t need to understand Earth customs to see how his face lit up at the memory. He remembered it fondly, andthatwarmed my heart.

“Okay, your turn,” he said. I gestured to myself. “Turn about is fair play. Tell me a happy memory.”

“I had difficulty speaking as a kid.” I skipped the part about crashing to Earth and not speaking any language humans understood. “Mother would speak to me all the time, but for a while, we mostly communicated by drawing pictures.”

During the first few weeks in her cabin, my senses were assaulted by unusual smells as she cooked. Her shelves had objects she called knickknacks but served no real purpose. She could have been terrified finding a teenager lost in the woods. When she found my spaceship, it didn’t stop her from treating me as if I was hers. I still remember when she plopped me down in the kitchen chair and sat across the table with a pad of paper between us.

“Want to guess the first word I spoke?”

“Mom?”

I shook my head.

“Chocolate?”

I chuckled at the suggestion. It would have made sense, but that didn’t come for another few months. “Home. She made a crude shape of the cabin and taught me the word home. Here I was, a stranger, and she gave me a new home. She jumped up and down, happy that I finally spoke.”

“You’re adopted?”

“Yeah, she gave me a home.”

His hand slid down the railing until his pinky brushed mine. The sloshing of water and the breeze coming off the river vanished. Only a square inch of skin existed. Just as I was about to pass it off as an accident, it hooked my finger, giving it a light tug.

“You’re not like other guys.” If anybody else had said it, I’d have worried. I’d fake a phone call and excuse myself. Zaster had made me feel different in a way that hurt something inside. Dustin’s words mended the damage, picking up the pieces one by one.

“Thanks,” I whispered.

“It’s like you’re experiencing the world for the first time.” His words danced a dangerous line. I didn’t want to run away to protect my identity, not from him. If I blurted out my secret, he, of all people, might understand.

“This is the date I wanted,” I confessed.

“With Zaster?”

“With you.”

“Wyatt…” He stepped closer until our shoulders touched. Leaning on the railing, he reached up, turning my head. Just as our eyes met, he leaned in, lips grazing against mine. Brief, I wanted more.

I grabbed him by the waist and lifted him off his feet. He wrapped his arms around my neck as I squeezed him tight. Our lips pressed together. When he pushed his tongue inside my mouth, I almost commented it was like the videos I watched. Now it made sense why they liked it so much. I liked it, too, enough that I had to focus to keep from levitating off the boardwalk.

When he pulled back, I chewed my bottom lip, unsure of the next step.

“Hope this makes up for your first date tonight.”

I nodded so fast the world vibrated. “It does. A lot. Like… a whole lot.”

“Good.” He let go before hooking his arm in mind. “Should we continue our stroll?”

“I’d like that.”

“Me, too,” he said. “So, how did you wind up at Secret Identities?”

Did I start with the ad in the newspaper? Arthur needed employees, or he’d lose a big grant. I only applied because I thought it was a company that catered to the alter egos of superheroes. I don’t think he was going to hire me, but then a supervillain attacked. In one of my braver moments, I clobbered the bad guy. I still didn’t know if he hired me because of my lovable personality or because I saved his life.

“It’s a long story.”

“Good,” he said. His head rested on my shoulder as we continued walking. “I don’t want to go home.”

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