Page 68 of Dangerous Devotion

Taking her hand again, he led her down a quiet street lined with low, well-groomed shrubbery. A woman walking a corgi dog was coming toward them, and May let out an exclamation of delight.

“You’re a dog person,” he commented as they passed the cute boy.

“And a cat person. I love animals.”

At the question, she swung her smile at him. It was a sunbeam on a dark, dreary day.

“Do you have any?”

She nodded. “One of each. They’re home with my father. I miss them when I travel.”

“I bet.” He contemplated how normal it was for people to have pets.

People among the living and weren’t hiding in plain sight.

People who weren’t in Blackout.

They continued down the street. Though they were safe enough, with few people around, Henner scanned their surroundings with a vigilance he couldn’t let go of even on a pretend vacation.

Hell, maybe after this was all over, he’d put in for leave and actually go somewhere.

They approached an unassuming brick building with a sign sitting out front on the sidewalk. When May read the sign, she stopped in her tracks.

“AJ! You did this for me!”

He drank in the joy in her eyes and the sparkles there too. The same sparkles that burned in them last night when he joined their bodies, like bright stars in a sky of black velvet that made up the depths of May’s eyes.

He nodded and opened the door with a flourish. “It’s not every day you get to visit a chemical weapons museum.”

She clapped her hands. “You knew this was here all along?”

“I’ve heard about it, but I forgot until I researched tourist spots in the city. I said to myself, who else has such a passion for things that explode? My little May.”

She did something totally unexpected and flung her arms around him.

He squeezed her to him with one arm while bracing open the door with the other. If something so simple made her happy, he was sure he could keep that beautiful smile on her face all day.

As she stepped inside the museum, she let out a contented sigh as if he’d just performed a magic trick. “You are full of surprises.”

Even though they didn’t have to pretend here, he couldn’t resist laying a hand on her lower back to guide her into the air-conditioned space. The museum was small but full of things to look at.

May got lost in the subject matter she was so passionate about…and Henner got lost in May.

He let her wander, reading cards packed with information, enjoying how absorbed she was in something besides their op.

Hours later, the exhibit spit them out in a gift shop tucked in a corner of the building.

Glancing at the displays of trinkets and books, he chuckled. “What does one even buy in a gift shop at a chemical weapons museum?”

She practically bounced up to a rack of pins. “I don’t know, but I’m buying a souvenir!”

Before she could approach the older man at the counter with a book and an enamel pin—sporting a vintage gas mask of all things—Henner took the items from her and placed them on the counter.

“What are you doing?” May asked him.

“Getting you something.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

---