Page 28 of Infamous Heart

I walked up to him while his mind was elsewhere. Putting my arms around his neck, he came to, eyes focused on my face. I leaned in, kissing him. It started tentatively, and slowly his body loosened, melding against mind until his hand reached between my shoulder blades and pulled me closer.

“You saved me the other night. You’re already a hero.”

I rested my forehead against his, savoring the embrace.

“No suit,” he grumbled.

I smiled. “I prefer you out of the suit.”

His laugh broke the tension. “What do the heroes in your comics do now?”

“This is where we’d begin a training montage.”

In Vanguard City, we had grown accustomed to the dangers of supervillains hurling cars or overlords from a parallel dimension threatening to enslave us. We accepted this strange reality. But it didn’t mean I wanted to send Sebastian into the world without knowing he was capable. What kind of sidekick would that make me?

He stepped back, pulling his tie over his head and handing it to me. He unbuttoned his dress shirt and tossed it over my shoulder. Sebastian had sex appeal all on his own, but when he pulled the undershirt from his pants, peeling it off, I let out a low whistle.

“Okay, let’s do this.”

When this was over, the only thing he’d beingdoingwas me.

11

“Xander isthe one with a sex addiction?”

“That’s Alejandro. Xander is the one with anger management issues.”

“And Bernard is the daddy bear?”

I had to pause and think about it. He was older than me by at least a decade, but I’m not sure I ever thought of him hitting “daddy bear” status. “I’m going to say yes. But if he finds out, I’ll deny it.”

For the last hour, we wandered around Vanguard’s Institute of Modern Art. I didn’t want to congratulate myself, but this was a good idea for a date night. There were as many differences between us as there were similarities. For two people in the business of making things look beautiful, this a perfect way to refill the creative well.

“So what exactly is this brunch thing you guys do?”

“We get together every day to start the day. It’s just a way to catch up. Sometimes we gossip, sometimes we complain about men—“

“Have I come up?”

Sneaky, Sebastian. He caught me in my own trap. If I lied now, I’d appear uninterested. If I admitted to talking about him, I’d embarrass myself.

“Your cheeks answered that one.” He patted me on the face. This is why I never played poker. My face gave away every thought.

“I might have mentioned you. You know, in a casual passing kind of way.” Okay, that was a lie. I had downright bragged about this sexy man who I continued catching staring at me when he thought I wasn’t looking.

“I look forward to meeting them.”

The white hallway gave way to a large room with a single installation. While many of the pieces in the museum cycled in and out of fashion, this had been a mainstay since they moved to this location. Suspended from the ceiling were strands of fishing line holding burnt embers, remnants of the artist’s childhood home.

“What do we have here?” Sebastian leaned in close to one of the lines, inspecting the burned wood. It appeared as if it were a fire frozen in time.

“She watched as her home burned down. Once the fire was put out, she collected the pieces in some attempt to hold onto her identity. Something about it always hits me right in the feels.”

“Destructive and beautiful.”

While the strands suspended from the ceiling, holding hundreds of pieces of wood, they weren’t anchored to the floor. Sucking in a deep breath, I forced the air from my lungs. The embers moved back and forth, mirroring the effects of a massive fire sending smoke into the air.

Sebastian didn’t speak. I studied his face as he stepped back from the installation. It had been nearly a year since attending the museum, and even longer since I brought company. Dan had never appreciated art, and found it overly complicated or so simple he believed he could have made it.

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