The Real Deal

He gives my fingers a gentle squeeze, and it reverberates in my body, like a vibration all the way to the center of my heart. Then his phone rings, and we break the hand-hold. His face lights up as he looks at the screen. “It’s Heath.”

“Hey, man,” he says. His voice—I’ve never heard it like this. It sounds like pure joy.

He listens as we amble across the grass. “You called me to discuss superpowers?” he asks, laughing. “Dude, you know how I feel about this one. It’s the only time I ever pick the mind.”

I arch a brow, and Theo shakes his head as he chuckles.

“Time control is far too dangerous, and mind control would be the ultimate superpower.” He sounds happier than he ever has before.

Another pause.

“Lacey picked time control? Hold on one sec. I gotta take a leak. Talk to April for a minute. She’s fucking awesome.” He thrusts the phone at me, and I blink. He wants me to chat with his brother?

Theo walks off to a bush in the shadows.

I stare at his phone in my hand, and his brother’s number blinking up at me. He’s in Boston, I register from the area code. I bring it to my ear. “Hi. I’m April, and evidently, I’m effing awesome.”

I’m greeted by a hearty laugh. “Hey, Effing Awesome April,” he says, and I smile when he goes with my word choice, since it says he listens. “Tell me something. Is my brother behaving?”

I laugh at how seamlessly Heath has slipped into a conversation with me. “Yes, he’s fantastic. We’re at my family’s reunion in Wistful.”

“That so?”

“Yes, and for the record, I’d pick time control, too. Everyone worries about the fabric of the universe, and fate, and the butterfly effect of one thing changing a million things when you pick time control as your superpower. But I say you never know till you try.”

Heath whistles his appreciation. “Damn, I like your spirit.” He hums. “Wistful? That fancy town in Connecticut?”

“Yes. I grew up here. It’s the best town ever. Home of the Wild ThunderCoaster, beluga whales, the Maritime Museum,” I say, reciting our town motto.

“I love roller coasters, and so does my brother, but do not take him on a Ferris wheel. He hates them. They terrify him.”

My heart twists. That tidbit makes him seem so human. “Thanks for the heads-up.” Out of the corner of my eye, I see Theo step out of the shadows and crunch across the grass.

“He’s on his way back. It was nice chatting with you.” I glance at the screen one more time, then hand the mobile to Theo.

He drops a kiss to my forehead. It feels like a thank-you for talking to his brother. I’m not sure why that earned me a kiss, but I’ll take it.

“Hey, man. I need to go. Say hi to Lacey. Oh, wait. I just did it with my mind control. Anyway, I’m going to hang out with April for a while longer.”

There’s a pause.

His smile spreads. “She’s my girlfriend.”

My heart thumps harder as I meet his eyes. They say he means it in a whole new way.

*

It’s a summer miracle. When we return, the inn is mostly quiet. Only Katie is awake, reading a book in the living room, her red hair twisted into a messy bun. Mo, the orange cat, is curled on her lap, purring.

She smirks. “How was your night sneaking out?”

I give her a blank look, playing dumb.

She rolls her blue eyes. “I was sent to find you for Scrabble, and I saw the Do Not Disturb sign. But your room was quiet, so I figured you gave us the slip.”

I eye her suspiciously. My bawdy, dirty cousin. “Did you actually put your ear on the door and listen in to see what you weren’t supposed to disturb?”

She nods, owning it. “Absolutely.” She brandishes the paperback in the air. “I’m reading a filthy sex scene. You think I’d have a problem putting my ear to your door and seeing what you were up to? Not one bit.”

I crinkle my nose. “If you want to listen to me, I feel like that might make you ridiculously naughty.”

“If the shoe fits…” Katie sticks out her foot, her slipper dangling off the end of her toes as Theo laughs at her antics.

“What did you tell everyone after your search and rescue mission proved fruitless?”

“I told them the truth. That there was, effectively, a sock on your door, and far be it from me to violate the sanctity of that.”

“You’re such an excellent self-appointed wing woman,” I say.

She blows on her fingernails. “Now, tell me. Where’d you go?”

I shrug evasively. “Around.”

Katie points at me, like she’s caught me even more red-handed. “You didn’t do it in your mom’s golf cart, did you?”

“Why don’t you go take it for a spin and find out?” I toss back at her.

Theo grins wildly, clearly impressed.

Katie slaps her thigh. “You are a dirty girl, indeed. I knew the poodle walker was all wrong for you. When your mom and my mom said we should find you nice guys from here, we all offered up our suggestions, but I’ve always known you’re a better fit for a Hottie McTottie with tats,” she says, wiggling her eyebrows at Theo in a deliberately salacious manner.

He drapes an arm around me. “She’s a perfect fit for me.” He dusts a kiss on my cheek. Everything he does to me feels like magic.

“Honestly, I think Jeanie’s been trying to set you up because she’s bored since I haven’t produced grandkids for her yet,” Katie says.

“Do you and Joe want to?”

“Someday. When we’re ready. But not yet. So my mom gets together with your mom, and they start plotting to find a man for you.”

“And it’s a damn good thing you didn’t set her up with anyone,” Theo says, a note of possession in his tone. “Otherwise, I’d have had to go full alpha in front of everyone.”

Katie makes an appreciative groan. “That’s what I want Joe to do to me when he returns from his assignment. Go full alpha. I like the sound of that.”

“Of course you do,” I say.

“Oh, don’t pretend you don’t love a good throw-down on the couch.”

My cheeks flush red.

Katie raises her chin to Theo. “Go do something about our blushing April.”

He gives a shrug that seems to say, Why the heck not? He turns to face me, lowers his shoulders, and loops his arms around my waist. In an instant, he lifts me up, and I squeak out a surprised “Oh!” as he raises me to his right shoulder, drops me over it, and gives a tip of the imaginary hat to Katie with his free hand. “It’s time for me to go full caveman and take my woman upstairs.”

Katie raises a victorious fist in the air. “Woohoo! You go give it to her good.”

“Katie, remind me to take you to a strip club next time you’re in the city. You would be in your element,” I say dryly.

“I’ll break into my special billfold and grab all my one-dollar bills,” she says as Theo takes the first steps up the staircase.

Like the ad. Just like one of his à la carte options. My life is imitating a GigsForHire ad, and as I laugh while Theo carries me to the second floor, I couldn’t be happier.

When we reach the room, the DO NOT DISTURB sign still dangles from the knob.

He sets me down.

“You’re strong,” I say, stating the obvious.

He smiles. “You’re light.”

“That is the absolute sweetest thing you can say to a woman.”

He laughs and unlocks the door.

Once inside, I grab a fresh pair of panties, a tank top, and sleep shorts. I head to the bathroom to change. Even though I climaxed while dry-humping him like a teen at prom, I’m not ready for the intimacy of changing in front of him. After I brush my teeth and wash my face, I return to the room, and he’s in those low-hung sleep pants. He takes his turn in the bathroom while I grab some lotion for my hands, rubbing it in. I dim the lights, slide under the covers, and wait for whatever comes next.

I’ve no clue what we do now. How we act. What we say. If we make out like bunnies all night long. I have no clue about so many things, but that’s what throwing out my rules for dating has done to me.

The bathroom door creaks open, and he joins me in bed. “I’m glad your parents didn’t catch you on the lake tonight.”

“Me, too. Especially since I’ve never taken a guy onto the lake before.”

Silence descends, and his voice is laced with surprise but also wonder. “Really?”

“True that.”

“Why’d you take me?”

I stick my tongue out. “You’re special.”