“Do you want something to eat?” Ben sighed. “Damn. This is even harder than talking to you online. You’re a beautiful woman, Irina. You have me all tongue-tied.”
“I’m nothing special.” She grinned. Something in her chest seemed to expand. He thought she was beautiful! “You’re pretty darn good-looking yourself, you know. So I wouldn’t be intimidated if I were you. Or else I should be as intimidated as you are.”
“How about neither of us is intimidated, and we try to find something to talk about?” He took a sip of his coffee without looking away from her. “I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere before. And it isn’t because of your picture on the site.”
“It might be.” Her gut clenched. He couldn’t recognize her. Sometimes the news crews in the area caught the Super Group in action, but the heroes always tried to keep their faces turned away from the cameras. Usually Irina wasn’t out in the field anyway. Supposedly she was too valuable a member of the team to be put into harm’s way.
Ben chuckled. “Your picture doesn’t really show much. And your profile is pretty sparse. I’d like to learn more about you. To be honest, while we were talking yesterday I was hoping I’d get to meet you. I don’t know what it is about you, but something appeals to me.”
“Likewise.” Irina wasn’t sure what else to say. She meant it, but they’d just met. It was too soon to tell him she liked him or wanted another date or any of the other things which came to mind.
At least, she thought it was too soon. She didn’t really know. She clearly needed more practice at dating.
“I don’t have much time, unfortunately,” Ben said. “I’m on my lunch break too, and I have to be back at the office in—” He looked at his watch. “Fifteen minutes. Not nearly long enough.”
“I think it’s long enough to start with.” Irina tried to sound confident. If they were both nervous and indecisive, this wouldn’t go any farther at all. One of them had to take charge, and she was a superhero, after all. She had no reason to be nervous or concerned. She’d faced super villains, though not often, and had helped capture others even though she’d been confined to headquarters.
Compared to defending the innocent against the evildoers, dating a guy should have been easy. And if she pretended it actually was easy, it would be.
She hoped.
“True. Too much time trying to figure out what to say to each other might not be so good,” Ben said. “So. I mean, this is good even if we are sitting here being awkward. At least now we have faces to go with the names, right?”
“Absolutely.” Irina forced her smile wider. She refused to appear uncomfortable. She liked Ben so far, and she wanted him to see it. “And we’ll have faces to recognize next time we get together. I think we’re going to see each other again, right?”
“I think so too.” His face lit up. “We definitely are. How about tomorrow night? Dinner after work? I can pick you up or we can meet somewhere, whichever’s more comfortable for you. And that’ll give us time to think of things to talk about.”
“I’m sure we’ll come up with something.” She winked and hated herself for it. I’m not a seductress, for crying out loud! “I’ll meet you. Do you have somewhere in mind or should we discuss it later?”
“Why don’t you choose a place?” He took another drink. “I try to be a gentleman. I’m a little old-fashioned. I like letting the lady tell me what she wants instead of assuming, and I even hold doors sometimes.”
“Good qualities.” Irina hesitated. “Is it all right if I text you later about the restaurant? I don’t eat out much, so I’ll have to consider this carefully. And is there any type of food you don’t want? You’re leaving it up to me, but I want to make sure it’s a place you’ll enjoy, too.”
“Whatever you pick will be fine. I’m flexible.” He grimaced. “Yeah, that isn’t a double entendre or anything.”
Irina took a moment to figure out what he was talking about. When it hit her, she laughed. “Well, finding out how flexible each other is will have to wait until at least the second date, I think.”
She barely managed not to blush. Sexual innuendo on the first meeting might not make the impression she wanted. She wouldn’t exactly object to taking Ben to bed when the time came. If he hadn’t had to return to work, she might even have tried to persuade him back to her apartment today. Her last time with a guy had been way too long ago.
But if Ben was as much of a gentleman as he’d said, he might want to take things slowly. And some guys got weird about women being sexually aggressive. She hoped Ben didn’t, because once she got to know someone, she was far from shy. For the time being, though, it would be better to assume he wouldn’t appreciate it.
Ben’s eyes widened slightly. “Yeah, flexibility can be an important quality in some situations,” he said. “I guess I’ll look forward to seeing how the first and second date go, then.”
“No promises,” Irina said quickly.
“No pressure.” He reached across the table, and Irina, feeling self-conscious, took his hand. He grinned. “I’m glad I decided to talk to you yesterday. This has been fun. I really do have to get back to work, though.”
“I probably should too.” She didn’t want to go back to headquarters. Back to the grind of sitting around waiting for bad guys to strike. The city was only mid-sized. There wasn’t much crime, and supervillains tended to gravitate to New York or Los Angeles. She wasn’t entirely sure why their city even rated having a team of superheroes.
At least she got paid for sitting around waiting for instructions from Super Guy. It wasn’t a great salary, but since Super Guy was one of the richest men in their part of the country, he made sure the entire team had enough money to live on without having to squeeze day jobs into their lives.
“I’ll walk you out.” Ben stood without letting go of her hand and picked up his cup with his free hand.
Slightly bemused and more than a little pleased, Irina did the same.
Out on the sidewalk, they stopped beside the coffee shop window. “It’s been nice spending a little time face to face,” Ben said.
“Yes, it has, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow night.” Irina looked up into his eyes, which were as deep brown as she’d suspected the day before. He stood a good six inches taller than she. For some reason she couldn’t have explained if she’d tried, the height difference made her feel like Ben could protect her.
“I am too,” he said.
He leaned down, and Irina stretched up to meet his lips with hers. The kiss was brief, barely more than a friend might give another, but the contact jolted her. If she’d believed in instant connections, she would have said they had one.
Of course, she didn’t believe in any such things. Instant anything was for sappy romances, not real life.
“I’ll talk to you tonight?” Ben stepped back, looking hopeful, and let go of her hand. “About the restaurant for tomorrow, I mean.”
“Yes, I’ll let you know.” Irina stood there smiling, feeling like a fool. The last thing she wanted was to walk away from this man. They both had to return to work, and they would see each other again tomorrow, but she didn’t want the meeting to end quite yet.
“So I’d better go.” He shuffled his feet a bit. “Because my boss will be pissed if I don’t get back soon.”
“True.” She paused. She should keep up the fiction of having a real job. “Mine too. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Later.”
Both of them stood there for a moment until Irina couldn’t stand it anymore. If she didn’t walk away fast, she never would. She turned and hurried down the sidewalk toward headquarters, feeling Ben’s gaze on her until she turned the next corner.
***
The following night at five, Irina got up from her desk at headquarters and walked toward the door. She was supposed to meet Ben at six at a Chinese restaurant not far from the coffee shop.
She should have known leaving HQ wouldn’t be easy.
Super Guy sto
pped her at the door. “Where are you going, Eye-Reen?”
“Home.” She looked him in the eye. Anything else would have made him suspicious. The guy might have been super, but he was also paranoid as hell sometimes. “I’ve been here all day. I have a life, you know.”
“We have a situation.” He folded his arms and glared at her through the eye slits in the black half-mask he wore almost all the time. Irina had frequently wondered if he showered in the damn thing. She’d only seen him without it once, at a charity event he’d hosted in his rich-dude persona.
“I have a—important thing to do.” She’d almost blurted she had a date. That would definitely make things worse. Super Guy would never let her leave for something he would consider frivolous, and dates topped his list. The guy didn’t have a romantic bone in his body.
“More important than protecting the citizens from evil?” His eyebrows were suddenly visible above the mask. “The Avocado Alliterator is threatening to take over City Bank tonight. We have to be prepared, and we’re going to need you to keep tabs on him.”
“He randomly chose his name from the dictionary, didn’t he?” Irina rolled her eyes. Some supervillains didn’t grasp the concept of using intimidating names. “Look, I have plans, Super Guy. Plans I am not changing because some dude with a dumb name is making random threats. For all we know he’s simply trying to see what kind of a reaction he’ll get.”
“We have to take all threats seriously.” Super Guy’s voice dropped so low Irina had to strain to make out what he was saying. “We exist to protect the population of this city. Of course sometimes people decide to test us, like kids pulling fire alarms at school. We still have to take every threat as legitimate until proven otherwise. I’m sorry, but we need you tonight. Your plans will have to wait.”
If Irina had been less mature, she would have stomped her feet and yelled. Super Guy did not have the right to tell her she couldn’t leave. Even if he signed her paychecks, it didn’t mean he could tell her what to do. She had a right to a real life. She couldn’t be a superhero forever, clairvoyance or not. Someday she wanted to have a normal life with a normal husband and kids, and those things would never happen if she kept letting Super Guy control her every move.
Fortunately, she was mature enough not to throw a tantrum. But not enough to do as Super Guy said. “I am not staying. Get that through your thick skull now. I will keep tabs on the Avocado Idiot and will contact you if I catch anything of concern. I don’t have to sit here bored out of my mind in order to monitor.”
“You’re a superhero.” His voice went even deeper. “Your entertainment is not more important than the lives of the people in this city.”
“And your supercilious arrogance is not more important than my life.” She took a step closer to him and was astonished when he flinched. He was even taller than Ben and half again as wide. Surely he wasn’t afraid of her.
She lowered her voice. “Get out of my way, Stanley.”
“Super Guy,” he snarled.
“Not when you’re acting this way. You’re a whiny little Stanley.” She was one of the few who knew Super Guy’s real name. Even when he appeared in public as his true identity, he went by his last name only. But it was hard to hide things from a clairvoyant.
None of the other heroes in the room seemed to be paying any attention to them. Irina used her powers to make sure. Just because she was pissed at Super Guy didn’t mean she wanted the rest of the team to hear her confronting him. She’d been one of the first superheroes he’d chosen to join him, and she had to set a good example for the others. Especially the two teens, Superaser and Morph Girl.
“You’re crossing a line, Eye-Reen,” Super Guy said.
“Let me leave.” She could have gone anyway. He was supposed to be a good guy, which meant he wouldn’t try too hard to stop her. But she wanted him to understand why she was going. “Haven’t you ever wanted to be normal?”
“All of us do.” His expression softened. “Okay. Here’s the deal. How long will your, er, plans take?”
“I don’t know.” The restaurant she’d picked had reviews saying service sometimes took up to an hour depending on how busy the place was. Their delay had been one of the deciding factors for her. Even if she was too shy to invite Ben back to her place, they would have plenty of time to talk over dinner.
If she did work up her nerve to bring Ben home afterward, the date might not end until morning. She wasn’t about to say so to Super Guy, though.
“Contact us in two hours,” Super Guy said. “Meanwhile, keep one eye on Avocado Alliterator. I’ll send you the information through your communicator so you’ll know who you’re watching for. Okay?”
“Yes. Thank you.” She bit her tongue. She didn’t have to thank Super Guy for anything. Sometimes she felt like she had to take his orders, but she didn’t. She worked with him, not for him.
Even though he did sign the checks.
“I expect you to let me know what time you’ll be back,” he said. “This could be an all-night situation, and we’re going to want you here when you’re finished whatever it is you’re doing.”
My date could be an all-night situation, too. Another thing Irina had no intention of saying out loud. “I’ll be in touch. Have a good night.”
He moved aside. “You too.”
As soon as she stepped out of headquarters, Irina let out a long sigh. For a minute or two, she’d been sure Super Guy wouldn’t actually let her leave. He took supervillains threats—even from so-called villains they’d never heard of—very seriously, and the only members of the team who were allowed to leave at a reasonable time most nights were Superaser and Morph Girl, because they had parents.
She’d almost told him she had a date. A stupid move. Dates weren’t a reason to be off guard and unaware of threats to the city. Even though Irina was excited about seeing Ben again, she had to wonder a little about her priorities.
Doubting herself wouldn’t change anything, though. Before Super Guy could change his mind and order her back inside, Irina walked away from headquarters as fast as she could without appearing to hurry.
She arrived at the restaurant slightly winded. Super-stamina wasn’t one of her powers. She took a few seconds to compose herself and to glance at her reflection in the tinted restaurant window before she went inside.
Ben stood right by the door, and the smile on his face when Irina walked in made her argument with Super Guy beyond worth it. His expression could have lit up the entire city.
“Hello.” He slipped his arm around her waist and kissed her cheek. “Beautiful. Simply beautiful.”
“Thank you.” Irina’s face warmed. “You look very nice yourself.” His royal blue pullover, similar to his shirt the day before, fit him well. The dark blue jeans he wore with it were perfect.
“They have a table for us already,” Ben said. “I wanted to meet you at the door.”
“I appreciate it.” Irina smiled up at him, well aware her expression was a little too bubbly and completely unable to change it. “Let’s go to our table. I have to warn you there was a situation at work and I might get called back in.”
“We’ll make the most of our time, then.”
Ben guided her to a small round table in the middle of the restaurant. Before Irina’s butt was even on the chair Ben pulled out for her, a tiny waitress was beside their table pouring water into long-stemmed glasses. She didn’t seem to notice Ben’s thanks as she walked away.
“Pretty fancy place.” Ben waited until Irina sat, then took the chair across from her. “I like it. You deserve fancy things.”
“You don’t know me well enough to say something like that.” She traced a condensation droplet down the side of her glass.
“I know you well enough to know where I hope tonight will end.” He cleared his throat. “I did not just say that. I promised you no pressure, and I meant it.”
“It’s okay.” Irina couldn’t quite prevent herself from blushing again. He want
s me. The light tingle between her legs proved she wanted him at least as much.
The only question was whether either of them would dare to act on their desire. And whether Irina would have to return to headquarters.
The waitress returned with menus that had no prices and bustled away again. “I don’t want you to spend too much on me,” Irina said.
“It’s our first real date.” Ben smiled. “I’m not exactly broke, Irina, and I think you deserve to be treated. So please don’t worry about the cost. Order what you want. I heard it takes a while to get service here, though.” He paused and gave her a thoughtful look. “Was that intentional?”
“Was what?” Irina sipped her water to give herself an excuse not to look at him.
“Choosing a place where we might have to sit for an hour or more.” He tapped his menu. “I think you wanted us to be here a while.”
“I confess.” Her heart fluttered. She couldn’t tell whether the idea annoyed or pleased him. “I wasn’t sure where things would go later, so I wanted dinner to last.”
“I do like a woman who knows what she wants.” Ben paused. “So research is important enough for you to possibly have to go back to work?”
Irina’s heart sped up. She took a long breath. Ben was getting suspicious. Her cover story had held for five years, even to her mother, but Ben was different. Between the two of them, a potential existed, but it would never happen if they weren’t honest with each other.
None of the Super Group had ever been in a romantic relationship, as far as Irina knew. Not in the entire half-decade she’d been with them. Which meant there was no protocol for telling one’s partner about the group. But surely Super Guy couldn’t expect the team to keep secrets from partners. It was bad enough they couldn’t tell their relatives.
She took a sip of water then wet her lips with her tongue. “It’s hard to explain. Some of what I do is confidential, so I can’t tell you much without my boss’s permission.” Calling Super Guy her boss rankled, but it was an explanation Ben might accept.
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