by Liana Brooks
He tried picturing her in white and the image fixed in his mind. “Zephyr Girl.”
Milk sprayed across the table as she coughed. “Excuse me?”
“Zephyr Girl. You look like Zephyr Girl.” Killed in a fight with Doctor Charm according to rumors. Although, since he’d had lunch with Doctor Charm, maybe Zephyr Girl was still flying around somewhere. Hard to picture a superhero baking cookies though.
Tabitha’s eyebrows bounced skyward. “Really? I usually get Pacifica from Fractured. The TV show.” She paused. “You’ve never seen it? My oldest daughter played the superhero Pacifica on the TV show and she looks just like me. Younger, of course, and a bit firmer all around. But that’s age for you.”
He shelved the budding daydream of meeting a childhood hero. “Sorry, I’m not familiar with the show.” Watching TV took time that he could never seem to squeeze into the day. Especially once he’d started chasing after Delilah.
“Really? It’s popular with the superhero-believer set.”
Alan shrugged. “I’m not sure I believe in heroes, super powered or otherwise. People are just people. They make good choices. They make bad choices. At the end of the day all you can hope is that you did more good than harm.”
An alarming grumble shook the house and Tabitha sat up, eyes bright. “What’s that?” Alan asked.
“The garage door. The conquerors have returned. I hope they remembered the onions for the soup.”
He cleaned up his seat at the table. “I’ll go step outside and call the tow truck. Happy holidays.”
“What?” Tabitha frowned at him. “There’s no need to rush off. Sit down and try to act suitably rescued. If I start dragging eligible bachelors home, I’ll be accused of having Mrs. Bennet Syndrome. This needs to look completely accidental.”
“It was accidental.” He laughed. “You couldn’t give me a flat tire!”
She didn’t laugh along.
Suddenly the kitchen air was too thick to breath. The whole conversation had been slightly to the left of normal, and now Alan wondered if he hadn’t wandered into much more dangerous territory. Maybe Tabitha was an ax murderer. Maybe the onions were for fresh politician soup.
“Mom!” a young man’s voice shouted from the basement. “Mom, Blessing threw me in the snow!”
Tabitha smiled. “Aren’t kids adorable?”
“I...uh...”
“Mom?” A far more familiar voice said as light footfalls ran up the stairs. Delilah turned the corner into the kitchen and halted. “Alan.”
“D-Delilah. Hi. I... uh... I just... My car got a flat tire.” He forced his hands to stop moving.
She tilted her head—just like her mother. He knew he’d seen that gesture before! “You’re not supposed to be here for another six hours!”
“I got an early flight ahead of the snowstorm.”
“I had a red sweater all picked out!” Delilah cried. “I don’t even have make-up on!”
He swallowed. “You... You look great.” And hopefully she hadn’t heard the raw desire she’d inspired in his voice.
“He’s right,” Tabitha added. “You look amazing without makeup. You’re father’s genes, I think. No one in my family has eyelashes like that.”
Delilah turned on her mother. “What is he doing here?”
“Sweetheart?” Doctor Charm turned the corner, hands full of groceries.
Alan’s shoulder blades hit the wall behind him. But it was far too late. The whole family was crowding into the kitchen to see what was going on. A blonde woman who could only be Tabitha’s oldest daughter was holding hands with someone who resembled Arktos from L.A. too closely for it to be coincidence. Travys was in the back with two other young men, one who looked like Delilah and the other like Arktos, along with two other women Alan assumed were Delilah’s other sisters.
He panicked and slipped into the shadows.
What had he been thinking? Big family holiday? Had he lost his mind? Families had to start small! You added one person at a time! You didn’t just pick up the deluxe edition wholesale one afternoon.
The chill of the outside brought Alan back to his senses and he leaned against a pine tree for support.
“Alan?” Delilah’s voice echoed across the yard. “Alan?” She ran to him, scarf trailing behind her. “What’s wrong?”
He stared at her.
“Alan?” She stopped a few feet away. “Are you okay?”
“I wasn’t expecting the whole herd at once.”
She glanced over her shoulder at the house. “Yeah, I meant to break them to you slowly. I did say I had a big family.”
“You didn’t tell me that’s what was waiting in Vermont!”
Delilah shrugged. “You said you wanted a big family holiday. This is the only family I have.” She caught his hand. “Come on. Come inside and meet them. Once you get to know them, they aren’t so scary.”
“Your mother is Zephyr Girl and she told me over cookies about how a hit man she knew got killed!”
“But she left out the part about how she’s the one that killed him. That’s progress.”
“That’s scary.”
Delilah leaned in close, pressing herself against him. “It could be worse?”
“How?”
“They could all be normals.”
He let that sink in. Then he raised an eyebrow. “They’re all superheroes?”
“Mostly villains, but a few of them are heroes.” She wrapped her arms around him. “Come on, isn’t this better? They all know how you feel. They all know what it’s like to not be like everyone else. You’ll have someone to sit with and discuss chasing criminals, or having a secret identity. How many in-laws could you do that with?”
Alan held her tightly. “And what happens if they don’t like me?”
“Why wouldn’t they like you?” She squeezed him. “You aren’t six any more. No one is taking you away from me. If this is too much, we can go do Christmas by ourselves somewhere else. We can find a hotel, or fly back to Chicago.”
Visions of Christmas alone flashed through his mind, followed by images of what he and Delilah could get up to alone. He swallowed again. But… She’d brought him to meet the family. That had to count for something, didn’t it? “We can stay,” he said at last. “I want to meet your family. Really. I just wasn’t prepared for this. Flat tires don’t usually lead to your future mother-in-law interrogating you.”
“Mother-in-law?” Delilah laughed. “Aren’t we skipping a few steps?”
He blushed. “Potential mother-in-law. Mother of the woman I am dating. You know what I mean.”
She kissed him gently. “Come back inside and I promise not to tease you about that slip up too much.”
He took her hand, holding it just a little more tightly that he should have. “Okay,” he said. “Okay.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
To: Delilah
With Love: Alan
Delilah curled her legs up on the big comfy chair and watched Alan ease into the deep waters of Smith family living. He’d lost the deer-in-the-headlights look over dinner and was playing video games with the younger boys. Now all he had to do was defrost enough to talk to her sisters.
Maria collapsed in the sofa beside her. “Do you know how hard it is to lose an election?”
“Apropos of nothing,” Delilah murmured toying with the necklace Alan had given her for Christmas. “No. Is that where you’ve been?”
“Yes! And it’s not going well.”
“Does it concern a certain superhero who thinks he’s a god?”
Maria scowled at the ceiling. “I’m not answering that.”
“You like him.”
Her sister glared. “So what? At least I’m not engaged to a boy scout! He’s so squeaky clean he makes my teeth hurt.”
Delilah watched Alan who was talking with Ty about something involving hand gestures. He noticed her staring and smiled. “I like him. And we’re not engaged. We’re dating.”
“
You brought him home,” Maria said bluntly. “Let me list the guys who have been introduced to the family: Noah, Tyler, and Alan.”
“And Travys and Aaron,” she said, adding in their adopted sibling and Tyler’s little brother. She sipped her hot cider. “And Martin.”
“Dad only met Martin because he had to come post bail for us,” Maria said tartly. “It’s not the same.”
“You would have brought him home eventually.”
Maria rolled her eyes and sat up. “Maybe. But I was young and stupid then.” She glared at Alan. “Do you really think he’s good enough for you?”
“Do you really think he’s not?” Delilah challenged her.
Alan stood up and walked over to them, folding his arms over his chest. “Do you really think his hearing’s that bad?”
Maria’s eyes narrowed. “If you hurt my sister...”
“They’ll never find my body,” Alan finished for her. “Yes. I think I caught the gist of that threat the first time.” He reached down and twined his fingers with Delilah’s. “Do you know, you have a very over-protective family, Love. I swear the only person who was excited to see me was your mother.”
“He’s cute! We should keep him!” Mom chimed from across the room.
Delilah put her cup to the side. “Let’s go for a walk.”
She pulled Alan away from the festivities and out into the winter darkness. Starlight glittered on the diamond and topaz necklace he’d had given her. For him, she’d bought a pair of season tickets to the Bulls games. It didn’t meet the twenty-dollar limit the family had agreed on, but then again, neither had his. And it wasn’t her only present for him, either.
The snow crunched under their boots as they walked away from the house. “It’s beautiful out here.” Alan sounded wistful, as if he still wasn’t convinced that it was real.
“I thought so.” Vermont was picturesque. Not a place she’d want to live permanently, but worth visiting from time to time.
He laced his fingers with hers. “We’re not planning on retiring here, are we?”
Delilah laughed. “We?”
“Family Christmas, exchanging gifts, I don’t know. I’m feeling a bit we-ish.” He looked sideways at her with a smile. “I like being part of a We.”
His joy was radiant. She leaned against his shoulder and he moved so she was in front of him, his arms wrapped her waist, chin resting on her head. After a moment, she reached into her coat pocket and pulled out the thick white gold ring she’d bought several days before. “What do you think about making the We a permanent thing?”
There was a stillness behind her and she gripped his hands to keep him from running away. A barn owl’s distinctive call shattered the deathly silence around them.
“Do I need to get down on one knee?” she added, laughing because it was the only way to keep from crying. If he said no... Well, she wouldn’t be a Smith if she didn’t have a contingency plan for that kind of disaster. But she’d like not to need it.
Alan took the ring from her hand. “I don’t have one for you.”
“We can go shopping when we get home.” He was playing with it. Turning the ring around so it caught the moonlight. But he wasn’t saying yes.
Delilah’s heart pounded.
“Where will we live?”
She shrugged, keeping her voice utterly neutral. “Your house. Mine. Neither. Both. Somewhere in Chicago, but I’m not picky.” But she’d appreciate it if he would hurry up and answer, because in a second she’d forget how to breathe.
His gaze flicked up and met hers, and he softened into something much gentler than a smile. “Yes,” he said. “I love you.”
He slipped the ring on, and Delilah remembered how to breathe. Everything was perfect. She stretched up and kissed him under the winter stars. After all, even villains could have happy endings.
Sharp-eyed viewers spotted some shiny swag on Chicago’s newly elected mayor. During the city council press conference, several people noticed that Mayor Adale was sporting a swanky new ring on his left hand. The new mayor later confirmed that he and Delilah Samson of Subrosa Securities had gotten engaged over the winter holidays. Although Chicago’s infamous gossip mill has long had the two paired together, this is the first public confirmation of their relationship. The couple plans to marry this spring and hold a public reception for family, friends, and well-wishers at the Chicago Field Museum.
If you enjoyed reading Even Villains Have Interns, you may enjoy these other Breathless Press titles:
Even Villains Fall In Love
Even Villains Go To The Movies
Catch A Scoundrel By The Tail
A Taste For Killing
All For Spilled Blood
Eyes Only
Available at Breathless Press
www.breathlesspress.com
Biography
Liana Brooks would like to SCUBA dive Europa (that moon around Jupiter), but with the NASA shuttle program shut down she’s resorted to writing science fiction instead. She likes southern beaches, warm weather, sharks, and striped socks.
Her superhero romance series started with Even Villains Fall in Love and continues with Even Villains Go to the Movies and Even Villains Have Interns. For those who prefer their romance without a side order of spandex she’s written Prime Sensations (part of the Tales From the SFR Brigades anthology) and Fey Lights.
You can find Liana on the web at www.lianabrooks.com, on Twitter as @LianaBrooks, or on Face Book under the same name.