Chapter 14
14
dazzled
I adjusted my tie for the tenth time, staring at my reflection in the mirror with the kind of intensity usually reserved for my other nighttime activities.
That is, the ones where I wore the hood and prowled the streets in the same of outside-the-law justice.
This? This was something else entirely.
The black suit felt foreign after years of hoodies and tactical gear, but Luna had insisted we go all out for our first official “date” at one of Slate Harbor’s most romantic restaurants.
Her words, not mine.
Though, I had to admit, she wasn’t wrong about the location. The Valentine Villain’s victims had all been seen at places just like this—upscale spots where couples went to celebrate their love.
Perfect bait, even if the thought of using Luna that way made my stomach turn.
Hence, the fact that I was armed tonight. I’d hidden several throwing knives in specially designed pockets of my jacket. No swords tonight—those didn’t exactly mesh with formal wear— but I had enough blades to handle any trouble that might come our way.
And then, you know, I had my “powers,” too.
She still used that word every chance she could. It was officially February now—Love Month, according to Luna, and we’d spent the first week of our fake relationship slowly getting used to our new dynamics.
Our new team dynamics.
I still did the random street-cleaning takedowns by myself because the idea of Luna or Chris in the field was laughable. But for research, tech upgrades, and even just bouncing ideas around? I had to admit, we weren’t off to a bad start.
My phone buzzed on the dresser.
Luna: I hope tonight goes better than it did in my dream last night.
I stared at the screen, trying to figure out what she meant by that. But before I got too far down a hole that I wouldn’t be able to claw my way out of, another text came through.
Luna: Sorry, long story short, I had a dream last night that the VV shot a fireball from his hands right into the restaurant and we died. End scene.
I couldn’t help but smile, even as I fired back what I hoped was a reassuring response.
Me: If it helps, I don’t think The Villain can shoot fireballs from his hands.
Luna: It’s not his usual MO, but who knows? You have hidden powers. Why can’t he?
My thumb hovered over the keyboard, at war with myself. Then I just went for it.
Me: Superhero, remember?
Luna: Yassssss. I’m cackling. Thank you.
Mission accomplished.
I set down my phone, turning back to the mirror to adjust my tie again. It was too tight. A boa constricting its prey.
Was it too late to suggest we go for burgers so we could dress down? Taking down a serial killer in a suit didn’t sound comfortable.
Running a hand through my hair, I adjusted the way the longer strands on the top fell. It was shorter on the sides—a style leftover from the military because it worked for me—but the top was pretty long.
Was it too long? Should I have gotten it cut?
I hung my head.
This was ridiculous. I’d faced down some of Slate Harbor’s worst criminals—taken them down before they could even register the blur of my movements.
I’d protected this city countless times and regularly saved lives .
Surely, I could handle one dinner date.
My spiraling thoughts were interrupted by another buzz from my phone. I glanced at the screen, my eyebrows shooting up as I read Luna’s latest message.
Luna: You better not be brooding in front of a mirror right now.
I snorted.
Me: I don’t brood.
Luna: Sure, Jan.
Before I could figure out who Jan was or why she was bringing her into this, another text came through.
Luna: Seriously though, are you on your way? Because I’m already ready and you know how I get when I’m left alone with my thoughts for too long.
Yeah, I did know.
She’d probably reorganize her entire apartment or start a new business venture just to keep her hands busy.
Before I could reply, another text came through.
Luna: Oh, and don’t panic, but I’m also pretty hangry.
I grabbed my keys and headed for the door, but not before sending her one last text.
Me: Be there in 5.
Luna: You’re the best. One last word of warning—I look amazing.
I paused with my hand on the doorknob, exhaling slowly.
She didn’t need to warn me about that. She always looked amazing, and that was part of the problem.
Because tonight? Tonight wasn’t real.
It couldn’t be. Not for someone like me. Not with someone like her.
Ever .
And the sooner I got that through my thick skull, the better off we’d both be.
Luna wasn’t kidding. She did look amazing.
When she opened the door to her apartment above the coffee shop, I’d nearly gone down. The little black dress she wore hugged every curve, and her dark hair fell in soft waves around her shoulders instead of being pulled up in her usual messy bun.
But it was her smile that really did me in—bright and genuine, lighting up her whole face like she was more than a little excited to see me—and it wasn’t just because she was in a rush to eat.
“You clean up nice,” she said, giving me an appreciative once-over that had heat crawling up my neck.
I cleared my throat. “You too.”
“Wow, the enthusiasm.”
“ Luna .”
“I know, I know. This is just for show.” She stepped into the hall, closing and locking her door. “But if we want this to work, you’re gonna have to do better than ‘you too’ when other people are around. He won’t try to kill us unless he buys our ruse.”
She had a point, as dark and twisted as it might be.
I offered her my arm, and when she slipped her hand through it, I tried to ignore how right it felt. “You look beautiful,” I said softly, angling down a bit so my nose could graze her temple as I did.
Her steps faltered slightly, and for once, she didn’t have a comeback.
“I can work on my delivery,” I offered, fighting a grin.
“Nope. That was perfect.”
I know.
“You cool if we take the truck there and then walk back after dinner? The restaurant isn’t too far.”
A line formed between her brows. “Why would we do that? We could walk both ways if you want.”
“Eh. No need to waste time walking there if we’re planning to be seen on our date and get attacked on the way home, right?”
“But what about your truck?”
My lips curved. “Don’t worry about my truck.”
The way I flew through these streets or along the rooftops overhead? I’d left my truck all over Slate Harbor for one reason or another. There was nowhere in this city that I could leave it that would take more than a minute or two to pick it up later.
But nobody liked a bragger.
We made our way down the stairs and out to my truck, and I helped her in. Not because it was a completely unconscious gesture, but because that’s what a real date would do.
Her dress rode up slightly as she climbed in, and I quickly looked away, focusing on closing her door.
Get it together, Thorne.
The drive to the restaurant was quiet but not uncomfortable. Luna hummed along to the radio, and I found myself relaxing despite the tension coiled in my gut.
This was just my average, everyday vigilante mission.
Nothing more.
The restaurant was exactly what we needed—intimate lighting, soft music, and couples everywhere. The host led us to a corner table with a perfect view of both the entrance and the rest of the dining room.
I pulled out Luna’s chair, and she beamed up at me as she sat. “Such a gentleman.”
“I try.”
Once we were settled and had ordered drinks, Luna leaned forward, lowering her voice. “So, do you think he’s here?”
I scanned the room again, noting exits and potential threats out of habit. “Hard to say. But someone’s watching us.”
Her eyes widened slightly. “Really? Where?”
“Don’t look,” I cautioned. “But there’s a man at the bar who’s been too interested in this section since we walked in.”
Luna immediately looked, because of course she did.
I sighed. “What did I just say?”
“Sorry,” she whispered, but she didn’t look sorry at all. “I couldn’t help it. But hey, that’s good, right? If we’re attracting attention?”
Our drinks arrived just in time to save me from agreeing with that ludicrous idea, and Luna took a sip of her wine while I nursed my whiskey. The candlelight caught the gold flecks in her eyes, making them sparkle in a way that was entirely unsportsmanlike.
“You’re staring,” she murmured.
“I’m supposed to be. We’re dating, remember?”
Her lips curved, but then my phone buzzed with a text from Chris.
“Anything?” Luna asked, tilting forward as I read the message.
“Still working on it. Says he’s close, though.”
Chris had been working on leads he’d pulled from Marco’s burner phone, most of them duds. But he said there were a few promising avenues that he wanted to dig into, and he promised to keep us in the loop as he went.
Luna sat back with a small pout that shouldn’t have been so freaking… precious . “Well, I guess we’ll just have to suffer through this romantic dinner then.”
“Tragic.”
The waiter appeared to take our order, and I watched as Luna charmed him effortlessly, asking questions about the menu and making him laugh. It was what she always did—drew people in with that natural warmth of hers.
I’d watched it happen to countless fools at Wilde Brew, too. They thought they were ordering their coffee from your average, beautiful woman.
Then, before they knew it? They were dazzled .
There was no other word to describe it, and the worst part was… she’d done it to me, too.
And just like the rest of them, I hadn’t realized what was happening until it was too late.
“Jax,” she said once the waiter had left. “You’re doing it again.”
“If you’re about to say I’m brooding ?—”
She reached across the table and took my hand, her touch sending sparks through my entire body. “I don’t care what you call it. I’m just saying that you look deep in your head right now, and we’re supposed to be madly in love, remember?”
Right .
How could I forget?
I squeezed her hand gently, running my thumb over her knuckles. Her breath caught, and for a moment, everything else faded away. The restaurant, the other diners, even the man at the bar who was definitely watching us now—it all disappeared until it was just Luna and me.
“Better?” I asked, my voice rougher than intended.
She nodded, her cheeks flushed. “Much.”
We chatted a little more naturally until our food arrived. Luna dove into her pasta with unfiltered enthusiasm while I picked at my steak, too focused on our surroundings to really taste it.
“You know what I just realized?” she asked between bites.
“What’s that?”
“We don’t know much about each other. I mean, not really.”
I gave her a skeptical look. “You know some pretty major stuff about me. Stuff that nobody else knows. What else is there?”
“Really? Jax, you’re more than—” She stopped, glancing around and then leaning in, lowering her voice so only I could hear. “— your secret . Comic book references aside, you’re a full person. You’re not just some cardboard cutout of a superhero.”
The sip of whiskey I’d just taken went down the wrong pipe as her words sank in, and I coughed discreetly, working hard not to let it show.
Was she trying to make me fall in love with her for real? Maybe she figured if I did, our ruse would be more convincing.
She was strategic like that.
And, judging by the way she was studying me now, I wasn’t doing a good job of acting like she hadn’t just flayed me open.
“Wait, better yet?” She leaned back and changed course. “What if someone asks how we met?”
I relaxed a little. “Easy. We met at your coffee shop.”
“Okay, yes , but what’s our story? When did you first notice me? When did I first notice you? These are important details.”
“You really think someone’s going to ask us that?”
She shrugged, picking at her food. “Maybe.”
But there was something in her voice that hinted that maybe she wanted to know, and that thought made my tie feel just a bit too tight again.
“When did you first notice me?” I asked instead of answering.
Her eyes lit up. “Oh no, you first.”
I took another sip of whiskey, buying time. Because the truth was, I’d noticed her the moment I walked into Wilde Brew for the first time.
How could I not?
She’d been behind the counter, laughing at something, and the sound had hit me like a physical force. She’d looked up, caught my eye, and smiled like she’d been waiting for me to walk in.
And the kicker? Walking toward that counter had felt a little like coming home.
But I couldn’t tell her that.
“You were walking around with a plate of cookie samples,” I said instead. It was from the same day, but it would be a lot less telling. “I think they were Halloween specials, and when you offered me some, you wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
“Do I ever?”
“Not that I’ve seen.”
She laughed. “Yeah, well, they were good, so don’t even play.”
“Your turn.”
She took a sip of wine as if mirroring my earlier stalling tactic, but then I flinched as she nearly spit it out, gasping like something funny had just occurred to her.
“You okay?” I asked with a low chuckle.
“I don’t know, because I just had a major realization, and now I’m spinning out a little.”
I waited.
She leaned in. “I was going to say that for me, it was probably when you caught that cup before it hit the ground.”
I swallowed hard.
I knew exactly where she was going with this, and even when it happened, I wondered if it would come back to bite me.
“I was carrying too many mugs—as I always do—and one slipped,” she continued. “You came out of nowhere and caught it before it shattered at my feet. Moving way too fast, by the way. I should’ve known right then what you really were.”
“And what am I?”
Her eyes danced, and her grin was pure trouble. “A superhero with a coffee addiction.”
“You’re a menace.”
“And yet, here you are.”
Yeah. Here I was.
“You were wearing sandals,” I said, smiling a little as confusion wrinkled her brow. “That day, with the mug. I think you came in on your day off after someone called in sick, so you were wearing sandals instead of your usual kicks.”
“Okay…”
I licked my lips, feeling ridiculous. “That’s why I risked catching the mug even though I’d had to shoot over there from across the room.”
Her mouth parted on a soft gasp, her eyes going all warm in a way that made me feel like she was seeing me differently—not just as the guy who lurked in the shadows and jumped around on rooftops, but as someone who’d been looking out for her long before she ever noticed.
“And you wanted to protect my feet?”
I grimaced. “Please don’t say it like that.”
“Like what?”
“Your face—it’s like you’re looking at a cute puppy. It wasn’t cute.” I shifted in my chair, sitting taller. “It was heroic. Manly.”
She cackled, drawing the eyes of several of our fellow diners.
I wanted to relax and enjoy the sound like I always did, but movement at the bar caught my attention, and I honed in without fail. The man who’d been watching us stood from his barstool, draining the last of his drink before tossing a few bills onto the counter.
And then, just before he turned toward the door, his gaze met mine.
Steady.
Unflinching.
As if he wanted me to know… something .
And the thing was, he didn’t feel like your average criminal. He was so normal-looking, so average, that he’d probably blend into the background in a lineup. But he’d clearly been watching us all night. He had to be the guy.
My muscles tensed, ready for action, but he simply walked out the door.
“Was that him?” Luna whispered.
“Don’t know. But we should probably head out, too. Give him a chance to follow us if he wants to.”
Even as I suggested it, every cell in my body threatened to rebel if I tried. Like they’d just lock up and keep me frozen here, if that was even a thing.
“No dessert?” she asked.
My lips pulled into a thin line as I weighed my options.
Keep Luna here and watch her eat dessert as if it wouldn’t be the most dangerous thing we’d face all night, or take her outside where that kind of danger would pale in comparison to the serial killer kind?
I had no good choices, so I held up my hands, letting her decide.