by Kelly Oram
“That’s very brave of you, Jamielynn,” Carter said softly. “I wish you luck, and I think it’s safe to say that you’ll have the whole nation praying for you.”
“Thanks,” I muttered. I didn’t know how to respond to that. Carter’s harsh demeanor had vanished, and his smile melted into a proud and compassionate one. It was almost believable. As if the man really did care about me.
Carter, either deciding I’d had enough or that he’d gotten everything he was going to get from us, thanked us again for the interview and wrapped things up. The second they were off the air, Carter’s staff all cheered and congratulated him. He’d gotten the scoop of the year, and apparently the interview was a good one. Personally I wasn’t impressed, but whatever. It was over.
“You’ve got some nerve,” Major Wilks hissed after Carter escorted us out of his building.
Carter shrugged, as if he couldn’t care less what Major Wilks thought of him. “I did exactly what you asked me to.”
“It was supposed to be a human-interest story about a girl with amnesia and her fiancé that she can’t remember. It was supposed to catch the nation’s attention and make them want to follow their every step, not induce a nationwide panic over a possible new terrorist group.”
Carter shook his head. “I had to push you, Major. I had to make both you and Jamie squirm a little. If you didn’t, the interview would have looked scripted and your Visticorp guys would have seen right through it. As it is, Jamie’s passionate speech about wanting whatever testing necessary to get her memory back was quite convincing. As was your desperate need to get her knowledge from her. Donovan will never question Jamie’s desire to be tested, or your presence now. And as for the nation getting caught up in Jamie and Ryan’s story?”
He laughed. “I didn’t have to dwell on their relationship. Ryan’s a heartthrob without even trying. He and Jamie are too easy. Push her buttons, she mouths off; Ryan says something charming, and the nation falls in love. Trust me. They’ll be the tabloid king and queen by bedtime. Hollywood will probably want to make them a reality show.”
I really hoped he was kidding.
“Carter,” Ryan said, offering his hand to the man, “your powers of manipulation are astounding. Thanks for the help.”
Carter gave Ryan a big, cheesy smile. “Anytime. I tend to get promoted after interviewing you two.”
I snorted. “You’re shameless.”
Carter came over to me, shaking his head. “Not completely. I haven’t sold you out yet, Angel.”
“Yet,” I repeated, though I was teasing. He may have made me wary, but I knew I could trust him. It seemed odd, though. “Why haven’t you ever given me up?”
Carter thought for a moment. “I guess because even though you can be a giant pain in my butt, I’ve grown kind of fond of you, kid.”
He punched me in the shoulder lightly as if to prove he was well aware of the corny cliché he’d just used. It was horrible and endearing at the same time. Sobering up a little, he said, “It’s good to have you back. Take care of yourself, Jamie.”
“Are you telling me you won’t be among the sea of reporters following me around tomorrow, begging for a statement?” I smirked, but my heart wasn’t in it this time.
“Not unless you want to give me an exclusive of the moment you meet your parents.”
He was only partially kidding. “Shameless,” I said again.
I forced a smile, but my stomach twisted into knots at the mention of my parents. I was both excited and terrified. I wished I could meet them without the cameras, the military, and the possibility of putting them in danger. If Donovan sent superthugs after them because of me, I’d never forgive myself.
Ryan noticed my mood swing and was instantly beside me with his arm wrapped firmly around me. Sinking into his embrace, I found Major Wilks’s eyes. “They’ll be safe, right?” I hated how small my voice sounded. “We’re not making a mistake, involving my parents in this?”
The major’s hard face softened in a rare moment of compassion. “If we don’t bring them, Donovan could try to kidnap them and use them against you.”
I let out a breath. He was right. They were safer with me.
“We’ll keep them safe, Angel. And you, too.”
I hoped so, but I couldn’t shake the sinking feeling in my gut.
Ryan cleared his throat, pulling me from my thoughts. “Major Wilks, sir?” Both Major Wilks and I looked at him curiously. “It’s going to take a few hours for the ACEs to fly to Boston, and we don’t want Jamie on the plane, right?”
Major Wilks raised an eyebrow. “Your point, Miller?”
“Well, we’re going to have some free time while we wait for the team to catch up with us, so I’m requesting permission to have the rest of the day off, sir. I’d like to take my girlfriend on a second first date.”
The major’s look of surprise was nothing compared to mine. “Excuse me? Your girlfriend?”
Ryan flashed me a smile. “Positive thinking. I’m hoping that if I say it enough times, it’ll become true.”
He was hopeless. I sighed, unable to even get annoyed anymore.
Major Wilks opened his mouth to say something, but Ryan beat him to it. “Tomorrow is going to be a really hard day for Jamie for a lot of different reasons. I think it will help her keep her emotions—and her powers—in control if she relaxes a little this evening and prepares for it. If she gets to know me a little better, and learns more about her past, she might not feel so alone tomorrow when she has to face the firing squad.”
“There are still superthugs out there looking for her.”
“And they’ll be expecting her to be near the hospital with the ACEs. I’ll take her someplace quiet, away from everything, where they’ll never think to look for her.”
Major Wilks surprised me when he nodded without giving it much thought. “All right. Just check in periodically.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Hang on a second.” I stepped between the two men who’d just planned my evening without asking me. “Do I have a say in this? Who said I want to go on a date with him tonight?” I was only being stubborn now—arguing because Ryan ignited a sense of righteous indignation in me. I wouldn’t really say no to an evening alone with him. The thought of going on a date with him terrified me, but it thrilled me, too.
Ryan, Major Wilks, and even Carter stopped their conversations to look at me. The smirks on each of their faces only aggravated me more.
“Jamie.” That one word, when said the way Ryan said it, was shiver inducing. It should really be illegal for him to use that tone of voice. Especially when there was so much heat in his eyes. He gripped my elbows gently and reeled me in close. Then he trailed his fingers down the back of my arms and tangled them in mine. The confidence in his actions smothered any willpower I had in resisting him. “You’re wearing the sparkly skirt.”
Still reveling in the warm tingles his touch caused, I had to ask him what he was talking about, because I couldn’t think straight. “What?”
He grinned. “The skirt I told you I liked. You wore it for me.”
I scowled down at the skirt in question, suddenly annoyed that I had it on. It was no wonder the guy had such an ego with me; I kept playing right into his hands.
Ryan let go of me and hooked his fingers into the front pockets of my skirt. He wet his lips as he pulled me against him and slipped his arms around my waist. There was no holding back my chills this time. Ryan not only noticed when I shivered; he smiled as if he’d made it happen intentionally. “We both know you want to go out with me, Sunshine. So stop being stubborn and let me take you on a date.”
My answer came out breathless. “Okay.”
I had the feeling this was not the first time I’d given in to him, and it definitely wouldn’t be the last.
The first thing Ryan did was take me to a small town in Middle-of-Nowhere, Illinois. It was a nice change from New York City. When we arrived, stopping on the main street
of town, I took a moment to enjoy the peace and quiet. Ryan smiled as he watched me relax. “Better?”
“Much. Thank you.”
The town around us was nothing special—old and a little run down. Nothing stood out of the ordinary at all. It worked better for me than New York, but I had to wonder what we were doing here. “So…?”
Ryan laughed. “Take a deep breath.”
Trusting him, I inhaled and my mouth began to water. “What is that?”
“That would be Ricci’s Pizzeria.”
“It smells amazing.”
“I thought you might like it. Hungry?”
“I am now.”
Ryan led me around the corner to the source of the delicious, spicy Italian scent that had me salivating. The restaurant was just a tiny hole-in-the-wall place with only a handful of tables, but every seat was packed and there was a line at the walk-up counter.
Behind the counter there was a window that opened to the kitchen. A large man in a grease-stained white apron and big fluffy hat stood behind the window, tossing pizzas over his head like they do in the movies. I instantly loved the place.
“Something else you need to know about Jamie Baker,” Ryan said as we waited for our turn to order. “You love pizza.”
He smiled as if he’d just revealed the world’s biggest secret. It was sad that I had to burst his bubble. “I already know I like pizza.”
He shook his head. “No. You don’t just like pizza; you love it. You love it the way a man loves it. Fat, greasy, and loaded with toppings. If it’s the right pizza, you could eat it seven days a week and not get tired of it. And this place in particular was always your favorite.”
I was intrigued. I liked pizza well enough—Teddy loved it, so he constantly made the frozen kind—but I didn’t think I loved it the way Ryan believed I did. Then again, this place smelled nothing like the stuff Teddy had given me.
When we reached the cashier, I started to ask Ryan what I used to order, but before I could get the words out, the man behind the register looked at me and gasped. “Jamie? Is that you under all that green hair, sweetheart?”
It was startling to be recognized. “Um, yes?”
The man looked like a smaller version of the guy in the kitchen. They had to be brothers. A wide grin split his face as he shook his head in disbelief. “Yo, Leo!” he called in a thick Brooklyn accent. “You ain’t gonna believe this! Look who’s here!”
The chef glanced out at me through the kitchen window and dropped the pizza he’d been tossing. “You’re right, Marco! I don’t believe it!”
He burst through the kitchen door and, without warning, scooped me off my feet into a big bear hug, planting kisses on both of my cheeks. “My favorite customer is back! Where you been girl? You broke my heart disappearing for so long. I thought you found a new pizza place. I cried for months.”
I was overwhelmed by the boisterous man, but I laughed at his excitement. “Sorry. I just uh…” I looked to Ryan for help, but he shrugged as he stood there trying to wipe the smile from his face. “I had a rough six months. Couldn’t get out as much. I’m really looking forward to some pizza, though.”
Both men cheered. Behind us, a booth opened up. As a group of teenagers were about to sit, Marco snapped his fingers and shooed them off. “This one’s reserved.”
Leo scooted me into the booth and flashed me one last smile. “You just sit tight, sweetheart. I’ll make you the best pie you’ve ever tasted. On the house tonight. You just promise me you’ll come back more often. We miss you.”
“I promise.”
After the men went back to their restaurant duties, I blinked across the booth at Ryan. “You could have warned me about them.”
He laughed. “I didn’t know. I’ve never been here before.”
That didn’t make sense. “You haven’t?”
“Nope. I told you, you didn’t like passing your energy to me. You always called for takeout and brought it back.” At my bewildered look, he said, “I promised you I’d try not to remember. Tonight’s all about making new memories. This is new for both of us.”
Warmth spread out in my chest. I hadn’t expected that, and I was surprisingly touched.
“It’s also about getting to know yourself again. I figured we could check out the town where you grew up.”
I gasped. “What?”
Ryan leaned back in his seat and swept an arm out toward the window in front of our booth. “Welcome to Mendota, Illinois. The world’s greatest little city. Birthplace of Jamielynn Baker, and home of the Sweet Corn Festival and the Miss Sweet Corn Pageant—of which you won the crown when you were sixteen.”
I stared out the window with new eyes. The town wasn’t much to look at, but it was mine. Ryan startled me out of my reverie. “You lived here until the start of your junior year. Then you moved to Rocklin, California, where you showed up at Rocklin High and stole my heart before you even hit the front steps of the school.”
I looked back at him with a wry smile, and he grinned. “Gorgeous, mysterious new girl that didn’t care what anyone thought about her? How could I not fall in love?”
I was grateful for the low lighting in the pizza place when my cheeks heated up. Ryan wasn’t like other guys—not that I really knew any other guys. On TV men were always perceived as emotionally stunted or afraid of commitment, but Ryan didn’t seem to have a problem declaring his feelings. I was sure he’d put his ring back on my finger in a second if I asked him to. “Mysterious?” I asked, wanting to move far past his use of the L word.
“Oh, yeah.” Ryan laughed. “You were confident and so hot, but you were a loner. You had zero friends and only spoke to people if you absolutely had to, and usually then you were biting people’s heads off. Everyone in school was scared of you. They called you the Ice Queen. You were pretty terrifying. That’s why it took me until senior year to finally get up the guts to ask you out.”
I frowned. “That doesn’t sound like me.”
“Not the real you, no. That’s why you were so intriguing. I couldn’t figure you out.” Ryan’s smile fell a little. “You’d had a really hard time since the accident that gave you your powers. You were grieving, scared, and didn’t have much control over your power. You were afraid of hurting people or having them find out about you, so you pushed everyone away.”
I pushed everyone away? The engagement ring I used to wear would suggest otherwise. I was curious as to how we got together, and how he discovered my powers if I’d been so closed off, but I was even more curious about how I got my power in the first place.
Marco appeared at our table then, with the most mouthwatering pizza I’d ever seen or smelled and a refill on our sodas. “One Jamie Special for my favorite girl,” he announced, sliding the masterpiece onto the table between Ryan and me.
Ryan placed a piece onto a plate and pushed it in front of me. His eyes twinkled as he waited for me to taste it. Even Marco was still standing there waiting for me to try it. I happily indulged them and immediately moaned, making both Ryan and Marco laugh. I didn’t care. Living in the desert with Teddy completely unwilling to take me into the city for fear of being discovered by Visticorp, I’d lived mostly off of canned, frozen, and boxed food that had been stored in the safe house bunker. Occasionally, if Teddy really needed something, he’d go out and bring back takeout or pizza. But that pizza was nothing like this pizza.
After Marco left, Ryan helped himself to his own slice of pizza while I practically inhaled mine. As I grabbed a second piece, I laughed and said, “Good call on the pizza. You’re right. I love it.”
“Do you love it enough to make me your boyfriend?”
I snorted. He was relentless, but the persistence was flattering. “I love it enough not to zap you for asking to be my boyfriend again when I’ve already made my opinion on the subject clear.”
Ryan refused to give up. “How about a kiss, then? Tell me I at least earned a kiss for reintroducing you to your favorite food.”
&n
bsp; It wasn’t fair. How was a girl supposed to have any kind of resolve when so much charm was being thrown at her? But what was I supposed to do? I couldn’t just give him what he wanted even if I did feel butterflies at the thought of kissing him. He’d be a billion times worse if I gave in to him even a little. Rolling my eyes, I smirked and held my hand out across the table. “Fine. Go ahead. Kiss away, Romeo.”
Surprise flashed in Ryan’s eyes, but he was clearly thrilled with my response and wasted no time scooping my hand into his. He didn’t kiss it, though. Held it and gently rubbed his thumb over the back of my hand as he gave me a searching look.
The fact that I’d surprised him had me curious. So far he’d known me inside and out. He’s seen everything I’d done or said from a mile away. Why was what I’d done so unexpected? “Am I different now?” I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.
He took a moment to look me over before answering, studying me as if trying to figure out a puzzle. “Yes and no.”
He stared at me so long that I began to feel self-conscious. His thoughtful gaze weighed down on me. What was he thinking? Was he judging me? Comparing me to the girl he used to love? He kept her on such a high pedestal, always talking about her as if she were this perfect angel. I was far from perfect. Did I fall short of his dream girl? That possibility didn’t sit well with me.
A wistful smile crossed his face and he looked down at our hands, mine still cradled in his. “You’re still the girl I fell in love with, but there seem to be a few slight differences. Good ones,” he added, as if he knew his confession had made my stomach twist inside out. He met my gaze again. “It’s hard to describe, but you seem more…lighthearted. Less closed off. You’re…friendlier. Happier.”
