LITMIR.BIZ

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big bite.”

      “He probably could,” she murmured to herself, not wanting to pursue this conversation anymore. To redirect Kristy, she flicked on the monitor and switched the feed to Ben’s room, relieved when she saw her upstairs neighbor’s image fill the screen. Kristy was immediately distracted.

      “He’s soooo cute, I can’t stand it. Look at his furniture! I knew he’d have good taste. I could tell by the way he dressed, even though I usually see him with his lab coat on. Oh, my…and he’s flexible, too.”

      Kristy and Risa observed Ben on the computer monitor, moving through his stretches before he started performing a set of powerful martial arts moves, battling an invisible assailant. Risa recognized the expertise in his abilities, the smoothness of his movements, the concentration on his face. Ben didn’t move like an amateur. Still, a lot of people studied martial arts. There were three schools in the local area.

      “My guess is that he holds at least one black belt. I had a few lessons myself—and Ben looks pretty advanced.”

      Kristy made a fanning motion in front of her face, even though it was a cool sixty-three degrees in the apartment. “God, that makes him even hotter. He’s like James Bond or something behind his geeky lab coat. Does he really walk around naked? Or were you just yanking me?”

      Risa rolled her eyes.

      “C’mon, tell me.”

      “I only saw him do it once. I don’t watch him often because he…”

      “Wasn’t going to grocery shop for you?”

      Risa nodded, her cheeks staining.

      “What else can you tell me about him?”

      “Like what?”

      “C’mon—if you saw him naked, even once, you’ve seen the goods, right? Impressive? Average? Museum-worthy or garage sale?”

      Risa crunched her eyebrows again, unsure exactly what Kristy was hinting at.

      Kristy sighed exaggeratedly. “How big is he? You know, down there?”

      Risa’s eyes went wide with realization, and she suddenly couldn’t resist teasing. She marveled at it for a moment—she hadn’t felt this sensation in, well, as long as she could recall. She smiled, shrugging.

      “It’s hard to tell—everything looks small on the screen.”

      Kristy moaned in frustration, and then laughed, continuing to watch Ben work out. Ben Richter was attractive, she supposed. Risa knew about sex—in the technical sense. With her powers, Dr. Laslow wouldn’t permit anyone to come that close to her, and her life wasn’t one that encouraged relationships to blossom. She thought about sex from time to time out of natural curiosity, but it was such a nonissue in her life that she’d gotten used to putting it out of her mind.

      However, if she were completely truthful, she’d admit that she had noticed Daniel MacAlister more than once—he was difficult to ignore. There was something about him that had always grabbed her attention. He stood apart, though she’d never really thought about why.

      She’d been on a team with him for the first time when she was only eighteen. She remembered feeling awkward in his presence, something that hadn’t ever happened before. There’d been one point on the mission when he’d stripped down to change into a diving suit, and she’d had to curl her fingers into her palms to stop from running a hand down his chest. She hadn’t understood the urge—it had shocked her on some basic level. She knew the power of her touch meant it was forbidden for her to lay hands on anyone she worked with. It was standard operating procedure, and she’d never been tempted to break the rules. Until she’d seen him.

      When they’d returned, Dr. Laslow hadn’t been happy with her biofeedback, which had clued him in to how distracted she’d been, and why. A long lecture on her duties, on maintaining focus, had resulted. Risa had worked hard not to let it happen again. Natural curiosity or not, her work was too important to let silly things like sex interfere.

      That wasn’t the case now. However, as fascinated as she was by her response to MacAlister’s kiss, she doubted it was going to happen again.

      “Oh, here we go—a phone call. Maybe this will tell me something interesting.”

      Risa’s attention swung back to the screen. Ben picked up the phone and Kristy pumped up the volume until his voice could be heard clearly.

      “Oh, he’s going to meet friends out—male friends by the sound of it. No trace of a girlfriend waiting in the wings so far.”

      “Do you know the place he mentioned?”

      “I do. And he’s going to be there at seven, so I think I might just be there, too.”

      “Sounds like you have a good plan.”

      Kristy bit her lip. “But it would look bad for me to just be standing around in a bar, like I do that all the time, you know, hanging out and picking up guys.”

      “That’s bad?”

      Kristy rolled her eyes. “Yes, unless you only want a one-night pickup, and I’m hoping for a little more than that with Ben. Maybe a lot more.”

      “How can you know?”

      “I told you—I have a feeling.”

      “Right. The feeling.”

      It was all very complicated, and Risa suspected she was fortunate to have skipped this part of human relationships.

      “You have to come with me. You can wear that new dress we bought.”

      Risa stepped back, hands up. “No. No way.”

      “You don’t do alcohol?”

      Risa had never touched a drop—she’d been on a strictly regimented diet at the compound. “I’ve never had it.”

      “You’ve never been to a bar? Never had a beer, even as a teenager? What else haven’t you done?”

      Risa didn’t answer, but felt heat move up into her face. She hated that—it never used to happen, unless she was angry or being chastised—but now it seemed like every five minutes her face was turning red.

      Kristy somehow understood and she clapped a hand over her astonished expression. Risa was amazed at the level of communication humans could share without saying anything.

      “Oh, honey…really?”

      Risa answered coolly, hoping to put an end to the conversation. “I appreciate you wanting me to come with you, but I’d really rather stay here. You must have other friends you could go with….”

      Kristy shook her head, stepping forward and taking both of Risa’s hands in hers. “I don’t—not here. All of the women at work are older or married and with families. My friends are all back in Boston. I know it’s a lot for you, but it would be fun for you to get out, to live a little. Sounds like you missed a lot while you were working for the government. Don’t you deserve to have some fun? To have a life?”

      The words burned through Risa’s objections and stoked the flames of deeply hidden desires and curiosities so long denied. While she knew that Kristy was being convincing partly for self-serving reasons, Risa wondered if she wasn’t right. She had missed out on a lot. If she had to be stuck in this “normal” life, maybe it was time she started grabbing it by the horns and catching up.

      She lifted the bags and looked at Kristy, relenting. “You think I should wear the red dress?”

      4

      DANIEL SAT ON THE EDGE of his bed, flipping through Laslow’s reports on Risa—he was supposed to destroy them as per Jack’s orders, but he’d held on to the files, reading them again to remind himself that what he was seeing was real. His eyes moved over one paragraph:

      1992. Mission

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