The Origin (12 page)

“Oh, you still don’t believe me?” he said, and before she could reply, he vanished from his seat, leaving only an empty mug spinning on the coffee table. A minute later, he reappeared with a gust of wind that ruffled her hair.

“I was teasing, Daniel,” she managed to say, though what she’d just witnessed stole the breath from her lungs.

“Come with me.” He reached out, an exhilarated smile still on his face. “I have a demonstration for you.”

She took his hand and followed him down the short hall to the bathroom, relishing the feel of her hand in his. Her heart gave a little lurch when she felt his thumb gently caress the back of her hand before pulling her into the compact bathroom. Inside, the tub was rapidly filling with water.

She squeezed his hand once before letting go. “I’ve already taken a bath, thank you.”

He flashed her a grin as he turned off the faucet. “Do you have a watch?” he said, stepping into the water with his pants on. “You can time me.”

“You really don’t have to prove anything to me,” she said, looking down at the silver watch on her wrist, fascinated yet horrified at the thought of watching Daniel attempt to breathe underwater.

“I want to,
Liv
. I don’t want to leave any shadow of a doubt in your mind that I’m telling the truth.” His eyes bore into hers as he slid into the tub and continued looking at her even after his entire head became submerged.

She checked her watch for the start time then saw that he was making fishy faces at her by sucking his cheeks in. With a cheeky grin, she reached into the warm water and tickled his side. She quickly withdrew her hand when he opened his mouth to laugh, horrified that he would inhale the water.

But Daniel didn’t come sputtering back to the surface; instead chuckled underwater, little air bubbles rising from his open mouth.

With a relieved sigh, she sat on the edge of the tub and checked her watch once more. A minute had elapsed; he had to stay under for a few more to prove that he was superhuman.

Knowing that he couldn’t hear her, she said quietly, “Daniel, you’re the strangest, most abnormal man I’ve ever met. And the bizarre thing is that I can see myself falling in love with you.”

He squinted at her and mouthed,
What?

“Never mind,” she said with a shake of her head. She would tell him another time.

Daniel guessed that about fifteen minutes had elapsed before Olivia finally showed signs of impatience. From his aqueous vantage point, he saw her stand up and start pointing to her watch, mouthing, “Stop!” in an exaggerated way.

He cupped his ears in pretense and was delighted when she bent over the tub to yell at him above the waterline. Before she had a chance to straighten, his arms shot upwards and pulled her in, warm water splashing all around them as she tumbled on top of him.

“Daniel!” she shrieked as she struggled to sit up. “What the hell!”

With his thumb, he pulled a wet lock of hair from her lips, unable to keep from chuckling. “I’m sorry!” he said, holding his hands up. “You kind of asked for it.”

She stared at him, and for a moment he wondered if he’d angered her when a smile broke out on her face. “That was underhanded! Now I’m all wet!” She laughed, slapping the water to splash him.

He ran a hand down his face, covering his mouth to prevent from blurting out the crude quips that were aching to get out. “Here, let’s take this off to dry,” he said and started to unbutton her purple shirt. When he looked up, he realized that their faces were mere inches apart, their eyes locked in a wordless exchange. “I’m going to kiss you…”

“Just do it already.”

The kiss began gently as their lips touched, but neither one could deny the chemistry any longer. They had repressed their impulses for so long that it had transformed, had become radioactive, heating the very water they sat in.

She whispered his name as she ran her hands over his bare skin, and he groaned in response, moving torturously slow to savor the moment.

With careful restraint, instead of just ripping it to shreds like he wanted, he finished unbuttoning the silk shirt and peeled it off her olive skin, revealing the black bra that was cradling her breasts. As they kissed, he reached around and tried to undo the clasp, but his fingers felt like oven mitts and he fumbled without any results.

Olivia pulled back and smiled. “With all your powers, you still can’t unhook a bra?” She reached around with one hand and, in one second, had disengaged the clasp.

“I’d trade breathing underwater for that ability any day,” he said as she grasped his hands and brought them up to her chest. He cupped one breast in each hand and kissed Olivia once more, wrapping his long legs around her waist, gathering her closer.

With a swiftness that came naturally, he unbuttoned her jeans and slid them off her legs, underwear and all. Biting his lips, he took in all of her breathtaking perfection, unable to believe that she was actually naked in his bathtub.

The smile on her face was of pure seduction as her hands languorously slid down his back and tugged at the elastic waist of his pants. “Now it’s your turn,” she said against his lips, and he started at the sensation of her palms on his butt cheeks. But despite her best efforts, she struggled to pull his pants past his thighs.

“Here,” he said and ripped them off his legs with a large splash. They chuckled as he threw what remained of his pajama pants on the tile floor. “I didn’t really like that pair anyway.”

She raised one eyebrow as her eyes traveled down his torso, to a point under the waterline. “No underwear?”

“I sleep naked.”

“Interesting,” she said and lunged for his lips. He straightened his legs as she straddled him, gently pushing him back onto the angled edge of the tub.

He hesitated, resting his hands on her hips to hold her still. “
Liv
, I don’t want to lose control and hurt you.”

“You won’t hurt me,” she said with confidence, and all at once, the worry that weighed heavy in his mind dissolved. Hurting her was not even a possibility.

Without breaking the seal of their lips, he reached into the drawer beneath the sink and blindly rummaged around. His heart rejoiced when his fingers finally made contact with that special square foil package.

After he applied the condom, he held onto her hips as she lowered herself onto him. Their sighs of pleasure were one and the same. He sat up and kissed her neck, running his lips along her collarbone, desperately trying not to fly apart.

“
Liv
,
Liv
,” he said against her soft skin, clutching her closer than he’d ever held anyone before, afraid that he’d wake up and find his arms empty.

He knew she was close when her entire body stiffened, her breathing erratic as her movements became more frenzied. Before she climaxed, he grasped the back of her head and kissed her thoroughly, muffling her cries. He moved rapidly underneath her and a few moments later, he too was climaxing, white fireworks blooming on the back of his eyelids.

Afterwards, they clung tightly to each other, their hearts pounding in unison. As they sat in silence, he tried to avoid thinking of a future with her, but as determined as Olivia had been, so too was the vision of a life with the woman who knew his secrets and still remained in his arms.

“So how did you tell your parents?” Olivia asked as they lay in his rumpled bed, their bodies a tangle of limbs. After making love in the bathtub, Daniel had dried her off with surprising tenderness and, after he himself dried off, had carried her into the bedroom and onto his unmade bed where they made love once more.

Daniel pursed his lips. “They don’t know.”

“You never told them? What if… if they’re like you?”

He shook his head, staring up at the ceiling. “They’re not like me. I’m adopted, remember?” he said softly. “I have no clue who or what the hell I am.”

She rubbed the back of her hand on his stubbly cheek, hating the idea of Daniel waking up one day and realizing that his entire identity was a mystery he couldn’t solve.

“Did you contact the adoption agency?”

“My parents didn’t want to tell me the name of the agency at first. It took them long enough as it was to tell me I was adopted. They didn’t want me looking into my past, I guess. Which, you know, fueled my curiosity even more.”

He grasped her wrist and pressed his lips to her palm. “Finally, after an overlong, passionate speech about knowing thy true self, they finally caved. But, ironically enough, the adoption agency itself obstructed me. They have a firm rule about confidentiality, so they say. I could only make contact if my real parents wanted the same.” He stared off into space for a second before continuing. “So I broke into their building one night. I was nearly caught except, well, there was no way in hell that old security guard was going to catch up to me.”

“What happened then? Did you find your biological parents?”

“I found their names, their former residence. But the trail went cold there. I was seventeen. I didn’t know how the hell you could go about searching for people that didn’t want to be found.”

“Are you still…”

He kissed the top of her head. “I haven’t stopped looking. I haven’t stopped researching. I’ve read every comic book known to man, read books about DNA and genetic mutations. But nothing seems relevant to me.” His chest rose and fell. “Someday, I’ll figure out what the hell I am.”

She chewed on her lip thoughtfully, dipping into her shallow pool of knowledge about mythical creatures. “Maybe you’re some sort of demigod? Like your mom was a mortal and your father is Zeus or something,” she said, unable to believe she was uttering such words without irony.

Daniel raised an eyebrow. “Do you really believe in omnipotent gods with soap operatic lives?”

“Well, no. But until today, I didn’t believe in super-humans either.”

“Maybe I’m a demon.”

“I’d sooner believe you’re Superman’s little brother before I believe that you’re a demon,” she said. “There’s not a dishonorable bone in your body.”

“I’ll show you a dishonorable bone.” He flashed her a wicked grin, flipped her onto her back and tickled her sides.

But she would not be distracted. She thirsted for more information from the man who both fascinated and thrilled her, a heady combination. “Stop. Tell me what happened after high school? Did you go to college? How did you end up in New York? Oklahoma is a long way away.”

He released her with a smile and settled back, folding one arm behind his head. Daniel, at least for the moment, was an open book. “After high school, I went to Kansas State. They lured me with football scholarships, but I stayed because I thought it would be a big enough place for me to get lost in. I tried to play football, but it was hard, trying to hide what I can do. Even if I just stood there and someone ran into me, they still hurt themselves. The football players liked me at first, because I was good, but after a while they started looking at me sideways and that’s when I knew I wasn’t doing a good enough job of hiding. So I left at the beginning of junior year and moved to L.A., but the people there were too freaky, even for me. So I lived in Chicago for a time and tried to help people. I figured I could remain anonymous in a big city. Not stick out so much.”

“And what made you move to New York?”

Olivia could feel the moment he began to close off, as the lines around his eyes deepened and his lips stiffened. “It’s a long story.”

She held her breath, watching him closely as he squinted into space, as though watching a dark memory replaying before his eyes. “So,” she said, interrupting before his reverie closed him off completely. “Do you help people in New York too?”

He remained silent for a time then, finally, he said, “Yes. But I’m more careful now.”

“Careful how?”

“I only go out at night and I wear gloves so I don’t leave fingerprints all over the place. And I make sure I’m completely covered up, so that witnesses can’t see my face.”

“You wear a mask?” she said with an amused smile and, all of a sudden, the puzzle pieces locked into place as the police sketch flashed before her eyes. “Wait. Hold on,” she said, sitting up. “Are you the Black Hero?”

He shrugged, a small smile playing on his lips. “That’s not the name I would have chosen, but I guess so.”

“But I thought he was… black?”

He pulled her back onto the pillows with a chuckle. “I’m not a hero either,” he said, planting a kiss on her nose. “Which is why I hate that moniker.”

She opened her mouth to ask about the numerous stories the news had covered that involved the Black Hero, most of which had involved a violent crime, wondering if the savagery had impacted his view on life. But the words remained teetering on the edge of her tongue, never leaving her lips. She decided that she really didn’t need to know if Daniel had shot that house robber in the leg or broken that pedophile’s arms. Such talk had the potential to ruin the glow of their morning.

“Thank you for trusting me with your secret,” she said instead, snuggling in the crook of his neck and feeling his pulse on her forehead. “It’s safe with me.”