Her Superhero Lover: A BWWM BBW Billionaire Superhero Romance (4 page)

Settling in behind her table one more time, she left her goggles
down around her neck, and launched into an experiment she'd just
completed the week before. The song started off mellow, as she let
the rock opera piano of Jim Steinman lead before getting swept away
into the tweaked samisen of Japanese music. The two played off each
other in a slower, slightly romantic melody while still having the
expected energy of a club song, and she let her mood flow. When the
last whispered words wafted out of the speakers and came over the
crowd, the entire group thundered with applause again, and she bowed.

Heading to the back, the manager and staff that wasn't working to
clean up, greeted her with applause. "Amazing show, great
finale," the manager told her. "Listen, sorry I was on your
ass before. You keep doing shows like that, and you're welcome here
any day of the week."

"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind next time I need to get my car
fixed and am desperate for some extra cash," she joked, earning
a smile and a handshake from him. "Seriously though, all of you,
thanks. I know the whole thing depends on you more than me. You kept
the drinks flowing, the crowd happy, and the place going smooth.
Thank you again guys."

She waited in the back another ten minutes, until she was sure Grady
wasn't going to come see her again. Slightly disappointed, she
reached behind her back to untie the knot on her corset, and headed
out into the now almost empty club. She was shocked when she saw
Grady on stage, standing behind her table, looking out at the floor.
"It's a great view up here. And the tech geek in me is still
tweaking out over this gear."

"Well, most of it is Bang Bang's," she said. "I just
have the laptop and two boxes. I carry it in and out using a hand
cart like you'd use for luggage going through the airport."

Grady nodded, and looked it over again. "Still..... hey, do you
like fish tacos?"

"Excuse me?"

Grady turned and smiled. "I said, do you like fish tacos?"

Renee blinked, and didn't know if it was because it was almost two
thirty in the morning or because Grady was so handsome, but she felt
like her brain was stuck and she was unable to answer. Finally, she
nodded. "Yeah, of course. What San Diego girl doesn't?"

Grady waved his hand in acceptance of the wisdom of her answer.
"True enough. I was wondering if you're busy this weekend?"

Renee felt floored. Grady Voelker, the most handsome man she'd ever
met, had just spent the past four hours wading through a sea of hot
women, and he was asking her out? What the hell? "Uh....."

His face fell, and he pursed his lips. "Sorry, I guess I
overstepped my bounds."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I did come on a bit fast. And the girl at the bar said
you were mostly interested in black guys. Still, it was worth a
shot."

Renee shook her head, surprised. "Whoa, wait. Sorry, it's just
that you surprised the hell out of me. I've never been asked out
after a set before. But I'm sorry, I do have sets tomorrow and
Saturday night."

Grady's face lifted, and he smiled. "What about Sunday?"

Renee thought about it, and shook her head. "Nope, I'm free
Sunday."

"Great." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his
wallet. Reaching inside, he handed her a card. "This is my
personal cell phone. What's your number?"

"Ah, five eight two, six seven one four," Renee said,
taking the card and holding it without reading. "Where did you
want to go?"

"I read a review, saying that The Brigantine has a great fish
taco. I've never been there, and wanted to give it a try. You game
for a culinary adventure?"

"Sure," Renee replied, grinning. "You don't mind
picking me up? I live in City Heights, you know."

"Not if you don't mind," Grady replied. "Well, I'll
let you do your thing, I'd probably break half of this if I offered
to help clean up. Good night, Renee. And I look forward to Sunday."

"Me too, Grady. Me too."

Renee was worried as six o'clock
approached on her watch. She'd fussed and fretted over her clothes
for the past two hours, trying to decide whether to go for something
that would hide her size in looser clothes or something similar to
her DJ gear, which cinched in all of the areas she didn't like.
Finally, at five, she'd messaged Grady, asking what he was wearing.
Chinos and a casual shirt. Nothing fancy. U?

A surprise,
she'd sent back,
not mentioning it would be a surprise for both of them. Finally
deciding on a pair of shorts and a loose top that hung pretty well on
her, she'd just slipped her feet into her sandals when Grady knocked
on the door of her apartment. "Coming!"

She opened the door, and one again had to control herself, looking
at Grady standing in her doorway. He was wearing a black button down
casual shirt and tan chinos, with a pair of sunglasses cocked up on
his forehead. A pair of brown slip-ons finished the ensemble. He
looked like someone who should be in the Land's End catalog. "Hey,"
he said, giving her a smile. "You look great."

"This?" she asked, genuinely surprised. She looked down at
herself, and thought about running to the back and changing. "I
don't know. I seriously couldn't decide what to wear."

He laughed and nodded. "I understand. Well, it works for you.
You know, every time I see you you're wearing a different look, and
every time I think you look very pretty."

"Really?"

"Really. And your choice is perfect, I hear The Brigantine is
semi-casual, like a family restaurant or something. We'll both fit
right in. Shall we?"

He offered his arm like a gentleman, and Renee had to reach up to
take the offered forearm. "I hope you don't mind, but I left the
Lotus at home today," he said, leading her towards the stairs.
"I use it when I have to be a businessman, it fits the profile,
but I brought my Jeep today. I like it for weekends and when I just
want to get out some."

"No problem for me," she said as he led her down stairs.
In the parking lot, he led her over to a normal looking yellow Jeep,
holding the door open for her. She climbed in, and started in
surprise. The seat was as luxurious as any she'd ever sat in, and was
almost comfortable enough to be a recliner. Grady came around and
climbed into the driver's seat. "You've customized this quite a
bit."

"The seats? Yeah, I had them refitted. I actually have a
modular design on them, so that if I want to take this thing out into
the desert I can. I got with a Baja car designer in the area, and he
installed a changeout system, I can go from these for city driving to
a four point harness for off roading in ten minutes. Maybe if you're
ever interested, we can give it a try."

"I've never done it," Renee admitted, "but it sounds
good. Let's get some fish tacos first though."

Grady grinned and started the engine, which rumbled to life with
understated power. Whatever he'd done to the inside, he'd modified
under the hood just as much. She wondered for a moment just how many
factory parts were still in the vehicle, but decided it didn't matter
much. "So how's the ad campaign going?" she asked, trying
to think of a conversation opener. She realized that besides having a
ton of money, good taste in cars and even better taste in music, she
didn't know much about him. "I mean, when is it hitting the
air?"

"Next month," Grady replied. "But to be honest, I
leave the office totally behind on weekends. My father was consumed
by running his companies, and in the end it led him to an early
grave."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," she said. "Can I ask?"

"When he died?" Grady said as he made a right turn. "Sure.
It was ten years ago, when I was in high school. It shook Mom and I
up pretty hard, but we've gotten over it. In fact, she got remarried
last year to a really good guy, a doctor in Seattle. They're happy
together, so I'm cool with it. In the mean time, Dad's companies
passed into a corporate trust until I turned twenty four, and I took
over last year."

"Wow, that must have been a busy couple of years. You must have
had to jam a lot of learning and education into those nine years to
be ready to take over a bank," Renee said, thinking about her
high school only education. "Where'd you go to school?"

"I did my undergrad work at Hawaii, then my Master's and
Doctorate at Stanford. I chose Hawaii because my best friend at the
time was totally into environmental stuff, and he wanted to study
volcanoes. Where better than Hawaii? Kinda was a struggle adjusting
to the more intense study atmosphere at Stanford though. But, I got
through it."

"I'd say. You're twenty five and have a Doctorate? I didn't
even know they offered PhD's in business."

Grady shook his head and laughed. "It's not in business. I got
my PhD in mechanical engineering. As for the bank, that's just part
of the corporate portfolio. I prefer to spend most of my time
building dreams and making new things, and let the corporate officers
who are more interested in that sort of stuff run the business side.
As the CEO though, I had to do that ad campaign. I'll probably never
even see a balance sheet on it. But like I said, no more business
talk, okay? Tell me about you."

"Me? Nothing too much. I grew up in San Diego, but didn't have
the grades after high school to qualify for any scholarships. I
thought about community college for a while, or maybe a JUCO, but as
I did, I just couldn't think of anything I really wanted to go into
that required the education. So, I decided to follow my passion and
go into the DJ business. The commercials and modeling, well...."

"Just kind of happened?" Grady asked, grinning. "I
can see why. Those eyes must have caught some talent scout's
attention."

"Yeah, they're my best feature," she admitted. "But
I've always had two strikes against me with my height and weight.
Acting is kind of limited too since Hollywood, even as it opens up,
is still favoring lighter skinned black women over ones who look like
me. I mean, even Tyler Perry movies are lighter than I am."

Grady laughed at the obvious joke. "True, but things are
changing. Are you really interested in acting?"

"Not really. I mean, sure there's some glamour to it, but I
know I'm not the sort to be able to fake my emotions the way
professional actors do. Besides, I enjoy music more than filming.
Music is a lot more interesting, I think."

"I was surprised at your choices and your reviews. No offense,
but most of the black DJs in town focus on hip hop and RnB. Your
mixes were totally different."

They pulled into the parking lot at The Brigantine, and climbed out.
Grady took her arm again as they went inside and were seated at a
reserved table in a quiet corner. "You know Grady, you're not
what I expected," Renee said as they sat down. "When you
came into the shoot, I saw a playboy. Rich for sure, wearing that
Italian suit, and driving a car that maybe a thousand people in the
USA has. Then at Bang Bang, dropping your black card, it really was
weird. But on the other hand, you talk and act like a normal guy in a
lot of ways. I mean, as much as that Jeep of yours is nice, it
doesn't look out of place at all in the parking lot outside."

"I honestly detest people who make their bank accounts the main
focus of their lives. I'm not going to shun having the money I do.
I'll admit that I inherited most of it from my father, but I've
busted my butt as well. Instead though, I take pride in my work, and
in what I can do with myself and who I can be. I think the same is
for you. When you talk about being on stage, you're animated, you're
excited, and you're proud of what you do. Meanwhile, the modeling and
acting is just kind of dismissed. I think even if the finances were
reversed, and you were making most of your money from the shoots,
you'd be the same, right?"

Renee was taken aback at his insight and honesty. She smirked and
nodded. "You're right. Still, it's rare to meet a man like you."

Their waiter came, and Renee ordered. She felt a bit self conscious
in ordering the size of dinner she did, but when Grady ordered twice
as much, she didn't feel so bad. "Wow, you must have a very
advantageous metabolism to eat that much and look like you do,"
she said as the waiter walked away. "I feel like a total softie,
and I'm always fighting my weight."

"You look great to me," Grady replied softly, looking into
her eyes. "In fact, I think you're very pretty."

Renee was glad again for her darker skin which hid her blushing at
his compliment, and took a sip of her lemon water. "Thanks. I do
try and stay active, I mean I do yoga three times a week and go bike
riding and all, but I'm not as thin as a lot of other women."

Grady reached across the table and took her hand. "I'm not here
with other women though, am I?"

The rest of dinner almost floated by for Renee, as she and Grady
talked and enjoyed getting to know each other. She was surprised to
find that despite their different current lifestyles, they shared a
lot in common. In fact, their high schools had been bitter sports
rivals. She and Grady had even once stood across the field from each
other on opposite teams. "You did the high jump?" she said,
impressed. "I always thought it looked like a fun event. I
remember whenever we ran against you guys the jumpers looked like
they had the most fun, flopping over onto that big pad. Wait.... did
you have the nickname of Angel when you jumped? You had the CIF
record your senior year?"

Grady nodded and smiled. "Yeah, that was me. I hated the
nickname myself, but someone gave it to me and it stuck. I mean,
Angel is a girl's name, you know? You don't exactly get a reputation
as a masculine guy with a nickname like Angel."

Renee laughed and took a bite of her fish taco, which she admitted
was one of the best she'd ever eaten. The tilapia used was flaky and
juicy, exactly what she wanted. "I don't know, there were quite
a few girls on our team who wouldn't have minded the nickname. In
fact, I'm sure more than some of them would be jealous of me right
now."