More Than Jamie Baker (Jamie Baker #2) (10 page)

I laughed and wouldn’t let him get to his feet like he was trying to do. “The last time you said that, all you had for me was a pile of comic books. I’m pretty sure those were more for you than me.”

“Those
were
for me. Last time, I just wanted to see you. But this time, I have a real surprise. It’s over at my dorm.”

“If it’s a spandex suit or tall boots and a trench coat, you can forget it. If it resembles Wonder Woman in any way, you’d better just start saying your prayers now.”

“Someday,” Ryan threatened, “you
will
give in to me. You always do.”

Ryan smiled a big, bright, goofy smile at me. “I love when you make that face. You’re so cute when you try to scowl at me.”

I’m pretty sure I made that face—whichever face it was—again.

“Let’s go. I’ll take you out to dinner first. I heard about this awesome Mexican place. We have to try it.”

That made me get up. “Mmm. Now you’re talking. I’m starving. Where is this awesome Mexican place? I didn’t think Sacramento had any awesome food.”

Ryan gave me a grin that screamed of trouble. “Vegas.”

“As in Las Vegas? Nevada?”

“The very one.”

I raised one of my eyebrows into a high arch. “You thinking drive-thru elopement?”

“I’m
thinking
…” Ryan laughed, “that Las Vegas is on the way to the Grand Canyon, and since you’ve abolished the No Superkissing rule, we can finally take that trip you owe me.”

I frowned. Ryan looked so excited, and I was about to burst his bubble. “I wouldn’t say I’ve
abolished
the No Superkissing rule. The other night was an exception, but we can’t just start doing it all the time.”

“Jamie, come on. Don’t make me call you a party pooper again. The other night I didn’t just do my reading; I finished three of my textbooks in an hour, and then I slept like a baby. I promise I have no brain damage whatsoever.”

Talk about having certain looks…No one can give the sad puppy dog eyes like Ryan. I’m completely susceptible to his pout. He knows it, too, and uses it like it’s a weapon.

I gave in, like I always do. “All right. We can do away with the No Superkissing rule. But we have to start small—the way we did with all the rest of my powers. A little experiment here and there, like at the hospital and with your homework. Then,
if
nothing happens,
maybe
we can work ourselves up to dragging you across the country.”

Ryan held out a minute longer, but then he smiled. “Deal. It’ll give me time to plan the perfect trip. We can go after football is over and take a whole weekend.”

The thought of an entire weekend alone with Ryan in my favorite place on earth sounded so tempting I nearly said screw it and kidnapped him right then. Instead, I settled for stealing another kiss.

“Sounds like we have a plan, but now we need a new one for dinner. I wasn’t joking about being hungry.”

Ryan and I ended up
ordering takeout. He was too excited to give me my surprise to actually wait through an entire dinner at a restaurant. “It doesn’t have anything to do with Wonder Woman?” I asked as Ryan rifled through his stuff for his dorm key.

He held up a hand as if swearing an oath. “No Wonder Woman, spandex, or tall boots.” As an afterthought he added, “Or sweaty jocks. Most of the hall is gone tonight at that party, including Sean. We’ll have the room to ourselves, and I even changed my sheets.”

“Wow. You sure know how to woo a girl.”

Ryan smiled and then dragged me inside. I was sure “changed my sheets” was code for “let’s get it on,” but instead of climbing on top of his bed he knelt down and started digging around under it.

“I actually have several surprises,” he said, pulling out a few bags.

Ryan was all about the big romantic gestures, but he wasn’t much for presentation. He took those shopping bags and held them upside down, shaking the contents into a pile on his bed.

There was a pair of black Converse All Star high tops, a white tennis skirt with the built-in shorts, a sleek black face mask that covered only the eyes, and an entire pile of women’s T-shirts, all with vintage superheroes on the front.

“Every superhero I could find in your size
except
for Wonder Woman,” he said proudly. “You are going to look so hot.”

“What is all this?”

“It’s your new superhero uniform.” He wasn’t deterred at all by my bland look. “Go ahead, try it on! I’ve been dying to see it all put together for days.”

I looked down at the pile of clothes and decided as far as costumes went it could have been a lot worse.

I sifted through the pile of T-shirts and found a black one with Ms. Pac-Man on the front. “She’s in the DC Comics lineup now?”

“No. But that shirt was too awesome not to pick up.”

I put on the Ms. Pac-Man T-shirt. I have to admit that coupled with the high-tops and tennis skirt the outfit was actually kind of cute. Next I picked up the mask. It was surprisingly comfortable and made of some silky fabric. “Where did you find this?”

“Costume shop in Roseville. Came from a ‘sexy kitten’ outfit so I’m still not breaking the No Wonder Woman rule.”

I started to put it on, but Ryan stopped me. “Nuh-uh. Contacts first.”

“What?”

Ryan held out a cupped hand as if he expected me to give him something. “The eyes are part of the disguise. You have to take out the contacts.”

I groaned.

I grew up as a natural blonde with bright blue eyes, but when my accident mutated me it turned my hair green and my eyes yellow. I tried to bleach my hair back to blonde, but I could never fully get the green out so I had to dye it black. I have to touch up the roots about every two weeks. It’s a huge pain, but it’s better than looking like I celebrate Halloween every day.

The eyes are a little easier to manage. I wear colored contacts. I have several different colors, but I like wearing my blue ones the best because they blend with my natural yellow and make my eyes look like they’re a deep jade. Bright green may not work for my hair, but I have to admit it’s a stunning eye color.

My eyes are actually how Ryan figured out the truth about me. One of my contacts fell out once and he got a good look at my freaky yellow eyes. I hate my natural color, but Ryan says my eye color looks awesome and is always asking me to take out my contacts. I give in to this request more than I’d like to. Tonight was one of those times.

With a sigh, I carefully took out my contacts and put on the mask. Ryan fiddled with it and adjusted my hair, then stepped back to take a good look at me.

“Did I call it, or what?” he said. “You look so hot. I would kill to see you kicking butt and taking names like this.”

Ryan turned me around to face the mirror on the closet door. I finally got a look at myself and smiled. I looked hot, all right. My boyfriend had style. The outfit definitely said
uniform
, but there was nothing lame-comic-book-costume about it. The best part was that I still had all the attitude of the Ice Queen.

I decided I had to see what it looked like in Danger Mode. Danger Mode is the term Ryan and I use for when I’m supercharged. Since I have the ability to control electricity, I can actually pull it from the air into myself. When I really let it build up inside of me, this freaky thing happens where my eyes start to glow and my hair goes crazy as if I’m standing in a wind tunnel. I used to think it was terrifying, but once I got over the shock of it—ha! No pun intended—I decided it’s really cool.

It looks totally hard core, but that’s not why Ryan and I call it Danger Mode. It gets the nickname because it really is dangerous. I am completely live when my power is kicked into high gear like that. Anyone that touches me is in for a nasty surprise.

Ryan was the one to figure that out—the hard way. It doesn’t stop him from asking me to flip into Danger Mode all the time, because he thinks it’s the coolest thing he’s ever seen. I swear, sometimes it’s like I’m Ryan’s personal three-ring circus act. His beloved, cherished, adored circus act. But still. He has too much fun with my freakiness.

“Step back,” I warned. I closed my eyes, held my hands out to my sides, and sucked in the energy around me.

I can’t really describe the rush I get from going into Danger Mode. It’s an amazing feeling. So much power. I feel unstoppable. I must look that way, too, judging by the look of wonder Ryan always gets on his face when I turn into a human Lite-Brite.

I opened my eyes when Ryan’s voice broke my concentration. “Man, you have no idea how badly I wish I could make out with you when you’re doing the Danger Girl thing.”

My gaze locked on itself in the mirror—my eyes are hard to look away from—but I still managed a laugh for Ryan. “Sorry, babe. I believe that name is already spoken for.”

“We’ll come up with something good,” Ryan said, but then his voice trailed off and we both just looked at me.

I felt butterflies in my gut as I appraised my comic book alter ego. I was surprised that the nerves were from excitement and not fear. Somehow, this felt right. I decided right then and there that I was going to go through with it.

Yup. Jamie Baker was about to go Superhero.

I took a few deep breaths and came back to myself. Ryan waited until I gave the all clear and then practically tackled me. As we fell onto the bed, scattering the pile of T-shirts, I laughed at Ryan’s eagerness. “Simmer down, lover boy. We have Chinese coming any minute. Wouldn’t want to give the delivery guy a show.”

“Sorry,” Ryan said. He managed to stop his lips and hands for a good five seconds. “You’re just so...” Another deep, toe-curling kiss, and then Ryan pulled back to look into my eyes. The emotion I saw in his made me shudder. “You’re amazing,” he said breathlessly.

There were no more words spoken until our dinner showed up.

. . . . .

After I was so full it hurt, I sprawled out on Ryan’s bed and picked up one of the T-shirts lying there. “We still have to figure out how this is going to work,” I said. “I don’t exactly have a bat signal worked out with Commissioner Gordon. What am I supposed to do, just patrol the city streets hoping to see someone in need of help?”

“Oh! I forgot about your next surprise!” Ryan jumped up and pulled yet another bag out from under his bed. “I was thinking about that myself a few nights ago and picked up one of these for you.”

I’d never actually seen a police scanner before. This one looked like a fat walkie-talkie that might be used by a gang of terrorists in an action movie.

“You can learn all the standard police codes online,” Ryan said. “Then, when you’re in the mood to save the world, you just listen in and pick something safe. Obviously you can’t go chasing down dangerous criminals—you’re strong, but not bulletproof.”

“We’ve actually never tested that theory,” I teased. Ryan is the king of theories and one of his favorite things to do is test my abilities. He didn’t appreciate my joke this time, though.

“And we’re never going to!” he said, just about as harshly as I’d ever heard him speak. “I’m serious, Jamie. Helping car accident victims is one thing, but this can’t get dangerous. If you got hurt—” His voice became thick and he couldn’t finish his sentence.

I sat up and kissed him until the smile was back on his face. “I’m not going to do anything crazy,” I promised. “Having superstrength doesn’t make me a ninja. I’m fully aware that the only fighting skills I have are the ones I learned in self-defense class with Becky over the summer. I don’t want to fight criminals. I just want to help people.”

Ryan smiled proudly. “I know you’ll be careful. You always are.”

Ryan retrieved something from his dresser and came to sit with me on his bed. “Your last surprise,” he said, placing a small box in my hands. It was actually wrapped.

“What’s this for?” I asked, recognizing this as a real gift.

“Just something I’ve been working on for a while. It’s supposed to be for your birthday next month, but I don’t want to wait any longer.” Ryan squirmed with anticipation. His face was practically glowing with satisfaction. He really, really wanted me to open it, so I didn’t ask any more questions.