Page 35 of Secret Spark

“She…” Joan glanced at Mark. He would laugh his ass off if he knew who Sadie thought she was. “I really don’t know. She thinks I’m looking for a career change with the food truck and everything.”

“Yeah, but she’ll eventually find out when you get too worked up and fire flies out of you.”

“No hiding that. You of all people know sex can be a complicated affair for me.”

Mark made a pretend grossed-out face.

Nodding, Greta said, “Like you might melt a metal headboard if you’re handcuffed to it.”

“I told you the handcuffs were a bad idea,” Joan said.

“At least I got a new bed out of it.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Stop,” Mark groaned. “But also, that was hilarious.”

“It was.” Greta laughed at the memory. “We were running around my house, naked, trying to put out the?—”

“We don’t have to rehash the particulars of that story,” Joan said.

She could never jump into bed with a woman. There were things she had to do first to ensure her body temperature stayed down. Shoot off a few fireballs in the shower beforehand. Plus, other women knew she was Spark. They expected a certain level of heat. Sadie would expect her to absorb energy, not emit it in a fiery blaze.

“Mark has it so much easier,” she said.

“Why?” her brother said.

“You get worked up to room temperature when excited in a personal way.”

“So? Room temperature feels good to me.”

“Is that why you’re such a little slut?” Greta teased.

“You laugh, but that’s a part of it,” Mark said. “And I have a healthy and active social life, thank you so much, common thief.”

He leaned farther into the duct opening. The empty wrapper and napkins from his Cubano fell out from where he’d tucked them in his glove and skittered down the vent.

“Oh, shit,” Joan muttered.

They froze for several long seconds, waiting, listening.

“Damn it, Mark,” Greta snarled.

“My bad,” he whispered loudly.

No alarms were audibly or visibly triggered. Greta continued her descent cautiously. There could still be a silent alarm.

Mark pulled his phone out. “I’ll send in a hot tip that Spark and Ice were seen breaking into Allegria Tower. The Supers love high-profile action more than some car museum alarm going off.”

“True,” Joan said. At most, the cops might show up. Though Greta would lose her bet, which was the far scarier possibility.

Greta landed at the horizontal split in the duct. She unclipped from the line, saying, “Let me drop into one of the cars and do a video call proving I got in. Then we can talk about what to do with this nice girl.”

As she crawled off, Mark peered over the side of the roof. “Aw, crap. We did something.”

“Youdid something,” Joan pointed out.

“No, I mean…” He gestured with his chin. “Race just showed up.”

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