Page 29 of Heart of a Hero

Upstairs, Conrad finished putting on his costume. When he came back down, Lizzie was sitting on the sofa with his mother, watching cartoons.

“Daddy, you’re scary,” Lizzie told him. He flashed his red-lined cape, and Lizzie giggled. Then she went back to her cartoons.

“Come on, Lizzie. You and I need to go home. It’s getting late, and we need to get your snack before it’s bedtime.” Mom packed Lizzie off with her, and Conrad put his shoes on and left the house, closing the door before getting into the car.

He arrived at Forrest’s and knocked on the door. Forrest opened it, his body covered in green makeup to the waist. “Hulk kiss,” Forrest said. Conrad snorted and leaned in, kissing him carefully. “I’d kiss you properly, but then I’d cover you with this makeup, and I don’t want to smudge you.”

Conrad laughed outright. “Okay. Though we are going to have fun getting that off you at the end of the evening.”

“We?”

“Yeah. Mom took Lizzie for the whole weekend. They’re having a sleepover, so you and I can have a sleepover of our own.” He raked his gaze over Forrest and swallowed hard. “Though even with the makeup, it’s going to be hard for me to take my eyes off your hotness.”

“Then come on. Let’s get going. We can have fun once the party’s over.” Forrest pulled on an old shirt without fastening the buttons, and they got into his car and drove east toward Harrisburg. It took about twenty minutes before they pulled up in front of a large home, and as soon as they stepped inside, Conrad wondered if the guy who designed it also did hotels.

“Forrest!” someone called. He swept into the room and seemed to suck out half the oxygen. He had a presence that was undeniable. “You made it. And is this the boyfriend?” He stepped back. “Damn, it’s too bad I didn’t see you first.” He swept away and left a hole where he had been.

“That was Dale. He has a personality as big as the whole outdoors. That’s his husband Jack. He’s the one who makes everything work between them. Dale adores Jack and is adored in return.” He took off the shirt and flopped it over the back of the chair by the door before leading Conrad farther into the heavily decorated home.

One of the rooms was filled with spiders and spiderwebs, while another, the family room if he were to guess, had been turned into a laboratory. These folks were really committed to their Halloween.

“Do you want a Frankenstein?” a server asked, dressed as a Chippendale dancer. Except the kid had to be maybe eighteen and seemed rather uncomfortable. He kept eyeing one of the other rooms.

“Sure,” Conrad said. “Thank you.” He took two and handed one to Forrest. “What’s going on in there?”

The server shook his head. “A couple of guys who came as… desperate old men,” he said more loudly. Conrad smiled. If the kid could be feisty, he was in good shape. “Uncle Dale has this party every year, and he’s paying me to be the server. What I didn’t know was that I’d be on the menu for some people.” He glared at a pair of guys leering from the other room.

Forrest said nothing, but Conrad knew that stance. He was going into Hulk teacher mode. He walked over to the men, crossed his arms over his chest, and shook his head.

“Awww, we were just having a little fun.”

Forrest didn’t miss a beat. “Hulk have fun. Hulk smash heads.” Conrad knew that glare was intense, and he saw the moment the men nodded and turned away. Forrest was gentle and kind, but damn, that little display of power really got his engine running. He squirmed a little and pulled the cape around to cover all of him until any bulge in his pants subsided. Forrest returned and sipped his drink.

“I’d say that Hulk saved the day,” Conrad told him sweetly.

Forrest sighed. “Some guys just can’t behave when they drink.” He turned back to the server. “Let them get their own drinks.”

“Thanks,” the kid said and moved on through the party, standing a little taller.

“Are you hungry after all that intimidation?” Conrad asked.

“Hulk starved,” Forrest answered. Okay, if he wanted to stay in character, so be it.

“Me too. I need to find some really good blood,” Conrad said in his best fake accent, which he admitted wasn’t very good.

People were coming and going from downstairs, so after a stop in the kitchen for some munchies, they headed to the basement, which had been turned into a dance floor. Almost the entire floor was a single open space, with a DJ at one end and a portable dance floor covering much of the rest of the space. There was also a second bar and plenty of couples dancing.

“Does Hulk dance?” Conrad asked, before doing a graceful spin.

Forrest shrugged. “I take it you do.”

“Mom. She told me when I was young that a man who can dance will catch himself a good wife. So she taught me at first and then enrolled me in ballet for three years. I liked it, but I wasn’t as good at it as some of the others. I knew I was never going to be able to break out and go professional, so I went on to other things.” Still, he took Forrest’s hands and spun himself onto the dance floor. Then he drew nearer, thankful that Forrest’s makeup was dry, and tugged him in close.

“Let me lead, big guy,” Conrad whispered, and then he proceeded to glide Forrest around the floor. It was nice to know he hadn’t lost it, and once they got in a rhythm, he looked deeply into Forrest’s eyes and got lost in their deep green. Damn, he was sexy as all hell and when he held him close, the rest of the world fell away. By the time the song ended, Conrad was breathless and wanted to climb Forrest like a tree.

“I take it you’re all worked up,” Forrest whispered in his ear as the next song started.

“Yeah. I’d be up for finding a bedroom and getting it on, except that’s really tacky, and I don’t want to embarrass you.” He held Forrest, and they swayed together to the slow song.