Page 54 of Titan’s Mate

She rolled over, reaching for him where he was crouched by the side of the bed. Her hand hit a flannel shirt with hard muscles under it.

“You’re wearing clothes,” she mumbled, running her hand over his chest. “That’s disappointing.”

She heard the rumble of his laughter. “You have to get up, xióngmāo. Today’s our big date, remember?”

“No one goes on dates in the middle of the night.”

“Well, okay,” he said, rising to his feet. “If you don’t want your surprise, that’s fine. And I can eat the cinnamon buns myself.”

She pried her eyes open, sitting up. “Cinnamon buns?”

He just shook his head, smiling. “Figures that’s what would get you out of bed.”

After a sleepy shower, she was tucked into the passenger seat of a borrowed truck with an aluminum foil pan of warm cinnamon buns in one hand, and a café mocha in the other.

It was still dark out, and she shivered. “I hope it’s warm where we’re going. Not all of us are cold-weather bears, from places where it’s dark for like two solid months in the winter. If you weren’t such a hottie you would never be getting away with this.”

He just got that little smile on his face, because he knew that she was very excited, and dying to find out what the surprise was. Or she would be, as soon as she was awake-awake and not pre-coffee awake.

They drove in comfortable silence for almost an hour, music playing softly in the truck cab, Titan reaching over every now and then for a cinnamon bun.

Finally, just as the sky was beginning to lighten along the horizon, they turned off the main road at a sign that said, “Fairgrounds.” A minute later they were heading across an open field, bumping over the rough ground.

In the pre-dawn darkness, she saw a cluster of dark hulks—large vehicles, with some kind of bright light behind them.

What the hell?

There were people moving around, but she couldn’t make out what they were doing.

Mari said, “I know! You brought me to an alien crash site.” Then she frowned at him. “We’re not going to be abducted, are we?” She lowered her voice. “Or… probed?”

He gave a snort of laughter. “Well, we’re going up in the sky, but I’m sorry to tell you that you won’t get probed until we get home.”

She snickered. “Promises, promises.”

He stopped the truck a little ways away from the vehicles, and leaned over and kissed her temple. “Stay here, Grasshoppah xióngmāo.” They’d watched the original Karate Kid movie the other night, and now she was ‘grasshoppah.’

“Your Chinese accent is atrocious,” she told him.

“I’m sure. Just stay warm. I have to make sure the abduction is all set.”

She finished her coffee and wiped the sugar icing off her fingers. In a minute he was back, climbing into the truck in a rush of chilly air.

“Operation Alien Probe is a go?” she asked.

“Absolutely. Keep watching—here it comes.”

He took her hand, lifting it to his lips for a kiss before settling it on his lap.

Suddenly, a gout of fire roared into the air, lighting up the fading night. Mari jumped. “Holy shit. They didn’t abduct a dragon along with us, did they?”

“Bad guess, Grasshoppah.”

There was another gout of fire, and suddenly she saw turquoise fabric billowing into view. It rose, undulating, and then there was more fabric, red this time.

At that moment the sun peeked over the horizon, and the first rays lit up a huge expanse of cloth, all colors of the rainbow, rising into the sky.

A balloon. Mari caught her breath. She turned to Titan, disbelieving. “A balloon ride? You’re for serious going to take me on a hot air balloon ride?”