"But don't you want someone to love, like my daddy loved my mommy?"

How could he explain he wasn't sure he believed in romantic love? His faith in the emotion died the same day his brother and sister-in-law had. Horribly s.n.a.t.c.hed away by a homemade bomb in a shopping mall. Leaving their precious child in his incapable, inept care. "I kind of have my hands full with you, munchkin. Not sure I'd have time for some other dame."

"I like Ms. Nia. She was really, really nice to me yesterday. When Bridget and her friends were being nasty."

"They were mean to you again?" Anger churned helplessly in his gut. These days it seemed even kids were exempt from basic human kindness.

Hailey had been having difficulty fitting in with the Campfire Scouts. Originally, Thomas had enrolled her in the activity because she'd expressed an interest. In an unmistakably grown-up manner, the kid refused to quit when the other little monsters had teased her about her lack of real parents. He'd spoken to the troop mothers and asked them to keep an eye on the situation, but they didn't. They were probably too busy gossiping about who was having an affair with whom.

"Yeah, but Ms. Nia talked to me and teached me about the telescope."

"Taught you," he corrected as he smoothed his hand over her head.

"And today she went with us to look at the stars again. Through the big scope instead of one of the smaller ones."

"She did a very nice thing."

"And she's pretty, too. I wish I had red hair like hers. And it's short. Can I get my hair cut like hers?"

"If you want. But, there's nothing wrong with your hair, Hailey. It reminds me of your mom's."

Hailey slid lower in the bed and yawned. "You don't have to read to me tonight. I love you, Uncle Thomas."

"Love you, too, Hailey." He rose from the bed. The sheet was cool when he pulled it up and tucked it behind her shoulders. He bent and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Light on or off?"

Her gaze flew to the colorful light on the bookshelf across the room. She'd been sleeping with it on since he'd brought her home after the bombing. He knew someday she'd ask him to turn it off...she'd come to grips with the horror of hearing her parents had died. He held his breath as he waited for her answer.

"On."

He eased out a sigh. Today wasn't that day.

Returning the book to the shelf, he toggled the switch on the lamp. Muted rose and purple splotches appeared on the ceiling above the light. Before he exited the room, he flicked the switch on the wall by the door, turning off the h.e.l.lo Kitty light on the bedside table. He let his gaze linger on Hailey. The picture of innocence, her dusky eyelashes lay on her cheek. She'd curled one hand under her chin; the other clutched the sheet to her ear. Her narrow chest rose and fell steadily.

Thomas's heart thumped against his breastbone as he watched the little girl fall asleep. As far as he was concerned, the sun rose and set on the child. He eased the door closed, leaving it ajar so he could hear her should she cry out in the night. The nightmares didn't come as often now, but every once in a while, a really bad one popped up like a wicked jack-in-the-box.

On her first night in his home, he'd made a mistake and watched the news reports of the bombing after he'd thought she'd gone to sleep. Hailey's screams had catapulted him from a restless sleep. He'd held her as sobs wracked her tiny body. After that, he'd unplugged the television. And hadn't plugged it in since. He relied solely on his smart phone, tablet and laptop as sources of information about what was going on in the world.

At the moment, none of those devices seemed to be working well. When he tried to place a call to his producer regarding his filming schedule, he got nothing but static. He couldn't connect to the Internet from either his Mac or his iPad.

Opening the refrigerator, Thomas grabbed a beer, then made his way to the front porch. He dropped down on the top step and sipped the cold brew, holding that first drink on his tongue, before letting the cool liquid slide down his gullet. He gazed at the sky, where stars winked and danced. The moon rode low on the horizon, barely visible over the housetops across the street. He recalled Hailey's words about how she thought she'd seen her parents in the stars. G.o.d, he missed Doug and his adorable wife, Cindy. Probably nearly as much as Hailey missed them. A single tear leaked from the corner of his eye, and he wiped it away impatiently.

Pity party, table for none.

Taking a hasty swallow of his beer, he shoved the loneliness aside. There had to be something better to focus on rather than whether he was doing a good job raising a child who'd been robbed of her parents.

He let his thoughts wander back to Nia. His d.i.c.k jumped to life as he contemplated her s.e.xy smile. Even the ire crackling in her eyes intrigued him when he accused her of calling Peggy a cow. He dragged his thumb over the label on the bottle, wondering if she'd say yes if he asked her on a date.

There was only one way to find out. He'd call her at work next week. Or, better yet, drop by looking for information that required an expert astronomer.

He had a little time to come up with the perfect question.

Chapter 8.

Sunday pa.s.sed in a bit of a blur for Nia. She'd got on her Netflix account and located the Doubting Thomas program. The first pot of coffee she brewed lasted through two episodes. Then she ran on her treadmill while viewing the third on her tablet. Having burned off enough calories, she munched her way through a fourth show with a large blue gla.s.s bowl filled with popcorn on her lap.

The subject matter of each show was fascinating. The scientific manner in which Thomas went about exposing the myth as, well, myth was entertaining. Nia found herself entranced by the host himself. He resembled a surfer, with his s.h.a.ggy sun-kissed hair and golden skin. His muscular body didn't appear to have an ounce of extra flesh on it anywhere. She knew in his case the camera hadn't added ten pounds.

In one shot, he'd raised his arms to pull himself onto a ledge on a cliff in Arizona. The T-shirt he wore rose as well, revealing a taut abdomen. Her mouth watered at the sight of deep cuts of muscle on his hips.

She was completely hooked by the fifth episode. In order to debunk the myth of the moment, he'd had to scuba dive in the Sea of Cortez in a skin-tight wetsuit that left little to the imagination. Late in the show, the suit ended up bunched around his waist, exposing a mile-wide expanse of shoulder, ridged abs, and a thatch of red-gold hair on his muscular chest. Tingles burst to life between her legs, roaming down her thighs and up into her belly. Suddenly, it didn't matter that he'd let his eyes roam over her body on the day they met. At the moment, she'd have loved to replace his gaze with his hands.

Mel and Thalia showed up before she could start the next installment. They forced her into the shower and dragged her to a late lunch at their favorite pub, The Rowan Tree. The twins were truly good at distracting her. Mel played straight man to Thalia's clown princess act. They'd made a game of rapid-fire options for getting to know Thomas better. Nia had enjoyed their company, and their quirky suggestions for how to score a date with the man who made a living disproving the existence of myth and magic.

She'd managed to stream eleven of the twenty episodes available before she called it a day. It didn't surprise her to have her dreams filled with images of Thomas.

The magpie she'd already come to despise had been waiting in the bushes for her when she arrived at the Observatory before eight this morning. The b.i.t.c.h cawed insanely, each burst sounding like crazed laughter. Like the bird belonged in an asylum.

She paused by the art deco entryway and glared at the bird. "You'll be seeing your sister, Tyranny, very soon." The bird cackled back at her, as if to say bulls.h.i.t.

Nia checked with Barry, who had been the overnight tech. Atlas had been a genius at masking the moon's new position. Barry never mentioned a change in orbit. Nia fidgeted as she scanned reports from their world-wide network of labs and observatories. No one else had noticed the shift either. But the illusion of normalcy couldn't last long. And soon, mortals would be affected by change. There'd be no way to hide the reason once the lunacy began.

An email had been waiting for her from the International s.p.a.ce Agency. It didn't surprise her to receive their request for a presentation detailing Friday's eruption. While she worked to create a PowerPoint slide show with images from the Helios' solar dynamic technology, the door to her office remained open. She'd been working on the display for ninety minutes when a knock on the doorjamb distracted her.

Nia's mouth went dry at the sight of Thomas standing confidently in her doorway. If she thought he looked good on camera, real life was a gazillion times better.

"Good morning." His deep ba.s.s voice stroked her senses the same way his gaze stroked her face. Slow. s.e.xy.

After spending the day watching his TV program, to have him appear in the flesh twisted desire in her belly. Her cheeks heated. "Morning."

His piercing green-eyed stare made her think he knew she'd spent her overnight hours thinking about him. A smile spread across his mouth. He strode three steps into her office.

He extended his hand and when she took it a burst of sensual fire spread from his palm to hers. She had to force herself to release her grip. "Won't you have a seat? How may I help you?"

"I wanted to stop by to thank you again for being so kind to Hailey. You really made an impression." The corners of his mouth tilted up in a quicksilver smile. The kind of grin a woman could happily drown in.

"She's a nice girl. Quite mature for an eight-year-old." Dying to know the girl's story, Nia nudged Thomas to share. She opted for a completely silent command over muttering. She already knew he could hear those thoughts.

He c.o.c.ked his head to the side. "She is that. I've been raising her since my brother and his wife died a couple of years ago. It's been difficult for her. Kindness like yours makes an impact on a child. And the uncle trying to raise her. Some days, I find myself completely out of my depth."

Relieved, she drew a breath. So far, so good. This time, Nia opted for a verbal request instead of the mental version to encourage him to finish the story. "May I ask what happened? To her parents?" Any history he could share might help her confirm her suspicion that he was the man to help her.

Rubbing a fist over his breastbone, as if the memory pained him, he spoke. "They'd gone Christmas shopping. Just a casual trip, a date really. They'd left Hailey with a sitter, thank G.o.d, and had planned to make an afternoon of it. They were in the mall food court when the terrorist's bomb exploded." Thomas blinked away the sorrow in his eyes. "A radical faction that routinely spouts hatred claimed responsibility. Pursuit of unity and brotherhood idiosyncrasies they espouse only served to destroy. It made me lose faith in humans' ability to love one another. Beyond familial love, that is."

Bingo! Thomas was the man Pierus had mentioned. Rather than feeling jubilant, Nia felt slightly panicked. How was she supposed to convince this man goodness existed? It wasn't like the challenge came with a road map. And what about the second part of the prediction-that an innocent life hung in the balance. Dear G.o.ddess, was that Hailey?

Nia touched her mind to his once again, telling him he wanted to continue the story.

"You're just being nice. You can't possibly want to hear any more of my sad story." The devastating smile was a pale ghost of itself. But it had reappeared.

Had he heard her nudge, or were his words just part of a normal conversation? She had to know before she could continue.

Picturing an arrow, she let her nudge fly silently. Tell me you honestly still believe in the goodness of man.

"I can't tell you that."

He'd heard! Nia flattened her hands on the desk.

Thomas shook his head sadly and continued as if she'd spoken aloud. "I disprove myths and legends for a living. And the biggest myth of all is that people are innately good. That trait no longer exists in this world. If it ever did."

"I think you're wrong, Thomas." Leaning forward, she slid her hands along the desk toward him. "I believe my task is to prove just how wrong you are."

"Hmm. You're certainly welcome to try. Maybe over dinner tonight?" When he laid his hand on top of hers, that frisson of energy sparked between them again. He wove his fingers under hers and lifted their joined hands. He stared deeply into her eyes, waiting for her answer.

She swallowed hard before replying. With his company, saving the world was going to be a pure pleasure. "That's as good a time as any to start."

"See there, I already believe a little." Holding her gaze, he squeezed her fingers, then leaned forward to kiss the tips.

The gentle press of his lips to her knuckles made her stomach jump like water in a hot frying pan. Or maybe it was the connectedness between their gazes. She was drawn to him like iron shavings to a magnet.

"I'll pick you up at half past seven, if that's okay."

He released her hand and she was immediately hit with unexplainable loneliness. It took every shred of will power to not reach out for him again. She jerked a pen from the mug full of them on her desk and pulled a pad of sticky notes from her drawer. While she wrote down her address, Thomas rose from his seat. He slipped his hand into his pocket and waited with his weight propped on one hip. His casual stance accentuated his lean waist and long legs.

Yes, ma'am. Pure pleasure.

The doorbell chimed promptly at seven-thirty. Nia hurried down the stairs to the mullioned gla.s.s in the front door of her turn-of-the-century bungalow. The sun, lowering in the west, splashed a puddle of light across the decorative rug that protected the tiles of her entry hall.

Nia summoned calm with a deep breath as she grasped the k.n.o.b. Letting him through the front door felt like so much more than just the simple act of allowing someone entry to her home. The minute she opened it, she'd be letting him into her life, and beginning the challenge Pierus had set for them.

Except that Thomas didn't have a clue what he was getting into. It didn't seem fair, but how in the world would she explain to a man whose job included debunking myths, that she was as old as time? In the world's eyes, she was as much a myth as the Kraken.

Shaking her head, she pulled the door open. "Hi." Her words were drowned out by the staccato chattering of a magpie sitting on a limb in a maple tree in her front yard. The bird flapped its wings vigorously and several black and white feathers floated to the ground.

Before greeting her, Thomas turned toward the noise, and then jumped backward as the bird flew straight toward him. Supernatural sound pierced the air as the bird screeched and veered away at the last second. Nia covered her ears and aimed a thought toward the b.i.t.c.hing creature to mute her cry. When the bird's cry fell silent and it went into a bit of a tumble before righting herself, Nia knew her jab had scored a direct hit.

"What the h.e.l.l?" Thomas exclaimed. "Dive-bombing birds? That thing sounded like a banshee."

Nia laughed at the idea of him believing in banshees. Those beings had been made up by smugglers to keep people indoors at night so they could go on with their nefarious ways. Nia had blown away the cloud cover on enough of the bootleggers to make sure they got caught.

"That was weird," she said as she gestured him inside. "I'm almost ready. Just need to grab my purse and set my alarm."

It was an elaborate system Mars had insisted they install after first learning of the challenge from Pierus. If something happened in any of the Muses' homes, the alert sounded at the Olympus home office and a legion of battle ready demi-G.o.ds would rush to the rescue. Thalia had accidentally set it off right after hers had been installed. They'd all had a good laugh about that. And Thalia had scored a grown-up sleepover with Xander, the captain of the legion guard.

"Am I dressed okay? You didn't really say where we were having dinner," Nia asked as she glanced over her shoulder at Thomas.

He didn't bother to hide that he totally checked her backside out while he examined her outfit. Which included jeans, a floral blouse and strappy turquoise sandals. An appreciative light deepened his eyes to match her shoes.

"You look great." His husky tone induced fluttering along her spine. "We're going to The Rowan Tree. Do you know the restaurant? It's pretty casual."

"Yeah, it's one of my favorites." Of course, chances were good that she'd run into at least one of her sisters there. It was the Muses' preferred haunt. Please, don't let it be Callie. She picked up her purse and turned to face Thomas.

Who'd moved into the s.p.a.ce immediately behind her. Caught off guard, she stumbled. Her shoulder brushed against his chest as she pivoted and found herself engulfed in his arms as he steadied her.

"Sorry." She shifted away from his embrace, but he stopped her backward progress.

"I'm not." He searched her face for a moment, and then concentrated his gaze on her mouth. He bent his head and whispered against her lips. "How about we get the horrible, awkwardness of the goodnight kiss out of the way first?"

Cheesy for sure. But she loved it. His breath kissed her mouth an instant before his lips. The brief caress was b.u.t.terfly soft. She sighed. "Good idea."

His chest rose and fell under her palms, solid and strong. He eased his hands along her arm, leaving a trail of heat in their wake. A broad smile illuminated his face as he wove their fingers together. There was an undeniable link between them. She saw it in his eyes, felt it in his brief kiss.

Thomas Wilde was the man to help her with this challenge. Had to be. Why else would Mayhem have appeared to both of them?

"I'm glad to have that out of the way. Ready to go grab dinner?" Thomas asked.

He still held her hand as he led her through the front door. He scanned the maple tree in the yard, as if looking for more threatening birds, while Nia locked the house.

A big, black BMW sat in her drive. When Thomas turned on the ignition, the theme song from Frozen blared from the speakers. He laughed and quickly changed to a rock and roll station. "Somehow, Hailey takes control of the station whenever she's in the car. We listen to Disney a lot. I know all the words to this song. And the dance moves, as well." He mock groaned.

She joined him in laughing. "I'd pay money to see that show."

"No, you really wouldn't. It's unsightly and ungainly."

Nia doubted there was an ugly or awkward thing about him. She'd be willing to bet his dancing would be charming. Catching sight of the pink creeping up his cheeks, she changed the subject. "I have a confession."

Thomas turned on his signal light and slid her a glance as he navigated around the corner. "You're a Disney addict, too?"

"Um...no." His lighthearted banter warmed her insides. "I've been watching your program. It's quite entertaining." He didn't need to know she'd binge watched for an entire day.

"Do you have a favorite episode?"

"The one about the Humboldt squid in the Sea of Cortez was engaging. I caught myself yelling at the TV as you swam toward that nightmare of a sea animal." He also didn't need to know she was yelling that his a.s.s was perfection as the camera operator followed behind him. "What was it you called that thing? Intelligent...opportunistic?"

"Those beasts are considered the big, bad outlaw biker of the marine world. We wanted to capture a group of them communicating and coordinating as they hunt for food."

"Seeing them herding the school of fish was astounding. But things got interesting when the hammerheads showed up. Weren't you a little nervous being surrounded by giant squids and sharks?"

"I live for danger." His laughter was scoffing. "But we were perfectly safe. And the biggest squid we came across was only eight feet. So much for the twenty foot legend."

Only eight feet? Almost two feet taller than Thomas didn't sound like only to her. "That episode was recent. Where was Hailey?"