First to Fail (Unraveled #3) - Marie Johnston Page 0,2

comic book shop as a form of employment. Arcadia was mine. I’d given up my other career for Jaycee. Was I expecting father-daughter time to be enough of a benefit to entice Jaycee to work at Arcadia?

Valaria glanced around. “Any other booths you recommend? I’ve never been to this comic con before. None of the current workshops interest me, but I don’t want to leave yet.”

I didn’t want her to leave either. The crowd had filtered out, and Mara and Wes were next to each other with their heads bent in together, probably discussing how the morning had gone. Mara and I would talk later, but they both valued Wes’s business insight.

My stomach grumbled. I barely had enough time to inhale breakfast. “Have you been to the food trucks?” When she shook her head, I seized my chance. “Want to grab a bite?”

“If you’re certain I won’t poison you. It’s one of my methods, you know.”

“Since I’m an ordinary guy today, it depends on you. Villain or hero?”

“Everyone thinks I’m a villain, but I’m really the hero, taking out what they don’t know is bad for them.” Her lips quirked.

Sounded like being a dad. I turned to Mara. “Hey, you two mind if I take an hour?”

Mara’s gaze jumped from me to Valaria. Wes’s brow cocked in a you go, bro way. “Wes and I can handle it.”

I didn’t have anything to bring with me, so I circled around the booth. Valaria and I walked to the show floor’s exit.

“So, what’s your name?”

She peeked up at me. Her mask molded to her face. It was quality crafted, like the rest of her suit. Like the rest of the body underneath it. “I was just going to be Valaria today, but I’ll make an exception for you. Natalia, and Valaria really will kill you if you call me Nat.”

“Natalia.” The name was as unearthly sexy as she was. What was her real hair color? Her brows were penciled in dark despite being mostly covered by the mask. It showed her level of dedication to her costume. Where had she purchased it? We could stock the brand in Arcadia. “Natalia? Were your parents…?”

“Marvel fans? Most definitely not. Black Widow is nothing more than a spider to my father.”

“Mine aren’t into this stuff either. I got into it because they were always working, and I watched TV and read comics.”

“Ah, the most popular babysitter ever: television.” Again, her tone was light as she touched on another deep topic. What did this woman do for a living? “Rather, the most popular of our day. Now it’s the smartphone.”

“Yeah, but I’ve had better luck trusting electronics than some of the babysitters I’ve hired in the past.”

Laughter burst from Valaria. “I believe it.”

The greasy smells of tacos in a bag and deep-fried cheese curds wafted down the hall. Beyond the propped-open doors, a section of the parking lot had been roped off for a variety of food trucks. Valaria didn’t look like a funnel cake girl, but I was hungry enough to gnaw on a turkey leg all afternoon.

“This is like a street fair.” Valaria gaped at the multicolored trailers and tents.

“Pick your poison. Thai, Greek, Midwestern…Renaissance.”

She giggled and clasped her hands together. “This is fabulous. Whose idea was it to combine a comic con with a food truck fair?”

She was asking rhetorically, but I was on the planning committee. I could mention it, but I didn’t want to come off as boasting. Most of the time, I was grateful one of my ideas panned out, but her awe didn’t stop my ego from swelling to superhuman size.

“Whatcha in the mood for?” I couldn’t help how my gaze dipped to her mouth. I was hungry but looking at how her body moved in that latex outfit could satiate me for a few hours.

She caught me looking. With her mask, I could hardly tell if her brows arched, but the corners of her lips lifted. Not a full smile, but close enough to keep me from being mortified. The last thing I wanted was to scare her away.

It’d been a while since I interacted with a woman who wasn’t a customer in the store. I was off my game and lacking any of my old charm.

“I didn’t come here for the company or the food, but I think I’m pleased with how both have turned out.” She went back to scanning the food trucks. “A gyro sounds like it won’t clog my arteries after two bites.”

I spotted