"Believe me, you don't want to, either," Ryan replied. "The rescuing thing...don't even get me started on that," he said. "There are people lately who put themselves in dangerous situations just so that they can be saved by a superhero. It's...well, so far nothing dangerous has happened, but you never know."

Tentatively, Ryan reached out and twirled a lock of Alisa's hair between his fingers. "If nothing else, I'm kinda glad I met you."