A Forever Kind of Love (Kinds of Love 1)

Carter chuckled, obviously enjoying that he caught her off guard.

“What about you?” she asked, her heart starting to pound in her chest. He probably had half a dozen swimsuit models on speed dial, so she was trying very hard not to get her hopes up. Not that she even had a chance with him, anyway.

“Not currently,” he replied. He glanced over at her. “But that could change.”

Mia's heart went into overdrive. “Is that so?”

He grinned at her and she suddenly understood how women could swoon at the sight of a man. If she'd been standing, the force of that smile would have made her knees buckle. She was just glad she didn't fall off the horse.

The man was dangerous with that smile.

Mia decided to take control of herself.

“So I told you all about myself the other day,” she said. “But, what about you? Tell me about yourself.”

“I'm sure you've read my biography online,” he replied. “What else do you want to know?”

“I only skimmed it,” she told him. “And it didn't have your favorite food. Or color. Or what you like to do on a Saturday night.”

He chuckled. “Pizza, blue, and, you can't tell anyone this, but on Saturdays, I put on a special suit and fight crime.”

“You're Batman?” Mia made sure to put enough awe into her voice and widen her eyes like she was surprised.

“I'm Batman,” Carter said, his voice going low and gravely. Mia couldn't help but giggle. Carter shrugged. “It's expected of billionaires these days to be a superhero. If you don't fight crime, you lose status.”

“That actually makes a lot of sense,” Mia replied, nodding. “Who is Bill Gates, then?”

“I don't reveal other superheroes' identities,” Carter told her. Then he glanced around as if someone might be watching before leaning over to whisper. “He's actually Superman. How do you think he came up with the idea for his computers? They're from his home-world.”

“Things make so much more sense,” Mia said. “I've always wondered about that. How is it being a superhero?”

“Pretty awesome actually,” Carter told her. He grinned at her. “You want to see my gadgets? I have a big Batarang.”

“That sounds almost dirty,” Mia replied, giving him the side-eye.

“Only to dirty minds.” He waggled his eyebrows at her and winked.

Mia laughed. “Where do you keep it? In the garage? Under the barn? Where is your Bat-cave?”

“If I told you, I'd have to kill you,” Carter replied, shrugging his shoulders as he guided his horse along the path.

“Wait, Batman doesn't kill people. It's one of his things,” Mia said.

“That's why I can't tell you,” Carter explained. “If I don't tell you, then I don't have to kill you.”

“That makes perfect sense,” Mia said, nodding and chuckling. “If you're a superhero, who are the super villains? Other billionaires?”

“No, not other billionaires.” He leaned over again to whisper. “The bad guys are actually just millionaires. That's why it's so easy for us to defeat them. And why there's so many more bad guys than good guys.”

Mia chuckled. “I guess that's where the expression, 'crime doesn't pay' comes from. Since millionaires keep losing to billionaires.”

Carter laughed, the sound going all the way into the mountains with his joy. Mia loved it and felt the warmth of pride from making him laugh fill her. She wished she had the power to make him laugh like that all the time.

“So, I've always wondered, how do you order all the gadgets without anyone suspecting?” Mia asked. “I mean, I buy one thing online and suddenly I have ads all for everything related. How do

you not have Amazon know what you're buying?”

“The guy who owns Amazon is a billionaire too, you know,” Carter explained. “He has his own secret superhero identity and thus makes sure that we all get to preserve ours. It's a group effort.”