When seventeen-year-old Mark Potts fell from a balcony, he lost both the use of his legs and any faith in heroes. Now twenty-nine, he’s long-since come to terms with his injury. His job provides more opportunities for eye-rolling than for riding to anybody’s rescue, but with two kids to bring up, he barely has time for his husband, much less for heroics. Besides, Starr Bradford is a policeman -- how many heroes does one family need?<br><br>Mark and Starr love each other madly, but stress management is a load-bearing pillar of their happiness. When Mark’s coping skills fail him at exactly the wrong moment, he’s left hanging by a thread of words he should’ve kept in his mouth. He has the power to repair their relationship, but when Starr’s workday suddenly goes south, will he get to wield it? Keeping it together long enough to find out is a job worthy of any superhero!

You Had Me at Hero

“Well, one you’re not answering, for starters.” Mark wheeled out of the bathroom right behind him.


The truth of this took some of the wind out of Mark’s sails. Starr loved him with an unconditional faithfulness that many men less strait-laced than Mark would have found boring. Tedious, even. Like to the extent that they might have tried to start ill-begotten arguments over it at six-thirty in the morning for no good reason. Mark was glad to be more mature, and so much more secure, than these men. Which did little to explain why he pressed the issue.


Starr buttoned his uniform shirt and tucked it in. “Mark, I don’t want to do this. I’m sorry we missed you last night, and I’m real sorry it’s bugging you so bad. If you want to go to Dan and Jan’s tonight, I’d love to. We could bring the boys, we could get a sitter, whatever you want.”


“Or we could go somewhere Bodhi doesn’t work.”


Chapter 24