Sparks Will Fly - Chapter 1

Rating: Explicit, ABO, Alpha Kara, Omega Lena. 

Description: Life as a single mom is hard enough for Lena, but with a faulty alarm system and a neighbor who hates her, it just keeps getting worse. She doesn’t know what to think when Kara, an attractive firefighter, starts to take an interest in her and her son. Could it be too good to be true, or is she feeling a real spark?


Tags: Firefighter Kara, Loner single mom Lena, Fluff, Comedy, Romance, sex that should be a one night stand but involves feelings (oh no), and a touch of angst.


Word count: 6,521

There was nothing worse than a bitter old beta, especially living next door to one.

Mr. Morgan Edge hated children, but still made constant passes at Lena after finding out she was a young single mother.

Lena turned him down more than once, and even flipped him off a time or two when her impressionable kid wasn’t looking.

That must have been the start of trouble in her life, or maybe it had started much sooner, years before she became pregnant.

In either case, Lena’s conflict with her neighbor escalated over the course of months. Mr. Edge phoned the local fire department every time the faulty wiring in her little cape home caused her smoke alarm to go off.

The first time it happened, Lena was in the kitchen with her son Liam on her hip, and he covered his small ears as the noise blared all around them. He tended to be a calm child and didn’t whine or make a fuss, but Lena was panicked.

She responded as if it was an actual emergency and hurried outside to stand in the driveway.

The fall leaves rustled around her feet, and Liam drank a sippy cup of milk while they waited for the responders. He happily pointed out the fire truck when it arrived.

“A red truck!” Liam declared and warmed Lena’s heart with his chubby dimpled cheeks. “I want to see it!”

At the age of four, Liam believed any vehicle that drove down their street was there just for him. He loved the garbage truck, the mail van, any UPS delivery vehicle, and Mr. Edge’s fast mid-life crisis car.

Lena was more interested in the person who stepped down from the truck in a fire helmet and protective gear.

“Are you Miss Luthor?” The stern-looking firefighter asked and assessed the property with a glance. “We received a call from your neighbor at 144. Doesn’t look like there’s been any damage. Could be a gas leak or something else that triggered one of your alarms. We’d like to check that out if you’re okay with it.”

“Yes, sure, go ahead,” Lena encouraged and hoisted her son higher on her hip to offset his weight.

She didn’t get the chance to talk any of the firefighters until they walked through the house. They were all alphas, and she avoided them for more than one reason as they went about their work.

Lena kept her toddler amused by walking him in front of the fire truck. Although eager to touch, Liam was a patient kid and liked listening to her ramble on about the ladders and hose and other equipment.

Another firefighter eventually emerged through the front door and approached her. “Miss Luthor, it looks like everything is fine inside.”

Lena didn’t reply as the firefighter whipped off her helmet and blonde hair flew everywhere in the autumn breeze. The first sight of Kara Danvers took her breath away, and Lena stared at the woman’s charming smile with the odd feeling that her ovaries were compromised again.

“Oh. Thank you.” Lena put out her hand to shake Kara’s gloved one. “Please call me Lena, and this is Liam.”

Liam went into shy-turtle mode and tucked himself into Lena’s neck instead of interacting.

“I’m Kara. Would Liam like a tour of the truck?” Kara grinned as the toddler quit acting bashful and looked up at her.

“Yeah, mommy, can we see Kara’s truck?” Liam asked enthusiastically and swiveled his head to look at the fire engine with bright, hopeful eyes.

“I’m sure Kara needs to get back to the fire station so she can help other people.” Lena worried that the fire truck would be needed for other rescues, but she was also concerned about being around an attractive alpha for too long.

Kara radiated a good energy, smelled nice, and looked every bit her type, especially clad in uniform.

“Nah, the station will just radio us if we’re needed,” Kara assured her and pointed to the back of the truck, where another friendly firefighter was waiting to run Liam through the ropes.

They treated the little boy like he was a trainee, and Lena could tell that Liam would never forget this visit with firefighters. He was rather mechanical for a four-year-old, and he bounded over in excitement as Kara opened up the side of the truck.

“This is the storage compartment. We keep all of our tools in here just in case we need them. Sometimes it’s difficult to get into buildings and we have to break a door. We also do that with cars when they get damaged.” Kara pointed out each of the tools and explained their uses.

Liam liked the extension ladders best of all. “But how high do they go?” He also pointed to various pieces of equipment and asked “what’s that?” an ungodly number of times.

After the tour ended, Liam snuggled back into Lena’s arms and they both thanked Kara.

She expected their paths would never cross again, and she felt as sad as Liam looked when the fire truck took off down the street.

Little did she know that it was the first of many visits they would receive from the local fire station. The next one happened at a much less convenient time, in the middle of the night when she was dressed in a light little gown. She didn’t have time to grab a bathrobe since Liam started crying and her first thought was to calm him down. He bawled in her arms as the noise of their fire alarm blared around the house and she rushed out without grabbing anything except for a blanket to bundle him up.

Once again, the firefighters followed the same protocol, though this time Lena overheard them talking among themselves.

“The only thing here that’s smoking hot is that single omega mom.” The firefighter who made the comment was named Sam, another good-looking alpha in her mid twenties.

One of the more veteran members of the crew let out a soft groan. “Did you see what she’s wearing to bed? I’m not even mad we got called out here for no reason.”

“Keep it professional, you guys,” Kara demanded with an affronted attitude and her hands resting on her hips. “Don’t talk about her like that. We’re just here to help, so do your jobs.”

Despite Kara’s chivalrous defense, she peacocked around Lena the most.

Two days later, Lena had to feed Liam in the yard as her alarm system irritated Mr. Edge for ten uninterrupted minutes. He cursed at her from his window, and between spoon feeding her son as he sat on her knee, she glared at the old beta and returned some offensive gestures.

When the fire truck pulled up beside the curb, Liam greeted the firefighters by name, and every single one of them waved to him before entering the premises to do their usual check.

By the fourth call out later that week, Lena was starting to worry that Liam was looking forward to the hectic routine of being rushed outside. He waited expectantly in her arms for the big red truck to arrive and cheered with excitement as his friends barrelled out of it in full gear.

“I’m so sorry about this. You must be sick of the sight of me.” Lena winced as her paranoia got the better of her. She imagined their waning patience and was relieved when Kara shook her head with a baffled grin.

“It’s no trouble, ma’am, that’s what we’re here for. The best call outs are the ones with no casualties or problems.”

“Yeah, we’re just happy to see you’re safe and sound,” Sam chimed in from behind Kara with a flirtatious smile that seemed to freeze the one on Kara’s lips.

Lena wasn’t sure if she imagined the tension between the two of them, or if the smoky notes carried from their uniforms to signal a rivalry between their pheromones. She blushed, holding Liam a little tighter as she stepped out of their radius before her omega announced that she was lonely.

“We’ll let you get this little guy to bed now. Have a good night, Miss Luthor.” Kara nodded politely and shoved Sam to get her moving in the direction of the truck.

She couldn’t hear their conversation, but Lena thought she heard a grunt of annoyance as they walked off whispering.

A full week passed without any more incidents, and Lena was lulled into the false security that came with it.

Lena indulged by taking a bubble bath and soaking away the built-up tension. She had just finished washing her hair when the blaring shriek of their fire alarms startled her.

She scrambled out of the bath, grabbed her robe and collected Liam from bed. She was outside barefoot and shivering before she even considered that the neighbors would be staring at her practically naked on the lawn.

Mr. Edge didn’t seem quite so angry as he gawked at her from the warmth of his living room. The window fogged from his open mouth, and two minutes later, the fire truck screeched to halt out front.

Three firefighters ran straight into her house while Kara jogged over first with a blanket that she draped over Lena’s shoulders and tucked around Liam. She clutched a box crudely wrapped in shiny blue paper and passed it to Liam.

“Hey, I thought you’d like a fire truck of your own since you love ours so much.” Kara grinned down at his excited little face and rushed off to sweep the house before Lena could properly thank her for the gift.

This time, Lena entered the house again before the firefighters finished up.

She tucked her son into bed and returned to the living room feeling partly frozen from waiting outdoors.

“It has to be a faulty wiring system,” Kara announced and replaced the plastic covering on the fire alarm. “Unfortunately, electrical issues are all too common in these older houses.”

“You need an electrician,” James summarized and removed his protective hat from his head as he ogled Lena in her robe.

Sam cleared her throat, stepped in front of him, and slipped her thumbs into her belt loops. “I could look up some numbers for you.”

“My sister is an electrician,” Kara blurted out and postured next to her two colleagues in effort to get Lena’s attention. “I’m actually off the clock in about twenty minutes, so if you want, I can stick around and check things out for you.”

Lena’s omega thought that was the perfect time for her to suck in a breath and stick her tits out.


She was so rusty with flirting that she forgot the risks of doing that in a robe and heard an audible gulp from Sam as her robe fell slightly open.

“I’d hate to ruin your night. You must have better things to do than fiddle with wires,” Lena rasped, and not in seduction.

She instinctively tightened the belt around herself so forcefully that it made it difficult to catch a breath, and she tried to smile in spite of the grimace forming on her lips.

“Not at all, I like helping people. It kind of comes with the territory,” Kara informed her with the kind of charm and confidence that made it awkward for Sam and James to linger any longer.

“We’ll uh, see ourselves out. The Chief will be wondering what’s taking us so long,” Sam intoned, though Lena barely took her eyes off of Kara long enough to see them exit the hallway.

Kara shrugged out of her thick jacket and Lena damn near whimpered at the sight of her tanned and muscular arms. She pressed herself into the wall to save herself from the embarrassment of swooning.

“Where’s your circuit breaker?” Kara asked as she draped her heavy protective jacket over the bannister.

Kara’s take-charge attitude did a number on Lena’s libido, and she didn’t trust herself to speak because of it. She pointed toward a door that led to the basement, and self-consciously rubbed at her unclaimed neck as Kara hummed thoughtfully.

“Got a flashlight or candle?” Kara paused at the top of the stairs. “Because you might want to get them out.”

It should have been an innocent statement, but Kara directed it to Lena’s tits before she sauntered off.

Lena hurried to scour the cabinets in her kitchen and finally settled for borrowing the dinosaur flashlight that belonged to her son. She realized much too late that Kara hadn’t asked her to join her in the basement, around the time that her feet hit the bottom step.

“Oh, you didn’t actually need my help, did you?” Lena frowned at their predicament.

She noticed Kara already had her own flashlight pointed at the wires she was checking out. If she stayed, she would only be a distraction during a task that required Kara’s full attention. It might have been a tad foolhardy to press closer in the dark.

Kara shifted to the side and offered Lena a smile brighter than the beam coming out of her flashlight. “I don’t mind having back up. Come here and I’ll show you what I’m doing.”

Kara was either naturally charming at all hours of the day, or she was an expert at flirting. Lena wasn’t sure which she hoped for more — not that it mattered when it worked so effectively.

Lena shuffled over in her slippers and blushed furiously as their arms brushed.

“It looks like you’re having problems in the bedroom,” Kara observed as their arms still touched.

“Oh god, how did you know? It’s not easy being a single omega, let alone a single mom.” Lena trailed off as she glanced back at the circuit breaker to see that the switch for the bedroom was off. She let out a bizarre sounding laugh of embarrassment and stumbled backwards.

Kara grabbed her by the elbow before she tripped on a random box of old toys that was kept in the basement for storage.

“That was a bad joke,” Lena lied and excused herself to the stairs as humiliation set in. “Should we go check out the issue?”

Kara turned the switch for the bedroom back on and followed her without contributing to her rising anxiety. They both laughed for no reason and it led to an inexplicably strong sexual tension.

Lena never intended to act on it, though they reached for each other at the same time.

Kara slipped fingers into her hair and pulled her in for a kiss, and Lena practically smashed her nose as she lunged for Kara. She opened her mouth for Kara’s tongue and smoothed her hands down the firefighter uniform.

Had it been earlier, Lena would have questioned how responsible she was being, but all she could ask herself was whether she had any condoms in the house. She frantically tugged at the knot on her robe and Kara broke away from the kiss to gawk down at her.

“Oh no, should we be doing this?” Kara squeaked, turning red in the face and hooking her thumb towards the door. “I was going to ask you on a date. I didn’t stay here expecting to make-out.”

“It must be your lucky night, then, because I wasn’t lying downstairs. It’s been years since I’ve been close to anyone. Do you find me sexy, Kara?” Lena ripped the robe off her breasts and her nipples firmed to carnally red buds.

“Gosh, I’ve been in fires that weren’t as hot as you.” Kara breathed like she was having an asthma attack and stared at Lena’s chest like she had never seen boobs before.

Luckily, Kara handled them with more finesse, covering each of Lena’s tits with her full palm. She pinched at the nipples and rubbed away the sexual ache. In between, Lena stripped off the rest of Kara’s suit and they wrestled each other down on the bed. Lena pulled at Kara’s lip with her teeth and slipped her hand down to feel the very obvious jut of her erection. It exceeded the stretched span of her fingers and Kara nipped at her neck while she stroked it.

“I want to get to know you.” Kara nuzzled against her ear and sucked on the lobe. “I want more than just sex.”

Lena knew better than to base her decisions wholly on Kara’s claims. Still, she was turned on by the possibility of an emotional commitment. She flung her robe onto the floor, baring the sensual little triangle of her pussy.

Leaning up on one elbow, she tore open the bedside drawer to find a condom. It happened to be the last of a box that she used with a toy whenever the mood struck.

“Don’t worry too much about tomorrow,” Lena husked and pushed the latex over Kara’s cock in between kisses.

They could barely separate for the moments required to slide the protective sheath into the right place.

Kara kissed at her chin and the corner of her lips, and Lena turned her head to ensure the fit of the condom. It stopped a little farther than the midpoint on Kara’s shaft. The tight ring at the top was snug around the circumference.

“What do you like in bed?” Lena asked and drew back, lightly skimming her nose across Kara’s with a smile. “Are you the shy type, or can I tell you what I need?”

She teased the tip of Kara’s cock against her pussy and denied them both satisfaction as they talked beforehand.

“I’m not shy,” Kara insisted, contradicting herself with an immediate and colorful blush. She looked at the dew between Lena’s pussy lips and moaned from the stimulating sensation of her glans between them.

Lena reclined and raised her knees to give Kara a better view of the slick place between her thighs. She guided Kara’s tip down to the intimate quiver of her entrance and then brought it back up to rub over the excited little peak of her clitoris.

“Good, because I promised myself I would be vocal the next time I invited someone into my bed.”

With controlled effort, Kara took over to coax the sensitive hood back and groaned at the heated cherry of Lena’s clit. It looked every bit as ripe and juicy and it turned Lena on to see Kara lick her lips. If they did this again, she might ask Kara to go down on her, but she craved intimacy and fullness.

“Tell me everything, Lena. I want to know exactly what excites you.” Kara’s earnest request was breathless as she ran her thumb between Lena’s labia to tuck it against the soft clench of her chasm. She pushed inward as Lena rocked forward and groaned at the clutch of her inner walls.

Kara’s cock jerked against her, and Lena could see the pool of clear arousal filling the latex already.

She took Kara in hand to stroke over the shaft where the condom couldn’t fit and kissed along her jaw as she confided, “I like an alpha that’s confident, Kara, and isn’t afraid they’ll break me.”

“If you only knew the things I’ve done with you in my mind. That night gown you wore would be ruined by now.”

Kara’s fingers worked over Lena’s clit and she crooked her thumb to apply pressure to the soft and receptive ridges inside Lena’s canal.

“That’s not the only thing, I hope.” Lena groaned and angled her pelvis to rock into the slow penetration.

If Kara was this good with just her fingers, then Lena had high hopes for how she would use her cock.

Lena reached up to lock her hands behind Kara’s neck as she lilted, “Most nights after you’ve shown up I’ve had to tend to my own fire.”

She arched her eyebrow as that information sank in and whimpered as Kara pulled her hand back to manhandle her into a more prone position with her knees bent back and cunt in a full spread.

Lena whined as the alpha pressed the swollen helmet of her cock into the needy flutter of her cunt and gasped at the gradual internal stretch.

“Yeah? Well, I’m more qualified to handle that, so you’ll just have to call me personally to come over from now on,” Kara bragged and sank into Lena’s cunt with a sound of pleasure.

“Only if you can prove your credentials,” Lena saucily uttered and bared her throat as Kara slid in deeper.

Her intimate slipperiness covered the condom after several thrusts. She moved her hips in tandem with Kara and delighted in the smooth and filling sensation. Kara took the time to kiss her instead of being selfish and concerned with her own pleasure. The sex was romantic and lustful, and Lena shut her eyes more than once as Kara’s tongue pushed into her mouth.

“How am I doing so far? Rate me on a scale of 1-10,” Kara encouraged and pulled out her best tricks to tease Lena’s clit.

Lena’s opening quivered from the caress of Kara’s fingertips sliding over her. She moaned from the irresistible build-up of feelings and continued to revolve her hips.

“I’m going to come already, so I would say you’re giving me a solid 9.” Lena stretched on the bedsheets, raising her arms to bracket around the pillow as her chest heaved.

She made a lot of noise when she orgasmed and forced her lips against Kara’s to stifle her whimpers.

Kara returned the kiss until Lena was breathless and gave her no time to recover as she trailed her lips down her throat and across her clavicle. She used her full palm to cup Lena’s breasts, massaging each of them in turn as she sucked at her nipples and soothed them with the warmth of her mouth.

Lena spasmed inside and her cunt tightened around Kara’s shaft. She made raspy noises so close to begging that she blushed.

“You can go again, can’t you, Lena?” Kara asked with a cocky smile that made it seem like she hadn’t even broken a sweat yet. She pushed her hand between them to slip her fingertips along the wet crease of Lena’s pussy and flicked at her clit. “It’s been a while, so you need someone with the kind of stamina that can satisfy you.”

Lena smoothed her palms over Kara’s muscular arms. Someone in Kara’s line of work required a lot of energy, and Lena was all too happy to help her expend it.

“And are you capable of that, Kara? I’ve been alone for so long that I might go all night.”

“I’m more of a show than tell kind of person, so I’ll let you decide.”

Kara took command of Lena as if she implicitly knew what her omega wanted and pulled out to flip her onto her knees. She made no requests for Lena to present. Lena did that anyway by dropping her shoulders. She raised her backside high in the air with the anticipation of being railed across her mattress.

It must have pleased Kara, because Lena heard the distinct rumble of her growl before she lunged to slot herself base-deep. Kara’s powerful strokes shook Lena’s thighs.

Lena silenced her moans by biting a pillow until Kara used the firm pressure of a hand on her lower back.

Even in the middle of enjoying herself, Lena was overwhelmed by Kara’s insistence to make sure she got off. She craned her head back as Kara cupped her pussy to finger her clit, and the raunchy noise of her arousal made every thrust smooth and fast. Lena’s knees would have given out if Kara’s forearm wasn’t tucked under her hip, and she grunted in time with the slap of their bodies merging.

Kara’s breaths became ragged as she ploughed into Lena’s cunt at a demanding pace. “I could listen to those sexy whimpers all night.”

“Maybe I’ll let you. If you come inside me.”

It was a foolish thing to say, especially since she meant inside the condom. The saccharine scent of her omega begged to differ.

It figured that her slip of the tongue would be Kara’s undoing. Kara quickened her hips and massaged Lena’s clit with single minded determination to make them both climax. She slammed into her a final time as she filled the latex with seed.


Kara’s diligent fingers still worked her clit even as she huffed out moans against Lena’s shoulder. Lena shuddered to another orgasm and the contractions kept Kara in place for a while.

It took them a minute to catch their breath, and by then Lena was ready for Kara pulling out. She surprised Kara by turning around to grab her cock and rolling the latex off.

Lena brought her lips to rest across the split at the top of Kara’s glans. She grinned at Kara’s startled gasp and moaned as she stretched her mouth over the creamy shaft.

Puckering around the wide brim, she pulled back just to utter, “Well I can’t be the only one racking up orgasms, now can I? It’s only fair if you join me.”

Lena ran her tongue over the small indentation at the tip of Kara’s cock. She licked over it repeatedly to gather up Kara’s pleasure and slipped her hand over the thickest part.

Her fingers locked around half the girth, and she fit her lips around the wide rim. It shocked her to glance up and see a dreamy look in Kara’s eyes, which were open instead of drifting shut from lust. Kara pushed the hair back from Lena’s face with delicacy and tenderness.

It made Lena go still from confusion and think of how Kara stood out from most other alphas. Lena ignored the sweet behavior and slurped on Kara’s cock with the determination to keep her emotions guarded. She smiled at the throbbing sensation against her tongue and Kara’s embarrassment over coming undone on the spot.

“Has it been a while for you, too?” Lena asked with a smirk she couldn’t help.

“Nuh-no—I mean, yes, sort of, does masturbating count?” Kara covered for her flummoxed behavior by groaning and holding a little more firmly to the back of Lena’s head.

Lena fluttered her tongue over the warm expulsion and the sensitive groove that still twitched.

It was less about impressing Kara, and more of an instinctual reflex that she swallowed. She flattened her tongue beneath the rippled ridges and lavished the tip a moment longer as tremors worked through Kara’s thighs.

Lena popped her lips off the ruby tip to admire the starstruck expression on Kara’s face. She sat back with the expectation that Kara would stumble off the bed and into her clothes.

It would be stupid to fall for Kara’s talk about asking her out, even if Lena secretly hoped it to be true.

As casually as she could manage, she averted her eyes and self-consciously grabbed for the sheet. “You should probably get go-ohh–”

Kara’s lips claimed hers and Lena was helpless to the passion of the kiss. She clutched at Kara’s forearms and melted her as their mouths came together. The flutters inside her pussy had long since subsided, but the ones in her heart were still going strong as Kara stood up to pull on her clothes.

“It’s getting late and I’m sure Liam’s an early riser,” Kara whispered, as if she thought her voice might wake him.

That amused Lena, given how loud they had been previously, but she still felt a slight twinge of loss as Kara stuck her feet into her boots.


“Right. Yes. He’s um—up at the break of dawn.”

She slipped the covers around her and stood up to escort Kara to the front door. They hugged awkwardly on the threshold and then Kara jogged down the broken concrete path. Lena remembered too late that Kara arrived by fire truck.

Kara waved to her before disappearing around the large overgrown shrub at the end of the driveway.

Lena returned to her bedroom with a feeling of loneliness overwhelming her. She put on a nightshirt and curled up under the blankets. Between her estrangement from her family and lack of friends, Lena had few people she could depend on. Most days that didn’t bother her. She had enough money from her father’s estate to lead a very simple and quiet life. Eventually she would finish the degree she started just before her son was born. She always tried to focus on the positives instead of what was missing in her life, but she bizarrely wished that she had invited Kara to stay. It would have been nice to wake up with an alpha beside her for once.

She fell asleep with her arm tucked around her pillow and didn’t wake until Liam scaled the bed in the morning and flopped down on top of her.

“Mommy, get up,” Liam commanded with a shouty level of enthusiasm and grabbed a fistful of her nightshirt. “Kara is here.”

Lena shuffled out of bed with Liam in her arms and a sense of dread that he had seen something Kara must have left behind, like her jacket. She hurried into the hallway, still bleary eyed from sleep and registered the silhouette of someone standing by her front door.

The person knocked, and Lena wondered if Liam simply assumed his favorite firefighter was stopping by.


“Oh honey, I don’t think that’s Kara. It might be the mailman.”

“Go see!” Liam persisted and pointed his little finger down the stairs. “It’s her! It’s her!”

Lena was prepared for her son’s disappointment as she unlatched the door and pulled it open. She never considered the surprise of coming face to face with Kara.

The alpha looked exceptionally attractive in a casual shirt and pair of faded jeans, and Lena almost took out her own eye in a hurry to finger comb her sleep-mussed hair.

“Ka-Kara!” Lena sputtered, somewhat high pitched and still raspy from just waking. “What are you-I didn’t think you’d—I mean–”

“Morning!” Kara laughed and waved to Liam, who flung his little hands up in excitement. “I know it’s still early, but I knew you would be up. I figured I could take a look at the faulty wiring in the daylight. I brought breakfast.”

“And a tool kit?” Lena whispered as her eyes betrayed her and dropped to Kara’s crotch.

In her periphery, Lena saw the curtain at Mr. Edge’s bedroom twitch, and she stepped back to usher Kara inside before the neighbors had the chance to gossip.

“I like to be prepared,” Kara stated and made her way straight to the kitchen since she had been there last night. She set her toolbox down first and then opened the bag of delicious smelling food. She pulled out containers of pancakes and fresh fruit, then hash browns and sausage and a few veggie wraps.

“How many people are coming over for breakfast?” Lena teased and popped the lid off some pancakes. She cut some up for Liam, who still liked to ignore his fork and eat with his fingers.

Kara’s tanned complexion couldn’t hide her blush and she pressed her hands to her hips and tucked her chin towards her chest. “I forgot to get your number last night so I could ask your preferences.”

“I usually just drink coffee and finish Liam’s leftovers for breakfast. In short: I’ll eat anything.” Lena bit into one of the wraps and helped herself to the carton of fruit.

They sat next to Liam’s high chair, and he kicked his feet happily while chomping on pieces of strawberry. Kara spread out the containers on the table and dumped syrup all over her stack of pancakes. Anyone would think they belonged to the same family, since Liam had lighter, sandy hair that was typical of others in the Luthor line. He looked a lot like Lena and nothing like his actual sire. Had they been out in public somewhere, strangers could assume that Liam’s blonde hair was inherited from Kara’s side.

Lena shook herself out of her delusional thoughts and let pessimism take hold in her chest. “You know, you didn’t have to come back this morning, Kara. I wasn’t expecting it.”

She wondered if she sounded jaded, or if her voice was just still rough from sleep.

Kara knitted her brows together and blinked like there had been a terrible misunderstanding. “I know we didn’t solidify any plans, but I gave you my word to check out the wiring and I take that kind of thing seriously.”

“Oh, right.”


Lena’s laugh sounded like a defeated sigh, and she lowered her gaze to the fruit chunks that she pushed around in the container.

Kara didn’t return because she wanted to get her number. She was there out of a misguided sense of obligation. Lena wondered if the alpha wanted to fix the issue to avoid having to see her in front of her crew, or if Kara was embarrassed by how they had fallen into bed before getting to know each other.

Kara was too busy digging into her stack of pancakes to see the shift in Lena’s mood, and she grinned to herself mid bite before leveling Lena with a look. “Besides I was hoping that maybe you and Liam would like to come to the Fireman’s fair this weekend? We make it a big deal.”

Liam swung his hands in the air as he turned to Lena with expectation. “Mommy, I want to go.”

“We’ll see,” Lena tactfully stated and eyed Kara. “I hardly know you, or anyone else in this town yet.”

“Well, I’d like to change that, so what do you want to know?” Kara asked and propped her chin onto her hand as she waited.

Lena had a whole host of questions, the majority of which she couldn’t voice in front of her impressionable son.

“Have you always lived here?” Lena finally asked.


She figured that would give her a better read on the alpha than outright asking why she was interested in a single mother.

“Born and raised,” Kara grinned, like she was proud of that. “Don’t get me wrong, I went out of state for college. I got a taste of the big city, but my heart kept pulling me back here.”

“Your heart?” Lena couldn’t help how she grilled Kara. She wondered about past romantic entanglements that could have lured Kara back to town—not that she believed they would discuss any of that over breakfast.

“Yeah, my whole family lives here, and I was married once before.” Kara’s openness was unusual for an alpha. She seemed completely at ease with admitting to her divorce, although her attention dropped away to the table before Lena could look her in the eye to gauge her feelings on sharing that secret.

Lena freed her son from his seat, and Liam hurried off to collect his trucks from the floor. That gave her the opportunity to speak to Kara in private.

“You’re divorced?” Lena didn’t know how to pose questions without appearing too invested, so she kept it simple.

Kara still wouldn’t glance up from her plate and ended up explaining carefully and at a delay. “No, umm, my wife—she passed away in an accident about five years ago. We were married pretty young.”

“I’m sorry,” Lena whispered sincerely and attempted to place her hand over Kara’s wrist.

Kara slid up from her chair and grabbed her tool kit, brave even in the face of obvious grief. “There’s nothing anyone could have done. I should go and check out that wiring.”

Liam popped up with his fire truck under one arm and reached out for Kara. “Can I help? Pahlease, pahlease.”

“Well, sure you can, buddy! I’ll need someone to hold the flashlight for me.” Kara scooped him up and tucked him onto her hip so she could lift the toolbox, and Lena followed them as Liam cheered in excitement.

“I’ll keep him safe,” Kara whispered as she caught Lena anxiously standing at the doorway like she might swoop in and take Liam away.

Her little one sat in the middle of the bed with the flashlight and shined it everywhere but up. Kara took a beam of light to the eyes more than once, but she grinned through the temporary blindness and unscrewed the light fixture to peer at the wiring.

“Huh, this doesn’t look right at all,” Kara muttered and pulled a penlight out of her toolkit to inspect a series of frayed and damaged wires. She pulled on thick gloves to fiddle with a few, but the first spark of electricity blew the hallway light and frightened Liam in the process.

“Ah, fudge, this is worse than I thought it would be.” Kara grimaced and tucked the wiring back into place before reconnecting the light. “Don’t use this until an electrician can get out here. I think the wiring needs to be checked for the entire upstairs.”

The sun began filtering in through the curtains, and Lena figured it wouldn’t be too difficult to avoid using certain lights. At all costs, she needed to stop receiving house calls from the fire department.

Kara arranged her tools back in the kit she brought out, and Lena followed her down the stairs with Liam draped around her.

She stood on the front steps to wave Kara off, in spite of having an odd feeling that her neighbors would be observing them.

“So I’ll pick you and Liam up around 4 on Saturday?” Kara asked and looked directly at Lena’s lips as she leaned forward.

Lena was so startled by the thought of a kiss that she exhaled a quiet, “Yes,” then immediately reeled back.

She couldn’t retract her confirmation as Liam wiggled out of her arm in excitement and ran into the house to get his shiny new fire truck. Lena stood by in mortification as Kara tucked her hands into her back pockets and announced, “Then it’s a date. I can’t wait to see you again.”

Kara jogged down her path and was already sliding into her truck when Lena thought to croak out belatedly, “No-no I meant just as friends–”

“Sure you did, that’s why you climbed her like a tree last night and left her to walk home in her uniform,” Mr. Edge drawled from his property line.

Lena jumped at the sight of him pruning a bush, and sneered because that was likely the only kind he would ever get his hands on.

“What I do in the privacy of my home is none of your business.”

“Yeah?” Mr. Edge scoffed and straightened to leer at her like he knew what was beneath her robe. “Then you might want to make sure you close the curtains. You never know who could be watching.”

“You’re a pig,” Lena uttered in disgust and slammed the door on his smug face just as he crowed, “Says the harlot next door.”