Wyatt adjusted his tie by his bedroom mirror, cursing at the over-under-too-tight state he managed to get it in, and yanked it off. “Charley?”
She walked out of the bathroom, rubbing her hair with the towel as tiny drops of water glistened on her body. The towel moved lower until she rubbed at her calves, moving back up to her thighs and higher, repeating on the other side.
Wyatt swallowed hard, forgetting the tie.
As she stood again, her smile followed with the maneuvering of the towel behind her, rubbing it against her back with an air to drama and sexual fantasy. He moved to her, grabbed her by the waist and pulled her in for a kiss. Her hair fell around him and left watermarks on his crisp button-down, the tie still hanging at his neck.
“You’re dressing up?” She released their lips.
“Standard-issue FBI.” He stuck a finger through the loop, prepared to start again.
Charley bit her lip.
“What?”
“How about you go a bit more… casual?”
He let go, the tie hanging loose around his neck again. “Why?”
She dropped her head against his chest. “You’re going to think this is stupid.”
He chuckled. “After everything else you’ve told me? Try me.”
She tilted back up to him as he scanned the length of her body, and his own responded with heat and desire.
“So this little plan I’ve come up with-”
Wyatt resisted the urge to tuck her in a closet for safe keeping. Instead, he withheld the sigh. “I haven’t agreed to it.” He didn’t even know what she’d come up with.
She ran her hands up his chest, leaving trails of intentional heat along the way. “You will.”
He hid the smile. “You can give me your idea, and I’ll… consider it.”
She did not hide the smile. “I want as many ‘me’s’ as possible. If you recall, you mentioned, and I blew it off, that they might know Chase is safe. That could mean they also know Chase’s gift if he left behind his clothes.”
Wyatt pinched the bridge of his nose out of habit, cringing at the pressure it added behind his eyes. “Okay, I think I’m following.”
Charley giggled. “If they know what Chase can do, we need someone with his skills but with experience.”
“And who would that be?”
“Her name is Maggie. She’s a bit… overwhelming… more so when she’s attracted to someone… and she has a thing for guys in suits.”
Wyatt let his head fall back as he laughed. “Charley Randall… are you jealous? Are you worried I’ll give you up and turn to her when she plies me with her feminine wiles?”
“Oh, she will. Trust me,” Charley said. “You’re used to Lily-”
Wyatt pulled Charley to the edge of the bed. “What’s up with Lily? I mean, are she and Cael a something-or-other?”
Charley giggled. “So, you’ve seen it, then?”
“I saw it when they were Carter and Leena and again in Montreal. Why aren’t they together already?”
“There are reasons. Until they work through them, they’ll continue to fight the urge to… do anything about it.”
“You said ‘blend’ before.”
She bobbed her head up and down. “I did.”
Wyatt pulled to the bed’s surface, rolled to his side, and placed a kiss on her forehead. “What does that mean?”
“So… we can only… ah… find a match with someone who shares our birthday.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“It’s like a dog and cat mating. Gross, I know, but they couldn’t… you and I can’t until I-” She looked up, stopped.
“What?”
Charley dropped her forehead against his and drew in a deep breath.
Wyatt tugged at a lock of hair. “Tell me.”
She looked back up at him. “I have to give up who I am to be with you. To have children with a full-blooded human, I have to give up my life as you know it today. No more morphing. No more hero work-unless our clients still want us-which by the way, they usually don’t. I choose a body and make that change on our birthday, and from that point on, age as would any normal human-because I will be.”
“Wow,” Wyatt said. “So, really, no other option?” He ran a thumb across her cheek.
“Not if I want the true human experience. Kids, real family, et cetera.”
“But you have an amazing family already. What if you found someone else-of your kind? So you could just keep going?” Wyatt asked.
Charley’s eyes grew wide. “I’m almost two hundred and thirty-four years old, Wyatt. Don’t you think by now I’d have found someone of my own kind if I was meant to? Whose birthday do I share?”
“Apparently, mine.”
“And how many times have we been together?”
“This would be our… second?”
“Fourth, actually.”
Four?
“Do you really think there is anyone else for me?” Charley stared straight at him.
“But do you want to give up everything that you are?” Wyatt asked. For me?
“I have to one way or the other, Wyatt. This is my last shot at this.”
“What do you mean?” He sat up, confused by the assertion. One last chance? One last birthday? One last year?
Charley sat up with him, leaned her head on his shoulder.
He let her touch, her softness, her presence invade his mind. “Tell me.”
She ran her hands along the side of his face. “Remember the night of the dance? I ran out at midnight because-”
“The next day was our birthday. You could have told me.” His hand stroked the dampness of her hair, curled a tenril around his finger.
“We’ve already been over that. But I did it the year before then, too.”
His body stiffened a moment before he forced himself to relax. “Huh?”
“Do you remember getting a flat on Turner Point the night of a meteor shower? With Stuart?”
He stood and pushed away from the bed. “Oh my god.”
“Yeah. Exactly.”
He ran a hand over his head. “So once a year, I have to see the real you, and the rest of the time, you can be whoever I want. Can you be Britney Spears in her hot days?”
Charley laughed. “No way, no how, not even in your wildest fantasies.” She shot him a grin. “There are trade-offs, Wyatt. The world we live in works off a balance.” Her tone turned somber.
Charley inhaled, held her breath and prepared to dive into the larger issue. “When I say this is my last chance, I mean… I’ve reached my maximum capacity of changes.”
He pulled her upright at the edge of the bed.
She threaded her fingers through his. “I only get one more birthday, and then I’ll be forced to live my life human, with a normal, human life expectancy, whether I want to or not.” Back to eighteen one last time.
“Wow.”
“So you see why it’s so important to me to make sure these people can’t hurt my family and why I need to be the one to do it.”
He slow-nodded a number of times.
“Now getting back to Maggie… if you don’t make it easy for her, it’ll ease my mind. She’s been around. She actually knows about you… uh… from our previous encounters, but not having met you… that’ll be the ultimate temptation.”
Wyatt grabbed the knot of his tie, pulled it free and threw it on the bed. “That better?”
Charley snuggled into his arms. “Yes. Trust me when I say Maggie is intense. That’s why James doesn’t want her around.”
“James?” He palmed his forehead. “James and Maggie and… Chase?”
Charley leaned into him. “I think so, yes.”
“And you need her to mimic Chase… if that’s how it all plays out.”
“I want to be prepared for any challenge we might encounter. If we have her, too, we’ve got power. It all fits into some possibilities I’ve been working out in my head.”
Wyatt kissed her forehead. “We’ll do whatever we need.” He stared deep into her eyes. “Since this is personal, I’m going to need a list of your enemies, projects, activities, people-”
“You don’t already have that?” Charley figured Wyatt pulled all their files the moment he’d hired them.
“I tried, but you guys are well blocked.”
“Cael shields us from those who don’t need to know. I just figured you’d be able to override him.” She smiled up at him. “So you really don’t know all our secrets, then?”
Wyatt grinned back at her. “Just a few.” He laid his lips against hers. “I gotta ask, so don’t get mad.”
Charley tilted her head, scrunching her forehead. “What?”
“How did Sophie come to you?”
“She answered an ad.”
“And you’ve never had problems with her?” Wyatt asked.
“No.” Charley stepped away, crossing her arms over her chest. “I know what you’re asking, Wyatt, and I don’t like it. At all.”
Wyatt broke the building tension with his hands at the back of her neck.
Charley melted into them.
“I have to think through all the possibilities.” He tugged her closer.
“Then why don’t you ask about Lily?”
“Because I’ve seen how devoted she is to you and how devastated she was by his absence. Sophie was missing for part of that time and comes back with a concussion, some bruises and-”
“What about me, then? Why couldn’t I have done it? Don’t they say abductions by family members are the most common?”
Wyatt’s head tilted down to her, but he raised one eyebrow. “Really? Have you noticed the emotional roller coaster you’ve been on? I may not have been around every day, but I gotta tell you, no one breaks down then builds back up the way you do unless there is a fight brewing. Sophie, on the other hand, has been out of reach-metaphorically speaking-for much of the time.”
“She was attacked, drugged and got hit on the head.” Charley pursed her lips as she seethed, her cheeks cradled by Wyatt’s hands again.
“I know. But, I have to look at all avenues, Charley. You have your job, I have mine. Let me do my job.”
“The detectives didn’t ask those questions.”
“No? That’s odd.”
Charley caught sight of the clock as Wyatt held her still.
“Shoot, Wyatt. It’s nearly eleven, and I need to convince James we need Maggie. Then I gotta convince her we need her.”
“Let’s go, then.” Wyatt took her hand as he and Charley made their way back down the stairs. “Morning,” he said to Sheila.
She nodded at him but bristled as Charley passed. “I didn’t know you still had company.” She sipped from a mug, the scent of roasted coffee beans hanging in the air.
“Good morning, Sheila. I want to apologize for my interruption and attitude last night. I was… not myself.” Charley started to reach, to offer a handshake, but Sheila shifted to the side.
“It’s okay. I’ll see you later.” She took her cup and walked out.
“She’s not a morning person.” Wyatt drew Charley to him for another kiss. “Sometimes, work and friendship just don’t mix.”
Charley cringed. She’d been in between him and Stuart, too. “Wyatt?”
“Yeah?” He turned, mug in hand.
“I’m sorry that my secret spoiled your friendship. Stuart asked over and over if he could tell, but we simply couldn’t allow it. It was completely selfish of me.” She hung her head.
He lifted it with one finger but didn’t say anything.
“We also believed, as you worked your way through the ranks, that it was still in your best interest to think Mira left,” she added.
“How would you have known my rank?”
“The first way is through your mom. She’s one of the proudest mothers I’ve ever met. Then, of course, Stuart couldn’t keep it a secret-not that he had to-and Cael works for the bureau… officially… as you know.”
“How exactly do you know my Mom?”
Charley squished her eyes together. “Um… it’s kinda a weird story, but… remember I said birthday, blending, et cetera?”
He nodded.
“Well, remember that. So the other thing about my kind is that we don’t just morph our bodies. We fit the mood, no, how best to say this. We take on more than just physical form. We take emotions, too. That’s why when I take a teen’s body, I have to deal with acne and crap again. It’s also why most of us can’t shift from one gender to the other-because we have a hard time with the transition of hormones.”
“Okay.”
“Well… so the very first time I met you was my two-hundredth birthday. I kinda helped give birth to you.”
Wyatt didn’t even flinch. “That’s kinda gross.”
She gave him credit for not jumping away. “Yeah. But back then, because I knew you were a match-what with the birthdays and all-I wanted to be your Mom, which I know sounds even grosser, but like I said, our emotions alter, too. If I had taken your Mom’s form that day, I’d have become her forever. Though, since she still existed, I would have lost out big time and broken our cardinal rule.”
“What’s that?” He tilted his head.
“We cannot choose for another. I can’t take my human form without your consent-assuming you’re my pair, which you are… if you want to be.”
“Wow. So you’re kinda at my mercy, and if I wanted to make you live life from eighteen on again, I could have a really young-”
Charley slapped his chest and laughed. “James and Cael won’t let you get away with that. Plus, isn’t the rule half plus seven?”
He scrunched his nose.
“So I’d have to be twenty-four at least.”
“I can live with that.”
Charley laid her head against him and let happiness engulf her. This is exactly what I’ve always wanted.
Charley led Wyatt back into her house to the sounds of laughter, conversation and general carrying on. Her family, safe again, brought forth a smile. She kept her hand in his as she made her way, with him in tow, to the living room.
Chase stood in the middle of the room, his arms stretched wide, in mid-storytelling, or so she gathered from his animated gestures and tempered pitch of his voice.
“Mornin’,” she said.
Chase whirled. He jumped over the coffee table in his bid for a morning hug.
Cael jumped from his spot at the end of the couch. “Wow, Wyatt. What happened to your nose?”
Laughter and chuckles passed through, some hidden behind hands, others left to spray sound through the air.
“Uh, would you believe me if I said I ran into a door?”
“Not in a million years.” A smile infused Cael’s voice.
James tilted his head left and right. “Charley got you, huh?”
“Yes, yes. Yes, she did.” Wyatt gave up. “The woman has a serious left hook, and since I thought she was a righty, I didn’t see it coming.” He stuffed his hands into his pockets.
Cael smirked. James hid a chuckle within a cough. “And you lived to tell us about it. That’s solid.” Cael fist-bumped Wyatt.
“Okay, children,” Charley said. “Enough about my indiscretions. How was the night?”
Noise bounded through the room. Lily suggested they dine on leftover breakfast as Chase continued his story.
She looked to Wyatt, drew in a long breath at his nod. “James?”
He turned his attention to her.
Charley signaled with her head to go back to the office.
He rose, and the trio moved out of sight of the dynamic super-boy’s storytelling.
Charley’s nerves danced more than when she’d been confronted with Wyatt on her own birthday. James could agree or deny her, and as much as she could and would pull rank, she didn’t want to hurt him. If they’d shared a birthday, she and James would have been more than friends, but his friendship mattered more to her than any other.
She took his hands in hers as Wyatt stepped back into the hallway and closed the door. “Okay, don’t get mad, but I have a plan for Friday.”
“Uh-oh.” James didn’t pull away. “I’m not liking closed doors and a sentence that starts with ‘don’t get mad’.”
“Actually, it started with ‘okay’.” Charley tried for a light chuckle and explained her idea about creating more than one Charley.
“Why am I going to get mad? The multiple-Charley idea is a good one, though I think Cael may just cringe with a practice session. Boy, that’ll be fun to see.” His hands squeezed hers with a gentleness he possessed-far beyond most she knew.
“Well, the plan kinda includes another person.”
“Okay, who? We’ll fly them in tonight, get ready for tomorrow and roll with it, though I think three of you is enough.”
She could see his wheels of thought turning-or a version at least. “We need Maggie.”
James let go of her hands. He backed up to the wall, crossed his arms. “No.”
“Hear me out-”
“No.”
“James, we need her to make this work. If they know what we can do, we have to be prepared for all possibilities. I can’t be the only me. Lily isn’t strong enough to hold it long, and Cael, sure, but Maggie will make us safer, and she can mimic animals if we need them. She’s the only one who can do what Chase apparently can.”
“No.”
Charley moved to him, her head barely reaching his shoulder. She laid one hand across his, but he pulled away.
“Don’t touch me.” He seethed through gritted teeth.
“James-”
“Don’t ‘James’ me, either. Don’t try it. I will not work with her.”
Charley willed a tear to form in the corner of her eye and looked back up at him. She saw when he took notice and blinked to push it over the rim to slide down her cheek. “It’s for Chase.” A low blow, but she’d use whatever she had in her arsenal.
“You can’t ask me to work with her.”
“I can James, and I will. She’s the only one we can trust with this, and you know that.”
He shook his head with force and turned around, then turned back. “What about Tiffany?”
“Too young.”
“Richie?”
“Are you kidding?” Charley asked.
James stalked to the door and halfway back. “Kelsey. She could do it.” He pointed at Charley.
“Kelsey blended last year with an NFL Football player.”
“Dammit!” James slammed his palms against his head. “Fine!” He grabbed Charley in a deep bear hug. “But you owe me… huge.”
“It’s for Chase. Just remember that, and since I’m like ninety-nine percent sure you’re both his parents, it’s about damn time she came back.” She brought her arms around him and snuggled in.
He’d have to come to terms with the revelation at some point. They’d all suspected, but confirmation through DNA test didn’t work quite the same way for mimcs.
“For Chase. Yeah. But only for him.”
“And we can find out for sure if he’s yours.”
“He’s all of ours.” James stalked to the door, yanked it open and swung his way out.
Wyatt slid inside after him. “I take it that didn’t go well?”
Charley sighed. “As well as I should have expected. I need to make a few phone calls, then I’d like some lunch. I’m starved, having stayed up much of the night.” She winked as she took the office chair and pulled her cell from her pocket. “Feel free to go hang out. I’ll be out in a few minutes.” She motioned to the door, not wanting to have the conversation with James’s ex in front of anyone.
Two double-decker turkey and bacon sandwiches topped with a dollop of some concoction of Lily’s and a tall, icy Coca-Cola later, Wyatt sat in the crook of the couch with Charley in his arms. Chase sat in front of a massive television, playing the latest in shoot-’em-up video games, while James and Cael studied blue prints of the arboretum.
With the exception of the environment, the scene reminded him of Montreal.
At the sound of the doorbell, Stuart came in, his arms loaded with bags from the grocery store. Sophie’d long since moved to her bedroom, but at Stuart’s arrival, she, too, peeked out from her hidden location.
“Wyatt?” Cael interrupted but took only Wyatt’s direct attention. “Did you get that trace or log on your call?”
He palmed his forehead. “Forgot, given the… ah…”
“I gotcha. Can we get it?”
Wyatt nodded.
“Let’s go in the back and leave these guys to their fun.” Charley squeezed Wyatt’s hand. They moved through to the office.
“May I?” Wyatt shifted to the computer.
Cael waved him forward.
“Huh.”
“Huh what?” Charley sidled closer to him.
“I asked Sheila to get the recording from my tap, but she didn’t send it. Let me call her.” He pulled out his cell. “That’s weird.”
“What is?” Charley’s massage of his shoulders leeched tension from him.
“She didn’t answer. Probably busy. I’ll pull it myself.”
Screen after screen of remote login access to the FBI passed before them. The keys clicked faster, slowing for a moment as a new screen loaded before his fingers sped up again.
James walked into the room and around, crowding in with Charley and Cael. “You’ve got a bug on all our phones?”
“I figured that was safer than only picking Charley’s.” Wyatt didn’t turn to look at him. “There’s one on mine, now, too.”
Charley cocked her head at James. “How did you know?”
He tapped his temple.
She rolled her eyes back at him.
“And I was right to do it, wasn’t I?” Wyatt continued his search and scan.
James snorted.
Cael slid closer as if to scan the list of calls, too. “That’s weird.”
“It is.” Wyatt shook his head. “It’s like it doesn’t exist. Probably just a recording error. I’ll have Sheila check in with the phone company.”
James laid an arm on the top of the flat-screen monitor’s case. “So, combined with Charley’s two calls, what do we have?”
Cael stood as if he’d been selected by the teacher in class. “Multiple women assailants, some sort of dissension in their group, they’re moving ahead with their plans despite not having any leverage. Someone knows you’re involved, Wyatt, but how or why, we don’t know. This whole thing is really all about Charley-some old grudge, perhaps?”
“Can you take the blocks off your files, Cael, so I can look through them?”
Cael shook his head. “I’ll get you the files, though. The blocks are there to protect us from the idiots of the world.”
Wyatt saluted with one finger. “Gotcha.”
James coughed into his hand. “Given what we know so far, don’t you think this is someone we know versus a foreign entity or government agency?”
“I agree. Charley, whose bad side did you get on recently? Anyone’s?”
She moved her hands to her hips. “I solve white-collar crimes all over the world, guys. It could be anyone that wants me for my abilities, but I really have no idea. I’m as much a target as you two are.”
“Uh, no. I’d say you’re more,” James said.
Wyatt turned to him. “Why?”
He looked to Charley, she back to him.
“Did Charley tell you what happens in a couple days?”
Wyatt held his eyes wide. “Yeah. She has to choose a form or becomes eighteen, right?”
James kicked at invisible dust on the floor. “You didn’t tell him everything, did you, Charley?”
She shrugged.
“Tell him.” James pointed at her. He did the same to Wyatt. “Now.”
“Is this part of the whole ‘can’t have kids’ thing, too?” He entwined his fingers against his stomach.
She nodded. “Yeah, sort of. Remember this morning, I was saying that I have to make this final choice on my birthday, our birthday, which just so happens to be this coming weekend?”
“Yeah.” Wyatt tilted his head away from her, stole a glance at James and returned to Charley. “So?”
“And remember I said we can’t make that choice for someone else?”
Wyatt’s frustration level grew tenfold. “Yes. What’s the big hidden secret?-not that this is the only one, I’m sure.” His voice pitched with a low and deep rumble.
She closed her eyes.
Trying to decide what to say or how to say it?
“I’ve waited until the very end, Wyatt. Once I blend, my ability to remember what has come before hinges on my association with my match-with you. Basically, it’s like a marriage but a bit stronger for me.”
“Stronger as in you forget everything if he’s not a part of your life,” James said.
Wyatt sat up straight, his hands on the desk. “You forget everything?” He couldn’t believe what he heard, though why it should surprise him, he didn’t know.
Charley nodded. “Yes. I’ll be eighteen with no choice for what age to pick, and my mind will… sort of erase itself. It’ll be as if I’d never met you… ever.”
“Is that what you want?” Wyatt moved to her, his throat closing on the idea she’d forget him.
Her eyes grew wide. “Of course not! god, Wyatt. Four times now. I thought that’s where I’d be going, but hell no, that’s not what I want, but I promised-”
“Promised what?”
“I made sure I’d never, ever, ever…” Her emphasis grew as she repeated the words. “I promised I’d never push you to make this decision.”