eye level.
“I love you, Charley Randall. I love your uniqueness, your quirks, those wicked eyes, that temper and what you do. I don’t want any of that to change. You are who you are, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
She dove into the kiss, putting passion and force behind it-a move to tell him she understood, agreed and believed it, too. “I love you, too, Wyatt, with every cell in my body.”
21
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.”
“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.
“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.
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.
