Behind Charley, Wyatt leaned up and draped himself over her side. A heat rose to her cheeks, though why she’d be embarrassed, she didn’t know-she hadn’t been a teenager in hundreds of years, and everyone already knew Wyatt slept over, since they’d been prepping for the Friday night assignment.
“I can-” He blinked a few times, swallowed. “I-”
The doorbell’s chime rang through the house, a soft lilt of sound.
“I’ll get it!” Chase dashed away as fast as he’d come in.
Wyatt laid a line of kisses down Charley’s neck. “What was that all about?”
“I have an idea, but-” She turned to the clock. “Given it’s already ten, I’m guessing that doorbell means Maggie is here, and I think we’ll probably find out sooner than later.”
“Can she be ignored?” Wyatt’s hand inched its way down her thigh.
“No. Not if I want to spare James heartache.”
Wyatt stopped. “Fine.” His tone reflected hurt as he moved from her to the edge of the bed and sat up.
Charley followed him, still draped in the sheet. “Why are you getting upset that I care for my friend? I’ve already explained this to you.”
“Because I’m stupid and a guy.”
She chuckled and wrapped her arms around his neck. “You know I love you, right?”
He stiffened if not for just a moment. “Are you sure?”
“I’ve loved you for your entire life, Wyatt. If anyone should worry about being taken, it’s you.”
He turned so she fell across his lap. “What?”
“Maggie, remember? I warned you about her.” She ran a hand around the back of his neck, tugged. “It’s why I’ve spent two days hiding all your suits and ties and keeping you sequestered here so you’ll be in nothing but T- shirts and jeans-” She pounded her forehead against his chest. “Dammit. She’s going to like that even more. Do not… ever… take your shirt off around Maggie.” Charley’s chuckled bounced back at her off of Wyatt’s naked chest.
“I promise.” He leaned down as he lifted her up so she faced him, a grin across his face. His lips touched and melded into hers as if they should be one. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She closed her eyes with a sigh.
“I was thinking about something… uh… maybe weird,” Wyatt said.
The blank expression and timid eyes didn’t fit the Wyatt she knew. “What is it?”
“If you do that blendy thing with someone like James, can you stay you or is this it completely no matter what?”
“This is it no matter what… for me… because of how long I’ve been… me.”
“So it wouldn’t matter if I asked you to make me one of you instead?”
Charley giggled. “We’re not vampires.” She snaked a hand up his neck. “While we play good ones on TV-no need for makeup and all-we can’t make an existing being into one of us.” She winked at him. “We’re a genetic anomaly.” She laid her lips against him. “But I gotta say that offer was about the sweetest one ever given to me.”
He met her kiss with possessiveness. “Okay, so that stupid human curiosity out of the way, next question. Could you pass this gene down to one of our kids?”
“Right. Sunday. With me. I gotcha, and I’m totally good with that.” His grin reached clear to his eyes.
She leaned up to lay a kiss on his lips. “We’d better get out there.”
“Yeah. Though I’d prefer a replay of this morning.” Wyatt cocked his head at her before angling it toward the pillows.
Charley laughed and scooted away but tugged him by one hand to follow.
Charley, in her pajamas, walked down her steps, into her kitchen. Lily manned the stove, and Maggie sat on one of the bar stools.
“Maggie!” Charley called out, a smile in her voice despite the worry.
“Charley!” Maggie hopped off, kissed both cheeks and added a simple hug.
Charley held on, placed her lips at Maggie’s ear. She whispered while her smile remained plastered to her face. “You touch my man, I’ll rip your head off. You take Chase away, I’ll kill you.” Maggie’s twitch told Charley what she’d long suspected. “You hurt James again and you’re as good as dead, too. Got it?”
Maggie wouldn’t worry about Charley or James or any threat, only exposure. She nodded against Charley and drew back. Emerald eyes shone back at her, lit with excitement and not an ounce of fear.
As tall as Charley, as thin as Lily, and as sprightly as Chase, Maggie encompassed all their good parts and added sultry sexuality with one bad-ass attitude. Her hair matched Chase’s blue soccer ball-a bright extravagance that only she could pull off. The hint of electricity made her one of the most powerful shifters Charley knew.
Charley turned to Wyatt as he walked in behind her. “Wyatt, this is Maggie Reynolds. Maggie, Wyatt Moreland.”
“Wow,” Maggie said. “Dude, did she find a hot one.” Maggie sidled up to Wyatt and draped her arms around his neck. “Wanna take me for a ride, big boy?”
“Maggie!” Charley hissed.
She’d only ever listened to one person, and he despised her every breath.
Maggie let go, laughed and flipped back to Charley. “C’mon,” Maggie offered a light punch to Charley’s shoulder. “You said I couldn’t, so I had to.” Her arms raised and dropped like a bird’s wings.
Charley gave big mental kudos to Wyatt, who neither answered nor reciprocated her touch.
James slunk into the room without a hello, pain reflecting in the set of his eyes and hunch of his shoulders.
“Not going to say ‘hi’, James?” Maggie asked to his retreating back.
“No.” He disappeared around the corner through the dining room door, one of Lily’s breakfast sandwiches in hand.
Maggie turned back to Charley. “He can’t still be mad at me? Right?”
Charley rolled her eyes with a deep sigh. “Yes, Maggie. He can.”
Wyatt’s hands slid against Charley’s waist. “Time does not heal all wounds.”
Charley forced herself not to tense, to let the comment say only what it meant, and not to infer he harbored any ill will toward her. “So, Maggie. Let’s, ah, go find Chase.” She stiffened when Charley mentioned his name. “He’s yours, isn’t he?” She took a step toward Maggie and out of Wyatt’s embrace.
Maggie didn’t budge.
Eye to eye, they stood with Charley searching Maggie’s face for acknowledgement. She found none. “I don’t care why you did it, but that little boy has a family, and if you plan to take him away-”
“I don’t intend to.” Maggie didn’t back away. “I’m not Mom material.”
Undone by Maggie’s first-ever admission of personal fault, Charley softened. “I recommend you get to know him and become a part of his life. James’s too for that matter.” She walked into the living room, Wyatt right behind her.
Chase stood, surrounded by the guys-James and Stuart on one side, Cael on the other-playing one of many video games.
“Lookin’ good, there, champ,” Charley said.
The squeaky-clean cheeks and clean clothes reflected none of the ragged boy he’d been a few days before.
Chase turned the controller in her direction, his smile broad and filled with happiness. “Charley! Check it out!”
She gave him a thumbs up with a wink as he off-roaded a motorcycle built for speed and crashed through a brick wall only to rematerialize and start again.
Charley drew her gaze back to Wyatt. He fit with her crazy family-a natural extension. She wanted him to be a
