Well, other than the fact that she was exceptionally kind, intelligent, mature, responsible, and compassionate. She was easily one of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen and far and away the best person of all the potentials we had surveilled so far. But we were looking for a supe not a normie, and she didn’t fit the bill. Or at least that’s what I’d thought. I couldn’t detect any power when I was watching her, but in the store earlier, I got a little twinge of something that hadn’t been there before, and it completely threw me off my game. I mean, non-existent one minute, there the next, gone again the moment after… that’s not how superpowers worked.
Something weird was definitely going on with Miss Danielle Shade, but I’d be damned if I knew what. And once Hem knew about my behavior today, it was possible I’d never find out.
“I won’t tell him,” Sarah blurted without warning.
I looked up at her, shocked. “What?”
“I can hear you. Usually you guard against me. You’ve gotten really good at mind blocking, but you’re off tonight, Cas. I heard what you were thinking. I won’t tell Hemlock what happened.”
“Why?” Not the smartest response. She was offering to break protocol and do me an enormous favor. Questioning it was probably stupid, but I couldn’t figure out why she’d risk it, even as close as we were.
She looked sideways at me, then glanced away. “Listen, if it’s her, and you have to stay away from her, then this might be the only chance you have to spend any time with her. And look, it seems like she’s got a boyfriend—”
“She said he wasn’t her boyfriend.”
“Yeah, but you saw them outside the store and at the house. That wasn’t normal for them. Something changed. I’m just saying, don’t expect anything.”
“Then why bother lying to let me keep the lead?”
“I don’t know… Maybe it’ll help us bring her in? Or maybe if you can get close and she wants you, Hem won’t have a choice but to give her what she wants. If she’s as powerful as he seems to think she is, we’re going to need any advantage we can get, and even Hem won’t have a choice but to listen if you can do that for us.”
“Thanks, Fox.”
She nodded, then smiled the crooked smile I knew so well. “But listen, you have seen the boy toy, right?”
I rolled my eyes and sped back up again. I’d seen him. How could I miss him? He was always with her, driving to school together, working, going to lunch, having dinner with Dani and her mom, bringing her coffee in the morning, hanging out after work and on weekends, going for runs, watching tv or gaming at home when she didn’t feel well. He was always there.
“I’m just saying, if she and that Charlie guy get into it, you’re as good as toast. That guy is smoking hot.”
My lip curled as she spoke. “Fox, he’s a Descendant. The enemy, you know… Bad guy…”
“You’re only helping his case right now. Bad boys are hot. Tortured bad boys with secrets…” Sarah fanned herself dramatically, and I rolled my eyes. Then she nudged me with her shoulder. “Good gravy, you’re touchy. Why do you think you do so well? And right now, he’s the boy next door and you’re the dark, mysterious stranger. Don’t get jealous. Play to your strengths. You can beat that guy.”
I didn’t get jealous. I had no reason to be jealous, but if I was honest, I understood the emotion a lot better when I saw that guy with Dani. It was ridiculous, especially considering my only contact with her was surveillance. I didn’t even think I had the capacity to be jealous. But then I’d touched her. As soon as my skin had touched hers, I’d felt a jolt of something I couldn’t quite get ahold of. She hadn’t seemed to feel it, but she had definitely looked at me strangely the entire time I was there.
Whatever I was experiencing with the girl wasn’t part of my mission. It was irrelevant, and it was hindering our efficacy. I needed to put it aside and get my head back in the game. I would have known the guy was coming outside in time to warn Fox if I hadn’t been distracted by watching Dani.
The next step was to get close to her, which would probably be easy for me considering her obvious interest, though I’d have to find a way to use my interest in her just enough to get close, but still not so much that it took over. That was going to be the tightrope walk of a lifetime.
We also had to figure out why she didn’t have any powers, and that would be easier if we were privy to what was happening in her life.
My phone buzzed followed a split second later by Fox’s. I pulled my phone from my pocket and checked the message screen. I had one message from Hemlock.
There’s a car waiting for you and Fox at the rendezvous point. We’ve received word from Thornhaven and we need the book. Go get it and get back here ASAP.
Sarah and I looked at one another and picked up our pace to a careful jog, running where we could. Getting close to Dani would have to wait until tomorrow.
11
Dani
I woke a little disoriented because I wasn’t in my bed. Flashes of yesterday and the night before ran through my head as my brain caught me up, and I smiled at the pleasant memories. I felt someone stir behind me. That’s right, Charlie stayed. We were on the couch. Oh, God… I was in a bra, and he wasn’t wearing a shirt. And he was… wow, I’d forgotten the feeling of him since the night before.
The arm around me squeezed, trapping me against him, and he pressed the growing length in his sweats into the space between my legs. The arm around me slid up my stomach to my bra and his fingers slid beneath the padded cup. My breath caught. I doubted he was fully awake yet, and knew I should wake him, but part of me really didn’t want to. Not yet. Just a minute longer, and then I’d wake him.
Then I heard keys in the door, the metal on metal scrape of the deadbolt twisting, and the click as it disengaged. I grabbed my shirt from the floor where Charlie had thrown it the night before as the keys jingled and the second lock twisted. I pulled it over my head just as I heard the door open. Charlie was finally rousing behind me, having been disturbed by my scramble for decency, and he propped himself up, rubbing his eyes. Not that Mom would care. She’d probably just be happy for me and offer to leave and give us a few hours.
The door closed, and Shadow ran to Mom. “Hey, boy. Good morning. Is Dani up yet?”
She was gonna figure it out eventually, might as well own it. “I’m here, Mom. Though awake is debatable.”
I sat up and dropped my legs over the edge of the couch as Charlie sat up on the couch next to me, rubbing his eyes. The blanket fell away, and I caught sight of him just in time to throw a pillow over his lap before Mom appeared around the corner and froze. Mom just stared at us like I’d just informed her the sky was red and aliens had landed in our backyard and were napping in my room. Then a smile tugged at first one side of her mouth, then the other, until she was grinning a grin the Cheshire cat would be envious of.
“Well, good morning. At least it looks like what I remember a good morning looking like.”
“Mom...”
“Okay, okay. I won’t mess with you anymore. Do you still need to talk?”
“Yeah. We all do.” She smiled and I added, “Not that! Mom, geez. Don’t go anywhere until we’ve had a chance to talk.”
“Okay. I’ll be in my room when you’re finished.”
I rolled my eyes and shook my head. I knew she’d been in Charlie’s corner for a long time, I just didn’t know how much. “Okay. I’ll get some coffee started. You’re gonna need it.”
She nodded and turned toward her room without another word, or at least, that’s what I thought until she called over her shoulder, “Oh, and Dani? Your shirt’s inside out.”
I looked down as her door opened and closed behind her and sighed deeply. I heard music blare suddenly to life in her room and knew she wouldn’t come back until I came to get her. Well, I had never needed to cover before, but all in all, I’d say my first attempt was an epic failure.
“Good morning, beautiful,” Charlie whispered, and I smiled
. He leaned in and kissed my shoulder and my skin erupted in goosebumps. He continued the kisses up my neck to my jaw, cupping my face in his hand and turning me to him to capture my lips. When he pulled back and smiled at me, he whispered, “I could wake up like this every day and never get tired of it.”
I smiled against his lips. “For me, I think that will depend on whether or not you follow through or tease me like you did last night and this morning.”
“Who says I was teasing you this morning?”
“You weren’t even awake yet, Charlie.”
“I don’t have to be awake to know that I want you, Dani. And I will always make sure you are quite satisfied with your experience.”
“Prove it.”
Before I could finish pulling my self-satisfied smirk across my face, I was on my back and Charlie was hovering above me. “Come upstairs with me, and I will.” His fingers trailed slowly up my thigh until they reached the center seam of my jeans. He pressed hard into the seam, and I had to stifle a cry against his chest. I looked up at Charlie with a brand new pair of eyes, eyes that could see what he was capable of as a man, not just who he was as a person, and I wanted him so badly, I could barely manage to say what came out next.
“Not with Mom in the next room. But we’re coming back to this.” I eyed him seriously, then added, “When I don’t have to hold back.”
I felt Charlie shiver above me, and something inside me thrilled to know that I had the same power over him he now held over me. I slipped my fingers inside his waistband, pulled back, and popped it against his waist. His body jerked, and I reached up and kissed him. Then I ducked under his arm and crawled out from under him. As exciting as all this newness was, we had serious things to deal with as well, and he had work in a bit. We needed to talk to Mom first and deal with all this weirdness, and then we could explore one another and my newfound desire.
I ran to the kitchen and started the coffee as Charlie watched from the doorway, then I headed into the laundry room next to the kitchen and turned the dryer on the wrinkle release. As I turned to walk out, I heard the door shut and Charlie was there, towering above me.
“Opposite side of the house. She’s not a room away anymore.” He grabbed me by the waist and shoved me back against the washer, his hand deftly unbuttoning and unzipping my pants. “Tell me to stop, Dani.”
“No,” I husked, grabbing his face and pulling his lips to mine as he tugged my jeans down, letting them fall to my ankles as he lifted me onto the washer, stepping between my legs. One hand looped under my arm and he knotted his fingers in my hair, holding my head to him and devouring my lips as his other hand slipped between my thighs.
A somewhat embarrassing squeak slipped from between my lips as he pressed his thumb against me and started rubbing circles against my underwear. My legs wrapped tighter around him, and Charlie stepped into me, planting the massive bulge in his pants against my center and pushing hard as he began to rub his length along the fabric between my thighs. His now free hand slipped up and pulled the top of my t-shirt and bra down, brushing my nipples as he did, and another small cry escaped me.
His hand dropped back to my core, instantly finding the spot it had taken me years to learn perfectly. He pressed circles into the fabric between my legs, working the sensitive flesh beneath as his lips and tongue found my nipples, and I had to bite my own arm to keep quiet. I reached between us, sliding my hand along the fabric of his sweats and gripping him through the fabric. He groaned against my nipple and my head fell back. I stroked him through the sweats, and he continued to work me into a lather.
That’s when I felt it, the burning, the pressure, building until I couldn’t take it any longer, and just when I thought I might burst, I did. Both hands grasped for Charlie, pulling him closer to me as he captured my lips again. He pressed so hard against my mouth that I tasted blood, but he kept me quiet as I writhed and shuddered against him. His other hand found my hair as he pressed his length against me, rubbing hard to see me through to the bitter end. I felt him throb between my legs and then he jerked and groaned quietly against my mouth, his thrusts growing erratic.
The orgasm continued for what felt like forever, but eventually, we both calmed, and my body began to go somewhat back to normal. I couldn’t quite contemplate what had just happened yet. All I could process was this feeling, the euphoria, Charlie still pressed between my legs, his lips on mine, the feel of his bare chest brushing along my exposed nipples. I felt complete, like something I’d been missing all this time had been awoken. Now I wanted more.
But there was no time for more now. I collapsed back onto my arms, resting, and Charlie’s head dipped to plant another kiss on my lips, this one gentle and calm, like the sea after the storm has passed. Charlie reached down and slipped his fingers between my bra and my breasts and slid it along the fold, freeing the fabric to slide back up and cover me, then he stepped back and lifted me off the washer, placing me gently on the ground. I reached for my jeans and tugged them up as Charlie turned and grabbed a hand towel from the pile of clean clothes. I leaned back against the door and he looked at me expectantly.
“What?” I asked innocently.
“Are you going to go so that I can get cleaned up and we can go talk to your mom?”
“No. I think I’m going to stay. I’d kind of like to see you strip.”
Charlie’s eyebrows shot up and a devilish grin split his lips. “I will be happy to strip for you, Dani, but if you’re going to see me naked, I’d really prefer to be clean.”
“Fair point.” I stepped toward him and he leaned down and kissed me. “We’re doing that again ASAP. Just so we’re clear. And a bunch more stuff.”
Charlie grinned and said, “As you wish, m’lady.”
I smiled and left the laundry room to check on the coffee. Realizing my shirt was still inside out, I started to pull it off and fix it. Then I thought maybe it would be better if it were the same so that Mom didn’t wonder about me taking my shirt off while she was in her room and I was out here with Charlie. The shirt being inside out in the first place had sort of killed the idea of Mom not knowing. Honestly, I would’ve told her anyway, but it seemed different to have her know we were doing stuff while she was there. I was stuck in an endless ring of reasoning, half in and half out of my shirt when the laundry room door opened.
“What are you doing?” Charlie asked.
I looked up, my confusion clear as day, and he laughed and walked over to me. Charlie grabbed the shirt and pulled it over my head, turned it right side out, then slid it back over my head. I smiled and put my arms in the sleeves.
“Thank you.”
He kissed me on the forehead, then turned and opened the cabinet, pulling out three coffee mugs. “Why don’t you go get your mom, and I’ll make the coffee. How are you feeling this morning? Good day or bad day?”
“Very good day,” I said, kissing his cheek.
Charlie smiled and said, “You know what I mean.”
“I know, I just had to take the opportunity. Sugar and cream please.”
“Oh, so a very good day.” He smiled, as did I. Then I turned and headed to Mom’s room. Man, I hoped she didn’t freak out.
12
Dani
She was definitely freaking out. She was trying not to show it, but she was failing. She was keeping it off her face, and she was controlling her voice admirably, but her eyes couldn’t lie. They weren’t wide but narrowed, sharp. Mom didn’t get wide-eyed and fearful, she calculated, so for her, this was straight-up panicking. We’d told her everything that had happened since I left for work yesterday afternoon. Well, the creepy, relevant stuff anyway. The rest we would talk about later when we were alone. The final decision was, Mom wanted me escorted everywhere, so when Charlie offered, she gladly accepted.
“That would be great Charlie, thank you. I’m off for the rest of the day, and there’s zero chance I’m going to be able to sleep today, so we’re going to go into the city and do some shoppi
ng. I know you’re not a fan, but I want you armed, Dani. Pepper spray and a taser at the very least. We’re going to get you back in self-defense classes too. I should never have let you quit. Plus, it seems we have some things to talk about, so we could use some mother-daughter time.”
She winked at me, and I could see the panic dissolving, replaced by a level of resolve I hadn’t seen from my mom in quite some time. “Charlie, I assume you have no problem staying here on the nights I work?”
“Not at all, Bella. I’ll probably be here a lot more than you two need me to be. I won’t let anybody hurt her.”
“I know you won’t.”
“What about you, Mom? We’re spending all this time and energy making sure I’m safe when it’s just as likely these people are watching you.”
“I leave for work in the middle of the evening when people are coming home and it’s busy. I come home when it’s light outside and you’re here. And actually, with Charlie staying here those nights, you’ll both be here when I get home. I’m here alone during the day when people are out and about, and Shadow is here with me. That’s wildly different from you being home alone overnight. And on top of that, I’ve had decades of self-defense and weapons training. I was a soldier, remember? I’m not as vulnerable as you are. Plus, you’re my daughter. I’m going to protect you first and foremost because I’m your mom and that’s my job.”
“Okay, I get it. The first thousand reasons convinced me you were right.”
She laughed and said, “Good. Now, I’m going to go have another cup of coffee, eat something, get cleaned up, and have a third cup of coffee so I can pretend to be human today. Then we’ll head to Knight City.” She patted my knee and headed toward the kitchen, then turned back. “Thank you for being here for her, Charlie. You’ll never know how grateful I am that she wasn’t alone last night.” Shadow woofed and Mom rolled her eyes. “Yes, I know she’s never really alone here, Shadow. I’m depending on you too.”
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