by Aimee Laine
“Whoa. How many small rooms are in the back?” Lily said before Charley could ask the same.
“There are more than I imagined.” The team stared at Charley. “What? I haven’t been in those kinds of clubs.”
“We’ve heard that one before.” Cael got a punch in the arm for his comment.
Wyatt chuckled before he pointed out the obvious, followed by the questionable. “I’ve only been in the main dance arena.” He circled his finger around a large open area near the front. “It looks like there are two to three dressing rooms, and they all feed to the main area. Another five, smaller rooms are likely private for the more intimate work.” He looked up at Charley, insinuating what might go on within their confines.
“It’s all on one floor at least.” Cael tapped the screen. “That’s going to make it easier for us to keep track of Charley.”
“Is there a back entrance?” Charley pointed to what looked like a door on the plans.
“Yes, two of them. One from a hallway that seems to originate with the smaller rooms and one from the dressing rooms.”
“A private entrance for the most private of gentlemen and one for the staff to keep the front clear for customers.” Lily’s bright voice carried through the room.
Charley closed her eyes.
Committing the image to memory?
“I’m going in the ‘normal’ customer route.” Cael quoted with his index fingers.
Wyatt returned his attention to the monitor. “You’ll head in through the staff entrance, Charley. And I’m taking the gentleman’s route.” He shifted his shoulders in a shrug.
Charley’s slight tilt of her head exposed her neck as her hair fell and her eyes opened again.
If she didn’t already have two guys in her life, Wyatt might have considered his own pursuit—after the project’s completion.
He coughed into his fist, moved his gaze to the floor. “Are you nervous?”
“No. I just don’t like problems that involve kids.”
“What did you just say, Charley?” Lily asked.
Charley cringed.
Cael pushed Lily toward the second bedroom. Her eyes remained fixed on Charley. “What’s going on?” Lily tugged her arm away, but Cael dragged her the rest of the distance.
“Why doesn’t she know yet?” Wyatt kept his voice to a whisper.
Charley moved to the window. “It’s a very personal topic for her.”
“Does it help if I say I’m sorry?”
She leaned her back against the sill, smiled up at him. “Oddly, it does.”
Their eyes fixed on each other but broke apart when Cael returned through the door. He nodded in Charley’s direction.
Behind him, Lily wiped at one eye. Charley moved from the window, put her arms around Lily. Wyatt tried not to stare, though the shudder that passed through Lily hurt him. He couldn’t imagine what had happened but took comfort that she had people who loved her.
“Lil,” James said. “You okay?”
She nodded to him before she looked up to Wyatt. He broke her gaze, tried to blend into the background. He knew a private moment when he saw it. Instead, she took the distance between them in a few quick strides and stood inches from him.
She took hold of his jacket, smoothed out the edges and patted his chest before her hands wormed their way to his cheeks.
He stood still.
With her hands still in place, she leaned in and added a soft kiss against his lips. Wyatt caught the shift in Cael’s stance and the grin on Charley’s face.
“Thank you.” Lily released him.
“You’re welcome?” When no one offered an explanation, he let it go.
Lily walked back into Cael’s arms.
Charley moved to Wyatt. “She trusts you.”
“For what?”
“Let’s just say Lily doesn’t trust easily. She’s as kind and sweet as can be, but she’s wary. She’s ready to make this all happen—even if our role in the larger mission ultimately proves miniscule.”
“We want to talk to the guys, too. That’s the real second part. I need them here. I have to interrogate them in whatever ways possible.” He didn’t want to admit his own doubts, but they flowed unchecked.
“I’ll deliver.”
The triple knock commanded all their attentions.
“Showtime.”
• • •
Charley moved to the adjoining room, took a seat at a round table on which cigarettes had burned a number of holes in the protective surface. She considered the four-star rating may have been long outdated. No prettier than the other room, drapes concealed what little light came from outside, and the two beds suggested many a single-time use.
Candie strode in behind Wyatt, three-inch neon pink platforms adding to her already impressive height. The photos had done her no justice. Her skirt barely reached below underwearless hips which sashayed their way in, and her breasts spilled out of a shirt three sizes too small. Bright blue eye shadow and the box-blonde curls added to the stereotype.
A piece of work. Who doesn’t at least wear a thong? Charley withheld the groan.
“It’s a threesome then?” Candie popped gum between candy-apple red lips—her signature color according to the files.
As cliché as they get.
“Just to watch,” Wyatt said.
She pointed a nail the same shade as her mouth in his direction. “That’s extra, you know.”
“I’ll take care of it.” He pulled a hundred-dollar bill from his inside pocket, waved it in front of her.
She snatched it, wiggling her hips at herself when she passed the mirror. With a plop, she landed on the bed; it bounced under her weight—what little she held for her height.
“’K, then.” She turned to Wyatt who stood in front of her. “You wanna dance, big boy?”
Charley nearly broke cover and laughed. She stifled it behind the back of her hand in a quick nose-wipe move.
Wyatt raised an eyebrow. “Ready?”
Charley waved him forward while Candie continued to bounce.
She’s got too much energy. She’s going to need help winding down.
“Shall we have a drink first?” Wyatt moved to the makeshift bar.
“Not on the job.” Candie patted the bed with both hands while she kicked her legs back and forth.
“But it’s my time,” Wyatt said. “I have you until …” He adjusted his Rolex. “… ten.”
Candie bounced until she faced Charley, bumped her way back at Wyatt. She missed his groin by an inch as she swung her foot.
Wyatt didn’t even flinch.
“’K.” She pulled her gum from her teeth with her nails.
Wyatt poured a finger for each of them from Lily’s special mixture. The first he offered to Candie.
“Bottoms up!” Candie brought the glass to her lips, downing the drink in one gulp. “So, what’cha want?” She held out the cup.
“Dance.” He took the second seat at the table with Charley.
Candie dumped her bag onto the floor, knelt both knees on the well worn comforter, her hands between her legs. She leaned forward, propelled her immense cleavage in their direction and let her curls fall forward.
“Got music?”
Wyatt pointed a remote at his iPod which blasted Lily’s pre-programmed selection. Candie’s hands moved to her hair as she swayed back and forth. Her heels extended outward, as lethal a weapon as Charley had ever seen. As she leaned forward, her rear rose into the air, her elbows supporting her torso on the bed.
Candie moved with the song—back and forth, up and down. She flipped her hair back, smiled with intensity and played the strap of her bra with one extended finger.
Charley and Wyatt continued to sit, mute and expressionless, though Charley assumed Candie had to have sparked some elemental desire within him.
Let’s see if I can get her going. A twitch of a smile broke on Charley’s face, and Candie responded with her hips.
“Like it?�
� She pointed to Charley.
Hell, no. Charley played along, nodded and forced a blush into her cheeks. From the corner of her eye, Wyatt made a slight adjustment toward her, but she opted not to look at him, sure she’d break under the pressure of the sexual rhythm playing out before her.
Her mind wandered to other points—how to match Candie’s energy and bounce, her voice and intonation, her piercings, of which Charley noted four. Piercing her own flesh to match her would not be an enjoyable part of her evening.
Candie slid to her stomach, unlatched the strap of her top in one quick move and leaned back up to reveal breasts with nipples barely covered by glitter-heart-shaped fabric.
Of course she’d go right to the end. Charley held her eye roll in check.
Wyatt recrossed his legs.
So she affects him.
As the song wound down, Candie’s motion slowed, and with the last beats, she lay, breasts to the ceiling, hair falling off the edge. The leg she’d extended into the air crashed against the bed as her hands hung limp at her sides. Her breathing slowed. Her muscles relaxed.
“Is she out?” Wyatt asked.
“I think so.” Charley committed Candie’s genuine talent to memory.
“That was exact.”
“Lily is just that good.” The door between them opened.
Lily peeked in. “Uh … you guys need a minute?” She winked.
Charley shook her legs and arms as if to warm up before a race. “Nope. I’m ready.”
“’K.” She disappeared again.
“I should probably go next door.” Wyatt thumbed over his shoulder.
“Unless you think you’re entitled to a peep show of the understudy’s warm-up, I’d agree.” Charley smiled.
He cocked his head and furrowed his brow.
“Scram. It’s all girl stuff from here.” She hadn’t planned to shift in front of him and figured the out would save him.
“See ya, Wyatt.” Lily returned, bag in hand. “Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be,” Charley said.
• • •
The door between the rooms had been locked. Wyatt knew because he’d tried to open it. James and Cael continued to work, focused on the laptop as if it held the answers to all questions. They’d laid out the hardware they’d use to wire Charley—as invisible as any Wyatt had ever seen.
“What’s taking them so long?” Wyatt paced to the window for the hundredth time. “How long does it take to put on a wig and clothes that cover nothing?”
James and Cael looked up.
“What? I’m just asking.”
Cael holstered his weapon and turned to Wyatt. “There are things you don’t know about Charley, man. She’s nothing if not thorough.”
“Of course there are.” Arms crossed, Wyatt stood feet from the door which separated him from Lily and Charley.
“What Cael means is …” James shot Cael a glare. “She needs time to do it right, and if you interrupt her, not only will she be thoroughly pissed, she’ll lose focus.”
“She changes her appearance a lot, doesn’t she? This dramatically?” Wyatt leaned a hip against the long dresser.
“Yup.” James’s mumble barely registered.
“More than you know.” Cael and James’s fist made contact with each other.
Wyatt rolled his eyes. If he didn’t know better, he’d swear the two were brothers—as close as he and Stuart had been until those last weeks of high school. Eighteen years of friendship gone in an instant.
He shook off the memories as a creak of the door came on the heels of female voices. Wyatt noted James and Cael stopped, too.
James’s whistle bounced off the walls. Cael let out a low ‘wow’. Wyatt withheld his urge to do the same.
“Candie?” He walked around the six-foot blonde to verify the real Candie still lay on the bed in the other room.
Lily had tucked her in.
“Or Charley.” The Charley-Candie said.
“But you sound like her, too.” Wyatt cocked his head at her.
“Of course I do, Wyatt.” The same tipped nail urged his chin up until he met her eyes—his had headed south. “I’m very good at what I do.”
“I guess. You’ve got me completely fooled.”
“Do you need assurance?”
Would that be an insult? Do you ask a highly secret, well regarded agent to prove herself?
Wyatt hesitated.
Before he could answer, Charley turned around to Lily, her hands raised to eye level, and when she turned back around, her eye color—that melted chocolate he’d seen before—looked back at him. He assumed the contacts were in Lily’s hand as she held her fists closed.
“I didn’t mean to—”
“You didn’t insult her, Wyatt,” Lily said. “We—I mean she—doesn’t mind.”
Wyatt nodded, unsure what else he could say that wouldn’t put him in the proverbial doghouse. He’d learned long ago as he’d watched his Dad take the couch a few nights: Women had control.
“I believe we have some additional accoutrements to add to me?”
“Uh … yeah …” Wyatt reverted to his younger years and his inability to think or speak straight when in the presence of a hot girl—especially one with brains to go along with a kick-ass body radiating intensity just inches from him.
“How many different outfits do I need?” Charley’s eyes grew wide as Lily threw one after another onto the bed. “Did Candie have all these?” Charley spread her hands out over the array of costumes. “Are they all going to fit in the bag she brought?”
“They were in her bag,” Lily said.
“Damn, Charley.” James whistled a southern hog call. “A clothes horse like you doesn’t want them?”
She huffed out a breath, put her hands on her hips and offered him a glare. “Not these, idiot. Most of these aren’t even clothes. They’re—” She swung her arms wide. “—tramp material.”
“I agree.” Wyatt lifted a blue nylon ribbon-like outfit from the bag. There couldn’t have been more than two inches of materials in any given spot.
“How do I even put that on?” Charley’s voice pitched high.
“You just slide into it. Watch the others when you’re inside.” Lily shrugged.
Wyatt chuckled, though worry crept in. Man, I hope she figures this out.
“Okay.” Cael broke up the lingerie and attire discussion.
Wyatt turned to him, happy to get away from the clothes and the unhappy female. He scanned the various pieces of equipment still to be concealed on Charley’s body, wondering how they could be hidden and remain discreet for three to four hours.
“We need to get you suited up, sir.” Lily handed Wyatt an Armani suit she’d pulled from the closet.
“And I need to get these attached to you, Charley.” James held up two micro-wireless trackers. In one swift move, he drew Charley’s arms up so she stood like a cross, though she wore fewer clothes than most beach goers.
“It’s kinda nice you being almost my height.” He moved his hands across her arms, slid up, down and around, from her fingertips to her shoulders, following the curve of her neck, to ear.
Wyatt shifted against the dresser, suit in hand, as James slid his hands down Charley’s sides, low to her hips, around and through the strap at her waist and back up across her breasts to her parted lips.
A frustration built within Wyatt as he watched them. Their movements imparted a sensuality, a sexuality, that unnerved him, yet related only to the addition of equipment.
Where did that desire come from?
“Just go ahead and make out already.” Cael chuckled but continued to type on his laptop.
Charley’s laugh broke the moment but not the fire that built within Wyatt. “That was seriously hot,” she said to James but continued to chuckle.
Are these two together?
Charley turned her gaze to Wyatt’s and lowered her lashes so they touched the tops of her cheeks. As she opened again, she added a s
low, sultry wink in his direction along with a caress of her lips with her tongue.
Wyatt turned to Cael. He had to break away from her trance; otherwise, he’d do none of them any good during their op. Think procedure. Think about the end result. “I’m gonna change.” Wyatt shook his head as he moved to the bathroom, traded slacks, added the jacket and half tied the silk tie he’d been handed.
He studied himself in the mirror, braced against the counter. Confidence, he reminded himself. As much as his body suggested he’d prepared for every possibility, doubts lingered by the name of Charley.
12
“Anyone got a cell I can borrow?” Charley patted her hips, waist and chest as if a spot to store the device would appear by magic. “Something small and inconspicuous?” She added a small chuckle.
As much as she disliked the role she’d play, she’d do it with every bit of her ability. Dressed in black slacks, a black silk shirt unbuttoned halfway but tucked in, and his tie hanging loose, Wyatt looked his part as much as she did.
“Lookin’ good there, man.” Charley loosened his tie an inch more and patted his chest. The muscles under her hand contracted.
She didn’t want to break free but pulled away, her eyes fixed on Wyatt’s.
“Bundle up, Charley!” Lily sang from the other room. “No one needs to see Candie’s ass ’til they get in the club!”
“What’s she doing in there?” Charley asked.
“Babysitting, Bambi. I mean, Candie.” James smirked. “And fixing Cael.”
“Cael, hurry it up!” Charley said.
“I’ll find you.” Cael’s voice carried through the open door.
“You got me covered, James?”
James turned the monitor to her. “Yup.”
Voice recording and visual from a pin half the size of her fingernail, tucked within her hair like a jewel, would show him everything that she would see.
“Then I’m outta here.” Charley blew James a kiss which he threw back at her.
“I’ll walk with you,” Wyatt said.
“Won’t that be obvious?”
“Yes, but remember, I’ve had you privately for the last few hours.”
“Ah, true.” She tapped her temple. “So true, so true.” She could only wish it had actually been.