[The Shifters Committee 01.0] Time Shifters

by Rebecca Foxx

  Without any kind of an actual goodbye, Mr. Kennedy hung up. Michelle was left standing there, staring down at the fancy high-tech phone in disbelief. If she had still been harboring some nerves about the job before this phone call, well now, now she was borderline terrified.

  “Good lord,” she whispered to herself in a daze, “what on earth have I gotten myself into?”

  Chapter Three

  “Ready for a wonderful day in the office, sweetpea?”

  “Save it,” Falcon growled dangerously into the phone, “I am in no kind of mood for your shit. Did you really wake up early just so you could call me and tease me?”

  “I did indeed!” Clarissa cackled, clearly delighted with herself for doing so.

  “Well then you must have been more motivated to piss me off than even I could have anticipated. I can’t remember the last time you got up before noon. Hell, before two o’clock in the afternoon.”

  “You’re right,” she said with a repulsively sing-songy voice, “I haven’t. I suppose I just lacked the proper motivation, is all. Motivation that you seem to have given me. So thanks for that, big brother.”

  “Seriously, Clarissa,” Falcon groaned, “why are doing this to me? This whole thing is bad enough without you gloating. Hey, I’ve got an idea. Why don’t we switch places? You go into work with dad and I’ll go hit up Barney’s. Or whatever it is you do all day.”

  “You wish!” she scoffed, “No way on god’s green earth I would go in for a plan like that. But seriously, Falcon, I really did want to wish you good luck.”

  “You did?”

  “Yes, don’t sound so surprised. But I also wanted to remind you of something.”

  “Of course,” he said tiredly, “there it is. There’s always an ‘also,’ isn’t there?”

  “Ha ha, funny man. I’m just trying to look out for you.”

  “Ok, fine, go ahead. What’s your sage advice, little sister?”

  “Just try and get along with dad, ok? I know it’s a whole lot harder than I’m making it sound, but try and do it anyway. Because he does love you, you know. And if that isn’t enough of a reason, just remember. The cousins are coming soon and dad can either make things a whole lot easier for you, for us, or a whole lot harder. Now might be a good time to fall into line, don’t you think?”

  God, he hated it when she was right! But she most definitely was, and he was going to have to try and keep his shit together, tow the line well enough to do what he was supposed to do.

  Maybe it wouldn’t be as bad as he was building it up to be. Maybe he would find something about the job that he actually liked. Stranger things had happened, after all. If anyone should know that it would be a shifter like him.

  That being said, he could think of about a thousand things he would rather be spending his time doing rather than learning the ropes of the family business, including absolutely nothing at all.

  “Falcon? You still there? Did you go catatonic to avoid the whole work thing?”

  “Oh, there’s that badass humour again. No, I did not go catatonic. And also, thank you. You’re right, about pretty much everything you said. I needed that reminder.”

  “No problem. We’ve got to look out for each other, right?”

  “Right. See you at family dinner Friday?”

  “You know it. Love you.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Love you too.”

  Falcon hung up the phone and sighed. He gave himself one last look in the mirror, searching for anything his father might disapprove of. It was probably a lost cause, but he still had to try. Then, with nothing else to stall his time, Falcon made his way down to the lobby of his building, all the way from his fortieth floor penthouse apartment.

  He waved at the door man in a way that told him that no, he would not be needing any assistance today. There was one thing Falcon was not going to bend on, regardless of what his father said. He may find himself locked up in an office building all day, whether he liked it or not, but nothing was going to keep him off of his Harley.

  It was the closest thing he had found to the rush of feeling shifting gave him and he wasn’t about to give it up. Approaching it now like a man going to his certain death, he moved his hand lovingly over the beast’s chrome.

  “Well old girl, looks like our time has come. No rest for the wicked, I guess, so let’s just get this day over with.”

  He stroked the side of the bike lovingly, heaved one last massive sigh, and resigned himself to the day he knew he was bound to have. Shit, at this point, he would be lucky if it was just this one day.

  From where he was standing, it seemed like he was on the precipice of a whole string of days that would begin in just this way.

  ********

  “Oh, Mr. Falon, your father. He’s been waiting for you for quite some time now.”

  “Yes, I know.”

  “But you don’t understand, he’s very unhappy, Mr. Falcon.”

  “Yes, actually I do understand.”

  “But Mr. Falcon-”

  Falcon turned to the nervous little receptionist flitting around him like some kind of a frantic hummingbird and willed himself to keep his cool.

  It wasn’t this chick’s fault that he was late, and it certainly wasn’t her fault that she had undoubtedly listened to his father’s bitching from the very moment when it first became clear that he would not be arriving on time. She was just trying to navigate a pretty awful and uncomfortable situation in a way that allowed her to keep her job.

  Falcon felt sorry for her, really. There was no way this was how she had been looking to spend her Monday morning. So when he turned he put his hands on her shoulders lightly, wanting to make her realize that things were going to be ok.

  “Miss, it’s ok. It’s not your fault. Thank you for the warning. You’ve done a wonderful job. Now I’m just going to walk myself back to his office, ok? Might as well just get this over with, am I right?”

  “Yes,” she said with a hesitant smile, “but also no!”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “He’s not in there at the moment, your father. It’s just his personal secretary, I believe.”

  “Well then I’ll wait for him to get back. Sound like a plan?”

  “I guess so. Good luck, Mr. Falcon. I hope things begin to look up.”

  “You and me both, dear.”

  The little hummingbird smiled gratefully and made her way quickly back to the safety of her receptionist's command center. Well that was good. At least one of them felt better, and out of the two of them Falcon was more than confident that he was capable of taking care of anything that was thrown at him.

  He strode purposefully down the swanky hallways of his father’s company, ignoring the plethora of stares he received from both the men and the women of the office. He was used to getting looks like this. For some of them, it was simply because he was the boss’ son.

  They we either jealous of him or wanted to be near him just to climb their way to the top. For others, it was his looks. As boring as he found it and as little credit as he claimed for something he had zero hand in, there were people who were completely taken by his height, his cobalt blue eyes and thick, curly black hair.

  They saw those things and thought of him as nothing more than a really good piece of art, something to be looked at, admired, and then walked away from.

  It was boring because it was predictable and because it never led to anything remotely new, but it was something he had learned a long time ago to just shrug off. He hardly noticed it at this point, just kept on walking until he reached his father’s massive office.

  He closed the ornate double doors with a slow breath of relief and rested his forehead against the cool metal with closed eyes. Just having this brief moment of solitude felt like a gift. Even if he knew it could not last for long and that what was coming for him would be anything but pleasant.

  “Oh god! Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know you were going to be coming in here. I should go, get out of your
way. Or maybe I can offer you something. Can I offer you something? While you wait? Maybe some coffee. Or maybe a drink. I realize it’s only ten in the morning, but if you had seen your father you would probably take me up on the drink. He’s in a pretty nasty mood.”

  So much for a little time to himself. He grimaced, clenching his jaw before turning to see what fresh hell he had walked in on.

  What he saw surprised him. Something about this woman was entirely different from what he was used to. For starters, she didn’t look like a walking lollipop on the verge of collapse at any moment. This girl had some meat to her, curves he could sink his teeth into, no pun intended.

  She wore a form fitting green dress that made both her curves and her wild red hair look absolutely delicious. Even the way she smelled was intoxicating. Who was this girl? Something told him he had seen her around, but for some reason she had never made quite the impression on him she was making today.

  Perhaps things would be looking up for him, as well. He walked towards her, giving her his best smile, and noting with satisfaction the way her face flushed red upon his approach.

  “Well if you work closely with my dad, I’m guessing you're well aware of his moods.”

  “I’m his assistant. Michelle Evans.”

  “Hello, Michelle Evans. I’m Falcon Kennedy. And I’ll take a drink as long as you have one with me.”

  He leaned in close to her, breathing in her sweet scent and relishing the feeling of the heat radiating off of her supple body. He was almost positive she was going to say yes, too, if only his father hadn’t picked that exact moment to burst through the office doors.

  “Falcon! They told me you had finally arrived. You’re late. And what exactly do you think you’re doing? Get away from the help. She’s here for work, not play. Got it?”

  Before Falcon could say anything Michelle had jumped away from him and was now looking down at her feet with poorly disguised embarrassment. Falcon felt a low growl beginning to form in the back of his throat. He had clearly jumped the gun on expecting this day to be anything but shit. This was going to be a long day. A very, very long day.

  Chapter Four

  “Right away, Mr. Kennedy. Can I get you anything else?”

  “What? No, not unless my derelict son here needs something as well. What do you say, Falcon? Need some lunch?”

  “I suppose so. I was thinking about just drinking my late afternoon lunch, but if you’re eating I guess I might as well also. I’ll just have what he’s having, Michelle. And make sure to get something for yourself. After all, I’m pretty sure you’re working harder than the rest of us combined.”

  “Thank you, sir. I’ll be back with the food just as quickly as I can.”

  Michelle scurried out of the room as quickly as her uncomfortable heels could carry her, already feeling the unbearably obvious flush spreading from her face down her neck. Pretty soon it would cover her entire body and there would be nothing she could do about it.

  It was the curse of her irish heritage. There was pretty much nothing she could do to keep from displaying everything she thought and felt for everyone and their mother to see. Thank god they had given her a task that would get her out of that room!

  If she could just get a moment to collect herself, maybe she could stop acting like such an idiot. As it was, she was finding it very difficult. She had gone from being blissfully anonymous to helping Mr. Kennedy show his son the ropes of the office. His beautiful son who looked like a model and seemed somehow dangerous in a way she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

  “Having fun in there?”

  “I’m sorry?”

  Michelle was pulled out of her thoughts by a very catty looking woman whose name she couldn’t quite remember. From the expression on her face, she had been waiting to ask that snarky comment all day. She must have been overjoyed to finally get her opportunity.

  “Oh nothing. It’s just that you’ve spent the whole day sequestered with our billionaire boss and his beautiful billionaire son. Do you know how many women would kill to be in that position? It’s just a pity.”

  “What’s a pity?”

  “That it’s wasted on a woman like you. Don’t look at me that way. Everyone knows you’re just a sweet, innocent girl. You wouldn’t even know what to do with a man like that. It just seems like such a shame.”

  “Well, lucky for you, it’s not any of your business. In fact you should probably go back and do some actual work, unless you want me to use my new ‘lucky’ position to get you fired. Have a nice day.”

  Michelle brushed past the office bitch as quickly as she could manage, fighting back the angry tears that fought to surface in her eyes. If the plan was for her to wind up feeling incredibly foolish, this had been a good way to go about it.

  Because the worst thing was, as mean as she was being that woman was completely right. She would never be able to do anything about Falcon. She would never come close to having a shot with him, and realizing that she had actually been thinking about it made her feel like the worst kind of idiot. She was just the woman who got their sandwiches. That was all she was and it was all she was ever going to be. She might as well get used to it.

  ********

  “Seriously, Michelle! You have to tell me something. Like, something real.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about! There’s nothing to tell.”

  “Oh no missy, that might work on some people but there is not a shot in hell that it’s going to work on me. How long have we known each other? It’s probably time you realize that I can always tell when you’re lying. So what the hell is going on? You’ve been working pretty much exclusively with that beautiful man for like, two months, and now you’re going to his apartment? Are you too sleeping together or what?”

  “No! Of course we aren’t.”

  Even as she said it, Michelle could feel the heat in her face. The thing was, they weren’t sleeping together but she hadn’t been exactly right when she thought she would never be anything but his errand girl. There was something building between them.

  There just was. She was almost afraid to even let the thought pop into her head because it felt so far fetched but it was true nonetheless. The fact that he was now asking her to come work with him at his apartment late on a Friday night just made things seem even less clear. Half of her wanted to just quit, to take the easy way out and not deal with the thing that was building between the two of them.

  “Ok, whatever you say, Michelle. You should get going, don’t want you to be late. I just hope you’ve got the fancy lingerie on because I have a feeling you’re going to need them. So good luck!”

  Michelle wanted to fire back, but she couldn’t think of anything to say. What she could think about was what Adele had said. She thought about it for the entire cab ride and in the elevator that took her up to Falcon’s lavish apartment.

  She thought about it while she and Falcon, dressed down in a pair of faded fitted jeans and a simple white v neck, went through the paperwork that had brought her to his place in the first place. She even thought about it when Falcon opened what looked to be a very expensive bottle of champagne, pouring them each a glass that she took and promptly drained. He grinned at her and filled the glass again, all the way up to the rim.

  “So what is it, Michelle? What’s going on with you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Come on, you’ve been completely distracted all night. I can tell something is on your mind. I can see it on your face. I can smell it on you, for god’s sake.”

  That was a strangely startling thing to have a man say to her. That wasn’t actually possible, was it? To smell her emotions?

  But when he looked at her it seemed like it was entirely possible.

  There was something about Falcon that didn’t exactly strike her as human, him and his whole family, actually. She knew it was something she should be afraid of, but she wasn’t. It just made her want him more. If only she knew how to tell hi
m that! But she couldn’t. The idea of Falcon rejecting her was more than she could handle. It made her feel slightly sick just envisioning it.

  “Michelle. You have to trust me, ok? You have to let me do something.”

  “Do what?”

  “This.”

  He did not speak again, but pulled her into his lap, his lips planted firmly on hers. His hands were moving up her sides, cupping the ass that was miraculously still on top of him. The strength she could feel in his hands was astounding, even for a man as big as he was.

  There was a ferocity to the way he was handling her, his teeth gnawing on her bottom lip as his hands found their way up underneath her thin summer dress and up to her substantial hips. Part of her knew that she should put a stop to this, but the other part of her.