I sighed. “No.”
“You do realize that these children may never recover from seeing such a hideous lack of talent.”
I looked at the children who were watching us closely. “Yeah. Although, I do think I helped their self-esteem.”
He shook his head, but his eyes held a smile. “I can’t believe you went public with your art.”
“Well, just until it rains, really.” I looked briefly at the clear sky.
“And if I do forgive you? No more lies?” His eyes met mine.
I could swim in those cobalt eyes. “I think I can make that promise. If you can promise not be the suspect in another investigation.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem since Grandma’s decided to reform and work with GASI, and I may be as well.”
“You’ve reformed?” I hoped that didn’t mean no kissing.
“No. I’m working for GASI,” he said, smiling.
“Really?” I wasn’t following.
He glanced over at the group of children. “You wanna take a walk?”
“Sure.”
He offered his hand, and I took it. We walked down the tree-lined street hand-in-hand.
“Thanks, guys,” I called over my shoulder to the children.
“Bye,” they chorused. Although, I did hear one stray, “Aren’t you gonna kiss her?”
Personally, I was planning on ignoring it and heading down the street to some privacy.
Will wasn’t such a coward. He stopped, nodded toward the children, and said, “Why not?”
Then, he pulled me close, taking my other hand too, and lowered his head. I guess he was going to forgive me after all, because he kissed me lightly right on the lips.
Then, he kissed next to my ear, sending shivers down my spine. “Better keep it G-rated,” he whispered.
“Right,” I breathed, catching a glimpse of Grandma spying shamelessly out the upstairs window. GASI was going to have to do a lot of training on subtlety with that one.
He kissed me on the lips again, and the children started to rebel.
“Oohh.”
“How romantic.”
“Gross.”
“I’m not s’posed to watch that kinda stuff.”
“That’ll teach ‘em,” he said, pulling away.
I wasn’t sure what we were trying to teach them, but I was enjoying the lesson pretty well myself.
“Let’s walk,” he said. “You up for breakfast?”
“Sure.” I’d forgotten all about food.
“There’s a diner about five blocks over. Grandma and I go there a lot.”
“Tell me about this working for GASI stuff,” I said as I matched his stride down the street.
“My grandmother mentioned that I’m fluent in German and Russian.”
“So, you really are?” I tried not to think critical thoughts as we passed the boring, unadorned sidewalks on his street. They so needed some art.
“How could you not know that? I thought you were spying on me.” His voice conveyed his disbelief.
“I never said I was any good at it.” I shrugged.
“You had me fooled.” A touch of hostility edged his tone.
“About what?” I looked over at him. “I was pretty much being me or at least a less shy version of me.”
“So you really stink at art?”
“Could anybody fake that?” I asked, motioning to the sidewalk in the distance behind us.
“And you like soccer?”
I leaped over a stick. “Love it!”
He jumped back at my enthusiastic answer. “What about hanging out with me? Would you have done that otherwise?”
“No,” I admitted. “I would have wanted to, but I would have been too shy.”
“You’re not shy.”
“Wanna bet.” I squeezed his hand.
He shook his head, and said, “I’m still not real happy with the whole invasion of privacy thing.”
“It’s not like I read your diary or anything.”
“I don’t have a diary.”
“See. That proves it.” I kicked at a pinecone.
His lips twitched. “You’re crazy.”
“And I was really careful to keep them from getting video of the important stuff. Like when we kissed.” Oh crap. Too bad there weren’t any cars passing to distract him.
“Video?” He took a step backward.
“I’ll buy breakfast if you forget I just mentioned that.” I tugged on his arm to bring him closer.
“Deal. So when do you go back to Charlotte?”
“Tonight.” I gripped his hand a little tighter as I made yet another admission. “And it’s Atlanta actually.”
He shook his head. “Please tell me your name is really Amanda Peterson.”
We skirted a pile of leaves spilling from a yard into the street.
“It is actually. Peterson. Amanda Peterson. You know now that I’m a spy and all.”
“So I’d be Middleton. Will Middleton.”
“Only if you join the agency.”
“I think I’m going to.” He sounded confident. I liked that about him.
“I bet you’ll be a lot better at the Bond stuff than I am.” I’d made tons of mistakes.
“At least at the getting the girl part,” he said, taking my hand, and kissing it.
“I don’t think so.”
“Huh?” His eyes sparkled.
My lips stretched into a huge grin. “I think I got the boy.”
He gazed into my eyes. “You got me all right.”
I had to look away so I wouldn’t trip over my feet. “Well, now I know why you were mad about Art project. You still have to do it, huh?”
“It’s okay. I’ll get my grandmother to help. She usually does anyway. And it is my best chance to pass Art.” He kicked at a pinecone on the ground, sending it rolling ahead.
“Alana offered to help, remember?” I can’t believe I said that. Alana was cute.
“Yeah. She’s cool.”
“How cool?” Not the jealous girlfriend thing already.
“Not as cool as you,” he said, as we reached the end of the neighborhood street.
I grinned, suddenly feeling all fluttery inside. “I’m glad you forgave me.”
“Well Mom and Grandma like you.” He smiled. “And me too.”
“What’s your mom think about all this GASI stuff?” We turned the corner onto a street with some shops.
“She’s glad Grandma will be busy. As for me, we’re still in negotiations.”
“Let me know what happens. I still have my own mother to deal with.” I saw the diner between the bookstore and a boutique.
He held the door open for me and I went inside for my first ever breakfast date with a boy.
When we were seated in a booth with peeling vinyl seats, he asked, “How can your mother not know?”
I explained to him the whole deal about how Christie had signed me up and not told me a thing until a week before.
“So you didn’t even know you were being trained?”
“Nope,” I admitted.
“Cool.”
“How so?”
He grinned. “That makes you almost as dense as I am.”
I smacked at his arm. “Let’s just not go there.”
“Hello, Will,” a middle-aged waitress said, as she set two waters on the table. “How’s your grandmother?”
Will laughed. “Same as always.”
“She’s a doll, isn’t she?” The waitress pulled an order pad from her apron. “I see you brought another date today.” She smiled at me.
I tried to be cool, but I could barely sit still. It really was a date, and it rocked.
She turned to Will. “The usual?”
“Please,” Will said. To me, he added, “Country ham omelet and biscuits. My favorite. And a large orange juice.”
“Sounds good,” I said. “I’ll have that, too.”
“Good choice,” the waitress said with a wink at me. “It
’ll be right out.”
“You really do come here a lot, don’t you?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he answered with a smile.
“Your grandmother probably will make a really good spy. No one would suspect her.”
He took my hand in his. “You sure didn’t.”
“Hey,” I said. “I’ve only been doing this for a week. Besides, you live with her and you didn’t know.”
“No,” he said, “but I knew she was likely to get into some kind of trouble. She’s too restless for retirement.”
“Well, that problem is solved.”
He rubbed his thumb against the palm of my hand, sending a charge of electricity up my arm. “Guess so,” he said.
I struggled to concentrate. “I can’t believe I have to leave today.”
He held my gaze. “Me either.”
I was so excited to be sitting there with Will I couldn’t even taste the omelet. I ate it anyway. I didn’t want to be rude.
“So the language thing,” I said. “You picked it up from your grandparents?”
“My dad’s mother, Nana, was German. She taught me. When I was little, she watched me a lot. Then, she remarried. Pop was Russian. She met him at bingo.”
“And you picked it up just from being around them?”
“They really wanted to speak each other’s language. So while they practiced with each other, they taught me.”
“Are they still around?”
He shook his head. “Nana died two years ago. Pop died a few years before.”
“Sorry.”
He pushed his food around on his plate with his fork. “I miss them. But, hey. I’ve still got Grandma. How many people can claim an actual convict for a grandmother?”
“No,” I said. “I don’t think she’s a convict until she’s tried and convicted. She’s just an almost criminal turned spy.”
He shushed me. “Someone will hear you.”
I looked around at the busy restaurant. “If anyone’s listening, they’ll think we’re kidding.”
With a grin, he leaned over and whispered, “Unless they’re from the Russian counterpart of GASI, and they’re tailing us.”
“Too eighties. I don’t think Russia is the most likely choice anymore.”
“Right,” he said. “I guess I’ll be learning all that stuff soon.”
After we finished up, he paid the check. Then, we walked back to his house.
“How long until you need to leave?” he asked.
I checked my watch. It was already noon. If I packed really fast… “I need to be back at Christie’s by three.”
“So, you want to hang out for a while?”
“Yeah,” I said, and followed him into his house.
He drove me back to my aunt’s condo at two-thirty. He parked in the lot, and got out to walk me to the door.
“We have thirty minutes to make it up the sidewalk,” he said, taking my hand.
I laughed. “I think we’ll get there on time.”
He walked slowly, exaggerating each step.
“We could crawl to the door, or,” I said, “we could walk quickly and spend thirty minutes at the door.”
A grin spread across his face. He sped up his pace. “I like your idea.”
We walked up to the door. I didn’t even care that there was a surveillance system. GASI could do whatever they wanted with the footage. I was going to have my goodbye kiss.
Apparently, Will felt the same way. He pulled me close to him, wrapped his arms around me, and kissed me. Really kissed me.
This time, I felt his tongue on my lips, and I opened my mouth a little. He slid his tongue into my mouth to tangle with mine. Amazing sensations tingled through my body. I finally understood what passion meant. Oh my God, I could have kissed him all day.
Eventually, though, we had to stop.
“Bye, Amanda,” he whispered in the sexiest voice.
“Bye, Will.”
I watched him walk toward the parking lot, then turned to go inside. I opened the door to find Christie and Nic sitting on the couch pretending to read magazines. Nic’s copy of Cosmo was upside down.
“I know you guys are better at the spy thing than that,” I said. “You just want me to know you were watching so I’ll be embarrassed.”
“Watching what?” Christie asked. She shared a look with Nic and then collapsed in a fit of giggles.
Chapter Fifteen
Christie’s car wouldn’t start, so Nic offered to drive us to the airport in his jeep. He loaded my bags in the back, and I watched very closely to see if a square black box happened to be switched on. Nic winked at me as he switched it off. How sweet! He’d disabled her car to save me another ride from hell.
I mouthed, “Thank you.”
Then, I looked at Christie who seemed uncharacteristically oblivious to the whole thing. She stared into space for a moment, then turned and winked at me too.
These two were definitely twisted. I guess Christie will get him back later, but I don’t mind because I’m thrilled to be spared a warp speed ride to the airport.
I couldn’t believe I’d only flown into New Jersey a week ago. It seemed like forever. I was going to miss Christie and Nic. And Grandma. And, of course, Will.
Nic let us out and went to park the jeep. Christie and I walked through the airport to check my suitcase. She greeted some of the chemists waiting for their flights. Not one of them knew she was anything other than the university event planner, so she had to be polite.
A middle-aged Asian man walked up to Christie, “Please let Dr. Ivan know how much I enjoyed the symposium. I didn’t see him last night or this morning. And remind him that I’d like him to speak next year at our conference.”
“I certainly will Dr. Lee. He’ll be glad to hear it.” She smiled until he walked away. Then she turned to me. “It’ll give him something to think about while he’s in prison.”
It was really kind of sad. The man had a great career and a good reputation as a chemist. Now, he was nothing but a criminal.
We went through the security screeners and up to the gate. Nic caught up with us.
My super-spy aunt gave me a big hug. Nic did too.
“I’m so glad you got to come,” Christie said. “It’s nice to be able to share all this with you.”
“You did a great job. If only your aunt were so easy to work with.”
He oofed when she elbowed him in the ribs.
“Next time we work together, maybe I’ll have a new partner,” Christie said through her teeth.
“Don’t worry, Amanda. I’ll still be here. No one else is dumb enough to get suckered into working with your aunt.” This time he managed to dodge her elbow.
“You just called yourself dumb.”
“Did not.
”Thanks, guys. See ya.” Maybe going home wouldn’t be so hard after all.
“Oh, and sweetie,” Christie said. “Make sure and check your email as soon as you get home.”
“Did you send me something?”
“Not me. Will.”
Cool, but, “How do you know?”
She did this fake whistling thing my mom does when she knows she’s done something I wouldn’t like.
“Christie, stay out of my inbox!”
“I’ll take care of her for you,” Nic said waving me off. “Get on the plane. And stay away from the boys when you get home.”
“Yes, sir.” I gave him a mock salute.
Then, I turned and walked out to the plane. I’d have to email Will and tell him not to write anything too personal because Christie might be lurking in my mailbox.
Then, I laughed out loud right as the stewardess greeted me because I realized how great it felt to have someone who might get “personal” in an email. So awesome.
I knew we’d probably just be friends because even I know that whole long distance relationship thing doesn’t work, but life was full of surprises. I was starting to think sometimes they were actually good.
I sat down and relaxed in my seat. Flying was nothing compared to what I’ve been through. After all, I was a fifteen-year-old spy who helped recover some missing truth serum, shot a man with a tranquilizer dart, and most amazingly—reeled in a hottie.
About the Author
Juli Alexander writes fiction for teens and tweens. Investigating the Hottie is her 7th release in 2012. Visit her at Julialexanderauthor.com or @juli_alexander on Twitter.
Other Books by Juli Alexander
Stirring Up Trouble
Trouble's Brewing, the sequel to Stirring Up Trouble
Valentine's Day Sucks (A Young Adult Romance Novella)
“Camp Cauldron,” a short story in Eternal Spring, a YA Anthology
The Karma Beat
My Life as the Ugly Stepsister
Investigating the Hottie Page 13