Her mother rolled her eyes up toward the ceiling, and for the first time, Charlie noticed that they were rimmed with red. Charlie’s heart nearly stopped in her chest.
“Mom,” she said. Her jaw hung open. “You just called me Charlie.”
Her mother raised her hand and wiped away a fat tear that had broken free from the corner of her eye and rolled down her cheek.
“Really, dear,” she said with a sniffle. “Is that all that you took away from what I said?”
“Not hardly.” Charlie uncrossed her arms, and pushed herself off the hard marble. In an instant, she wrapped her arms around her mom and held on tight.
Not that her mother seemed to appreciate the gesture. She struggled in Charlie’s hold. “What are you doing?”
“Hugging you, Mom,” she said, holding on even tighter. “It’s a strange little thing some people do when they love each other.”
“Some people might,” she said, keeping her voice stern. “But not Keswicks.”
Charlie let out a small laugh, then turned when she heard the kitchen door swing open. Bowie stood in the center. His flat expression didn’t change as he took in the awkward scene as she tried to embrace her squirming mother, but his gaze did flicker.
“We should go,” he said.
“Excuse me?” With one last twist, Charlie’s mom finally managed to wriggle free. “You’re leaving? While there are people trying to kill you?”
Charlie nodded before turning back to her mother. “Which is why it’s doubly important that we finish what we’re working on.”
Her mother’s lips flattened. “So this does have to do with that silly job of yours?”
Charlie rolled her eyes, and walked to Bowie’s side. “I didn’t say that, Mom.”
“But it’s what you meant,” her mother said in her most self-satisfied tone.
Charlie choked back a growl. If there was one thing she hated, it was when her mother was right. She needed to get out of the house before she said anything else. Anything that Trevor might pick up on the security audio.
“I can’t talk about this right now, Mom,” she said.
“And when will you be able to talk about it?” Her mother’s expression grew dark. “Because with the way things have been going, the next time I visit you in the hospital it might be down in the morgue.”
“Mother—”
“Don’t you Mother me, young lady,” her mother spat out in a tone Charlie hadn’t heard since she was sixteen. “Your life is in danger if you leave this house.”
“And yours is in danger if I stay,” Charlie said before she could think better of it.
Her mother’s eyes widened in shock, and Charlie fought back a wave of guilt for exposing her to such a bald truth. It didn’t help any when a moment later her mother’s jaw tightened as she wrestled her emotions back under control.
“How little you must think of me to believe that I would value my own safety above yours,” her mother said, pulling back her shoulders. “Besides, I happen to be much tougher than I look.”
Charlie couldn’t help the slight smile that tugged at her lips. She didn’t need a reminder of just how tenacious her mother could be. Not that it would mean a thing if the bullets started flying again.
“You’re just going to have to trust me,” Charlie said, giving her mom one last embrace. “I’ll be safe at the office. I promise.”
When she pulled back, her mother’s lips were pursed together tight. It was obvious that she wasn’t convinced. Too bad, Charlie didn’t have the time to stick around until she was. She needed to get back to the office and start working on decrypting the government file. The sooner she got started the sooner all this would be over.
“Charlie,” Bowie prompted her. She turned. He held out his arm. “We really need to get going.”
Her mother sent an angry glare his way.
“And as for you, Mr. Tamatoa.” Her voice practically vibrated with anger. “If anything happens to my daughter, I will never forgive you.”
Bowie paused for a moment before giving her mother a single nod. “Neither would I, ma’am.”
Chapter Fourteen
“Son of a bitch.”
Bowie drew in a deep breath at the familiar sound of Charlie’s rushed curse. That was the sixth one in the last half hour. Things obviously weren’t going well.
“I’ve never had to break State Department encryption before,” she muttered. “It’s almost like these jerks don’t want anyone snooping around in their secret files.”
“They don’t,” Bowie said.
“Well, that’s too bad,” she growled. “Cause I’m cracking this shell one way or the other.”
Bowie turned from his usual post in her office doorway and saw her in the exact same position she’d been in a full hour ago—hunched over her desk, her mouth screwed to the side in concentration, her brows pulled down low, her eyes focused on the computer screen. The only difference this time were the dark circles under her eyes.
Charlie had a way of immersing herself in puzzles, refusing to stop until she’d conquered them. She’d been at this one all day, long enough for the sun to set and the office to become a ghost town. Now the place was dead quiet, and it didn’t sound like she was any closer to solving the riddle.
“You need to take a break,” he said.
“Can’t.” She didn’t look up. “I’ve almost got this figured out.”
“That’s what you said two hours ago.”
“Two hours?” She finally pried her gaze away from the computer. Her eyes were bloodshot and rimmed with red. “Crap. I thought that was twenty minutes ago.”
“This is ridiculous,” Bowie said, stepping away from the door. “No wonder you’re not getting anywhere. You’re exhausted.”
Charlie shook her head, and shifted her attention back to her computer. Her eyelids fluttered a few too many times as she tried to refocus on the glowing screen. “I’m fine.”
“The hell you are.” Bowie moved around her desk and swung her chair around to face him. Her mouth fell open, but her shock quickly turned into a yawn. “Tell me what you’ve been doing for the last hour.”
“I would,” she said, her gaze shifting to the side, “but I doubt that you’d understand a word I’d say.”
Fair enough.
“Then tell me this,” he said. “Have you been starting and stopping? Trying the same thing over and over? Losing your place and having to start over again?”
Color flushed her cheeks. “What’s your point?”
“You’ve been at this for twelve hours straight. It’s past midnight. What you need is some sleep.”
“Don’t be silly,” she said. “You know I can’t sleep until I crack this file.”
“And you’re not going to be able to crack it until you get some sleep.”
She glared up at him. “You sound like my mother.”
“What I sound like,” he said, gripping the armrests of her chair and angling himself over her, “is someone who cares about you.”
“I think I liked it better when you loomed silently in my doorway.” She shot him a teasing smile, and forced him back as she stood up. “But you’re right. Maybe a coffee break is the answer.”
“I didn’t say a coffee br—”
“Take the compromise,” she called over her shoulder. She was already halfway out of her office and on her way to the break room. “It’s all you’re going to get.”
Bowie followed her.
At least he’d succeeded in getting her out of her chair and away from those damned computers. Now all he had to do was talk some sense into her in the short time it took to brew a pot of coffee.
And if that didn’t work he could always just throw her over his shoulder and toss her on her couch.
“Are we the only ones here?” Charlie asked, walking through the maze of empty cubicles.
“I think so,” he said. “Every straight thinking person went home hours ago.”
She shot him a
sharp look over her shoulder as she entered the break room. “I think you mean everyone not burdened with the task of protecting their family and getting a deranged lunatic off the street.”
She made a beeline for the coffee machine and started scooping in fresh grounds.
“The world isn’t going to fall apart if you take a nap, Charlie.”
“The world as a whole? Probably not.” She poured in the water, hit the brew button, and faced him. “But mine might.”
Bowie moved right in front of her, close enough to pin her between his body and the countertop. She tilted her head back, wetting her lips as she looked up at him.
Dear God, how many times had he fantasized about this very situation? The two of them alone in the office late at night. The look of desire shining in those beautiful eyes. Their lips close enough to feel the wash of the other’s breath. Their bodies even closer.
Of course, in those fantasies she wasn’t teetering on the edge of complete exhaustion and they weren’t hiding out from a psychopath…but other than that, this was pretty damn close.
“That’s not going to happen,” he said. “I’d slit Bishop’s throat before I’d let him lay a finger on you.”
A slow, sad smile spread across her lips.
“That’s the problem. You’re worried about me, but I’m worried about my mother and my father. I’m worried about my brother and Eloise. I’m worried about the next poor Daniel Cooper out on the streets,” she said. “That’s why I can’t give up or waste time on sleep. Everyone has worked so hard to bring Trevor down, but now it’s up to me. I’m the only one who can crack this file. I can’t let everyone down. It’s my job to finish it.”
Bowie lifted a hand and cupped her warm, smooth cheek.
“And it’s my job to take care of you so you can.”
“See, that right there is why I fell in love with you,” she said, the laughter returning to her eyes. “I go out of my way to make some great speech and, with a dozen words, you completely destroy my argument.”
He leaned in, pressing his chest flush against hers. “Did you just say you love me?”
A pretty blush lit up her cheeks. “Sure sounded like it.”
Bowie curled his hand around the nape of her neck. He lowered his head toward hers. “Say it again.”
Her smile turned mischievous. “Say what?”
He pressed harder, inched closer, until his lips just barely brushed against hers. “Say it again.”
“I love you, Bowie,” she whispered. “I have for a long time.”
He didn’t wait another second. He captured her mouth with his, teasing her lower lips with the scrape of his teeth. He wrapped his arm around her waist and lifted her onto the countertop. He wedged his hips between her legs until he was nestled against the most intimate part of her.
A low sound of passion escaped her throat. Her head rolled back, breaking the kiss. Bowie didn’t mind. He concentrated on her neck instead, moving his mouth and tongue over the long smooth column. Charlie’s fingers raked through his hair and over his shoulders, urging him on.
Not that he needed much urging. Apparently, all he needed was a single taste of her to be rock hard and ready to go. His only worry? Carry her back to her office and make love to her on her couch? Or skip the walk and take her right here on the counter?
Both options had their appeal—
“Oh, wow,” a startled female voice squeaked. “There is no way I’m going to be able to unsee that.”
Bowie spun around on his heel. Sara stood in the entryway to the break room, her mouth hanging wide open. Mason was right by her side, but he didn’t look half as shocked. Instead, the son of a bitch looked like he was fighting back laughter.
“What the hell are you two doing here?” Bowie demanded.
“Catching the midnight show, by the looks of it,” Mason said.
That was it. Bowie saw red and took a step toward Mason, but Charlie wrapped her hand around his shoulder, holding him back. He could have easily broken free, but he didn’t want to leave her hanging on the countertop…especially not so he could punch one of their best friends in the face.
“I think what Bowie meant was what are you two still doing in the office?” Charlie said in her most diplomatic voice.
“Working,” Mason said. “The real question is what are you two doing?”
“That’s none of your damned business,” Bowie answered through gritted teeth.
Mason laughed. “Well, good to see that some things never change.”
Charlie let out a long sigh, as she tightened her grasp on his shoulders and used him to steady herself as she slid down to the floor.
“We were just taking a little coffee break,” she said. “I’m still trying to crack the file James delivered.”
“Any luck?” Mason asked.
Charlie shook her head. “Not yet.”
“I’m not surprised,” Sara said, her expression turning concerned. “You look like you’ve been through the ringer. When was the last time you slept?”
“I’m fine,” she protested.
“The hell you are,” Mason said. “Sara’s right. You look dead tired. Do yourself a favor and take a nap. You’ll be able to figure it out once your head is clear.”
Charlie waved off the suggestion. “What are you two working on?”
“Nothing that matters,” Mason said, rolling his eyes.
“I’m trying to figure out how James broke in to the Truman Building without being detected,” Sara said. Her brow crinkled in frustration. “I’ve been looking over every plan we have of the building, but I must be missing a piece. Because from what I can see, there’s no way he could have done it. It just doesn’t make sense. All I can figure is that maybe he is magic after all.”
“He isn’t,” Bowie and Mason said simultaneously.
Sara shrugged. “You can guess how happy I was to take a break when we smelled coffee brewing.”
“Well, it’s all yours,” Charlie said, stepping away from the counter. “I think I’m going to take everyone’s advice and go take a nap instead.”
“Good choice,” Mason said. He grabbed a couple of mugs.
“You coming, Bowie?” Charlie called out as she made her way back to her office.
Both Mason and Sara snapped their gazes his way. Bowie drew in a deep breath and let his shoulders fall.
“Either of you say a word about this, and they’ll never find your bodies,” he said before following Charlie back to her office.
“You bet, Big Guy,” Sara said with a slight chuckle.
But he could hear the two of them talking under their breath the moment he stepped outside.
“Do you remember who bet on the break room?”
“I think it was Rhys.”
“Damn it. Not again. I can’t stand losing to him.”
***
Ding. Ding.
Charlie shot straight up at the sound of her text alarm. Her arms flew out to the side—reaching for the spot where she laid her phone each night.
But her arms flailed in the open air. Her phone wasn’t there. Neither was the bed stand.
She shook her head and rubbed her eyes as her fuzzy brain took in her surroundings—the desk, the bank of computers, the brown leather couch she was stretched out on.
Of course, her bed stand wasn’t there. She wasn’t at home. She wasn’t at her parents’ house either.
She was in her office.
Some of the sleepy fog lifted.
She was still in her office because she hadn’t finished working. She hadn’t finished breaking the encrypted file. She’d taken a nap instead.
Charlie glanced at the window. Panic filled her chest at the sight of sunlight flooding in through the slats of her blinds.
Daylight? When the hell had that happened? She was only supposed to take a nap for God’s sake. She glanced over at the clock on her wall. The time read eight seventeen.
Damn it.
What had she been thinking?
She’d needed to get the files decrypted and sent to the press before her brother’s ceremony at noon, and she’d wasted all her time sleeping.
“Hey,” a deep voice drifted from the doorway. “I thought you might be ready to get up.”
Bowie walked through her office doorway with two steaming mugs of coffee. She shook her head as she took one.
“You should have woken me sooner,” she said, taking a deep breath and drawing in the dark aroma. A little more of the haze cleared from her brain.
“You needed the sleep,” he said.
“I needed to crack the files.”
“And now you will.” His voice was calm and confident as he sat next to her.
“But now I only have a little under four hours to do it in. Three if I don’t want to show up to Henry’s wedding looking like I spent the night under a freeway overpass,” she said. As it was, the entire wedding party was already at the church surrounded by hairdressers and makeup artists. But it looked like Charlie was just going to have to settle for raking her fingers through her hair a couple of times. Her mother was never going to forgive her. “That’s not enough time.”
“Maybe not for someone else,” he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and pulling her close. “But I’ve seen you do the impossible before. You’ll have that file cracked in no time.”
The weird thing was, when he said it, she kind of believed him. There was just something magical in his voice. Something real.
He actually believed in her, she realized, and his trust was enough to make her want to believe as well.
Charlie cupped her mug tighter as she relaxed against Bowie. She took a sip of the coffee, and felt her body and mind start to wake up. It felt good. Good enough for her to indulge in the moment for a few seconds longer.
Ding. Ding.
Charlie’s gaze snapped toward the sound. She spotted her phone sitting on top of her desk. Right where she’d left it last night.
Suddenly, she remembered that sound had woken her up. She sprinted across the room to grab it. She wasn’t sure why she was rushing. It was probably just her mother chastising her again, wondering if she was going to be late to the ceremony…if she was going to make it at all.
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