Aimee Laine - Little White Lies

She smiled. “I know, James. I’ve been at this fifty years longer than you, remember?”

“Hey… uh… are you sure you’re okay?” Wyatt’s tone brimmed with concern.

Did he think James anything more than her bodyguard? Charley shoved at James as a teenage girl might a sibling. “Don’t mind my brother.”

“Keep them-”

“James.” She glanced up at him. “I got it. Seriously.”

He dropped his arms.

She drew in a deep breath, wrapping herself in Wyatt’s scent.

James dropped the set of his shoulders and stepped to Charley’s side but kept one hand around her upper arm. She stepped forward, stumbling at the curb, only to have James pull her tight against him.

He guided her to the hood of the car where she dropped like an anvil on the edge. Charley ventured a half-glance up and found Wyatt clad in jeans and tennis shoes. By the time she reached the hem of a blue T-shirt, James’s growl stopped her.

“Hey, thanks for trying to help.” Charley massaged her forehead to prevent eye contact.

“Your car didn’t hit anything did it? I mean, we didn’t realize we were in the lane so much.” Concern laced Wyatt’s tone.

Charley shook her head, curls dancing around her. “You need help with your car?”

The rumble in James’s chest grew as Charley skimmed farther upward. Wyatt’s biceps strained his shirt sleeves. His chest did the same to the front label for some rock band she didn’t recognize.

“Uh… no, I think he’s got it.” Wyatt thumbed over his shoulder.

The car shook as James kicked the wheel. “We should be going, Charley.”

Her body vibrated with a need only one of her kind could experience. She banked a shiver that ran from top to toe, reaching into her fingertips and leaving a tingle as if they’d fallen asleep.

She leaned back against the trunk, straightened her shoulders and met Wyatt’s gaze with a smile.

“I’m Charley.” She extended a hand despite the dramatic exhale from James.

Wyatt slid his against it. “You have really pretty green eyes.”

As do you. Charley’s body spasmed.

James broke their contact, pushed himself between them. Her head shook as he grabbed her cheeks with his hands.

“Not today, Charley.” He seethed through the near-silent command.

She tried to answer, but her nature betrayed her. Wyatt moved back, his hands in the air as if in surrender. She let the shimmer engulf her as it had in the car; her head lolled even with the hands which held her in place.

One final change. For Wyatt.

“Whoa, man, is she having a seizure?” Wyatt’s voice penetrated her fog.

“Yeah-a seizure. Open that door, please.” James gruff command would not be ignored.

She hung from his arms like a rag doll as he lifted her into them. The screech of a car door followed, but Charley kept her eyes shut, letting Wyatt’s voice and his image pass through her mind as she returned her focus inward. She envisioned faces, youth, features, likes and dislikes, to create in herself the perfect teenage girl-the ideal solution for Wyatt.

“Dammit, Charley! Stop. Now.” James’s whispered command broke through her veil of consciousness as his grip on her shoulder took her attention.

Soft leather slid under her hands and vibrated with the engine’s roar. The truck bucked and spun. Her head, at rest in James’s lap, lolled with the tight turn. Charley refocused on Wyatt’s form and face.

Her body shifted against James as the car sped through the curves she herself would have taken had Wyatt not interrupted her drive.

Preparation kept Charley’s smile hidden. James already saw through too much of her plan. Her desire to become the girl of Wyatt’s dreams won against her need to remain herself. She no longer wanted separation by age or kind. The change would be easy-and her last.

“Charley!” James’s gruff call of her name jarred her body, breaking her focus again.

The car jerked as he tugged at her instead of navigating the vehicle.

She shook her head, remaining silent. Each jiggle interrupted her process, preventing her from completing her body’s adjustments.

The screech of tires accompanied a sharp turn and a steep climb. The flip of his cell phone followed until the wheels ground to a halt, and she bounced against him.

“Get out here, now,” James said.

The night air rushed in with the storm of feet. The truck’s seat bounced as James exited and Charley fell flat to its surface. Hot air rushed over her face a moment later.

“What happened?” Cael’s voice cut through her mind.

James brought reinforcements. Charley pushed her body to move faster.

“She made eye contact with him.”

“Dammit, Charley. He’s not ready for you.”

Yes, he is! She turned her head back and forth as she struggled with her own decision. The burn in her toes reached upward to her shins, and the tingle in her fingers made it to her forearms.

Cael’s fingers pressed into her collarbones. “You know the rules.”

She grit her teeth, pulling permanence into her thighs and up farther into her chest. Rules be damned! The pressure at her neck bore down. We’re meant to be together!

His fingers moved out to her shoulders, pressed her into the truck’s seat. “I’m not going to let you pull it through, Charley. You’ll suffer for the next twenty-four hours if you have to. And you know I can hold you here the whole time.”

She wanted to scream and fight, but her body betrayed her as she impressed upon herself the final details that would entice Wyatt for the rest of his life. Her years of practice in silent shape-shifting backfired; she remained mute through her efforts.

“He’s too young.” Cael interrupted her again.

Her mind moved in and out between his words and her desire.

“He has to make the choice himself.”

But, I want him.

“You won’t get what you need out of this, Charley. It won’t happen.”

I still want him.

“He’s human, Charley.”

Undone, she let the shimmer fade. The force above her remained, but like an artist with a broken muse, she stopped the change. Her muscles burned with heat confined to her extremities. She blinked, opened to Cael’s upside down face, and closed her eyes once again.

“Is she back?” James’s voice carried to her.

“Yes. Lavender irises and vertical pupils. I’m going to let go, Charley.”

Released from the hold, she curled into herself. One day a year she had to deal with life as her natural self. She almost lost everything thanks to teenage desire which overruled over two hundred years of experience.

A hand massaged her shoulders, kneading muscles worn both from her original transformation and the second attempt.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

James’s breath caught the back of her ear, warm against the cool night. As her body’s temperature lowered, shivers ran through her. He fit himself snugly behind her.

“You can’t be sorry for wanting something so much you’d give up your life for it, but you promised, remember?”

She slid into his lap. Charley wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders as she laid her head down upon one.

“I’m so tired.” She whispered the words.

“Sleep.” James said.

Within seconds, she complied.

Exhaustion had overcome Charley. She’d teetered in consciousness, remembering only the sway as James lifted her into his arms before she’d woken, nude and tucked tight in bed. Given her ability to morph her entire body into another’s, she’d long since gotten over the need for modesty.

With the stars above and the trees everywhere around her mountaintop home, Charley’s balcony offered a place of refuge. Bundled in several blankets she’d hand-knit over the years, she curled into a wrought-iron chaise and let the wintery air take hold of her senses. Wyatt’s scent lingered, if only in the recesses of her mind.