“Um, Charley?” Lily whispered inches from Charley’s ear.

“Yeah?” She refused to take her eyes off the couple on the dance floor.

“Did you know it’s ten ’til?”

Charley widened her eyes, whirling toward Lily. “What? Midnight? It can’t be.” Charley searched for a clock-any of them-with a preference for one that ticked too slow.

Lily pulled her cell phone from her clutch, turned it to Charley. The numbers blinked a bright green. Charley’s mouth fell open as the digits shifted to eleven fifty-one.

Less than nine minutes. “No!” Charley’s voice turned to a whispered cry. She kept her voice low to prevent Stuart from overhearing. “It has to be wrong! Lil, it has to be!”

Lily shook her head. “It’s not, honey.” She took Charley’s hands in hers, squeezed. “Go break in, dance with him until the last tick-tock. I’ll be outside with James.”

“How will I know the time?” She hadn’t thought that far ahead.

“You’ll know.” Lily rose. One tear slid down her cheek. She wiped it away with a finger.

“Stuart?” Lily tapped him on the shoulder. “Gotta pee.”

He saluted.

Lily disappeared into the corridor. Charley knew it would be the last time he and the girl he knew as Leena would see each other.


***

Charley’s hands shook. Her body radiated a pain she considered worse than any shift she’d gone through before, and still she sat and watched Wyatt dance with Julie.

“Get out there!” Stuart’s yell barely reached above the music. “Don’t let Julie spoil it!”

She’d done so for far too long. Charley rose, wobbled on heels she’d grown fond of, kept her chin up, eyes on her prize, and mind tuned to the countdown, which would last for an additional eight minutes.

Julie turned Wyatt to face away and offered Charley one long glare as she approached.

Doesn’t she know she can have him? In less than eight minutes, no less? With greater determination, Charley marched toward them.

She’d play it Julie’s way.

Rather than a simple, polite tap on the shoulder, Charley ran her fingers up the back of Wyatt’s neck.

His arms dropped from Julie with a thud against his pants, and he spun to Charley, grabbed her and crushed his lips to hers.

With a huff of breath, Julie slunk away, a proverbial tail between her legs.

“I thought you’d never break in.” Wyatt nipped at her lips. “That dance was awful.”

“Here now.” They fit their bodies together once again, the music lulling them into an easy sway.

Charley’s arms found his shoulders. Wyatt’s found her lower back. Yet, they moved only their lips, shifting and adjusting to take each other farther into passion.

“I’ll never forget this,” she said.

“What?”

She hadn’t meant to speak out loud. She crushed her lips against his again. She’d wanted to curtail her thoughts, to secret them away.

“Okay, folks! We have five minutes! Five minutes left. Let’s wind this party down with two favorites. First, a classic.” Barry White’s wholesome and deep voice took over.

“So.” Wyatt pulled her tight. “Stuart and I have a little extra planned for tonight.”

“You-you do?” Charley faked a cough to cover the hitch in her breath.

“Oh, yeah.” He smiled against her lips.

As Barry spun a tale of love that resonated as deep as his voice, Wyatt’s fingers roamed Charley’s sides, teased small strokes that tickled and aroused. As his hands moved up, he extended hers above her head and into the air-a position she’d only ever seen prone. He walked the length of her arm with his fingers as lips and tongue slid from side to side, sending shivers to her toes.

Their hip’s sway matched the melody. She let her arms float down until her fingers tangled in the silk of his hair again. More sensual than sex itself, they moved together.

“Wyatt?” She mouthed against him.

“Hmm?” His lips found new spots to lay their mark. He kissed her cheek and the length of her neck which stretched and arched in instinctive desire.

I can’t do this! I can’t let him go again!

“Last dance! This is the last dance!” the DJ announced. “Good night, Barry; hello, Ricky!” “Private Emotion” hit the queue.

Ricky Martin’s voice rang through the room as dancers swayed in time with its rhythm.

Charley pulled Wyatt’s face to hers. Tears burned in her eyes, but she held them in check.

As the words to the song echoed, she considered the impossible. Can I just tell him? What if he understands? She shook her head at herself, forced herself to stop before he registered the motion.

Their lips ranged across each other’s as they moved to the music.

No, I can’t. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. The image of James, Lily and Cael all passed through her mind-the promises she’d made to each of them a distant memory.

The lyrics stole her thoughts. Nearly overcome, she let a tear fall.

“Mira?” He pulled her face away. His hands cupped her cheeks. His thumb traced the path made by the tear.

Charley’s knees wobbled, hands shook. Her vision blurred but not before she caught a glimpse of the black that invaded the ends of her curls. Oh, god no!

“Wyatt.” Charley whimpered as the shimmer and pain radiated up from her toes. No! No! No! Not yet! More time! “Wyatt!” She clung to him, heard him respond with deep concern, though she no longer registered the words. Her own emotions and pain grew too great. Charley kept her eyes low.

In one swift move, she pulled his face down to hers, kissed him with a ferocity she hoped he would understand. With her hands on his cheeks, his wrapped around her wrists, she flashed her eyes up at him.

He gasped and let go.

Charley grabbed his hands, drew them together, laid a kiss on his knuckles and whispered, “I love you, Wyatt!” before she took off. Running to the exit, she pushed past dancers and ignored Stuart as he called her name.

The shimmer built to a burn. Her motion pressed it further, faster. Tears mixed with sweat and the heat of the change. Still, she ran. Her shoes clicked against tile once she pushed through the doors. The outside air cooled the surface of her skin. Underneath, she raged with anger at herself, and with fear and worry for Wyatt.

Her broken heart bore the worst of the pain.

She’d shocked him then disappeared, left him with no explanations and no warning.

Charley made it to the parking circle, her eyes glazed from the shift and tears.

James met her, guiding the way to the car where Lily sat.

“Oh, god! James! What have I done?”

“Nothing. You’ve done nothing but fall in love.” His hand stroked the back of hers.

As he tucked her into the front seat, Wyatt yelled into the night the name Charley would never hear again.

“Mira!”

7

“What the hell?” Wyatt said as Stuart slid to a stop next to him.

The sedan Mira hopped into zoomed out of range, its red lights fading in the distance. Wyatt punched his palm with his fist.

“She in that car?” Stuart dropped his hands to his knees.

“Everything okay out here?” Mr. Miter said from a crack in the door.

Had no one but him and Stuart noticed his girlfriend run like a banshee through a crowded room? What they said about witnesses must be true: they miss the obvious. “Yeah.”

The doors closed again.

Wyatt turned to Stuart. “She was. In that car, I mean.”

“How’d she get out here so fast?”

Wyatt had chased Mira as she flew through the dance hall, hadn’t known she would be so quick. He’d caught a speck of color as she pushed out into the patio where they’d almost fulfilled his ultimate fantasy.

“What happened, man?” Stuart asked.

Wyatt ran a hand through his hair. “I have no idea.”

He’d been happily entwined in her arms, fingers, lips, cheeks-touching and arousing. He’d found a tear on his thumb and worried he’d hurt her in some way-the dance with Julie burning in his gut.

One day. He only had one day left with her, and he’d spent more than a second with someone else.

Stuart slunk to the side. “What do we do?”

Wyatt paced back and forth along the patio, yanking at his hair. The glint of light off the slate brought to mind her eyes. The light had played a trick on them right before she’d called out a quick ‘I love you’ and bolted.

Stuart leaned against the building’s brick. “Wyatt, man. What’cha gonna do?”

He slapped his hands against his thighs. “I’m going to find her.”

“I’ll go with ya.”

“You don’t have to.” Wyatt grabbed his keys from his pants pocket. They jiggled in his hand as he searched for the right one.

“You’re my ride, dude.” Stuart huffed a laughed. “I gotta. Uh… what about Leena?”

“She’s with them.” As Wyatt’s car came into view, Stuart took a right. With two beeps, they opened the doors and slid into their seats. Before he could close his door, the call of his name took his attention.

Julie stood on the red carpet.

“Not now, Julz.” Wyatt gripped the wheel, turned to Stuart. “Ready?”

“I’m with you, man.”

Julie stood at the end of the path, turning her head as Wyatt backed out of the spot.

Where did she go?

“Home?” Stuart said out loud.

“Can you read minds, man?” Wyatt turned a one-eighty to put wheels on the road.

“Nah, just figured, if something were wrong with me, that’s where I’d go.”

“Why’d she call them?” Wyatt pushed the car to sixty-five on roads meant for half.

“Dunno, man.”

What have I done? Tires squealed as Wyatt sped up Turner Point. The headlights did little to light his way beyond the curve. Stuart’s knuckles turned white as he held on to the door. Wyatt’s breath grew ragged.