Undercover with the Hottie (Investigating the Hottie) (7 page)

Will opened his eyes and grinned at me. “I'm sure they wouldn't. Besides I would have been impressed by that evasive flying maneuver you did if I weren't about to smash face first into the sidewalk at the time.”

“Close your eye, it's still red.”

“You don't like red eyes?”

“I like your eyes no matter what, but I like the blue better.”

“You like my eyes?” He was lying there, with his eyes closed, and a smile on his face.

“I do like them.”  Here was my chance to flirt a little. “I like more than just your eyes.”

“Really? Like my nose too?”

I laughed. “Um, yeah.”

“What about my lips?”  He pointed to his pouty lips.

“Yeah, they're okay.”

“Just okay? I don't think you really like them. I think you only like me for my eyes, and now that I've turned my eye into a stewed tomato, you're going to dump me.”

He cracked open his good eye to see if I was falling for it.

“I am not going to dump you. I really do like your lips.”  I wanted to reassure him that his eye didn't come close to a stewed tomato, but, well, it did. So I just didn't go there.

“I'm having trouble believing you. If you really liked my lips, you'd prove it.”

My grin was so wide, it nearly split my face. Did I dare? I glanced over to the door to make sure Christie wasn't loitering nearby. No sign of her.

“Amanda?” Will said in a low voice.

I leaned forward a little, and the bed moved enough to clue Will in about my movement. His grin widened.

I raised up on my knees so that I hovered over his face. Then I got up my courage and leaned down to touch my lips to his.

“Took you long enough,” he murmured against my lips.

“Shup,” I said, shortening the two words into one and ending the conversation.

Will wrapped his arms around me as we kissed. A wave of exhilarating sensation swept through me.

“Is that how you're going to get his contact lens in?” Christie's question from the doorway jolted me back to reality, and if Will hadn't been holding me, I'd have fallen backwards off the bed.

I scooted back against the headboard, and Will sat up too.

Busted again.

“What... huh?” I asked as the fog around my brain began to clear.

“She wanted to know if that's how we were getting the lens in.”  Will's cheeks were red.

“I don't get it.”

“Are you going to use your tongue to put the contact in his eye?” Christie asked, making it pretty clear what she'd meant.

“Don't be ridiculous,” I scoffed, trying to play cool.

“Cuz, I don't think that's going to work.”  Christie's smile said she was enjoying teasing us.

I was hoping that meant she wasn't going to chew us out for our non-sibling-like behavior.

“Hey, guys, I think I'm ready to give this contact lens thing another try.”  Will sprung off the bed with an enthusiasm that was obviously overkill.

Christie wasn't so easily distracted. “You run along then, Will. I'll just talk to my second favorite niece.”

“I'm your only niece.”

“You'd think you could do better then.”

Will hesitated in the doorway.

“Go ahead,” I told him. “Christie was about to praise me on my innovative methods of distracting you from your Cyclopsian drama.”

“Cyclopsian?” he asked.

“I think she means it as in Cyclops,” Christie offered helpfully.

“Yeah,” he said, “I get that.”

“Visual impediment? Retinal challenge?”

“Shup,” he said.

I giggled like an idiot. Shup.

“You're both talking, but I swear you aren't speaking any language I've ever heard.”  Christie crossed her arms. “Now, beat it Cyclops boy. We need you ready for action.”

Will glared at her.

“Hey,” she said, “she started it.”

Will glared at me.

“And she made it way worse,” I said. “Cyclops boy? I would never.”  I raised one hand to my chest to emphasize my innocence.

Since he didn't respond, I added, “You've gone from tomato to more of a pink grapefruit.”

He closed the eye and backed from the room.

“Wait, were you winking at me?” I asked.

Christie shook her head. “I think he was avoiding you, and I'd be surprised if he's speaking to you.”

In order to properly convey my feelings about her snarkiness, I stuck out my tongue and blew a raspberry.

“Better watch out or your face will freeze like that,” Christie said.

“Yeah, right,” I griped. “I didn't fall for that when I was five, and I'm not going to fall for it now.”  I had totally fallen for it when I was five, but I would never admit it to her.

“You know you have your contact in already, right?” she asked.

Uh. “Yeah. So?”

“Will doesn't have his in, but you do.”

Obvious much? “Yeah, Christie. I get it.”

“If you really got it, you'd have turned beet red by now.”

Huh? “Why would I turn red?” The only time I turned red was when I was embarrassed, like when she busted me for kissing Will. Oh crudballs. I'd kissed Will, and I'd done it with the contact in. “OhmyGod give me that footage,” I screeched.

“Not. Gonna. Happen,” she said, entirely too full of herself.

“You can't watch it,” I said, giving it another shot.

“I can pretty much do whatever I want, chica.”

Unfortunately she was right. What now? Bargain? Bribe? Blackmail her? I didn't have anything to use against her. Other than telling Mom the spy thing, but I had to tell her that anyway and it didn't give me any leverage. If only I had closed my eyes when I'd kissed Will. Hey...

I did close my eyes. I thought back to the soft touch of his lips against mine. What did I see, what did I see? I saw Will pretty clearly, but I didn't remember seeing Will's face smooshed up into mine. “I closed my eyes,” I said, triumphantly. “I shut my eyes, and you have nothing. Hah!”

“You sure about that?” she asked. “Really sure? Or are you just hoping you closed them?”

Crudballs and marshmallows. Now I wasn't sure. It didn't take a master spy to make me doubt myself when it came to Will. And unfortunately, I was matching wits with a master spy. Uh, yeah. Maybe not quite matching. Christie seemed to be outwitting me.

I so wanted to wipe that smirk off her face. Taking a deep breath, I dug deep for some nonchalance. “Oh, I'm sure.”  I puffed up my chest a little to convey my confidence.

“You should go check on him,” my aunt said. “If he's past extremely ripe garden tomato, tell him to take another rest.”

Extremely ripe garden tomato? Had I ever seen a tomato from a garden? Yes, but those were grape tomatoes. Did that count?

I would be able to figure it out. Plus, he probably already had it in.

Will was in the downstairs bathroom. I didn't step inside, but I did stick my head round the corner to peer into the bathroom. Will was blinking rapidly and contact solution was running down his face. I was hopeful that he had managed to get the lens in, but I didn't have enough clues. “How's it going?”

“I don't think you really want to ask me that.”

So, I guess it wasn't going well.

“Anything I can do?”

He groaned. “I don't think you want me to answer that.”

Geez. “If you need to vent on somebody, I'll go get Christie.”

“No thanks.”  He squirted more solution on the contact and prepared for another try. “You should probably go though, because I'm about to crack.”

Thirty minutes or so later, Will had finished his second break, and Christie, Grandma, and I were having a huddle in the living room.

“At what point is this going to cause permanent injury to his eye?” Grandma asked.

“I don't know,” Christie admitted, “but at this point, we're undermining his confidence which cannot be good for our mission. We need Will full force. Cocky, self-assured hottie.”

“Hey!” She was not allowed to call him a hottie.

“Have you got a better way to describe him?”

Uh. No. I didn't bother to reply.

“I'm going to put a stop to this,” Grandma said. “I'm just going to have him wear my sunglasses.”  She stood and went to her purse. She pulled out a pair of sunglasses that weren't the large framed Grandma glasses that I had expected. Of course, I had learned that Grandma was anything but typical. The black pair of Ray Bans would work fine for Will. Grandma walked over to the bathroom.

“He can wear those instead of the lens?”  Why hadn't Christie told him that sooner?

“Yes, but it isn't ideal. He would have to keep them on all the time. Brenda comes off as eccentric when she keeps them on. Will might draw attention. The teens you guys are dealing with are just as likely to snatch them off his face as to give him a hard time about them.”

She had a point.

“And if he isn't wearing them, he isn't as secure as we need him to be. We have to be able to check in on you two. Otherwise, the risks of the mission may become intolerable.”

Intolerable. Like the driver getting shot.

“Will!” Grandma's voice carried from across the loft. “Don't be stubborn. You may need that eye one day. Wear the sunglasses.”

I choked on a giggle. I hadn't seen them in action as grandmother and grandson quite like this.

“My money's on Grandma,” Christie said. “She's a tough old bird.”

“She is going to kill you for saying that!”

She gestured away my concerns. “So you're betting Will will win?”

“I didn't say that.”  I didn't want to commit to either side. I didn't think Will could stand up to his feisty grandma on this issue, but wouldn't it be disloyal of me if I didn't pick my boyfriend?

“Fine, you take Will.”

“What are we betting anyway?”

She considered for a moment. “Winner decides how we spend New Year's Day.”

Oh please. Like I had a shot at some input in the first place. “Deal.”

With that settled, we turned to watch the event unfold in the bathroom. Grandma was still arguing with Will.

“I am not going to hurt myself, Grandma. Good grief! I'm here as a spy. I have to at least get this stupid thing in my eye.”

“Now, Will...”

“Grandma, go away and give me one more chance.”

“Oh for Heaven's sake. You stubborn, stubborn boy. Just like your mother.”

“Grandma, we all know who I get it from.”

Grandma sighed heavily and walked back over to us shaking her head.

“You gave up?” Christie asked in a blatant attempt to manipulate the outcome. “Shouldn't you stick to your guns?”

“I'll give him his 'one more try.'  What can it hurt?”

“It could hurt my plans for New Year's Day,” Christie grumbled under her breath.

“No cheating,” I hissed. If I did manage to win this bet, I was going to plan something heinous for New Year's.

Will rushed toward us pumping his fist in the air. “That's what I'm talking 'bout.”

“Oh no.”  Christie hung her head.

“Are you serious?” Grandma said. “All that time in the bathroom and all it takes is the threat of my sunglasses and you pop that sucker in your eye like a pro?”

We won, and Will got the lens in. We're ready to get back undercover and we're doing whatever we want on New Year's Day. “Go Team Will!” I shouted.

“Did you show him the sunglasses? I don't think he would have tried so hard if he'd known they were Ray Bans.”

Grandma looked at Christie like she'd grown purple tentacles. “The point was for him to get the lens in. Why are you splitting hairs when I got results?”

Christie blanched. That's right. Busted for being a bad leader. “Uh, you're right. Sorry. Good job, guys.”

“As soon as Will's eye fades from stoplight red to a nice mid-pink, we'll send you two back out there.”

Will came closer, grinning at his success.

“Guess what?” I said.

“What?”

“We won.”

“The more time you spend with your aunt, the less I understand anything you say.”

“Hey, that's not nice.”

He shrugged. “You two are kind of nuts together.”

I raised a brow and pierced him with a glare.

It was a really good thing that we'd gotten up so ridiculously early because the doorbell rang about twenty minutes later.

Grandma could see who it was on the tablet, but she didn't give us a hint. “Why don't you answer the door, Amanda?”

Did that mean it was one of the guys? I wasn't so sure I liked being used as boy bait.

Chapter Seven

I pulled open the door to find three of the girls from last night instead of the boys. I realized from the look of disappointment on their faces that they were here to see Will. And I was pretty sure they were posing to look their best.

“Oh, hi,” one said.

The other two covered their desire to see Will instead of me with perkier greetings.

“Hey guys,” I said, forcing a smile. “Come on in and meet my, er, mother and grandmother.”  If only I could remember their names to introduce them.

“Oh, we know Brenda already.”

“She's hilarious,” another said.

Good. Maybe Grandma could remember their names. Then I wouldn't have to be embarrassed.

I stepped back so they could come in. They immediately spotted Will and gushed all over him.

“Will!”

“Hey, Will!”

And one of them mumbled, “The boy looks good in jeans.”

With a heavy sigh, I closed the door. I guess I couldn't kick them out on their tushes. Although, imagining the three girls tripping over each other as we propelled them out of the house with a firm shove... Maybe the image brought a smile to my face.

Christie met my eyes when I looked up. She raised a brow as if she could read my mind. It wasn't like I wanted them to get hurt. Maybe a skinned elbow and a few broken nails. A few scuffs on those boots I couldn't even identify but was sure cost a fortune.

“We just came by to see what you guys were up to today.”

“This is our mother,” Will said, motioning to Christie. “And our grandmother.”

“Nice to meet you girls,” Christie said.

“Well if it isn't April, Genesis, and Daphne,” Grandma said. “Haven't seen you guys in a couple of days. What a surprise.”

“We met Will and um, Amanda, last night.”