"Well, the kind of entertainment I was thinking about we can't engage in here," Aubrie said, her voice shaky.

"Why not?"

"Jamie's here!"

"I promise she won't barge in on us."

Aubrie shook her head, cheeks flaming. "What happens to a woman who loses her sight?"

"What do you mean?"

"How does she compensate?"

"Through her other senses."

"Like hearing?"

"For one, yes."

"There you go."

"Aubrie, I'm not following you at all."

"Hearing!" She said, wondering if there was more to his dimwit act than she'd thought.

Finally, some of his brain cells decided to get in on the act. "Oh! You're afraid she'll hear us."

"Bingo, Einstein."

"We can be quiet."

"Maybe you can."

He stared at her. "Are you saying…you're a talker?"

"And a moaner and, if you're got it in you, kind of a screamer."

"Oh, Lord." He muttered, scrubbing his face.

"I'm sorry if that bothers you. I can't seem to help it."

"Bothers me? You're kidding, right?"

"Well, you never know." Aubrie put her head in her hands. "I wouldn't be telling you all this if you hadn't plied me with liquor tonight, you know."

"Trust me, right now I'm glad I did. It will not bother me." He hesitated. "I could have sworn you were—"

"Pure as the driven snow?"

"Well, something like that."

"I hate to disappoint you."

"Oh, yeah, I'm almost ready to cry."

She smiled. "So the honest truth is, I wouldn't enjoy myself at all if I were really self-conscious about Jamie hearing us."

He seemed to mull that over. "Okay, I hear ya. Or, more appropriately, I want to hear ya."

She looked at her watch. "Another truth. It's a school night."

"You could always play hooky tomorrow."

"Sorry, no can do. Aubrie's pulling double duty tomorrow, seeing that Candi is quitting."

"You're getting rid of Candi?"

"If I never see another blond wig or Pump You Up bra again in my lifetime I will die happy."

"But your experiment!"

"It's over. It wasn't' scientific in the least, and I think I've learned more than I wanted to know."

"I'm going to sort of miss Candi."

Her jaw dropped. "Are you serious?"

"Oh honey, you were good for hours and hours of entertainment."

"I'm glad I amused you." She said, a little miffed—but not much. "I was that bad, wasn't' I?"

"You don't know how to be vacuous, Aubrie. And believe me I'm thrilled by that. Brains are so much sexier than breasts."

"Don't let other men hear you say that. You might be kicked out of the species."

He shook his head. "There are a bunch of us out there."

"Is it a secret society? Do you have a special handshake?"

He laughed. "The men who were more interested in your chest size aren't worthy of your time."

She was getting goopy all over again. Because she could tell he meant it. It was one thing to hear such sentiments from her brother and Gramps, but it was completely different from a man who was genuinely interested in making love to her. Especially a man like this one, who, she was certain, could have a woman with any chest size he wanted. She sighed. "Speaking of time, I really should get going."

He looked pained. "What are we going to do? You don't want to be with me here, and you've already mentioned that your house is off-limits."

She patted his chest. "You're a smart FBI guy. You'll probably figure something out."

"I pretty much have to. I'm not going to get any sleep until I do."

"Poor baby." She smiled. "Thanks for tonight. I actually had a good time."

"It could have been better." He muttered. But as she turned to go, he pulled her back. "Lady, if I'm not getting any sleep, neither are you." And with that he gave her a kiss that curled her toes and sent her pulse into aerobic levels.

Aubrie felt a little droopy the next morning, mostly because she'd hardly slept, thanks to a certain security specialist who kissed with a passion that she'd never experienced before. She tried to remember if anyone had kissed her like that in her life, and the honest answer was never. If she thought about it, kissing had always just seemed like a perfunctory prelude to getting naked. John kissed like it was his sustenance.

She'd marched into Mr. Barrett's office this morning and announced that Candi had called her the night before to say she was quitting, and could Aubrie cover until they found someone else. It had almost been comical to see the relief on Barrett's face.

On her morning break she trudged her way up to Mike's office. Luckily he wasn't in a meeting, and his secretary sent her right in.

"Howdy, big brother."

Mike's eyebrows rose. "What are you doing here?"

"Candi's dead."

"Excuse me?"

"Candi quit."

He sat back in his chair and tossed his pen on the desk. "And why is that?"

She dropped into a guest chair. "She wasn't really reliable anyway."

"You're finished playing dress up?"

"I wasn't playing. It was—"

"An experiment. Yes, I know. So you keep telling us."

She shrugged. "Whatever, it's done."

"Gramps will be very relieved. He was beginning to worry."

"Like you haven't added a few gray hairs to his head?"

"That'll be over soon, too."

"Thank God. You're not a very attractive girl."

"Speaking of attractive, what was with that date last night?"

"Just someone I know."

"William Shakespeare? What parent in his right mind would name a kid that?"

"I don't think they had a clue."

"Don't you think he's a little…um…effeminate?"

"I'm not marrying him, Mike. It was just someone to have dinner with." She frowned at him. "Speaking of which, what was with the ambush? Can I expect you to show up every time I have a date?"

He waved. "It was Cena's idea. He wanted to see what you were up to, and with whom."

"Well, the cat's out of the bag with him. Which is why Candi got a fast send-off."

"What do you mean the cat's out of the bag?"

"I told him my real reason for playing Barbie doll."

"Did you tell him you're my sister?"

"Not yet. But I will eventually."

He gave her a hard, piercing look. "And you feel the need to bare your soul to Cena why?"

"I like him."

"Funny enough, I approve."

"Oh, well, then I can die happy."

He grinned. "I'm still your older brother."

"Speaking of which, why don't you come clean about Michelle to him?"

"I will, but only right before I announce it to the staff."

"John wouldn't spill the news, Mike."

"I'm ninety-nine-point-nine percent certain you're right. It's more a matter of feeling like I owe it to the employees to be among the first to know."

She nodded. Knowing Mike and his ethics, it made perfect sense. But there was something about John that made her want to clear the air completely. Deception didn't sit well with her, she'd recently discovered. And she knew it hadn't sat well with Mike all these years, either. She'd be very happy when his charade was over with."

"Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I'm filling in for the time being, but I'm going to be handing in my notice, too. It's time for me to start looking for a job in my own field."

He smiled. "Barrett wont' be happy to hear that. He says you're great."

That gave her a warm fuzzy. "I'll kind of miss working with you." She said. "Not a lot but a teeny, tiny bit"

"Don't break down in tears or anything." He said.

Aubrie grinned. "You'll miss me, too."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes."

"Well all righty then."

Aubrie stood up. "Well, back to the salt mines." She turned to go, then swung back "Just an observation?"

"What's that?"

"The best part of this experiment was seeing how much your employees like and respect you."

He went still. "That's nice of you to say."

"Are you kidding? You're my tyrannical big brother. I would have loved nothing more than to inform you that you're a jerk on the job."

"I'll bet. But you know, there's still at least one traitor among us."

That had her marching right back to his desk. "You really believe that?"

"I do."

"Do you still think Nicole knows about it?"

"I don't know."

"I don't believe it for a second."

"How are you so sure?"

"I'm a sociologist with a minor in psych. I'm a better judge of character than you are. And I believe her."

"How do you know so much about Nicole all of a sudden?"

"Now don't get mad."

"Of course not. I never get mad at you…at least not more than once a day."

"We've become friends, Mike. At least tentatively. I honestly believe she's a good, honest, fun person."

"I hope you're right."

"You do?"

"Yes."

"I thought you hated her."

"So did I."

Aubrie hid a smile as she turned to go, but once out of his office, she couldn't help it. She nearly skipped to the elevator. Her brother was toast.

Aubrie was a little miffed at John. It was almost noon and he hadn't bothered to stop by to see her all morning. Not that he was required to, just that she'd sort of expected a "Good morning." at least. And she'd held out a little bit of hope that he'd ask her to lunch, although until she quit the firm altogether, it probably wasn't a good idea.

So, she went to plan B. She grabbed her cell phone and headed to the bathroom. She didn't know if or how her office space was bugged and that annoyed her. She dialed Nicole's number.

Nicole answered on the third ring. "Well, hello."

"Hi, William."

Nicole laughed. "It was a spur-of-the-moment thing."

"It was hilarious."

"Thanks. Their faces were priceless."

"No kidding. Listen I know its short notice, but are you free for lunch?"

"Actually, I was about to have my secretary send out for a sandwich, but getting some fresh air sounds good."

"Do you know where Lacy's Deli is?"

"Yep. Good stuff."

"About a half hour?"

"See you then."

John spent the morning taking Randy on tours of clients' facilities and explaining the intricacies of the different system his company had installed in the last few years. As John knew he would be, Randy was a quick learner. Of course, they'd had to learn a lot about security over the years with the FBI, so it wasn't a stretch.

They stopped for lunch at a diner on Route 7. After ordering burgers, John said. "So what do you think?"

"I have to say, I'm pretty excited about the opportunity."

John smiled. "Great." Working with Randy again, even if they weren't actually in the same location, was a superb opportunity. "But are you positive you want to leave the Bureau?"

"Were you positive?"

"Not at all. I just knew it was the right thing to do. For me."

"Well, I can't say I won't miss some of it. But I won't miss how much time I'm forced to be away from Leah and I sure as hell don't want to be away from the baby."

Baby. Even the word brought back an ache in John's gut. His child would be almost ten years old now, if—Randy and Leah to resent their having what he'd lost a decade ago. He conjured up a smile. "So it's a boy, huh?"

"Yes, I should have known. Once Leah decided something, she usually gets her way."

"Stubborn wench."

"Tell me about it." Randy said but he had the goofiest grin on his face.

"Picked out a name?"

"No. Leah wants him to be Randy Junior and call him RJ. I'm still fighting that. No kid should have to be named after me."

"You can always name him John."

"RJ it is."

John laughed. "Tell Leah she's welcome."

Their food arrived and they dug in. In between bites they discussed the logistics of setting up an office in Richmond.

"We'll have to rename the company. How about C and R Securities?"

"We don't have to rename it at all if you don't want. You founded the company."

"No. This is a partnership, pal."

"Speaking of partnerships, what's up on the dating scene? Why aren't you hitched yet?"

John stopped chewing. "You know why."

"That was a long time ago."

"Not long enough."

Randy shook his head. "When are you going to figure out that Krista was an aberration?"

"Krista was an abomination."

"She was one woman. Giving her this much power over you still is a loss on your side and a win on hers. Why are you letting her get away with this for so long? She's not worth it, buddy."

"I know."

"Then let it go already."

"I'm working on it."

"You'd think I'd be the last person to say this, but when you find the right lady, it's the greatest thing that will ever happen to you."

"You stole the last great lady."

"That's because I'm so charming." He put down his burger. "Seriously, aren't you interested in it at all? Are you even looking?"

"Interested in marriage? No. Interested in a relationship of some sort? Possibly."

"Why does the name Aubrie pop into my head?"

"Since when did you become such a matchmaker?

"You've got to admit, she'd beautiful."

"Yes, she is."

"Except in that getup. Jeez, what was she thinking?"

"Believe it or not, she was experimenting."

"Now that I think about it, in that getup she's just your type."

John could hardly dispute that. "I'm not so sure about that anymore."

"Then you finally are growing up."

"Anyway, she has this idea that she's so plain that she's almost invisible."

"Oh, so she's blind." Randy stopped. "I'm sorry, that was a really dumb thing to say."

John waved. "Not a problem. Jamie sees Aubrie better than Aubrie does."

"Doesn't surprise me. Jamie's one smart and intuitive lady."

"Guess what Aubrie told me last night."

"What's that?"

John looked around to make certain no one could overhear them. He probably shouldn't even be telling his best friend. Aubrie would not be happy. But he had never professed to be anything but a dumb, hormonal male. And he knew he could trust Randy with his life—had to on many occasions. "She thinks she's a screamer."

Randy grinned. "What do you mean, 'told you'? You mean you don't know."

"Not yet."

"You're slowing down, buddy."

"Well, she's also shy about it. I haven't had the opportunity to find out."

"Do you want to?"

"More than take my next breath."

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