by Fiona Quinn
“She drinks her drink.” Ty didn’t see anything to get ruffled about.
“One of the chemical body things that I had hoped to take advantage of was that she’d be sitting there drinking her chai in the heat of the sun. She wasn’t out there long enough to register that heat as having to do with where she was sitting and the temperature of the day. Instead, her brain would register the heat as having to do with the scenario that had just played out.”
“What chemistry are we talking about here?”
“All right, another love lesson.” White turned off the tablet and laid it beside her. “One of the most dependable neurotransmitter markers for love or lust is found in the skin. The water in a person’s skin conducts electricity.”
Rory jumped on the bed, walked over, and sniffed around White’s face and hair.
White sat very still.
“Lay down,” Ty commanded, and Rory complied, rolling on his back, belly up, looking from Ty to White to see if someone would rub his tummy.
Ty moved his chair closer to the bed, so he could comply. Rory had been a very good boy earlier. “I’m listening.”
“When a human is aroused by something in their environment, the body pushes water to the surface of the skin.”
“You mean sweat?”
“Yeah, as time goes by, but before you can actually see sweat.” She tapped the tablet on a still picture of Kira. “No sweat.” She tapped again at the end of the video. “Look at her nose and forehead. Sweat.”
Ty had been sweating, too. He’d thought it was his fear that the dog was going to be run over. But yeah, he’d admit it, he’d had an immediate and profound body reaction when he stood beside Kira.
“With more water near the surface of the skin, there isn’t as much electrical resistance.”
“Applying that to Kira…”
“Looking at someone you love, for example, makes that happen. Also, see this little smile on her face. Kind of weird. She looks shellshocked and happy at the same time. That’s what happens when you get zapped by the love bug.”
“Stop.”
“You think I’m kidding? It’s the peripheral nervous system at play. The electricity makes the zygomatic muscles in the face tug the corners of the lips up like that. This is the look of love at first sight. Which is exactly what we wanted. And—tada! Exactly what you manifested. Kudos.”
“Love at first sight is not a thing.” At least he’d been trying to convince himself of that from the moment he got back on that bike, and everything in his system told him not to ride away without Kira.
When he walked up to Kira with the dog under his arm, his whole body lit up with…something. It was like recognition, like they knew each other, were friends, were more… He’d had to use his combat skills to lower his pulse and play calm and cool under fire.
The look of fear on her face from concern for the dog had made his heart bang and clang around in his chest, had made him feel like he was expanding to shield and protect her. It was a sensation he’d never experienced before, and he didn’t know what to do with it.
White and her damned applied science.
Maybe this assignment wasn’t going to be as easy as he thought it would be.
He knew he wasn’t coming out of this unscathed.
“No, love at first sight isn’t a thing. Science would agree with you,” White was saying. “Relationship scientists believe in lust at first sight. And while you did great today, don’t start fist-pumping. Cognitive research shows that the initial electrical whooptie-do that Kira wrote about, spoke of, and showed on her face isn’t concrete. It could easily change to nothing the next time she sees you or on day five or on day five hundred. Every time you’re together during this assignment, we will be applying science to keep you in play.”
Rory rolled over and jumped off the bed, moving toward the air conditioning unit and lying down.
“You’re a dangerous woman.”
“And don’t you forget it.” She winked.
He lifted an eyebrow.
“That was the easiest part. Kira’s watched this movie dozens of times. I was almost a hundred percent we’d get that physiological response.”
“But we don’t know why. This scene may mean nothing to her.”
“I wanted her to see that played out in real life to set the tone of the trajectory. This is a happily ever after movie.”
“T-Rex would have been a better man for this assignment.” And while he said that, some Neanderthal part of him wanted to bang his chest and claim Kira as his woman. What a thought. He didn’t like this feeling. In his life with the Unit, he trained every day to be in command of his body, his emotions, and his actions. White was blowing that all to hell.
White batted her hand through the air. “T-Rex’s ears are too big.”
Ty pulled his brows together with confusion. T-Rex didn’t have big ears.
“My concern was over ear-to-eye ratio. Your ears and eyes are correct to show that you are prime for reproduction.”
“Repro—You’re kidding.”
“I am not. I measured all of the non-married Echo and Foxtrot men on my possibility list. Foxtrot, by the way, is doing recon for you out at the Range as we speak.”
Ty nodded.
She rubbed her bottom lip. “Do you want to know this?”
“Sure, why not?”
“In the most simplistic form. Our ears continue to grow throughout our lifetime. At some point, the eye-to-ear ratio comes into a phase where our caveman lizard brain picks up on that ratio to tell when a potential mate is in their age of procreation. So when you can physically create a baby, your eye and ear ratio will show you’re old enough to do that safely. Ears continue to grow. When you get to the age when, meh, maybe you’re too old to start making cubs, that ratio shifts, and a woman’s brain would say—”
“Friendzone.”
“Exactly. A nice enough friend but too old to protect and help raise the family. And before you start arguing that T-Rex is only a few years older than you, you must have been born with smaller ears. And I bet he got laid earlier than you did.”
“Not going there.”
“I’m not saying T-Rex is past his sell-by date. He’s an appealing man. There were other considerations that put you in the hot seat.”
“He knows more about long-term relationships. He was married, you know.”
“I know. And I can almost see from a man’s point of view why you’d say that. But it was another strike against using him. Even if he’s widowed, that’s not the draw that men on social media believe it is. When a woman finds out the man is widowed, the first question in her mind is—"
“What happened to his wife?”
“Exactly. Is this guy safe? How did she die? Anything odd there? Any reason why he wasn’t able to help or save her?”
“That’s a burden.” Maybe that was why T-Rex hadn’t dated since his wife was killed in action as a police officer.
“It’s the truth. Margaret Atwood of Handmaid’s Tale fame said, ‘Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.’”
Ty’s brow pulled in tight. “Is that true?”
“Pretty much.” She reached for the mug on his side table, looked in it, then set it back down, empty.
“But we were talking about ear ratios. Kira couldn’t possibly have seen my ears from across the street.”
White reached over and tapped his knee. “You had these particular jeans on, chosen to accentuate your muscled thighs and butt. Yup, this is me objectifying you—scientifically and professionally, of course.”
“Of course.”
“Kira mentioned that in the video. You heard her asking about your squats. I picked your clothes to mimic the hero in the movie, hence the rip in the knee. But why do you think the wardrobe person chose that particular outfit for the character?”
“Why don’t you tell me.”
“It showed off the character’s and your body ratio
s. Those ratios told Kira’s brain that not only were you down for a good fuck, but you’d make beautiful babies.”
“Jeezis, you’re kidding, right?” He stood up, feeling self-conscious. “Speaking of clothes, I’m going to change into my own things. Unless you need me to go out again and show off my ratios in public.”
“Go. Change.”
Ty bent over his ruck and found a pair of old tactical pants and a comfortably loose T.
“This works both ways, by the way, the mathematical equation of attraction. People like proportion. The more symmetrical the face, the more beautiful they’re considered. You have a very symmetrical face.”
“You measured.” He gathered his things and moved into the bathroom, leaving the door open, so White knew he was still listening.
“Every single face on my possibility list, yes, of course, I did. Every tool is being applied to this event to capture the High-Value Target we’re talking about here. Not Osama bin Laden high. But we’ve been putting blood and treasure on the line for a decade trying to get him. We’re not messing up this opportunity by being lazy or sloppy.”
While Ty wasn’t a huge fan of how he was being psychologically manipulated or, in turn, how he was manipulating Kira, it was still kind of interesting. What Ty thought was random was actually his brain function on its own secret agenda. Well, it was true that animals had one task, species survival. So it made sense that impregnation was a major driver in the biological reasons for his unconscious choices and surely, to some extent, his behavior.
Look at him; somehow, his body knew it was time. Ty had come to the conclusion he needed to put forth some effort and find his future Mrs. Newcomb and start his family. And he’d thought only women had biological clocks.
In his mind, Ty pulled up the image of Kira’s face just before she picked up her glass and slugged it down. She looked as shellshocked as he had felt. He could play it off as her fear for her dog, but Ty’s gut said, no.
He had affected her.
She had entered his bloodstream. It was like he could feel her as part of him.
“Let’s talk about broad shoulders.”
Ty didn’t answer. He was knocking around the bathroom, getting the too-tight jeans off.
“For men, it’s shoulder to waist ratio. For women, bust to waist to hip. Adonis figures for men. Aphrodite figures, an hourglass shape, for women. Your golden ratio of broad shoulders to tight abs tells Kira that you’re a strong, virile specimen of a man. And therefore, she will want to mate with you. And I wanted her to be very aware that you are an Adonis shape, so I dressed you to accentuate your innate traits.”
While on the surface, what White said was repulsive in terms of body shaming and stereotyping beauty, Ty had to tamp down the inner voice that was jumping up and down, cheering the thought that Kira would want to sleep with him.
“Hey, I’m making another pot of coffee. Do you want a cup?”
“No thanks.”
Ty could hear White get off the bed and move around the kitchen space.
“I bet if you think back,” White said. “When you’re in jeans and a T-shirt, you get the most female interest. The women are aware that you are proportionally desirable because you have the makings for fertility—making pretty babies for them and then being able to protect those babies into adulthood. Put on a jacket and confuse that Adonis measurement, and you won’t have nearly the same success rate. I think that’s why people fall in love in the spring. They’re shedding their winter clothes that obscure their ratios. Meh, it’s a theory.” The water ran at the kitchen area’s sink. “And also, for your awareness, Kira is an hourglass shape that closely approximates the golden ratio. So your procreative hormones should be egging you on too.”
“I thought you said it was because I looked like her brother figure, that guy Ben. Kira doesn’t look anything like my sister.”
“Molly? No, the science doesn’t support the theory. You just postulated that if a woman ends up with men who look like their brothers, that men in return will end up with women who look like their sisters. At least, I haven’t seen any studies that support that. And since I’m of Asian descent and I’m dating a guy whose grandparents are still in Sweden, I’m going to suggest that I prove the point. Now, this is science, but this isn’t the science that is consistent across all replications, obviously. And yes, I am slathering it on thick. Your ear ratio, your Adonis proportions, your brother-like face, the meet-cute that approximated a happily ever after movie.”
Ty came out of the bathroom with his folded clothes.
“We let her marinate until tomorrow afternoon when you’re going to happen upon her at the dog park. We just need to do what we can do based on available scientific data to make Kira fall in love with you by Thursday and invite you on Friday’s plane ride to Tanzania.”
“No pressure.”
“Actually, quite the opposite. Everything depends on your success getting into that compound so we can capture Omar Mohamed Imadi and stop his crusade of terror.”
Chapter Fifteen
Ty
There was a knock at his hotel room door. Ty went over and squinted through the peephole—White.
He threw the bolt and opened the door to her. Ty was aware that his muscles had braced.
“Dinner time,” she sing-songed. “I thought because of Rory, you might want to eat room service up here.” She pushed past him. “And I thought I’d join you, so we can go over the plans for your second meeting with Kira tomorrow.”
White walked over to the coffee table and picked up the room service folder, scanning down the page. “I’m going to get the Mediterranean platter.” She handed it to Ty to make his selection. Instead of accepting it, he said, “That’s fine for me, too.”
He waited while White called down their order. She covered the receiver with the flat of her hand. “Thirty minutes. I’m ordering some red wine. Are you drinking that, or do you want something different?”
“Water for me.”
Once White hung up the phone, she held out her hand. There was a little white vial resting on her palm.
What now?
“I’m going to jump right in because I don’t want to forget these or misplace them.”
He picked up the bottle and read the label. He didn’t recognize the name printed there.
“You need to use these before you meet Kira in person. They’re eye drops. They’ll last for an hour.”
“PCP?”
“Ha, you wish. No, these are mild dilators. They won’t make you look like you’ve just been to the ophthalmologist. You’ll still have visible irises.”
Ty curled his hand around them and sent her a questioning look before he walked to the bathroom, placing them next to his Dopp kit.
“Why do you need them?” White called after him. “Because you’ll be meeting Kira outside, and it’s going to be a sunny day, your pupils will normally be constricted.”
“The method behind the madness.” He reemerged and headed to the kitchen counter to prep Rory’s dinner.
“Unconsciously, the human brain is wired to look at pupil size.”
“Is this like the ear thing?” He reached up and tugged on his ear lobe. “She’ll think I’m fertile and ready to mate?”
“A little.” White slipped off her flip-flops and curled onto the sofa, making herself at home.
Rory trotted over and sniffed her, then jumped on the bed, thumped his tail a few times as he watched Ty scoop his food from the can.
“When someone looks at the person they care for—love—their pupils dilate. Your dilated pupils will tell Kira’s brain that you like her. Humans are hardwired for reciprocity. The hope is, though I have no data to support my hypothesis, that when she sees your enlarged pupils—”
“That sounds politely erotic.”
“Enlarged pupils can lead to engorged—"
“Yeah, okay.” He put the bowl on the floor and looked over at Rory. “Chow now.”
Rory stood
up and stretched back into a luxurious down-dog, then leaped to the ground and over to his bowl.
“Say grace,” Ty commanded.
Rory wrapped his paws around his snout for the count of three, then looked at Ty. Good enough?
“Okay, buddy. Dig in.”
Once the dinner ritual was complete, White continued. “Enlarged pupils have also been shown to make someone trust the other person more.”
“I guess that makes sense, someone who loves you should be more trustworthy.”
“Should,” White replied, and a strange light came into her eyes.
Something niggled in Ty’s consciousness. He thought that White had more information about the situation than she was sharing with him. Was someone who supposedly loved Kira acting in an untrustworthy way? Besides potentially him—that was. “So if my pupils dilate, it tells her brain I like her, and her brain tries to like me back?”
“That’s the theory. You know we use every tool in the toolbox. Our lead time is so narrow. We need you in that compound. Today, our allies picked up a phone conversation that verifies that Omar will be heading for Davidson Range at the meeting we had hoped he’d attend. That’s a go.”
Ty pumped a fist.
“We need that extraction to be seamless. Our best shot at getting him away from his security and under our control alive is through intimate knowledge of the compound, the schedule, the security systems, the guards’ actions, and the sleeping arrangements.” She stabbed a finger into the air toward Ty. “That’s on you. Use the drops.”
“I am not sure love is necessary. I can just be friendly and offer her security in a strange land.”
“No soldier.” White’s gaze hardened. “That is not what you’re going to do. You are on a mission to manipulate an asset to lead you to a man who means to do America immeasurable harm. You will say, do, look, act any way that is required of you to get Kira to take you with her to Tanzania. Knowing Kira the way I do, the only way you’re on that plane is if she thinks she’s in love with you and you with her, or she won’t accept your chivalry. You will do whatever is required. If it means bedding her and giving her such a screaming orgasm that it takes her two days to get her toes uncurled, then that is what you’ll do.”
