It might at least buy him enough human time to work on less expensive goodwill projects. True, he wouldn't get daylight hours to work with until he earned the first twelve, but good deeds were possible at night. He could figure that one out.

Anica tried to stare him down, but as he'd discovered, he was an expert at staring contests. The whole time he looked at her he tried to send a message from his mind to hers. If mental telepathy worked it should work from a cat to a witch. Of course, she wasn't technically a witch without her magic.

Even so, something must have penetrated her brain, because she sighed and backed away. "I suppose it's your decision, isn't it?"

No s.h.i.t, Sherlock.

She threw both hands up. "All right. I tried to talk some sense into you, but I can see you're determined to do it your way."

Maybe not being able to talk had saved them both. He could easily imagine the brouhaha if he'd been able to get in his licks. Instead, silent resistance had worked. He'd have to remember that technique for later, because he had a feeling this wouldn't be the only time they had this kind of argument. Anica wouldn't give up being bossy overnight, and maybe not ever.

He was fascinated to discover he didn't care. If he was very lucky, he'd get to ride herd on her bossiness for the rest of their lives. Now, there was a concept.

"I want to meet him." Lily sat across from Anica at Wicked Brew, her face alight with excitement. "This is sounding like a serious relationship, and I want to check him out, see if he's good enough for you."

"But you have work, and I have no idea when he'll change." Anica had called Lily midmorning to catch her up on Jasper's progress and to report the large cash donation. Lily had rushed down to the coffee shop to discuss it in person.

"If he threw down ten thousand smackeroos, he could be sitting in your apartment, sipping coffee right this minute. For that matter, he could walk through the door of the shop!"

Anica shook her head. "Before I left, I made sure he had my cell number and asked him to call if something happens, like he did last night. I don't need to have him walk in here and scare the living daylights out of me."

Lily munched on a chocolate cake doughnut, her idea of breakfast. "For that kind of money, I'm surprised he didn't immediately zap back to naked manhood." She dampened her finger and speared some crumbs.

"He might have wished that would happen, but obviously it didn't. I hope he got some extra hours, though. It would suck if for some reason that donation didn't count toward anything."

Lily licked her finger. "Why not call Dorcas and ask her? For all you know there's some chart that tells how many points various good deeds are worth."

Anica doubted it, but calling Dorcas was a good idea. "Thanks. I'll do that right now."

Lily seemed pleased that Anica took her suggestion. "I'll get Sally to give us each a refill." She picked up both cups and carried them back to the counter.

As Anica made the call to Dorcas, she tried not to notice the way the shop looked. The windows needed cleaning and dust had collected in the corners. She should stay late tonight and work on the place, except that she didn't want to spend any more time here than absolutely necessary. Lily was right-Jasper could transform at any minute, and she wanted to be available to help him with his good-deed list. Then she smiled. Maybe helping her clean the shop would count.

Dorcas answered on the third ring. "Hi, Anica. I was wondering if I'd hear from you."

"I'll bet you used magic to find out it was me calling."

"I used to use magic. Now I use caller ID. Far more reliable. How's Jasper doing?"

Anica filled her in on the latest developments. "Wow. That's a lot of money."

"I tried to talk him out of it, but he was determined." Anica could still see that gleam in Jasper's golden eyes as he'd defied her. "Will it give him more time?"

"It should. I'd be surprised if it didn't. Now that Jasper knows what he's supposed to do, let me ask Ambrose to research the acts-of-kindness angle again. Maybe we can find out more detail."

"Lily thought there might be a chart of good deeds and their respective point value." She halfway expected Dorcas to laugh at that.

"For all I know, there is. That spell is so old that it's tough finding related research materials. But Ambrose will love digging around the magical archives online. He's such a nerd at heart."

"That would be great." Anica thought again of all the time they were putting in. "Will you send me a bill for that?"

"Of course not. But I might send you some cards for our matchmaking service, Hot Prospects. We'd be willing to travel up there if anybody in the Chicago area wanted to hire us."

Anica lowered her voice. "My sister needs your services, but I doubt she thinks so."

"Troubles?"

"Just a guy she's stuck on who isn't interested."

"We could do a scrying, see if he's the one for her. We have a sale going on right now, buy one scrying session, get one for free."

"Then I'll buy two, one for me and Jasper, and I'll save the other one for a while. Maybe she'll give up on this guy, so I don't want to waste a session. How do I pay you?"

"We take all major credit cards."

That struck Anica as funny, but she managed to keep from laughing. "I'll call you back with the numbers. Thanks, Dorcas. Bye."

"What numbers?" Lily sat down and slid Anica's latte over to her.

"Credit card numbers. I bought a scrying session to see what comes up about me and Jasper."

"Huh. Could be interesting. What did she say about the good-deed criteria?"

"She'll have Ambrose research it and get back to me. I guess info on this spell is tough to come by."

"I tell you, sis, when you screw up, you do it royally." Anica would have loved to argue with Lily about that, but she didn't have a leg to stand on. She had screwed up royally. But she wasn't furious with herself anymore. If she hadn't put the spell on Jasper, they both would have stayed exactly as they were. Instead they were growing and changing. She could feel it. She wasn't sure if they'd grow apart or together, but at least they were growing.

"So, can I meet Jasper when he changes this time?"

Anica could tell Lily wasn't about to let this go. "What about work?"

"Let me worry about that. Just promise me that when he changes, which surely has to be before nine thirty this time, you'll call me."

Anica resisted the idea. "He could be in a bad mood, especially if he doesn't get as much time as he'd hoped for that big donation."

"I don't care. Come on, sis, you can't keep him to yourself forever."

No, but she wanted to.

"Anica, you don't think I'll try to steal him, do you?"

"Uh, no. Of course not." Anica took a big swig of her coffee and scalded her tongue. "Ouch. Hot, hot." She waved her hand in front of her mouth.

"You do! You think I'm going to try and steal him! That's so unfair. When have I ever stolen one of your boyfriends?"

"Back in eleventh grade."

"Yeah, okay. Guilty as charged. I was a kid and full of myself."

Anica smiled. Lily wasn't a kid anymore, but she could still be full of herself when it came to men.

"The point is, I haven't stolen a boyfriend from you since then."

"Because you didn't want any of them."

"No." She looked offended. "Because I realized that was a disloyal and mean thing to do."

"And you didn't want any of them."

"That's not the issue. Anyway, I'm not coming over to steal your precious Jasper. I just think somebody from the family should get a look at him, and the 'rents are out of the country."

Anica regarded her sister with amus.e.m.e.nt. "Gonna bring your shotgun?"

Lily grinned. "I dunno. Should I?"

Maybe. Anica would love to have a way to guarantee that Jasper would stick around once he was free to go. But that was yet another thing over which she had no control.

Chapter 23.

By the time Anica came home at four thirty, Jasper was p.i.s.sed. Ten thousand big ones, plus those e-mails to his exes, plus being nice to Orion, plus giving Anica some really outstanding o.r.g.a.s.ms-and the most he could possibly get out of it, even if he changed immediately, was ten additional hours. When he did not change immediately, he cut his estimation to eight hours. Not a very good return for his outlay.

Anica gave him a sympathetic glance as she took off her coat and hung it up. "I'm sorry, Jasper," she said as she walked over to where he was curled up in a corner of the sofa, hating life. "I'm sure you're disappointed."

Disappointed? DISAPPOINTED??? Try effing furious. He was ready to chew a bag of nails and spit bullets. All that happy horses.h.i.t he'd been thinking yesterday about how evolved he was, how patient, how good at meditating, was out the window, baby. This was war.

"I called Dorcas today. She's the witch who came up with her husband to consult with me about the spell."

Jasper gave her a baleful glance. Tell somebody who gives a d.a.m.n. That witch had been no help whatsoever. What good was being magic if you couldn't fix anything with it?

"She's convinced you'll get some return for your donation. She's just not sure how much. I sure wish you hadn't-" Anica stopped, pressed her lips together, and looked away.

Lucky for her she hadn't just delivered the equivalent of I told you so. He was ready and able to shred her lovely flowered upholstery. She must be feeling righteous about now, because she'd warned him not to risk ten grand on this deal. But it should have worked! Why the h.e.l.l hadn't it?

"I need to mention something else."

He waited for her to announce that Shoumatoff was about to show up and cart him off to the spay-neuter clinic. That was the way his day had gone so far, so he wouldn't be surprised if Shoumatoff had gotten up a pet.i.tion signed by all the apartment residents protesting his continued possession of b.a.l.l.s.

"I promised Lily that when you changed form tonight, I'd call her and let her come over. I, um, told her about the donation, and she's convinced you'll change any minute."

That made one of them. He was quickly giving up hope.

"She wants to meet you. When you're a man, I mean. Obviously the two of you have met as woman and cat."

They had, and as he recalled Lily had threatened him if he didn't do right by Anica. She'd probably be happy to come over and gloat because his ten grand had earned him ten minutes.

"So that's it. Are you hungry?"

He wasn't, but Orion perked up at the other end of the sofa. Orion could always eat.

"Guess I'll start thawing the meat in the microwave." Anica stood and headed for the kitchen.

Jasper settled down and tried to nap. He'd been good at that yesterday, before he'd sunk himself into debt for a transformation that showed no sign of happening. Today the urge to snooze wasn't the same. Today he was picturing the lien on his condo and his clients leaving in droves because he never seemed to make it into the office anymore.

Oh yeah. This sucked.

In spite of that he must have needed to cop a few Zs, because the next thing he knew, good smells drifted from the kitchen, and the clock in the living room pointed to five fifty-five. So he'd missed the five thirty changeover, too. Ducky.

Now the best he could hope for was six thirty, which meant only an additional six hours added to . . . h.e.l.lo. He had that pre-change feeling again. He'd been so used to the half-hour change that he'd a.s.sumed it would be then. Maybe now he was on an hour schedule, because he could definitely feel the stirrings that preceded his transformation.

Six in the evening to six in the morning. He could live with that. Twelve hours of human shape. Yeah, he'd been a little grouchy because it hadn't happened sooner, but twelve hours was halfway there. That was significant.

Hopping down from the sofa, he made his way to the bedroom. Anica didn't seem to notice, but Orion caught sight of him and followed him down the hall. Orion trotted faster, as if he wanted to play chase.

Jasper turned and hissed at the orange tabby, but Orion kept coming. He'd found a play buddy and he wasn't discouraged by a little hiss. Putting on speed, he tried to catch up with Jasper.

This was not working. Jasper wanted privacy for what was about to happen to him. To say he was self-conscious about this process would be a gross understatement. But how could he get rid of Orion?

If he went in the closet, he'd change in there, which would send clothes tumbling off the hangers and generally leave chaos behind. He could get away from Orion by leaping to the dresser, but once he changed, he might crack the top of that antique with his weight, not to mention scattering the family pictures Anica had carefully placed there. She hadn't moved her array of candles, either. He'd break something for sure if he went up there.

The dresser was out, then. Ducking under the bed wasn't a solution, either. He'd end up wedged there like a rubber doorstop. Maybe he could wear Orion out by leaping around on the bed, and then when he ducked into the bathroom, Orion would be too tired to follow.

Gathering his haunches beneath him, he launched himself up on Anica's bed. He loved jumping like that, as if he had springs for legs. He waited until Orion made it up, and then he jumped down and ran around the room.

Once Orion landed on the floor with a loud thump, Jasper hurled himself back on the bed. He waited a beat for Orion to catch up before hopping down again. Over and over he repeated the pattern, and Orion started to pant. Good.

"What are you two cats up to in here?" Anica appeared in the doorway as Jasper hit the floor for the umpteenth time.

s.h.i.t. He hadn't counted on that and the change was almost here. Feeling dizzy and disoriented, he dashed into the bathroom.

"Jasper?"

Getting behind the door, he managed to swing it shut. Then he lay against it, panting as much as Orion, but more from stress than exertion. Okay . . . let go . . . let it happen . . . The temporary loss of consciousness was the worst part. Anica wasn't the only person who liked to maintain control. But at least this time, he'd have twelve hours. Twelve blessed hours . . .

When he came to, he was sprawled naked on the cold bathroom tile, the weight of his body keeping the door closed. Maybe it was the mirror on the back of the door reminding him of the best oral s.e.x of his life. Maybe it was the testosterone that had flowed through his system prior to the change, because he'd been so d.a.m.ned angry about the money. Maybe it was Anica's soft voice calling to him as she tapped gently on the door.

Whatever the reason, he was aroused.

"Jasper, are you okay? Can I do anything?"

He almost laughed. Yeah, she could do something. The way he felt, it would only take about three minutes of her time. Or he could suggest that she strip off her clothes and put Orion in the coat closet. Then they could do something together.

But once they were in bed he wouldn't want to leave. Despite having twelve hours to work with, he realized how quickly that time could disappear if he allowed himself to take Anica to bed now. His first priority had to be finding ways to earn the other twelve hours.