Twice as Hot (18 page)

I
shook my head, my hair slapping my cheeks. “No way.”
Monitored
equaled
babysat.
Reports would be made, detailing my every mistake. Any sense of privacy I had
would evaporate.

He
didn’t back down. “No exceptions. No negotiations.”

Rome
watched the entire exchange, attention volleying back and forth between us.
Blank as his expression was, I had no idea what thoughts he entertained.
Perhaps it was better that way. He’d just kissed me to climax, watched me catch
on fire and had nearly lost his life—not to mention his eyebrows—because of me.

“Fine.”
A tremor raked my spine, vibrating into each of my limbs. Damn cold. “Tanner
can—”

“I’ll
do it.” Rome’s voice echoed in the sudden silence.

“Which
will cause you and Lexis to fight, and fighting isn’t good for our cause,” John
said. “With your memory loss—”

“I
haven’t forgotten how to do my job,” he snapped.

Nope,
he’d just forgotten me.

“I’m
damn good at what I do,” Rome continued, “and I have more experience than
anyone else you’ve got. You want to win this one, you’ll send me out there.
Whether Lexis and I fight or not, we would never compromise a mission.”

“Fine,”
John said after a long pause, in which he’d probably been weighing each of his
options. “Rome, you will monitor Belle. I’ll expect daily reports.”

Yep.
I’d been right about those reports.

Rome
nodded, anger defused since he’d gotten his way. “You’ll get them.”

With
their every word, the illusion that I was in charge of this mission was
shattered, and it was beyond annoying. I had the most to win—and lose—if this
thing went—Hey. Wait. If Rome acted as my “monitor,” he would have to spend all
his time with me, and that’s exactly what I’d wanted to happen. I almost
smiled—until a new thought occurred to me. No longer did Rome observe me
through rose-colored lenses. What if I irritated him so much he decided he
didn’t
want
to remember me?

“Lexis
might not compromise a mission, but she’ll compromise me,” I muttered. It was
the only argument I could think of.

Rome
shrugged those strong shoulders. “No, she’ll deal.”

“And
you’ll keep your hands to yourself,” John stated matter-of-factly, pointing at
me, then Rome. “I won’t have any more fires like this.”

Outrage
blustered through me. “You have no right—”

“No
more fires,” Rome interjected. “Nothing like this will happen again.”

It
wouldn’t, would it? I narrowed my gaze on him. He’d liked my kisses, I knew
that. But he hadn’t liked the consequences. Was I no longer worth the danger,
then?

I
could feel a hot poker jabbing at my chest, wanting out. Maybe he hadn’t liked
my kisses, after all. Maybe he’d lied; maybe he hadn’t been near climax. He
wasn’t panting, wasn’t strained and desperate for release. His erection was
gone.

If
I wanted to keep the blanket draped over me rather than burn it away, I had to
calm down. Again. “Listen, Tobin mentioned that he had a friend who wanted to
talk to me.” Anything to change the subject. “In fact, he said
she
wanted to talk. She. A woman. Tanner and I were listening in on his
interrogation and Tobin said he’d never spoken with Desert Gal. Tanner verified
that was a truth. Maybe this mystery woman is one of the women pulled from the
warehouse. Or maybe she’s on the outside, working with Desert Gal or even
secretly against her. Maybe she was the one taking care of the prisoners.
Either way, we now know someone else is involved.”

John
sighed. “We really didn’t need another needle in our already massive haystack.
I’ll have all the women from the warehouse who have already been questioned
interrogated again, this time in regards to Tobin. Hopefully, our mystery girl
is here. I don’t like the thought of someone else being out there, gunning for
you.”

Me,
either. I glanced at Rome to gauge his reaction. His expression was blank
again.

God,
I hated this. How could he dismiss me so easily? Would he really act as if the
kiss had never happened? Would he run back to Lexis because she was the safe
choice?

Another
flicker inside my chest. I had to stop this. Thinking about Rome rather than my
case was what had gotten me in trouble in the first place.

I
raised my chin. “I’ll do whatever you need me to do, John, to figure this out.
Even dangle myself out there as bait.” Determination seeped from my voice. One
way or another, I wanted this case closed. As soon as possible. Until it was, I
couldn’t concentrate fully on Rome. Or destroy Lexis.

“Good
girl. I’m not sure we need to do something so extreme just yet, but I’ll keep
it in mind. Now get cleaned up and dressed,” John told us. “It’s time to get
back to work, and you two have people to interview and a meeting to attend.”

With
that, he left us alone. And this time, when I told Rome I needed some privacy,
he didn’t ignore me. He left.

Before
my shower ,
 I
decided to get a little personal business out of the way so that I would better
focus on the case the rest of the day. Rome had brought me my purse, and I’d
blessedly remembered to pack my cell, so as I made my way to a room John kept
for agents who had to pull all-nighters, I called the dress shop and printer to
reschedule, then called the caterer and pretended everything was fine. I even
scheduled a day to come in and sample some of their main dishes. I cursed
myself the entire time, but damn it, I’d pay for that food (with Rome’s credit card)
even if the wedding didn’t happen.

It
will.

But
would it?

Yes!
Stop arguing with yourself.

No
way grilled cheese sandwiches and bowls of tomato soup—the extent of my
culinary prowess—were going to be served to my guests. (Hey. Some of us were
too busy saving the world to learn how to cook.)

When
I hung up with The Golden Swan, I called Sherridan and asked her to bring a
change of clothes. Something better than my beautiful but ruined dress. Then I
did something else that made me ashamed. I finally called my dad back and lied.
Everything’s fine. Rome and I are great,
I told him. Uttering that
delightful gem made me nauseous, but he had a weak heart and I didn’t want him
worrying about me.

We
talked for fifteen minutes before one of his silver foxes hollered for him in
the background. Seemed he’d kissed Maggie in the garden while dating Kate.
Judging from the tone of Kate’s voice, there was going to be hell to pay. I
smiled. It was good to know some things never changed, especially when so much
else had.

“Take
care of yourself, Dad.”

“Always.
Love you, baby Belle.”

“And
I love you.” We disconnected, and I threw the cell into my purse. “Time for my
shower,” I muttered, padding into the small but clean bathroom. Maybe I could
wash the guilt and the anger and the sadness away.

Halfway
through my shower, soap in my eyes, Sherridan arrived with that change of
clothes. As she held her choice up for my inspection, I slid the stall door
open a crack and shook my head in wonder. Shouldn’t be surprised, I supposed. Part
of me had known she’d interpret my “something better” to mean “something as
slutty as possible.” It was her warped way of helping me win Rome back.

“Hurry
it up, will you? I want to see you all dolled up.”

“You
see me dolled up every day.” I rinsed off and stepped from the stall.

She
had a towel extended. “More like hoboed up, if you want to get technical.
You’re the worst dresser I know, always wearing the same lame outfits.”

I
grabbed the fluffy white terry cloth and wrapped it around myself. “Have I ever
told you how amazing you are for my self-esteem?”

She
blew me a kiss and breezed from the bathroom.

Sighing,
I donned the tiny skirt, bright blue halter top and knee-high boots. Cool air
stroked my too-bare, damp skin as I stepped into the room, a thick mist
floating out behind me. I did not want to know where she’d gotten this stuff.

Tanner
was there, saying something to Sherridan, but he stopped midsentence and
whistled. “Look at the delicious piece of candy that just walked in.”

He
was looking pretty tasty himself. Injured yet strong, just the way he liked.

“Oh,
you look so hot!” Sherridan said, clapping excitedly. “Do I know how to dress a
girl or what?”

“I’m
still waiting to hear how you
un
dress one,” Tanner muttered. Clearly
Jessica Alba was still on his mind.

I
held out my arms in exasperation. “I have to do interviews in this, I hope you
know.”

“Interview
the men,” Tanner suggested. “’Cause they’ll take one look and answer anything
you ask.”

I
rubbed my temple, knowing a headache was imminent. How I longed to sink into
that dark leather couch and snooze the rest of the day away. Or maybe I’d
recline in the matching leather chair. Hell, I’d even splay myself on the
worktable in the center of the room. “Unfortunately for me, our first meeting
is with a woman. Elaine Daringer, the energy vampire—not to be mistaken with
the blood-drinking kind like Reese, and—”

A
buzz sounded. “Subject is waiting in interrogation room three.” John’s voice
echoed through the room. “She’s
been
waiting for half an hour. Do you
need a second monitor to watch the clock for you?”

“We’re
on our way,” I said with a sigh. It’d be a miracle if I survived the rest of
the day.

Elaine
Daringer was not what I expected.

When
Tanner and I had entered the interrogation room, I’d actually gasped. She was
young—probably in her early twenties—with a short crop of blond hair and an
angel face. Big brown eyes, a pert nose and dimpled cheeks. Seriously, she
could have fallen straight from a copy of
Heaven’s Gates Weekly
.

The
only thing menacing about her was her outfit. A black cloth covered her from
neck to toe, and not even her fingers were visible. Had to be that way, I knew.
One touch of her skin, and she could drain every ounce of our energy.

As
a further precaution, she was cuffed to an inflexible, uncomfortable-looking
chair.

“Hello,”
I said.

Instantly
her eyes glared pure hatred at me. “Go to hell,” she snapped.

O-kay.
Not so angelic, after all. “Welcome to PSI. We have a few questions for you,
and you have my word we’re not going to hurt you. All right?” I watched her,
waited for a response, but didn’t get one. “I’m sorry about the accommodations,
but they’re regulation for someone with your abilities.”

“Please.”
She snorted. “Sorry? Ha! You’re grateful for the accommodations. You’re too
scared to face me, girl to girl.”

“Actually,
no. I’ve—”

“Save
it and feed the lies to someone else. I want to go back to my cell. I’m done
here,” she shouted to the two-way. “Do you hear me? I’m done!”

I
stepped into her line of vision. “Look, I’ve been where you are. Well, not
exactly. But close.” She might be working for Desert Gal, she might not. She
might be Tobin’s mystery friend, she might not. But I wasn’t going to treat her
as a hated enemy during this interview. Not without cause, and her crappy
attitude wasn’t exactly cause. She was cuffed, for God’s sake. Probably
sweating underneath all that fabric. I’d be pissed, too.

She
pushed out a forceful breath to blow the hair from her brow. “Is this the part
where you sympathize with me and I tell you all my secrets?”

Tanner
choked out a laugh. “Someone’s been watching B movies, I see.”

Those
puppy-dog browns strayed to him as though noticing him for the first time, and
she stilled. For several seconds, she even managed to keep all hints of emotion
from her features. But after a while, the effort drained her and she sagged,
fascination consuming her expression.

Hello,
attraction.

I
couldn’t blame her. Tanner was a heartstoppingly good-looking guy when he
wasn’t wasting away from heartbreak.

“Who
the hell are you?” she demanded shakily.

He
inclined his head in greeting. “They call me Mr. Sensitive.”

“Really?
I’d have pegged you for Blueberry Lollipop.”

She’d
meant it as an insult, I think, but predictably, Tanner took it as a sexual
innuendo. “God, I wish. It would let girls know up front that I’m okay with
being licked.”

Red
spread over her cheeks like the wildfire had spread over my body.

“I
just realized I forgot to make introductions, and I’m sorry for that,” I said.
“I’m Belle Jamison and this is my friend and associate, whose real name is
Tanner Bradshaw.”

“Feel
free to call me Lollipop, though.”

Elaine
cleared her throat and tried to shift in the chair, as if that tiny movement
could somehow save her from Tanner’s penetrating stare. “Yes, well, everyone
calls me Draino.”