Twice as Hot (13 page)

“Who
we interviewing first?” Tanner asked me.

I
dug Cody’s list out of my purse, glad it had survived the transfer of belongings
from one bag to another, and unfolded it. Something untangled from the middle
of the paper and fell to the floor. I stopped, grabbed it and—barked out a
laugh. Cody had taken a Polaroid of himself, blowing me a kiss. At the bottom,
he’d written: You’re welcome.

Who
used Polaroids these days? Men who wanted to take dirty pictures of their bed
partners, that’s who, I thought, barking out another laugh.

“You
coming?” Tanner asked, ignoring my outburst. He was used to my swift mood
changes.

“Yeah.”
I kicked back into motion and shook my head in wonder at Cody’s antics. No
wonder he’d looked so wicked when he’d informed me the list was in my purse. As
I stuffed the photo back in my bag, I passed an agent staring into one of the
interrogation rooms. Before I realized what I was doing, I was peeking inside
the room myself. I spied Rome. I stopped abruptly, breath snagging in my
throat.

Tanner
cursed, backtracked and pressed into my side.

“What?”
he asked. Then, “Oh.”

Inside,
Rome sat in the corner, looking casual in a slatted wooden chair. He wore black
pants and a black T-shirt that hugged every inch of his muscled forearms. His
hair was unruly, as though he’d plowed his hands through it a few thousand
times. There were dark circles under his eyes and lines of tension around his
mouth.

Thank
God he didn’t look like a satisfied man. So where exactly had he slept last
night?

In
front of him, Lexis sat at a metal table, facing one of the people Rome and
Cody had rescued from the warehouse. That damn Lexis. How was I supposed to
glue myself to Rome if she was always there, right in his face? The nerve of
her!

My
gaze raked her, and I gasped when I saw what she was wearing. Stone-washed
jeans and a green button-up shirt. My teeth ground together.

“That
bitch is wearing my outfit.” And she rocked it hard-core. She’d even pulled her
glossy dark hair into a ponytail, highlighting the perfection of her exotic
features.

A
moment passed as Tanner studied her. “My bad. You should have gone with your
instincts.”

No
shit. Now here I was, stuck in a dress when I’d known, deep down, that Rome
preferred me in jeans.

“I
think you look nice,” the agent beside me said. If I was remembering correctly,
his name was Edward and he worked in the labs. He had a folder tucked under his
arm.

“What’s
Rome doing in there, anyway?” Tanner asked. “He’s supposed to be interviewing
his own set of people.”

“He’s
protecting her,” I practically snarled, knowing without having to be told.

“The
guy she’s talking to is the one in need of protection,” he replied drily.

At
least he didn’t sound pissed or sad about seeing the ex-husband and wife
together as said ex-wife blatantly attempted to lure said ex-husband under her
evil spell.

“Who
are they interrogating?” Tanner asked.

“That’s
Tobin McAldrin.” I knew because I was the one who’d picked the people Lexis was
to interview. It was pure coincidence that everyone on her list either
resembled a beefed-up Arnold in his prime (having the strength to kill her) or
seemed as gentle as a lamb and was amazingly good-looking (to romance her).
Really.

Tobin
was of the beefy variety. Plus, his eyes were cold, empty. My guess, he wasn’t
some innocent victim of experimentation. Like Memory Man, he was probably a
scrim Pretty Boy and then Desert Gal had hoped to recruit and use against us.

“What’s
his power?” Tanner asked. “Do we know if he even has one?”

“Sadly,
no,” I muttered.

Edward
handed me the folder. “Actually, we do. I’ve been testing McAldrin for the last
two days. The guy has inhuman strength, and it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen
before. Not all of it is his own, though. Someone surrounded his bones with
metal Wolverine-style, which caused his strength to increase exponentially.”

As
he spoke, I flipped through the pages. There were X-rays, graphs I couldn’t
decipher and anatomy charts covered with arrows.

“Why’s
he still here, then?” Tanner asked. “I mean, if I had that kind of strength I’d
have busted my way free, like, yesterday.”

I
closed the folder with a snap and handed it back to Edward. “Maybe a few of
Desert Gal’s victims aren’t really victims at all, but plants. Plants someone
plans to use to take us down.” Of course, Desert Gal would have had to know—or
at least hope—PSI would break into her warehouse. For that to happen, she would
have had to leak the information herself. That would explain why she’d moved
all Pretty Boy’s “innocent victims” to a new location and why Rome’s contact
was only then able to obtain the info.

“I’m
sure we’ll find out soon enough,” I said, my gaze landing on Rome and giving me
a jolt.

He
shifted ever so slightly in his chair, angling his face toward the two-way
mirror, suddenly staring straight at me. He couldn’t see me, I knew that, but
God, those electric blues singed me all the way to the soul.

Tanner
must have pressed the speaker, because suddenly I could hear Lexis coaxing
Tobin.

“—here
to help you. That’s why we freed you. Cooperate, and we’ll let you go as soon
as this investigation closes.”

I
hoped she realized that was a lie; I hoped he didn’t.

“Now,
I’ll ask again. How long did Vincent have you locked up?”

Vincent
Jones. Street name Pretty Boy.

“I
told you,” came the cranky, raspy reply. “I don’t know. Wasn’t like I was given
a calendar. Now, are we done here?” He made to stand, his massive body looming
like a storm cloud over the petite Lexis.

“Sit
down,” Rome barked.

Barked.
I rolled my eyes at the irony. Rome, a jaguar shape-shifter, and dogs did not
get along, a lesson I’d learned just a few weeks ago when I dog-sat our
neighbor’s golden retriever. The gentle giant had foamed at the mouth for a
piece of Rome, and had nearly chewed through my man’s thigh. Needless to say,
there had gone any chance I’d had of ever getting a dog of my own.

Tobin
sat.

“God,
I wish I was like that,” Edward said. Then he shook his head, cheeks reddening
as he realized he’d spoken aloud. I had forgotten he was beside me. Poor,
unassuming man. He was probably forgotten a lot. Then again, I could relate.
“Well, uh, I’d better get back to work.” He rushed off without another word.

“Bye,”
I called.

No
reply.

Through
the rest of the interview, Rome kept his gaze glued to me. Or rather, the
window. I gulped.
Could
he see me?

“When
did Desert Gal take over your care?” Lexis asked.

“About
a month or so ago,” Tobin mumbled.

So
he wasn’t so bad with time, after all.

“Did
she use any name besides Desert Gal?”

“Nope.”

We’d
check that with the others, see if he—

“Truth,”
Tanner said before the thought could fully form in my head.

So
we still didn’t know her real name. Crap.

“Describe
her to me,” Lexis said.

For
the first time, Tobin grinned. “I can’t. She never came to see us herself. She
sent someone else to take care of us.”

“Who?”

“Don’t
know her name, only that she’s young, hot and has red hair. Girl had a mouth on
her, though. Damn did she have a mouth.”

Red
hair narrowed things down a little. It would make her easier to spot, if
nothing else. Well, if the red hair was real. It could have been a wig, or
temporarily dyed.

Lexis
leaned back in her seat, the very picture of resolute agent. “Did she ask you
to do anything for her or Desert Gal?”

“Nope.”
He wasn’t a bad-looking guy, with brown hair and big brown eyes. No tattoos,
was even clean-cut. Those steroid muscles, though…someone should have told him
there was such a thing as too much. “Not a thing.”

“Lie,”
Tanner said.

The
guy had delivered his lies with a straight face and no telltale signs. Without
Tanner, I would have believed him. “We’ll have to keep him incarcerated, then,
because we can’t risk letting him wander around, trying to hurt us. Or maybe not,”
I added after a moment’s reflection. “Like you said, he’s probably strong
enough to bust out of here. But he hasn’t. Which means, as I suspected, Desert
Gal and her cohort might have asked him to stay and spy on us. If we let him
go, we can follow him. Maybe he’ll lead us to them.”

Tanner
slapped me on the back. “Damn, Viper. Now you’re thinking like an agent. I like
it. Come on. We’ve got our own people to interview.”

I
nodded reluctantly and turned, keeping my attention on Rome as long as
possible. Because of that, I saw that he’d pushed to his feet, his chair
skidding behind him.

I
stopped. Both Lexis and Tobin glanced over at him questioningly.

He
didn’t say anything, just headed straight for the door. My eyes widened and my
heart thumped in my chest. Was he coming for…me?

The
interrogation room door
swung open, the hinges squeaking, and Rome stepped into the hall. He didn’t
glance around. No, he instantly pinned me with a hard stare, as if he’d known
exactly where I was standing all along.

I
gulped. Had he?

Beside
me, Tanner muttered, “Shit. Cat Man’s pi—issed.”

That
he was. His eyes were narrowed, his pupils a thin, feral line. I licked my
lips, a nervous gesture I couldn’t have stopped had my life depended on it.
Here he was, my most primal fantasy in the flesh. Dark, dangerous and
untamable.

Rather
than smile and tug me into his arms for a kiss, he snarled, “Can you two keep
it down? You’re distracting us.”

Us?
When neither Lexis nor Tobin had even glanced at the window since Tanner and I
had stepped up to it? “Uh, I could scream the national anthem and no one inside
that room would be able to hear me.”

His
lips pursed, and he remained silent. Stubborn man.

“Just…go
back in there and finish the interview.” I gestured to the window. Lexis, too,
had gone silent the moment Rome had exited, and she and Tobin were listening
through the still-open door. “Well, no one can hear us when the door is
properly…clo…sed.” I had trouble getting out the last word.

Rome’s
gaze was in the process of raking over me, heating from cold ocean to azure
fire. He lingered on my calves, where the chocolate ribbons x-ed a path to my
knees, and ran his tongue over the seam of his lips. “What are you wearing?”

It
was a question laced with some sort of husky promise. I gulped again, this time
for an entirely different reason. Maybe the dress hadn’t been such a bad idea,
after all. Maybe Rome liked me no matter what I wore.

“This
old thing? Oh, it’s just something I threw on.”

Tanner
snorted. Thankfully, he kept his mouth shut.

“You
look very…pretty.” Rome’s voice was low, raspy now.

Clearly,
his first choice had not been “pretty.” Maybe I’m an idiot. “Thank you,” I
said, raising my chin. Whether he’d meant to say “amazing” or “wretched” I
didn’t care. Really. He’d either like me or he wouldn’t, and there was nothing
I could do about it.

Now,
that is. There was nothing I could do
now.
When his memories
returned—and they would, I refused to believe otherwise—he would pay for all of
this and assuage my stinging pride.

I
stretched my arm around him, careful not to touch him, and closed the door.
“How did you see us through the glass?” I asked. I had to keep the conversation
rolling or I’d find myself sidling up to Rome and resting my head on his
shoulder out of habit. No telling how he’d react.

“I
told you. Eye enhancements. Two-ways are not a problem for me.”

“You
never told me—” Wait. Yes. Yes, he had. I gasped as the implications hit me,
hope infusing my every cell. While we were “dating,” a.k.a. while he chased me
so that PSI could neutralize me, he’d told me all about the voluntary
procedures he’d undergone to increase his physical strength and scrim-hunting
skills. “You remember telling me about the procedure?”

Confusion
settled over his gorgeous features. “I—I—”

Right
on cue—because she’d known how close we were to a breakthrough, the bitch—Lexis
opened the door and stepped into the hall.

“What’s
going on?” she asked in a snotty tone far worse than her usual smugness.

Beside
me, Tanner went rigid.

“Do
you remember?” I insisted, keeping my attention centered on Rome. “We were in a
car, being chased by Pretty Boy. I was snuggled into your side and you were
trying to distract me from my fears so I wouldn’t ice the car. My head was
resting on your shoulder, my hand on your chest, so I could feel your heart
drumming and—”