Twice as Hot (16 page)

“Yes,”
I said defensively. Had he just come from seeing Lexis? Had she showered with
him? Bitch, I thought again. I’d probably think it a thousand times more. “So?”

Reese
pulled his teeth from me and straightened. There was an odd sheen in his eyes,
a sheen of some dark emotion I’d never seen him project before. Anger, maybe?
Then he leaned his head back, eyelids closing as though he was savoring the
flow of my blood through his veins. He wasn’t, I knew. He was processing,
scanning my blood as John wished.

“Reese,”
Rome said.

Reese’s
lids cracked open. “Can’t a guy work in peace? Jeez. But fine, whatever. I know
my cue to leave. I’ll step into the hall and analyze the blood out there.”

“Stay,”
I commanded, just to be contrary.

“Leave
or die,” Rome said.

Reese
winked at me and stood, covertly patting my arm. “I’m certainly raking in the
death threats today. At serious risk to my health, I just have to say your
blood gets sweeter every time I taste it.” With his free hand, he kissed the
tips of his fingers. Then he turned on his heel and marched past a grim-faced
Rome.

Rome
kicked the door shut with his foot, the sound of the knob clicking into place
almost deafening in the sudden silence.

The
old Rome would have tripped Reese for saying such a romantic thing. The new
Rome hadn’t even glanced at him as he stalked out. I couldn’t complain, though.
Finally, I was alone with my kind-of/kind-of-not fiancé, no one looking in
through a two-way mirror, no one recording our every word.

Rome
tossed a small square at me. “This yours?”

I
looked down, saw Cody’s smiling face in my lap. “Yeah. So?”

“So.
It was found in your purse. You guys really dating?”

Rather
than answer him, I said, “How’s Lexis?” Let him stew, I thought, feeling a
little mean.

His
jaw tensed for a moment. Then he shrugged, as if the answer hadn’t mattered to
him. “She’s good.”

Too
bad. On both counts. “And Tanner?”

“The
kid? A little cut up, but he claims he needs the scars. He’s a little…out
there.”

A
polite way of saying he was weird. “No, he’s not. Chicks dig scars, therefore
he likes scars. It’s perfectly logical. And just so you know, if I hadn’t
decided to marry you, I would have married him.” If he would have had me. Right
now, only my admirer—who may or may not want to kill me—seemed interested.

Rome
blinked over at me. “You’re lying.”

I
was, and I didn’t feel guilty. I raised my chin. “How do you know? You don’t
know anything about me.”

He
couldn’t refute that, and he clearly didn’t like the reminder. His expression
darkened. “Isn’t that child a little young for you?”

“I’m
twenty-five. He’s twenty. Hardly a big difference.”

“Yes,
but when you were learning to drive he was telling girls they had cooties.”

“Yeah,
well, that turns me on.” Apparently it
had
turned Lexis on, because she
had dated him and she was older than I was.

Rome’s
tongue flicked out, tracing the seam of his lips, as if the picture in his mind
made him hungry. So very hungry. For what? “What else turns—Never mind.” He
stuffed his hands into his pockets, his skin flushing. “It’s better if I don’t
know.”

Me.
Hungry for me.

How
close we were to actually flirting. How far would he take it, this man who had
no idea who I was?
Let’s see, shall we?
“So…you came in here because you
wanted me?” I asked, knowing very well how suggestive my words were.

His
pupils dilated, the only sign he’d noticed. “Yes.” He cleared his throat. “I
wanted to…thank you for helping me back there. You didn’t have to, and hell,
everyone would have understood if you hadn’t, considering how shitty I’ve been
to you. And on that note, I’m also here to apologize.”

My
eyes widened, and I sat up straighter in the bed. I would have stood, or thrown
my legs over the side and sat up completely, just to be closer to him, but that
would have revealed the hospital gown in all its ugly glory. Right now my legs
and stomach—and thereby my modesty—were covered only by a light blue blanket.
“Well, I wanted to thank you, too, for coming to my rescue. But if you’re going
to apologize to me, I’d rather it be for forgetting me when you said you’d love
me forever. Oh, and for treating your ex like a freaking queen.”

“Good.
Because I’m apologizing for all of it,” he said, his jaw clenched. “Everyone
knows we were a couple, and until a few days ago you thought so, too. You
didn’t know this would happen to me, and you didn’t—
don’t
deserve my
cruelty.”

Were,
he’d said. Everyone knew we
were
a couple. Past tense. I fingered the
engagement ring I still wore and tried not to sink under a wave of depression.
“
Why
did you treat me like that?”

“Because
I—” He shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. His gaze remained
fixed on me, even though it was obvious he wanted to glance away. “Because I
woke up thinking I was supposed to be working things out with my ex-wife, but I
took one look at you and—”

Once
again he stopped, but this time he didn’t continue. He’d taken one look at me
and had…wanted me? Craved me like the air he breathed? The way I did him?

“Yes,”
he said, clearly shamed. “Whatever you’re thinking, yes. I wanted you when I
should have wanted her. And every time you looked at me, that wanting just got
worse. I thought if I pushed you away, made you angry,
something,
you’d
stop looking at me and the wanting would go away. It…didn’t.”

My
skin heated, burning, blistering, the thought of his desire sparking my own.
But that desire was underscored with a jubilation so complete, tears filled my
eyes. Even without his memories of me, he couldn’t deny his body’s reaction to
me. That was a start. A very promising start.

“Don’t
cry,” he croaked. “Please don’t.”

“I’m
not.” Shaking, I swiped my eyes with the back of my wrist. At least I didn’t
have to worry about rain falling from the ceiling. These were tears of hope,
not sadness. Not that I was crying, I reminded myself. “Really. It’s dusty in
here, that’s all.”

His
gaze zeroed in on the puncture wounds, and he bared his teeth in a scowl. “John
should use a needle on you.”

So
we were off the subject of his desire for me, were we? “You’ve said that
before. About the needle.”

He
ran his tongue over his teeth, a sure sign of irritation. With me? Or himself?
“I wish I remembered. I wish my memories hadn’t been taken.”

Himself,
then. “Me, too. So…are you still trying to work things out with your ex?” The
question tumbled from my mouth before I could stop it, needy and whiny. That
embarrassed me, but I didn’t try to take back the words.

“No.
Yes. No. I don’t know.” He strode forward and claimed the seat Reese had
formerly occupied. He propped his elbows on his knees and scrubbed his face
with his upraised hands. “This is such a mess.”

“I
know,” I said softly.

There
was a beat of silence, heavy, uncomfortable.

When
he faced me, his eyes were tortured. “I want you to know, I haven’t slept with
Lexis. She wanted to, but I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t even bring myself
to kiss her. And I won’t. Not until this…thing between us is resolved. Okay?
All right?”

Those
damn tears burned my eyes again. Relief was like a separate entity inside me,
rushing me, tackling me. I wasn’t sure what I would have done if he’d slept
with her. Could I have forgiven him? I’d wondered before, but hadn’t known the
answer. Still didn’t.

Even
though I’d despised my ex, the Prince of Darkness and my last boyfriend before
Rome, at the time of our breakup, learning that he’d cheated had destroyed my
pride, my self-esteem, my every feminine instinct. I’d felt disposable and
worthless.

In
Rome’s mind, it wouldn’t have been cheating. I knew that. But in my mind, it
would have. He was still my man. Still my heart, my one and only. “Why are you
telling me that? Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful. I’m just curious about your
thought process.” To him, we were strangers. He didn’t owe me anything.

“Because
in your mind, we’re engaged,” he said. “I owe you that much.”

He
owed me a lot more, but whatever. We’d get to that, one step at a time. And for
the first time, the familiar thought didn’t seem like a pep talk meant to get
me through the day. It felt true. Like it would happen. Like everything really
would be okay.

“And…I
don’t want you to be with anyone else, either,” he finished suddenly.

I
blinked over at him. Even choked, and he had to pat my back to help clear my
airway. But instead, I lost my ability to breathe. Dear God, his hands were on
me, hot and callused and shiver-inducing. I would have pretended to choke for
an hour, just to keep those hands on my body, but all too soon he settled back
on his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. Lines of strain branched from
his eyes, though, as if he hadn’t wanted to pull away.

“I
think I misheard you,” I said. “Or maybe you were kidding. Because I know you
didn’t just tell me, a person who currently means nothing to you, that you—”

“I
did, all right? I don’t want you seeing anyone else.”

One,
I would never consider seeing one man while engaged to another. I wish he knew
that about me. Two, Rome was the only one I wanted, period. “Until?”

“Until
we work this out.”

“And
just how long do you think that will be? I won’t wait for you forever, you
know.” Another lie. I’d wait however long was necessary, and I knew it. I just
didn’t want him dawdling. A man could not have his cake and eat it, too—unless
that man was Chuck Norris.

I’d
been watching Chuck Norris movies lately to improve my roundhouse kick.

Rome
scowled at me. “You’re being difficult, Belle.”

“So
give me a severe tongue-lashing. That will shut me up. Or make me scream for
mercy. It’s a toss-up.” I didn’t give him the chance to scold me or tell me to
stop. “So what do we do now?” I asked. “About us?”

Rome’s
jaw was tight. “I want to remember you. I do.” He leaned back in the chair,
eyes hot on me, boring deep. “Tell me about us.”

Where
to start, where to start? “Well, the sex was amazing. The best you’d ever had.
Top five for me.”

His
lips twitched into the semblance of a smile, another reminder of the Rome I so
loved. “I figured that out on my own. The part about it being amazing, I mean.”

My
heart skipped a beat, leaving me winded and shaking. “You remember?”

“No.
I…guessed.”

“Oh.”
My shoulders sagged. “How?”

His
gaze perused me slowly, lingering in all the right places, making me tingle
like a woman who’d just experienced a total body caress. “Let’s just say a man
can look at a woman and know how it’ll be between them.”

“And
you know it’ll be, was, amazing…with me?”

“Yes.”
No hesitation.

Wow.
Of all the wonderful things he’d said during this conversation, that little
tidbit gave me the most hope that we’d end up back together. A man who desired
a woman couldn’t resist her for long. Could he?

“You
probably burned me alive,” he added softly. Wistfully.

I
had. Literally. At first, I’d been unable to control my powers and had caught
him—and whatever room we’d been in at the time—on fire. That wasn’t what he’d
meant, but I couldn’t help but reminisce and ache and crave those days again.
“We had fun together. I made you laugh, even when I didn’t mean to, and you
made me feel like the most important thing in the world to you.”

His
gaze whipped from me, as if he were suddenly afraid to face me. “Belle, I—”

Whatever
he was going to say, I didn’t want to hear it. I didn’t have to be psychic like
Lexis to know he would ruin this happy buzz I had going. “Look, if you don’t
need anything else, I’d kind of like to be alone. I need to dress, and then
round everyone up for our meeting. So…”

He
didn’t stand. His expression went flat and hard as he faced me again.
Determination pulsed from him. “You can dress. After.”

“After?”
I managed to croak out, suddenly having trouble breathing again. Surely he
didn’t mean what I thought he meant. But he’d gone so serious, so quickly. Just
the way he did when he—

“After
you kiss me.”

Rome
didn’t give me
a chance to consider his words. He leaned forward, grabbed the base of my neck
and jerked me onto his lap, my blanket falling to the floor in a forgotten
heap. Completely caught off guard by the aggressive display, I flailed for a
moment, unsure what was happening as I searched for a solid anchor. Then his
hot body met mine and his equally hot tongue thrust deep into my mouth.