Twice as Hot (Tales of an Extraordinary Girl #2)(26)

We reached the car, but Tanner didn't open my door. He slid into the driver's side and waited for me to let myself in, the turd. Once I settled beside him in the plush leather seat, my dress tucked daintily around my legs, the candy resting in my lap, I said, "I'm in silk." A lie. I'm sure it was a poly-blend. "At the very least, you could treat me like a lady."

He snorted. "You. A lady. Funny."

"Just drive us to PSI, Mr. Sensitive." As I spoke, I popped open the lid to the top box and gazed in amazement at the assortment of truffles, chocolate squares and cookies. How innocent they appeared...how delicious. My mouth watered, and my stomach rumbled.

Tanner backed out of the driveway at Mach one, his preferred speed. "Don't eat them. They could be poisoned."

"I'd already thought of that. I just wanted a peek at what I'm not going to enjoy." He glanced at them and whistled. "Those suckers are expensive." One of my brows arched as I faced him. "How do you know?"

"My dad used to buy that brand for his girlfriends."

His dad had died not too long ago, and I patted his arm in sympathy. His mother, an alcoholic, had left on his eighth birthday - some present, right? - and his dad had been all he'd had left. The loss had devastated him.

I knew that sense of loss intimately.

I'd just started learning to walk when my mother died in a car accident. Though I couldn't remember her features without looking at a photograph, sometimes I would swear there was a hole in my heart. A hole her death had caused.

But I still had a parent, still had someone to lean on. My dad had always taken care of me. He'd bought me tampons for my first period and talked to me about sex, even though he'd been uncomfortable, his face as red as a lobster. Those things had made me love him even more, but they'd also made the pang of not having a mother worse.

"You're staring at the chocolates like you've spotted Jesus," Tanner said. "Just...toss them on the floorboard. John can dust the box and the candy itself for prints." I replaced the lid, but left them in my lap. "If we're dealing with a rival agency, there won't be any prints." It saddened me that I wasn't more upset someone might want to kill me. But then, been there, done that. A lot.

"Better safe than sorry."

"Since when? Your motto is 'bad shit draws chicks.'"

He nodded. "True. Maybe I should eat one. Being poisoned is a good war story." My lips twitched into a grin. As good a mood as Tanner was in, now might be the perfect time to talk about his ex. My nemesis. The world's biggest bitch. "So Lexis - "

"Still isn't up for discussion," he said firmly, his good mood melting away in the blink of an eye.

Grrr! Men. "I think you guys need private time. You know, to talk."

"Yeah." He rolled his eyes, the good mood returning. "Translation - you want private time with Rome.

You're willing to throw me to the wolves just to play a little game of suck face. You are such a bad friend."

I didn't try to deny it. "But you love me anyway."

"That just proves I'm the dumb one of the friendship."

I snorted. "I can't really refute that, which is sad for you. And me, I guess, since my friends are so dumb."

"Why have we never hooked up?" he asked with a little laugh.

"Because I'm so smart."

Another laugh. "Funny."

A few minutes later, we arrived at PSI headquarters in the heart of the city. Outside, we had to check in at security and flash our badges (even though we were recognizable at this point - I guess unlike Sherridan, we weren't cute enough to make the guards overlook procedure). Inside, we had to sign in at another security booth, ride an elevator to the fifteenth floor and sign in at yet another security booth. We even had to do fingerprint and retinal scans.

John liked things as protected as possible.

Finally deemed acceptable, we strode out of the comfortable lobby, with its brown leather couches and lush green plants, and down a long, plain hallway. From there we turned left, left, right, and hit the laboratory encased by tall glass windows. We left the box of chocolates with forensics - Tanner had to pry them from my Kung Fu grip - and headed to the hall of interview rooms. Along the way, we ran into other agents, but no one stopped to talk. At PSI, everyone had a mission and idle chatter was discouraged.

"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.