Twice as Hot (Tales of an Extraordinary Girl #2)(28)

"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 Gall 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 Gall 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 doorswung 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?"