Twice as Hot (Tales of an Extraordinary Girl #2)(32)

"Rome!" Lexis shouted, suddenly pushing her way into the room. Blood dripped from her temple and onto her shirt as she knelt in front of him.

Tanner limped in behind her. He, too, was bleeding. But he was alive, and that was all that mattered. He searched the room until he found me. "You good?"

I nodded, incapable of speech at the moment. My chin was trembling too violently.

"What the hell happened? And why is everyone standing around?" John's voice rang with authority, kicking everyone into motion. Scanning the room, I found him looming in the middle of a giant hole in the wall. "Get that scrim locked in the freezer so he remains immobilized, and get Jamison, Bradshaw and the Masterses to medical. Now!"

Several agents rushed to the block of ice and hauled it out together. Several more helped Rome and me to our feet. Our eyes were locked together during it all. Whatever thoughts drifted through his mind, I might never know. Lexis elbowed one of the agents out of the way and stepped in front of me, winding an arm around Rome's waist and finally blocking him from my view.

"I don't wantto do this," I grumbled. Again.

"Don't care," John told me. "You used your powers, and I want to test your blood against the blood samples taken when you hadn't."

"You've done that before."

He held his ground. "The more I do it, the more I can find the consistencies and differences."

"You're a blood monger, you know that?" I was still at PSI headquarters, but I was now sprawled out on a gurney, my beautiful dress replaced by an ugly, paper-thin, unflattering hospital gown. I should have been alone - this was a private room, after all - but John and his blood-testing goon refused to leave my side. I covered the vein the goon wanted with my hand. "Enough is enough."

"Wrong," John replied. "It's never enough until I say it's enough." Such a man thing to say. "Can't we at least do this the normal way? You know, with needles? No offense," I told the guy waiting to drain a pint or so out of me with his teeth. No lie. His teeth.

"None taken," he said with a grin. He hadn't removed his hand from my wrist, though.

"No, we can't," John said, then prompted the goon, "Reese. Sometime today." Reese, a tall man with a handsome yet innocent face and a dimpled smile, gently lifted my hand closer and closer to his mouth. His teeth were white, straight and a lot longer than the average human's. And sharper. God, were they sharper. "Don't worry, Belle. I'll treat you the same way I'd treat my girlfriend.

If I had one."

There was something so hypnotic about his voice. Something wicked and wanton that belied the sweet purity of his face. He'd worked for the agency for several years, and had taken my blood many times before this. He'd always been tender with me, even the times Rome had stood over his shoulder, snapping at him to hurry.

Rome. Was he in a room similar to this? Maybe even the room across from mine? Was Lexis with him?

Tending to his wounds like a loving girlfriend? Bitch.

"Wait," I told Reese just before he started chomping. He stilled. "I'll let him test my blood, but you need to leave," I said, pinning John with a fierce stare. "I don't want an audience. It makes me nervous.

Besides, I want you to check on Rome." Ensuring he did have an audience.

John waved a hand in dismissal. "Rome's fine."

"Make sure." Or rather, play chaperone. "I won't be able to settle down until I know for sure he's racer-ready."

"Belle - "

I arched a brow at him, hoping I looked as stubborn as Rome did when he used the expression. "This is not a negotiation. Go, before I change my mind about the bloodletting and roast Reese alive." Reese chuckled, a lock of blond hair falling onto his forehead. I liked the way his eyes sparkled with his amusement. I mean, I might love Rome, but I wasn't dead.

"So feisty," he said, and there was a ring of affection in his tone.

"One day I'm going to start docking your pay for trying to act like the boss." John stomped from the sickroom, as I called it, and slammed the door shut behind him.

"Alone at last," Reese said, his thumb tracing over my pulse. "I've been hoping for a chance to talk to you."

Every muscle in my body stiffened. Oh my God, was he hitting on me? Was he my secret admirer, perhaps? "Uh, Reese. As you know, I'm kind of engage - uh - " wrong " - I'm kind of seeing someone."

"Like I could forget the way Rome used to hover. But, uh, I don't want to date you, and please don't be hurt by that. You're just too scary for me. I want to date your friend Sherridan. I saw her yesterday, when she was looking for you, and thought she had a nice pair of...legs." He looked away from me, suddenly...shy? "Does she have a boyfriend?"

Somehow, I'd become the resident matchmaker. Ironic, considering the state of my own love life.

"She's single. But..." I pressed my lips together. As it turned out, I didn't need to finish the sentence for him to understand my meaning.

His gaze lifted, a little tortured but not offended. "You want to know if she'll become a vampire like me if we get hot and heavy."

I gave a reluctant nod.

"That would be a big fat no. You haven't, and I've bitten you countless times." Reese was John's preferred method of blood testing. Said the vampire was more reliable than any machine, his taste buds sharper than any piece of equipment, and that he could tell anything and everything about a person's body simply by ingesting the life-giving fluid.