Twice as Hot (Tales of an Extraordinary Girl #2)(4)

"Don't feel sorry for me." He moved forward, brushing me aside with his shoulder.

I remained in place, a little stunned. He hadn't made a single derogatory comment about my breasts or tried to cop a feel. Even when death had been breathing down our necks, he'd been unable to go five minutes without talking about my nipples.

Okay, so maybe "brother" wasn't the best word to describe him. He was the boyfriend I adored but wouldn't sleep with. Wait. No, that didn't work, either. Whatever he was, I loved him. Plain and simple.

"Tanner, I don't feel sorry for you," I called, bypassing our air purifier and following him into the kitchen.

Because my abilities were so attuned to nature, toxins were my greatest enemy now, so there was another air purifier in the kitchen. Another in my bedroom. Another in the hallway.

Tanner was digging inside the fridge. Bottles clinked together; something thumped from the top shelf.

"Doesn't matter. I don't want to talk about her."

"You need to, because it's festering inside you. You're falling apart and - "

"Hey, which of us is the master of emotions here? Besides, I know what you're going to say. You've been here, done that. Yeah, I know. Only difference is, you got a happily ever after. I won't."

"She was your first love, but there will be others. You'll see. Just give it time. You'll get over her and someone else will catch your eye."

Every muscle in his body stiffened, but he didn't face me. "So what you're telling me is that if Rome didn't want you, you'd be okay with finding someone else?"

No. Never. Rome was it for me. The one and only. My man. I couldn't even imagine myself with someone else. Poor Tanner, I thought again. Had he really loved Lexis like that?

"Why did she end things?" I asked softly.

Silent, he straightened. He was holding a beer, staring down at it.

"Uh, you're not twenty-one," I pointed out, just to break the quiet tension.

Finally he flicked me a glance. "Feel free to turn me in." He popped the cap and leaned back, the rim suddenly at his lips. In record time, he drained the contents of the bottle, tossed it into the trash and reached for another.

"No, I meant, you're not twenty-one so you shouldn't be drinking without a responsible adult drinking with you. Toss me one."

That earned me a grin. Swift, but there for that brief moment all the same. I felt as if I'd conquered the world. And I hadn't even had to use my powers! "Like you're responsible," he said.

"Well, I am an adult."

"That's debatable, too." He tossed me a beer.

My reflexes were not as defined as my paranormal abilities, and I almost dropped it, the condensation making it slick. I had to clasp it with two hands to maintain a firm enough grip.

"Already had one?" he asked.

I looked drunk? This early in the morning? "I'm not belting out show tunes, so no." With a flick of his wrist, Tanner closed the fridge and faced me fully. I settled atop one of the bar stools, sipping at the beer. Ick. Not my alcoholic beverage of choice, especially for breakfast, but it would do.

Anything for Tanner. "Talk to me. Please. I'm worried about you." He shrugged, his eyes once again swirling with more misery than any one person should have to deal with. "Nothing to tell, really. We got together because she needed someone to comfort her and I needed a willing body to lose my virginity to."

"And did you?"

One of his black brows arched. "None of your business."

Did that mean no? The Tanner I knew liked to kiss and tell and besides that, they'd seemed so hot and heavy. PDA was not something they'd eschewed.

He drained the second beer as quickly as the first, then closed his eyes and pressed the dripping bottle against his chest. Once, twice, he banged his head against the refrigerator, saying, "She told me she knew we weren't meant to be together. That something was going to happen, and one day I'd realize it." He laughed bitterly. "She said I'd even thank her."

Oh, crap. Lexis's predictions were never wrong. That didn't lessen the sting of the here and now, though. I knew that well. Long ago, Lexis had dumped Rome because she'd known deep down she wasn't the woman of his heart, wasn't his one and only. She'd known he would stay with her anyway because he was the father of their child. She'd known, and it had broken her. So she'd cut him loose.

Just like she'd cut Tanner loose.

Was Tanner destined to love someone else?

Suddenly I didn't hate Lexis quite so much.

She'd told me once that she didn't know if I was Rome's one and only, either, that she'd had a vision of that girl but had never seen her face. A lot of days I could pretend that didn't bother me. Most days, in fact. Sometimes in the early morning, though, when I was alone in bed, too sleepy to block my fears, I would wonder if some girl was out there, soon to meet Rome - soon to enthrall him, steal his affections.

But then I would wake up and remind myself that Rome was not a man easily swayed. He loved me. He wanted forever with me or he wouldn't have asked me to marry him.

Tanner's eyelids cracked open, his features now covered with an expressionless mask, his gaze empty and his jaw relaxed. "She also said her true love would be coming back into her life." His voice was devoid of emotion, as well.