Twice as Hot (Tales of an Extraordinary Girl #2)(64)

Was all of this an omen?

Had Lexis been right, after all? In the end, would Rome walk away from me? Would I marry someone else? I wondered, no longer quite so confident that it couldn't happen.

I swallowed bile. Felt tears burn my eyes. Stop it! If you cry, you'll ruin Rome's equipment - not to mention the outfit he bought you.

"Speaking of Rome, where is he?" Lexis asked on a sigh, distracting me. "I'm worried about him." I was beginning to worry, myself. By now, Rome had been gone three hours. "A few" equaled no more than two in my book. I wiped my eyes with the back of my wrist, saying, "Still have that brooding feeling?"

"Yes, but it's not about him."

Was she trying to convince me? Or herself? Could he be - No. No, I couldn't think like that.

But the tears returned, faster, hotter, my mind so used to painting the blackest picture. I forced them to slow, then stop, turning my mind to happy thoughts. I had a party to attend. What kind of party, I still didn't know. What I'd do there, I didn't know either. What I did know was that my current state of mind would not help the case in any way. And the party would be for the case. Otherwise, Rome would not take me to it.

At the door, there was a slide, a click and a whoosh. Rome strode inside the room. All three of us sat at instant attention, our focus riveted on him. He had soot on his cheeks and his pants were ripped. He was panting and sweating, as if he'd been running.

I jolted to my feet, meaning to race to him, wrap him in my arms, but managed to stop myself in time.

"Everything okay?"

His gaze raked over me, pupils thinning, elongating. His hands fisted. Imagining them in my newly dark hair, perhaps? Under that intense scrutiny, my nipples hardened and my legs trembled. My blood heated.

Even though he might very well be turned on because I now looked liked Lexis.

Ouch.

I was back to wanting to kill him.

"Everything's...lovely. I decided to test Big Rocky's security and see how many guards would come running if one of their alarms was blown from the inside."

I didn't want to contemplate how he'd gotten an alarm to blow. "And how many was that?" We hadn't noticed anything on the monitors.

"A lot. But I did manage to get a camera in there." His gaze shifted to Lexis. "Get Sunny on the phone. I want to talk to her just in case we aren't able to make calls later on." Just in case things got complicated, he meant.

A few minutes later, Lexis was laughing with her little girl and my chest was aching again. After she said her goodbyes, she handed the phone to Rome.

He was already smiling as he sat on the edge of the bed. "How's my ray of sunshine?" The ache spread, deepened.

They spoke of cartoons and Sunny's uncle - Rome's brother - who watched her while her parents were away. They laughed about a booboo Sunny had gotten while riding her bike. They argued about Sunny practicing her ability to mist through inanimate objects. But then Rome frowned. "I know I promised, honey, but now is not a good time. Fine, all right, you win. You always do. She's right here," he said.

"Hang on." Hesitantly, he handed the phone to me.

I gripped it, hating how stiff my knuckles were, how trembly my chin was, and said, "Hey, baby girl.

How are you?"

"I miss everyone." There was a pout in her sweet five-year-old voice. "I want to see you."

"I'll come by the moment I'm back in town. Swear."

"When?"

"A week," I said, giving myself ample time.

"Two days. Did you not hear how much I miss you?"

My lips curled into a grin. Always a bargainer, this one. But then my gaze caught on Lexis, who was twisting the comforter of the bed so tightly the material would surely unravel. "Two weeks. And I miss you, too."

She sighed. "You still don't know how this works. You're supposed to say five days and I'm supposed to say four and then you're supposed to say we have a deal. Daddy'll have to teach you how to do it, I guess."

My cheeks colored as I remembered the last time Rome had tried to teach me how to bargain.

Nakedness and orgasms had been involved. "I'll tell him."

"Love you."

"Love you, too, sunshine." Arm shaky, I handed the phone back to Rome, who was watching me with the sweetest, most tender expression.

He said his goodbyes, his voice a mirror of that beautiful expression. I loved watching him interact with his daughter because he was the kind of father every girl dreamed of having. When he finished, he threw the phone back to Lexis and looked at me, all business again.

"I'm going to shower. Be ready to go by the time I'm done."

"You look nice ," I said, gaze roving over Rome. Not a lie. I'd never seen him so dressed up. He wore a black pinstriped suit, not a wrinkle in sight. His hair was slicked back, and he smelled of rich, spicy cologne.

Plus, he'd somehow managed to change his features. I didn't see any hint of makeup or plastic, yet his nose looked longer, his cheeks sharper, his mouth a bit thinner. Mouthwatering as he appeared, I hadn't recognized him when he'd stepped out of the bathroom.

"Thank you. So do you."

I, at least, wasn't lying or simply being nice. He truly looked delectable. Me? Not so much. Not next to him. While he was caviar, I was SPAM in my barely there purple spandex. Seriously, I needed business cards that said Two Hours - Two Hundred. "So why are we in disguise?"