Twice as Hot (Tales of an Extraordinary Girl #2)(9)

After righting herself, she quickly made her way to my side. "You're too dangerous to be around him.

Get out!"

"His hand moved," I said, the excitement in my voice ringing like a bell.

"What?" She grabbed his hand and lifted his fingers into the light.

"He really moved! I saw it." I tugged his hand from her grip. He was mine, and I didn't share. But as I held him, time ticking away, the muscles remained relaxed. I tried not to weep with disappointment.

So clearly I remembered the morning he'd left for this last mission. A morning I'd taken for granted, thinking countless more like it were on the way. We'd been in bed, naked, sweating from a wild pleasure-fest.

"I don't want to leave you," he'd said. His fingers had traced the ridges of my spine.

"I don't want you to leave me, either. Maybe I'll hold you prisoner." He'd chuckled. "God, I love you. I'm even addicted to you. Get twitchy without you."

"Good, 'cause I tend to get homicidal without you."

Another chuckle. "Too bad that happens while I'm gone. You know I love to exhaust you into calmness.

For world safety, and all that, because I'm such a giver."

"Well, I feel a hot rush of fury suddenly sweeping through me..."

"Do you, now? Let's see what I can do about that." He'd kissed me then, a hot, breath-stealing kiss that had rocked me to my soul.

"Come back to me, baby," I whispered now. "I need you."

His fingers twitched.

I uttered another of those shocked but happy gasps. "Rome?" His eyelids began to flicker open.

"I think...I think he's waking up," Lexis said excitedly.

My heart nearly burst from my chest when his eyelids finally remained open. Thank God. Thank God, thank God, thank God. Rome really was awake. He was going to be okay. I twined our fingers so we were holding hands like we did every night after making love. His skin was callused and hot, so amazingly hot. So wonderfully familiar.

I breathed deeply, taking in his warmth, his deliciously feral scent. My heart kicked back into gear and fluttered wildly. I was so energized - and had been so upset - I could feel a wind swirling inside my head, a blend of the negative and positive. Maybe that wind blustered even outside my body, since my hair was dancing around my shoulders. I didn't care, though. One of my tornados could gust through the room, and I wouldn't have budged from Rome's side.

I wanted to be the first person he noticed, truly noticed. In my mind, I could already visualize him smiling warmly, love and lust gleaming at me.

Then, finally, blessedly, his eyes lost their glaze of sleep, gradually becoming alert. He glanced around the room and frowned in confusion.

"Hey, Cat Man," I said softly. "You were out in the field and got hurt, but you're going to be fine.

You're back with PSI now." You're back with me. "You're safe." His gaze locked on me. His frown deepened and his brow furrowed. "Who are you?"

"Okay , what the hellis going on?" I shouted, trying to tamp down the flames already leaping inside me.

"Keep your voice down," John, my boss, said, shaking his head in exasperation.

"Your walls are soundproof so there's no need for quiet." We were inside his office at PSI headquarters, Lexis, Cody and Tanner with us. Everyone was seated. Except me. I was pounding from one wall to another, too agitated to stay still. "If I don't get some answers, I'll do more than shout!" And they all knew it was true.

So far, I'd managed to keep a tight leash on my super-reactions. Maybe because I was numb. A numbness that was due to shattering disbelief. I was a freaking stranger to my own fiance.

I kept replaying his rejection through my mind, trying to make sense of things.

"Stop kidding and give me a hug," I'd said to him after his "Who are you?" crack. Lexis had already taken off to find John, so it was just the two of us. We should have been making out by then.

"I don't want to hurt you, lady, but if you don't move away from me I'm going to snap you in half." He'd ripped free of my grip and gritted out, "John." He looked past me to the door, searching for any sign of our commander.

"Rome," I'd said shakily.

He ignored me. "John! Get in here. What's going on?"

"Rome, you're scaring me." Even when he'd planned to neutralize me, he hadn't spoken so coldly.

His irritated gaze swung back to me. "Is this a joke? Who the hell are you?"

"I'm Belle." My chin quivered, the words emerging as a horrified whisper. "Your Belle."

"You aren't my anything."

He meant it. More than his voice, there was a coldness in his eyes I'd never seen before. Well, not directed at me. Scrims, yes, but never me.

Icy tears ran down my face. "How can you not know who I am? We're getting married!" He stared over at me, the coldness finally melting - only to spark into anger. "The joke is now officially old. You can leave."

At last, John entered the room, an annoyingly triumphant Lexis beside him. "You rang?" he asked drily.

"Must say, I'm glad to see you're awake, but your timing stinks. I was in the middle of an interrogation."