Twice as Hot (24 page)

I
didn’t allow myself
to ponder Rome’s threat/delicious promise as I ate three protein bars and
packed my bags. Toothbrush, fire-resistant change of clothes, raincoat, snow
boots and a photo of me, Tanner, Rome, Sherridan and my dad, taken a few weeks
ago when Tanner had prepared a dinner of his “famous” booby sandwiches—bread
and meats cut in a circle and topped with olives.

Still
I didn’t allow myself to dwell on Rome’s parting words as Sherridan and I
loaded our stuff in the car. I couldn’t. I’d lose all focus on the case. Again.
I’d have to think about it later—and decide what to do if Rome actually
attempted to seduce me.

I
couldn’t think about Tanner, either. My sweet Tanner, who was stuck on a
gurney, hooked to an IV and missing all the action. No one loved action more
than Tanner.

My
cell rang as I shut the trunk. “Hello,” I answered, leaning against the sedan.
Please
don’t be about the wedding.
After everything I’d been through, saying my
marriage vows was the last thing I wanted to worry about.

“Hello,
Belle.” The speaker possessed a warm, masculine voice I’d never heard before.

I
frowned. “Who is this?”

“Did
you like the flowers? The candy? The…panties?”

My
jaw nearly dropped. Could it really be…“Who is this?” I demanded again.

“You
probably know me as Memory Man.”

I
froze. So it
was
him, and he
did
want me. My first reaction was
anger, the slight softening I’d had when I’d heard about his torture, then
learned of his dislike for Desert Gal, forgotten. Yo. Yo. “Listen, you. I—”

“I
know you’re mad,” he interjected. “And I understand the reasons for it. I do.
But all I’m asking for is a little of your time so you have the chance to get
to know me. I’m not such a bad guy. Let me—”

“No.
Whatever you’re going to say, no. You have a lot of nerve calling me. You took
something that doesn’t belong to you and we want it back.”

Sherridan
motioned to the phone with a wave of her hand.

“Memory
Man,” I mouthed, and she scowled.

“I’ll
give you anything you want,” he said stubbornly. “Anything but that.”

Oh,
really? “You just wait until I find you. The memory you have of me Tasering
Rome will seem like a spa visit compared to what I have planned.”

“You
have so much spirit.” He chuckled softly. “I love that about you. I love so
many things about you.”

“No,
you don’t. Rome does.” Or did. I wish I had a tracer on my phone. I’d find out
where M-Squared was and blast him as promised. He had no right to say that kind
of thing to me.

“Doesn’t
matter whose memories they are.” His voice had veered from sweet and amused to
hard and stubborn. “They’re in
my
head, which means
I
lived them.
Kind of,” he added on a wistful sigh.

“They
don’t belong to you, and you know it. You have to give them back to Rome.”

“Not
going to happen. I like them too much.” There was that stubbornness again.

Damn
him. “Why me?” I asked, still dumbfounded by that fact. I had to know. “You
could have had Lexis. She’s grade A.”

“Actually,
she’s kind of a snob. But you…you’re beautiful, always make the people around
you laugh, and…and you know what it’s like to have a powerful gift the world
wants to use you for.” There at the end, sadness had dripped from his words.

So
he hated his ability. He felt used, probably didn’t know whom he could trust.
And his own memories were no doubt tainted from his days—weeks, months,
years?
—of captivity. Some of my anger drained as I once again found myself
softening—what was wrong with me? But I would not feel sorry for him, I vowed.
“None of that matters,” I said, more gently than I would have liked. “You had
no right to do what you did. If you don’t—”

“You
didn’t let me finish. You’re also kindhearted and passionate and—”

“Stop
right there. Not another word about my passion. But thank you.” What kind of
moron was I? Compliment me and I’d melt like ice cream in the sun. “The truth
is, I’m cranky, flaky and borderline homicidal.”

“No.
You’re loyal, dependable and you stand up for what you believe in. You nearly
worked yourself to death just to pay for your dad’s health care. You gave
yourself to PSI to save that man and his little girl. You’re the only person I
know who is truly selfless.”

“That
man has a name. And I promise you, I’m far from selfless.”

He
expelled a frustrated breath. “I know I can make you happy, Belle. If you’ll
just give me a chance.”

Sherridan
crooked her fingers expectantly, silently demanding an update. I motioned that
I needed a minute and turned away from her, resting my elbows on the hood of
the car. Had the sun always been this hot and stifling? “Why don’t you tell me
where you are and we’ll discuss this face-to-face?”

He
laughed. “How adorable are you, trying to lay a trap for me. You’re taking to
agenting very nicely. Look, I just want to be with you. I want you to look at
me the way you looked at
him.
And like I said, I want to make you happy.
I know I can. Is that a crime?”

“When
you steal from others, yes,” I said through gritted teeth. His devotion was
just so damn nice. It wasn’t fair that I was getting it from him.

A
sigh crackled over the line. “I’m sorry if I hurt you. I am. I just couldn’t
help myself. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted in a woman and for the first
time in my life, watching you, I actually felt…alive. You’re worth living for,
Belle Jamison. You’re also worth dying for.”

Damn
him, damn him, damn him. “If I promise not to lay a trap, would you please
consider meeting with me?” Somehow, someway, I had to make him understand the
horror of what he’d done.
My
life depended on it. “Think about it. We
can make new memories. Memories of our own.” Sure, those memories would involve
me holding him in a wind lock until he gave me what I wanted, but he didn’t
need to know that.

“One
day soon, we will. I promise. For now…just be careful out there, Wonder Girl. I
don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you.”
Click.

I
stared at the phone for a long while, shaking my head, wondering if I’d
imagined what had just happened. With the week I’d had, I wouldn’t doubt it.
Hallucinations had to be par for the course. But no. I couldn’t fool myself for
long. It had happened, I just hadn’t gotten the results I’d wanted. I’d gotten
the opposite, actually. The wrong man was determined to win my affections.

“He’s
going to be fine , Belle,” Sherridan said as we settled into the Honda.

I
took the wheel. Bad a driver as I was, I was still better than
There’s-No-Such-Thing-As-A-Brake Sherridan. “Who is?” I asked, inserting the
key and twisting. The engine roared to life. Though only an hour and a half had
passed since I’d last stepped outside, it was far more humid. Humid enough to
melt the Wicked Witch of the West. Which, to some people, I probably was. I
cranked the air-conditioning as high as it would go, but sadly, that didn’t
help. “Memory Man?” I hoped he’d be anything but fine. Kind of. Damn him. I
didn’t wish him ill. For the most part. Damn him, damn him, damn him, I thought
again.

My
emotions were all tangled up where he was concerned. He’d said he wasn’t a bad
guy, and he hadn’t seemed like one. And yeah, somewhere during that
conversation, I think I’d even stopped hating him. For real, not just for a few
seconds while my dumb little heart softened. I was still pissed as hell, but I
no longer wanted to cut off his balls and wear them as earrings. At all. Proof:
I was thinking about him but steam wasn’t coming out of my nose. He’d just been
too sweet. Too devoted. To me. The dummy.

I
guess Rome’s hypothesis had been right. M-Squared wanted me to love him. I
couldn’t, and that made me wonder if I should indeed fear what would happen.
Would he become desperate? Start hurting the people I did love?

To
be honest, he hadn’t seemed the type to go down that violent road. He wanted me
happy, he’d said. He wanted me safe. I mean, he’d called me to tell me to be
careful. Not the actions of a man who would next try and off me.

“Hello.
Are you listening? You know who I was talking about,” Sherridan said. “Mr.
Sensitive. Your sidekick. Our horny roommate.”

Ah.
“I can’t talk about him.” Not without crying. I hated leaving him, felt guilty,
like a horrible friend.

“Let’s
talk about me, then.” Her favorite subject. One of mine, too, truth be told.
“What superpower do you think I’ll get?” she asked as I maneuvered the car out
of the driveway.

To
my surprise, a dark sedan with tinted windows started forward, too, maintaining
a perfect distance. When I’d first come home, it had been parked a few houses
away. I’d noticed it because it had been the only other car currently on the
road. And because sedans gave me the creeps. All agents—good and bad—seemed to
use them. You’d think they’d come up with something more original, but no. Was
I being followed?
So suspicious.
Well, I had reason.

I
made a left turn. Waited. The sedan turned left, as well. Next I turned right.
Waited, again. Again, the sedan turned right. No doubt about it. I had a tail.

Rome?
was my first thought. I glanced into the rearview mirror. The windows were too
dark to see inside the car. Not Rome, I decided anyway. Love me or not, he
wouldn’t have wanted to scare me.

Was
this courtesy of John? Had he sent someone besides Rome to monitor my
abilities? That theory was more plausible. As my vehicle eased through the
neighborhood, taking turns I didn’t need, I kept an eye on the sedan. I
couldn’t head toward my destination until I knew who was behind the wheel.

“All
right, Grandma,” Sherridan said, drumming her coral-colored fingernails into
the console between us. “It’s okay to put a little pressure on the gas. You
have my word you won’t skid out of control if you pump it up to ten miles per
hour.”

“Very
funny. Don’t look, but I think we’re being followed.”

“What!
By whom?” She immediately twisted in her seat, peering out the back window.

“I
said don’t look. Jeez!”

She
turned, facing front and going stiff as a poker. “What should I do?” she asked,
her voice shaking. With fear? Excitement?

“Just…I
don’t know.” Nervousness rushed through me. “Get my cell out of my purse.”

Bending
down, she dug through the contents. Finally, she pulled out the little black
device. “Rome’s on speed dial. Press one.”

She
did. Then, “What next? Should I talk to him?”

“Press
speaker,” I said. I didn’t want whoever was behind me to know I had someone on
the line.

Bring,
bring.
Pause.
Bring, bring.
He had better answer!

“Miss
me already?” Rome asked huskily.

I
shivered, then cursed under my breath. There was no time for that. “Did John
put a tail on me? And be honest. This could be a life-and-death situation.”

“Shit.”
His voice lost all hint of husky entreaty. “Someone’s following you?”

Okay.
That answered
that
question. “What should I do?” Always before when we’d
been chased, Rome had been the driver. Now, everything hinged on me. Had I been
alone, I wouldn’t have been quite as frightened. But Sherridan’s life rested in
my hands.

“Give
me two minutes,” Rome said. “I’m on my way to you.”

“I’m
headed south on Cedar, and I’ll keep going straight.”

“Good.
I’m calling John. Don’t answer your phone for any number but mine.”
Click.

Sherridan
dropped the phone in her lap. “Could be nothing,” she said, rubbing her hand
against her jeans. “Just a regular Joe on the way to the private airport no one
knows about but us.”

She
was reaching, but man, I wanted to agree.

“No
one would follow you so blatantly. Right?”

“I
wouldn’t think so.” Unless…was this Memory Man? Trying to keep me safe?

But
why scare me like this? Fear hadn’t been the emotion he’d wanted to incite in
me.

My
hands were shaking on the steering wheel, my knuckles so tight they’d already
leached of color. The bones felt brittle with cold.
God, do not let me
freeze our car.
We’d be immobile. Even, dare I say it, helpless. I had
powers, sure, but as unstable as they were without my filter, I couldn’t use
them and risk destroying the entire neighborhood.

I
kept my attention riveted to the rearview mirror. The sedan maintained a steady
pace behind us, the driver not the least bit concerned with my slow speed, it
seemed. I pressed the gas, increasing to about twenty miles per hour.

The
sedan sped up, as well.

Up
to twenty-five.