Twice as Hot (40 page)

“I’m
not planning it anymore,” I said. “It’s been canceled.” With the words, my
remaining fear began to fade, tendrils of anger and hurt taking their places.
One more emotion and I’d have the cocktail needed for wind. Great.

I
had to get myself under control or I’d blow us from the building.

Okay,
that caused the fear to intensify. At least I had my filter back.

“Why’s
it canceled?”

“Are
you kidding? You don’t even remember me, much less want to marry me.”

“I
could get my memory back at any time.” As he spoke, he continued to climb,
dragging me up with him. Finally we were there at the top and throwing our legs
over that last ledge, sweet shadows enveloping us.

Safe
now, I wondered what was happening inside our room. Surely Desert Slut and
Cody—and however many people they’d brought with them—had reached it by now.

“What
does your dress look like?” He was jiggling behind me. What the hell was he
doing? “You must’ve bought one by now.”

“I
did, but I accidentally burned it.”

“Got
mad, did you?”

“Yeah.
You kept calling me Homicidal Tendencies Wench and I BBQed all the clothes in
your closet. The flames leaped onto my dress.”

“God,
I bet that was hot.”

Hot.
“Ha-ha. Very funny. Anyway, I had planned to buy another one, but…
Anyway,
the first one was gorgeous. A Grecian cut with thin straps, a beautiful cream
color and a flowing skirt. I was going to look like a goddess.”

“You
already do. Were we writing our own vows?” Rome slapped a hand beside mine, a
weird-looking circle-thing clutched between his fingers. It was black, about
two inches thick and as big as my palm.

I
knew he was asking me these questions to distract me, but man, they hurt. “Yes,
we were.” I changed the subject. “What’s that you’re holding?”

“You’ll
see.” He stretched his arm toward the neighboring building’s roof, pressed the
pad of his thumb into the center of the circle, and a silver arrow shot out and
up, moving so swiftly I caught only the barest glimpse of a blur. “What were
your vows?”

The
arrow must have caught in something, because Rome’s arms jerked and I saw a
thin silver wire was secured inside the circle. Clearly, we were going to
propel. Fabulous.

“I
don’t want to talk about the vows.”

“Turn
around and face me,” Rome said. “Wrap your arms around me.”

“There
you go, kidding again.” He wanted me to slide through the air, a massive drop
below me and no net to catch me if I fell? Yeah, right.

“Do
it. Now.” No longer did he sound like my sweet protector. Now he was total
commando.

“Fine,
but only because you asked nicely. Jerk,” I muttered. Slowly, shaking, I did as
he’d demanded. When I faced him, I found my nose buried in the hollow of his
neck. Sadly, I could still see what he was doing.

He
pulled hand holders from the circle, cutting it into two pieces. “Ready?”

“As
I’ll ever be,” I said on a sigh.

A
moment later, my feet were jolted off the ledge and I was soaring, soaring…I
wrapped my legs around Rome’s waist for added security, and my eyelids squeezed
shut. Having the wind in my hair was enough. I didn’t need to see my progress.

The
entire trip from one roof to another lasted about five seconds, but it seemed
an eternity until we stopped. Rome used another device to hoist us to solid
ground. I lay down, trying to catch my breath.

Rome
rolled to his back and flipped his cell phone open, holding it up so I could
see. On the screen were Desert Whore and Cody, as well as four others I didn’t
recognize. OASS agents, presumably.

“I
placed a camera in the ceiling of our room,” Rome explained.

Ah.
That’s what he’d done while I’d been searching for an unsuspecting civilian to
frighten. “Why couldn’t we have just gone out our own window?”

“They
might have been watching it.”

Ah,
again.

The
four agents were digging through our stuff, not that we had much. They ripped
what little clothing we had, then threw open the dresser drawers, looking for
more.

With
the downward angle, I had a perfect view of Desert Shithead’s hair. I hated to
say it, but damn, those tresses were gorgeous. Golden-blond and silky. This had
to be her DG persona, since Candace Bright was the redhead.

“You
dragged me out at this ungodly hour for nothing! You told me they’d be here and
they clearly aren’t,” she said to Cody. Well, not said. Her voice was husky,
rich, more a purr than anything. Knowing how pretty she was, when you added the
voice into the mix the girl was walking sex. Men probably drooled for her. And
then she probably mopped that drool up like a sponge, the water-sucker.

“They
must have spotted us.” Cody looked left, right, and sighed heavily. “I told you
Rome’s security would be a problem. Good thing is, they packed in a hurry, only
taking the essentials, so we were close. Next time we’ll nail them.”

“Do
we still trust him?” I asked Rome, genuinely curious. What if Desert Gal was
the one woman who’d inspired Cody to break his three-date min-max rule, and he
truly was on her side now? On the bright side, if that was the case, at least I
wouldn’t have to worry about him dating Sherridan.

“Yes,”
was the only response.

“I
want her.” Desert Whore dug her nails into her thighs. “I
need
her.”

I
blinked. She needed me? Why? Jean-Luc had told me she hated me because her dad
liked me. That didn’t necessitate a “need.”

“I
know,” Cody said gently. “I know. We’ll get her. I swear.”

Desert
Turd whipped away from him. “Get out,” she said softly.

The
men working around her froze, realized what she’d ordered, then hightailed out
of the room as though their feet were on fire.

Cody
remained in place. He closed the distance between himself and my greatest enemy
and wound his arms around her waist. She stiffened. He didn’t pull back,
though. Instead, he rested his chin on the top of her head. “Having her doesn’t
mean your father will come back, though.”

Rome
tossed me a confused look.

I
shrugged.

“I
know.” She sniffed and wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. A
frustrated growl left her, and she raised her head, eyeing the ceiling, a harsh
mask pasted on her features.

Something
inside me recognized that mask for what it was: fake. She was crumbling inside
but wanted to show the world how tough she was. Or, hell, maybe I was deluded.
Maybe I wanted to see vulnerabilities in my enemy because that would mean I
wasn’t up against an impenetrable force.

Cody
tugged her tighter against him, glancing up at the camera as though he’d known
it was there the entire time. I gasped, feeling pierced all the way to the
soul. He reached up and extended two fingers, his thumb pressed in the middle
of them. It was a sign. I knew it was, and suddenly trusted him as completely
as Rome had assured me I could.

Desert
Gal couldn’t see him, and he quickly dropped his arm and escorted her from the
room, promising her he’d find and deliver me.

My
brow wrinkled in confusion. “What does that mean? He’ll meet with us in two
nights? He’s going to act against her in two minutes?”

Rome
jacked to his feet. “We’ve got to get Tanner.” Dread dripped from his tone.
“I’ll explain on the way.”

Apparently,
two fingers
with a thumb in the middle was a code between Cody and Rome. Not for peace, as
I’d kind of hoped, but for something terrible about to go down. His fingers had
formed a
K
for Catastrophe, even though the word started with a
C
(as I’d pointed out). That was the beauty of the code, Rome said, as if I
lacked the sense to tie my own shoes.

I
figured that’s why Cody had helped Desert Gal track us. To warn us of this
impending Katastrophe—or paraster (paranormal disaster), as I liked to say—as
well as stay in her good graces and prove his worth, his trustworthiness.

What
was about to go down, though, Rome didn’t know.

All
I knew was that I’d never seen him this frightened. Yes, frightened. Whereas
for once, I, Little Miss Icebox, had my fear under control. Don’t get me wrong;
I was scared. Scared out of my freaking mind, but I wasn’t letting it rule me
this time. Or maybe I had more control because Rome was filtering for me again.
Either way, Sherridan and my team needed me, and I would
not
fail them.

“How
you doing?” Rome asked me as we exited the bus we’d just spent half an hour
bumping around on. We’d had to wait for it for several hours, hiding all the
while, but finally morning had arrived, followed quickly by the bus. Things no
longer seemed at a standstill.

I
luxuriated in the chilled, fresh air, the cloying scent of mingling perfumes
fading, and yawned. God, I was tired. Wait. Didn’t I owe Rome a response? How
was I doing, he’d wanted to know. “Good.”

Rome
yawned, too. “Let me know if that changes.”

“You
better believe I will.”

“Good,”
he said.

We
walked another half hour before he phoned John and gave him our location,
certain we weren’t being tailed. Ten minutes later, a car picked us up in front
of an abandoned, wood-slats-over-the-windows home. The driver didn’t speak to
us, didn’t really even look at us.

It
was another fifteen minutes before we reached the airstrip. At least there were
no incidents along the way. However, we beat Tanner’s plane, which meant more
endless minutes to wade through. Hello, new standstill.

Or
not. “Sponge-bath time,” I muttered. “Where’s the nearest bathroom?”

“Down
the hall, to the right. I’ll be there in a minute,” Rome said, turning his back
to me to talk to a man I didn’t recognize.

“Uh,
no, you won’t.”

Silence.
He didn’t even flick me a glance.

I
took that for agreement and strode the length of the hall. The bathroom was
spacious, better than I’d expected, with white tiles and chrome facets. In
fact, rather than cleaning up in a sink, I would get to use a wide shower stall
with a dark privacy screen.

Since
PSI owned this little building, John must have made sure his agents had the
proper facilities. I wondered if all the airstrips they owned—and there were a
lot, since they had one in every major city—were like this.

I
locked the door, stripped in record time and climbed inside. As the water hit
me, I was able to relax, really relax, and not worry about a bad guy busting in
on me. More than having all the amenities, the airstrip was heavily guarded.
We’d passed two security stations on the way in.

Except…Rome
sat on top of the closed toilet lid when I emerged on a steam cloud, holding a
bundle of clothes. I gave a startled gasp, hand fluttering to my chest.

“You’ve
got to stop sneaking up on me!” I was totally buying the vicious dog I’d
threatened him with when we returned home. Barking might just save me from a
heart attack. I grabbed my towel and wrapped it around myself. “Any more of
this, and the bad guys won’t need to kill me. You’ll have done it for them.”

He
rolled his eyes. “Clearly I didn’t really scare you, since you haven’t turned
me into an iceberg. We’ll be contacted when Tanner’s plane lands, so…” He was
dressed in all black again. His hair was damp, slicked back from his face. We’d
both had a shower last night, yes (and had fun while doing so), but we’d also
scaled a building and run for our lives since then.

“What?
You’re staring,” I said, even though I was the true culprit in that department.

“I
know,” he replied, taking the blame. Or had he been doing so, too? Score! His
gaze raked me, hot, intense. “Of all the outfits I’ve seen you in, excluding
the glistening skin you wore while showering with me, this has to be my
favorite. White terry cloth, nothing underneath.”

My
heartbeat sped into supernova. “We’re not having sex again,” I blurted. “Not
until our friends are safe and sound and you, like, love me again. Because the
more I’m with you, the more I love you, and I hate,
hate
being the only
one emotionally involved.”

“Fine,”
he said.

I
blinked in surprise, a little disappointed he hadn’t made a declaration of
undying love then and there. Anything for nookie, right? “Come again?”

“I
said fine. No sex.” He stood. “Like you, I’m too concerned. My daughter’s
mother is out there, and disaster’s on its way. Top that off with fatigue and a
shitty mood and I’m just bad company right now. But since we’re stuck here, I’m
going to do what’s most beneficial to our team.”

“And
that is?” Whatever he was doing, I was doing it, too. Except for sex, of
course.

“Rest.
With you. We’re not going to do anyone any good if we collapse again, and I’ll
sleep better if you’re close.”