Twice as Hot (49 page)

“Yes.
You’re going to listen to me. Nothing happened between me and Rome. I tried to
kiss him that first day, but he quickly pulled away, as though he sensed I
wasn’t the woman for him right away.”

My
fingers curled around one of the blade hilts. “I know nothing happened. He told
me. But it doesn’t matter anymore. Now get lost.”

Another
pause. “What do you mean, it doesn’t matter?”

There
was no avoiding this, it seemed. “We’re over. Okay? We’re over.” I slammed the
locker shut, still clutching that blade. I faced her with narrowed eyes. She
was as lovely as ever, dark hair brushed to a glossy shine, emerald eyes
sparkling. “Happy now? You finally got what you wanted.”

“No.”
She shook her head, shock radiating from her. “No. I—No. Belle, I’m so sorry.
Truly. I…don’t know what to say. I meant for that to happen at first, but not
any longer. I swear it. You two are meant to be together. I admit that now. I
do. There’s no better stepmother for Sunny, and the way Rome looks at you…the
way he talked about you, even when I was telling him we needed to work things
out. He wouldn’t even kiss me! Said all he could think about was you.”

Wonderful
to hear. But too little, too late. I closed the distance between us, my shoes
smashed against hers, my nose practically rubbing hers. “You once told me there
was a woman meant to be the love of Rome’s life, but you weren’t sure if it was
me. Well, guess what. It isn’t.” My chin trembled as I spoke. God, saying that
was hard. “You once told me I’d plan my wedding but Rome wouldn’t care. Well,
you were right. You once told me I’d marry someone else. Maybe you were right
about that, too.”

“That
can’t be right.” She was pale, shaking her head. “Are you sure it’s over? Give
him another chance. He—”

“
He
is the one who’s going to dump
me.
”

“But…but…no.
He wouldn’t do that. He loves you. He told me yesterday, this morning. Even if
I did still want to be with him, I wouldn’t have a prayer. You’re it for him.
The one. If you could have heard him screaming at me…I’ve never seen him so
angry.” There at the end, shame dripped from her tone.

Yeah,
but that only meant he’d wanted me
before
I’d shown him just how
powerful I would be. More than an ache, more than a stabbing pain, her words
were a cancer eating at me. I pushed her with my free hand, hard, and she
stumbled backward. “Get out of my way. We’re done here.”

Determined,
she jumped back into my path. “Or maybe you can hear. Maybe you can see.”
Before I could react, she flattened her palms against my temples. I jolted,
images shooting straight into my head.

Lexis
and Rome. Lexis sitting on a couch, tears streaming down her face. Rome pacing
in front of her. “How could you?” he shouted. “You almost ruined me. I love
her, Lex. I love her, and you tried to take her from me.”

With
a weary sigh, the Lexis in front of me dropped her arms to her sides.

“How
did you do that?” I demanded.

Her
chin rose. “Your powers are evolving. So are mine.”

“I—I—”
Couldn’t let what she’d shown me matter, much as I loved knowing Rome had put
her in her place and defended me. As before, I reminded myself that the
argument had taken place before Rome had seen what I could do. “Like I said,
we’re done.”

“No.
Not until you tell me if you like Jean-Luc. He’s the one I told you that you
would marry, but I was wrong. I mean, I saw him standing in front of you,
kissing you while you wore your wedding dress, but he simply can’t be the one
you’re marrying.” She was babbling and couldn’t seem to stop. “He’s not meant
to be yours. He’s supposed to be…mine,” she ended lamely.

Jean-Luc
and Lexis? I stared over at her, blinking. I could have walked away, but
didn’t. Shock made my feet feel like stones. “Are you freaking kidding me?”

Like
a nervous teenager, she twisted her fingers together. “No. I’m not kidding.”

“You
are
incredible.
First you wanted Rome, then you let him go, then you
wanted him again, and now you want Jean-Luc. For God’s sake, make up your mind,
’cause you are driving me crazy!”

“Look,
I know you can never forgive me for what I did to you and Rome, not to mention
what I did to Tanner.”

Uh,
you think?

“But
you’ll win Rome back and Tanner, well, he’s already recovered from my
desertion.” She slapped the small metal door beside her once, twice. “I knew
Elaine would appear in his life. I knew he would want her. I did him a favor.”

“Hardly.
You cut your lovers from your life before they can cut you from theirs. They’re
good men, but you crushed them. Do you ever think that maybe you’re acting
prematurely? That maybe they would still want you, but the only reason your
visions come true is because of
your
actions?”

Oh
my God. The moment I spoke, I realized I’d done the same thing. I’d let Rome
go, I’d realized. At some point since he’d regained his memory, maybe even
before, I’d let him go. I’d told myself I loved him, that I would fight for him
always, but then something would happen and I would fall back on my “maybe not”
fears. I’d bounced from one extreme to the other and he’d had to know, had to
sense.

That’s
why we were here, at this point.
I
had done this. Me.

Could
I win him back?

Lexis
paled, her mouth flailing open and closed. “You’re right,” she said quietly.
“What I did was terrible and I’ll try not to make the same mistake again. But I
saw myself with Jean-Luc, Belle. Last night in a vision, I saw him standing at
the end of a hallway and smiling at me. That smile—” she shivered, wrapped her
arms around herself “—it set my blood on fire. I wanted to go to him more than
anything in the world, and I saw love in his eyes. Love for me, no one else. I
want that. I want the vision to come true.”

She
was so passionate about it, I couldn’t doubt her. Even though I wanted to.
“Doesn’t matter. He deserves a woman who will love him back. A woman who will
stay with him ’til the end.”

“I
plan to be that woman.” She chewed on her lower lip. “I just have to convince
him of that.”

I
pointed a finger in her face. “If you lie to him…”

She
held up her hands, total innocence. “This time, I’m going to play fair. Believe
me, I’ve learned my lesson. I just wanted you to know I’m out of the game when
it comes to Rome. He’s yours.”

“How
nice of you,” I said drily. “You can go now.”

She
didn’t. “I had one more thing to say.” She gazed down at her shoes and kicked
an imaginary rock. “A favor, really.”

I
laughed without humor. “Sorry, I’m all out of those.”

Her
gaze swung up, pinning me. “Don’t go on those dates with Jean-Luc. Please,
Belle. I know I don’t deserve it, but I’m begging you.”

Before
I could respond, she walked away. I stood there, shaking my head in wonder at
her daring. I was going on those dates, and that was that. If Rome hadn’t
talked me out of it, no way Lexis would.

My
motions were jerky as I stuffed my hands in my pockets. Something crumbled against
my fingers. Frowning, I withdrew the note. Oh, yeah. The note. I unfolded it
and, when I read the contents, I actually flinched.

You
didn’t kill my daughter when you probably wanted to, and for that, you have my
gratitude. But I know you and your team are now looking for me. I won’t allow
myself to be found, Belle. I will do whatever is needed to remain free—even, if
you force me, take you down. I don’t want it to end that way, however. Let’s
part now. In peace.

Dr.
Roberts had been inside PSI and no one had known.

What
a freaking cluster.

Turned
out ,
 my
first “date” with Jean-Luc was a double. Jean-Luc and me, Tanner and Elaine.
The latter pair was here to watch for Dr. Roberts. Just in case. Sherridan was
pouting at home, keeping my dogs company. (I missed them already.) Rome was…I
don’t know where. He’d said he had no plans to come and I couldn’t see him in
the dim lighting of the bustling restaurant. But I could feel his eyes on me,
watching.

Wishful
thinking?

He’d
arrived at my house two hours before Jean-Luc had come to pick me up. And yes,
he’d brought Sunny. That sweet little girl who looked like Lexis but had Rome’s
indomitable spirit had leaped into my arms, giggling and unaware her world was
about to be rocked.

“I
missed you so very much,” I’d told her.

She’d
kissed my cheek and looked up at me, beaming. “I missed you, too, and guess
what?”

“What?”

“You
got it right.”

My
brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“You
came home when you was ’post to.”

Ah,
our negotiation. I smiled at her, my chest aching, my throat constricting. How
many more would we be allowed? “Come on, scamp. I want to introduce you to our
new friends.”

We’d
played with the dogs for over an hour. And yes, we’d put them in pink dresses
with ruffles and bows. (They’d been adorable!) I’d tried to pull Rome aside for
a private chat, but he’d said, “John told me about the note. He’s worried Dr.
Roberts will try and hurt you, despite what he said about making peace.”

“I
know.” He’d told me the same thing. After he’d congratulated me on the
successful apprehension of Desert Gal and I’d beamed like the sun in shock and
pleasure. “He’s placing me under surveillance for a while, in case the note was
meant to lure me into a false sense of security. I’m supposed to act like
everything’s normal.” Which I couldn’t do until I had this Rome and Jean-Luc
thing figured out.

I
wanted Rome in my life, and I wasn’t letting him go. If he cut me out of his,
fine. But I wasn’t going easily. Once these dates with Jean-Luc were out of the
way, I was going to fight for my man like I should have done from the
beginning. Fight harder than I’d ever fought a scrim.

Yeah,
if I convinced him to keep me around, we desperately needed to discuss our
future. Like whether or not we wanted children. And I needed to know he would
be okay with my being an in-the-middle-of-the-action agent. He’d said he would
always want to protect me. Now I wondered why I’d ever thought that was a bad
idea.

Stupid
Belle.
I’d let my fears get the better of me and had begun to look for reasons to end
things. No more.

If
we disagreed about something, we could hash it out and reach a compromise. As
long as we were together, nothing else mattered. All relationships were work,
after all. It was who you wanted to put that work into that mattered. And I was
willing to work for—and with—Rome.

Was
he willing to work for me?

When
the time had come for Rome and Sunny to leave, Rome hadn’t kissed me goodbye.
Hadn’t
said
goodbye for that matter. Leaving had gone something like this:

Sunny:
“No! I’m staying.” She’d been angry at that point, but had calmed herself down,
the anger turning to sadness—and then tears. “I haven’t seen you in a long
time. I miss you. I don’t want to go! You’ve been gone for forever.”

Me,
hating myself: “I don’t want you to go, either, but I have to go to…work.”

Sunny:
“No, you don’t. I heard Daddy say he’s not going to marry you and that I had to
stop asking to see you.” Her chin had trembled. “You’re leaving us, aren’t
you?”

Me:
“I love you, sweetheart. I would never leave you. Ever.”

Rome:
“I’ll bring you back tomorrow, sunshine. I swear. I explained to you last night
that my mind was sick and I just didn’t remember Belle. But now I do.”

Sunny:
“But you’re not happy, you’re not smiling and laughing like before.” She’d then
used her misting ability to disappear. We hadn’t found her for twenty minutes,
and both Rome and I had been beyond worried. Finally we’d discovered her inside
the freaking dryer. I’d felt like a rat, and Rome had scooped her up and stalked
out of the house, silent.

Remembering,
I sighed.

“You
okay?” Jean-Luc asked me. He sat across from me, and placed his hand over mine.

Slowly
I withdrew it as I studied his face over the flickering candlelight. He was so
handsome, so sweet, so giving (when he wasn’t stealing, that is). Despite my
confession that I’d never love him, despite the agents he’d known would
surround us, he’d brought me to a lovely place with flowers and soft, romantic
music.

With
the threat of Dr. Roberts looming, John had instructed us to stay alert and not
drink anything with alcohol, so Jean-Luc had ordered me a virgin strawberry
margarita. His notebook had reminded him that my favorite fruit was strawberry.

“I
just had a tough day,” I said.

“Tell
me about it.” He propped his elbows on the table and leaned toward me,
genuinely interested.

“I
shouldn’t.” Unloading my Rome-problems on him would be cruel. But I desperately
needed someone to talk to. And I couldn’t talk to Sherridan. I wasn’t yet
immune to her voice. I couldn’t talk to Tanner, either. Even now, he and Elaine
were lost in their own little world, heads bent together, whispering.