Gena Showalter - Playing With Fire (tales of an extra ordinary girl)

A shiver of delight coasted up my spine as I prepared for our next practice session. I’d get to start a fire, just not the kind I wanted. Not yet.

Without stopping for a lunch break, we spent the next two hours creating flames, rain, snow and wind whirls. I actually did a good job. Rome stood at a distance, filtering my emotions. Without Tanner, he didn’t know how much to filter, but that wasn’t what he needed to work on. He had to practice filtering without becoming aroused.

With every distraction, I had to start over-but overall, I made progress. Hopefully, in a few more weeks (probably months, sigh) I’d be able to create the desired results instantly, even with distractions all around. Even when Rome was aroused.

What frightened me, though, was that as I improved I began to enjoy my abilities. Wielding and controlling such power was heady. Intoxicating, like an addictive drug. A wild adrenaline rush. I started to picture the things I could do once I truly mastered these powers. If someone pissed me off, I could burn off his hair. If someone threatened me, I could ice her home. Who wouldn’t enjoy dishing out that kind of revenge?

I mean, a few weeks ago, I’d borrowed Sherridan’s car for a job interview. Ten minutes into my drive, I’d been pulled over by the most egotistical, I’m-above-the-law cop ever allowed on the force. Officer Ken Parton was his name. As if I’d ever forget.

I hadn’t driven in a long (long) time, so of course my license had expired. Guess what? He arrested me. Yep, the stupid prick cuffed me and hauled me down to the station as if I were a hardened criminal. He booked me and everything. (Maybe my comment about his Dolly man-boobs pushed him over the edge. Who knew?)

So yeah, I now have a record. All because one jerk-off got his jollies from intimidating women. Am I bitter? Hell, yes. If I’d had these powers then I could have drowned that miserable bastard in a hailstorm, could have frozen his balls to his thigh, could have twirled him in a violent tornado.

Note to self: look up Officer Parton when I return to the city.

“What the hell are you thinking about?” Rome said.

I blinked and shook my head, scattering the dark thoughts to the back corner of my mind. However, that failed to extinguish the small fire kindling at my feet. I stomped on the embers. Black plumes curled upward and slithered around me. I coughed, only then realizing what I’d been doing. Planning to hurt someone. The officer deserved it, sure, but that didn’t make it right.

Damn. This was what Rome had feared would happen to me. That I’d grow to love my powers and be unable to give them up. Wasn’t that what he had said? People killed for power. People craved it, became monsters for it.

I’d wanted so badly to give up my powers when they were uncontrollable, but now that I was beginning to see exactly what I could do-and would be able to do-I wasn’t sure I really wanted to return to my normal self. Officer Parton had clearly been enamored of his own power. Would I be just like him?

I sighed and my shoulders slumped.

“You okay?” Rome asked. He strode to my side and wrapped his arms around my waist. He rested his chin on top of my head. “That was a pretty heavy sigh.”

“Hey, are you guys going to start kissing again?” Tanner called from the cabin window. He pretended to gag. He’d been watching us the entire time, throwing out bits of unneeded advice and unwanted orders like “try to make a naked ice sculpture.”

“Did you ever make lunch?” I retorted. Or was it dinnertime now? Either way, I was starved!

“I do not cook.”

Exasperated, I threw up my arms. “Then how do you eat?”

“Takeout.” Tanner shrugged. “Maids.”

“Maids?” I expected him to laugh, but he didn’t. He was totally serious. Great. I’d invited a Richie Richerson to join the Squad of Doom. Wait. Never mind. So not a cool name for us. “Just make sandwiches or something. We’ll join you in a minute.” I hoped. My stomach rumbled.

“Fine.” Scowling, Tanner stomped away from the window. I heard him mutter, “I’m just the empath, so I get the grunt work.”

Rome maneuvered behind me to block me from view, wrapped his arms around my waist and said, “You never answered me. What brought that sigh on?”

“I was just thinking.” A slight breeze wafted past us, cooling my sweat-beaded skin. His body sizzled against mine, eclipsing the coolness, but no way in hell I’d ask him to move. I liked him where he was.

“About?”

“Powers.” I paused, considering my next words carefully. “If you could give up being a cat-”

“Jaguar.”

“Jaguar. Whatever.” Jeez. Like there was a difference? “If you could give up that ability, would you?”

He offered no hesitation. “In a heartbeat.”

“Even though you can get into places normal humans can’t? Even though you volunteered for the DNA splicing? Even though you can-”

“Even though,” he interjected firmly. “Whatever the advantages, there are far more disadvantages. Like the fact that Vincent would love to recruit me for OASS by any means necessary, which puts my family in danger.”

Somehow I’d known he would say that.

“I’m not saying I hate everything I can do.” His hands rasped down my arms, up my chest, and cupped my breasts. The man obviously liked to touch me. “I’m not saying that at all.”

“Then what are you saying?” I asked breathlessly. His hands were big and callused, and I felt the abrasion through my cotton shirt, felt the phantom imprint that branded my very soul.

I’d had other boyfriends; I’d always enjoyed sex. But something was different with Rome. His slightest touch excited me like nothing else ever had.

“I’m saying the good doesn’t outweigh the bad. Yes, I’m able to see more clearly in the dark. Yes, I can smell things I couldn’t smell before.” He paused, the silence laden with sinful intent. “Yes, I know when a woman is aroused before she does.”

“How?” I squeaked, suddenly embarrassed. Heat spread and branched from my cheeks. I’d been aroused by him so many times I’d lost count.

“I can smell her desire.”

“Is that… part of the good or the bad?”

“Good.” His voice dipped to a wine-rich whisper, a whisper that caressed my still-hot cheeks. “Very, very good.”

Holy hell, this man knew how to seduce. My knees were weakening at a rapid pace. It didn’t matter that the cabin was behind us and Tanner could be watching from the window. It didn’t matter that we were outside. Nothing mattered but Rome.

“I love all of those abilities.” He pinched my nipples, and I arched backward. “I can find the unfindable. Stalk the unstalkable.”

“But…?”

“But these abilities have not helped me do what matters most. They haven’t given my daughter a normal life. No, they’ve brought the evil of the world to her door. Because of that, I can never drop my guard. I can never fully trust. People want to examine me, bad people, just like they want to examine you. They want to test me, experiment on me, and they don’t care how painful it is. They want to make more like me. More like you. More like Sunny. I can’t keep her off Vincent’s radar forever. If the bastard ever tried to experiment on her… ” The last was said in a growl.

I quivered when he glided his wicked hands down my stomach again, this time gripping the hem of my shirt and allowing his fingertips to dabble with the exposed skin.

“Do you trust me?” I asked breathlessly.

“Surprisingly, yes.” He bit the shell of my ear, then licked away the sting.

“ Rome.” I groaned in need. My head fell onto his shoulder. I wanted him to lick my neck. Bite it. Something. Anything. Except…