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

I snorted. “You’re funny. Not.” Would it have killed him to say, No, my sweet beauty. I would have failed had you not been there to save me? Was that really asking too much?

“This next job, though… ” His voice trailed off and he sighed. “I need you, Belle. I really won’t be able to do it alone.”

That admission startled me. Could he have said it to pacify me? Yes. Had he? I don’t think so. That wasn’t Rome ’s style. He always said what he meant, and never diluted the truth. No matter how much it would hurt. He needed me and he wasn’t afraid to admit it. Lord, I really liked this man. More than liked him. I admired him, trusted him, desired him.

“You don’t have to break into the lab, you know,” I said. “You don’t have to put yourself in danger when you’ll get nothing in return.”

“I will get something in return. I help you, you help me. Right?”

“Right,” I said softly, “but you haven’t figured out how I can help yet.”

“I will.”

“Whatever you need me to do, I’ll do.” Now. Tomorrow. It didn’t matter. When he needed me, I would be there.

“Thank you.” He linked our fingers again. “Don’t worry. We’ll find a way to succeed. At everything.”

A few cars whizzed past us. Rome was making sure to only go a few miles above the speed limit, not wanting to get pulled over or draw any attention to us. Trees flashed past the windows. The moon was high and wouldn’t begin its descent for hours yet.

“Where are you going to hide Sunny, do you know?” I asked.

“A safe house in the heartland.” He leaned against the headrest with a slight smile. “We’ll really live like a family for the first time in years. I’ll take her grocery shopping. To the park. Swimming. All the things families do.”

Family. His words were a harsh reminder that I wasn’t part of his. He didn’t ask me to come with him after I’d helped him, and I didn’t invite myself. Lexis and Sunny were his top priority-Lexis because she was Sunny’s mom-and that was as it should be. Still, it hurt. It hurt badly, and everything inside me sort of crumbled. In that moment, I realized I couldn’t possibly be the woman he was destined to spend his life with.

Sharp lances of pain speared me, cutting deep. So deep.

Would I let that stop me from enjoying him? No. Hell, no. I’d take him for as long as I could have him. No regrets. I didn’t want to look back over my life and wonder what could have been. What pleasure I could have shared.

“Will your boss search for you?” I managed to ask. Inside I prayed I didn’t sound as broken and hollow to him as I did to myself.

Rome didn’t seem to notice. “He can look, but that doesn’t mean he’ll find.” He paused for a moment. “He’s not an evil man. Like I said, he does love Sunny. I think in time he’ll come to realize that this is the best thing for her.”

“You’ll have to excuse me if I disagree with you about him. I think he’s evil. He wanted to neutralize me. Wants to neutralize me, that is.” Good job, Belle. Keep it light. Keep it impersonal.

“He wants that for safety reasons.”

“Not mine.”

“No. The world’s. A few days ago I agreed with him, remember? But you don’t think I’m evil.”

I ignored the last part of his words. “If a woman has to die to protect the world, no big whoop, is that what you’re saying? He could have come to me and we could have talked about it like two civilized adults.”

“No, he couldn’t. Vincent is after you, too.” Rome paused.

“Maybe now a meeting is something that would be good for both of you, though. Once John hears what you can do, neutralizing you will be the last thing on his mind. He’ll want you on his team.”

I snorted. “What if he sees me, pops a cap in my temple first and asks questions later?”

“‘Pops a cap’?” A short bark of a laugh escaped him. “Now you sound like Tanner.”

My gaze dropped to my feet. Wet mud caked my boots and streaked the floor mat. “If your boss gets to know me and wants to lock me up in Château Villain, what will you do? Betray him-or me?”

He paused. A long, horrible pause. Why did he have to think about this? Did I mean less to him than I’d thought?

“You don’t have to worry about it,” Rome finally answered. “I won’t let anyone hurt you or experiment on you or lock you away.”

Sweet words. Words that touched me deeply. But what about when he wasn’t around? What about when he left me? You’ll take care of yourself, that’s what! Yes, I would. I’d be okay without Rome, I assured myself. So what that my heart felt like it was breaking into a thousand pieces.

The car eased onto a dirt road hidden between two thick groves. The farther we drove, the thicker the trees became, and the less obvious the track. Branches and leaves slapped against the car. Finally there was no road that I could distinguish, and Rome had to twist and turn the wheel to keep from hitting anything. Up and down I bounced.

After a while, the small cabin came into view, illuminated by rays of golden moonlight. Had I not known it was there, I would have thought it was a thick wall of bush and forgotten timber.

Rome parked the car in back. “Wait here while I get rid of the tire tracks.”

I nodded. “Be careful.”

“Always,” he said, flashing me a grin. He exited the car and disappeared into the night.

Turning toward the back seat, I clapped Tanner on the shoulder and shook him. “Wake up, sunshine.”

“I am,” he said without hesitation. His voice held no trace of slumber. His eyes opened-and not gradually. One minute he appeared asleep, the next he didn’t.

“How long have you been awake?” I demanded.

He eased up and brushed the hair off his forehead. “The whole ride. How else was I going to eavesdrop on you and Rome? You really gonna let him leave you behind when he goes into hiding?”

I turned away and stared out the window. “It’s not like I’ll have a choice, Tanner.”

“There’s always a choice.”

“Not when it comes to someone else’s feelings,” I said.

“You could fight for him.”

I closed my eyes for a moment and leaned my head against the seat. “I want a man who wants to be with me. I don’t want to force him to stay, force him to keep me with him.”

“ Rome cares about you. I can feel it coming off him in waves every time he looks at you.”

“Sometimes that isn’t enough,” I said softly.

He pfted. “That’s pride talking.”

“You don’t know anything about relationships, okay?” I twisted the hem of my shirt between my fingers, tightening the material around my knuckles and cutting off my circulation. “So don’t try to hand out advice.”

“I may not have ever had sex,” he said darkly, “but I have loved. I may be young, but I’ve suffered my share of loss. Don’t you try to act like I don’t know what I’m talking about simply because you don’t have the courage to keep your man.”

Anger and shame tried to spark inside me, but I didn’t let them. I didn’t need the complication of another fire. Besides, Tanner was right. So right. He’d loved his parents and lost them. He knew pain intimately. And I was acting like a coward. “I’m sorry.” I turned toward him.

He looked away from me and shrugged. “Don’t worry about it.”

He was trying to act blasé, but I knew I’d hurt him. I wanted to make it right. He didn’t deserve my snippiness. Not after everything he’d done. He was fighting a war for me. Risking his life for me. And young as he was, he was a man. As Lexis had said, he just had a little maturing to do. “Tanner-”

The driver-side door suddenly opened, and Rome stuck his head in. “All clear.”