Twice as Hot (Tales of an Extraordinary Girl #2)(21)
Author: Gena Showalter

"I’d already thought of that. I just wanted a peek at what I’m not going to enjoy." He glanced at them and whistled. "Those suckers are expensive." One of my brows arched as I faced him. "How do you know?"

"My dad used to buy that brand for his girlfriends."

His dad had died not too long ago, and I patted his arm in sympathy. His mother, an alcoholic, had left on his eighth birthday – some present, right? – and his dad had been all he’d had left. The loss had devastated him.

I knew that sense of loss intimately.

I’d just started learning to walk when my mother died in a car accident. Though I couldn’t remember her features without looking at a photograph, sometimes I would swear there was a hole in my heart. A hole her death had caused.

But I still had a parent, still had someone to lean on. My dad had always taken care of me. He’d bought me tampons for my first period and talked to me about sex, even though he’d been uncomfortable, his face as red as a lobster. Those things had made me love him even more, but they’d also made the pang of not having a mother worse.

"You’re staring at the chocolates like you’ve spotted Jesus," Tanner said. "Just…toss them on the floorboard. John can dust the box and the candy itself for prints." I replaced the lid, but left them in my lap. "If we’re dealing with a rival agency, there won’t be any prints." It saddened me that I wasn’t more upset someone might want to kill me. But then, been there, done that. A lot.

"Better safe than sorry."

"Since when? Your motto is ‘bad shit draws chicks.’"

He nodded. "True. Maybe I should eat one. Being poisoned is a good war story." My lips twitched into a grin. As good a mood as Tanner was in, now might be the perfect time to talk about his ex. My nemesis. The world’s biggest bitch. "So Lexis – "

"Still isn’t up for discussion," he said firmly, his good mood melting away in the blink of an eye.

Grrr! Men. "I think you guys need private time. You know, to talk."

"Yeah." He rolled his eyes, the good mood returning. "Translation – you want private time with Rome.

You’re willing to throw me to the wolves just to play a little game of suck face. You are such a bad friend."

I didn’t try to deny it. "But you love me anyway."

"That just proves I’m the dumb one of the friendship."

I snorted. "I can’t really refute that, which is sad for you. And me, I guess, since my friends are so dumb."

"Why have we never hooked up?" he asked with a little laugh.

"Because I’m so smart."

Another laugh. "Funny."

A few minutes later, we arrived at PSI headquarters in the heart of the city. Outside, we had to check in at security and flash our badges (even though we were recognizable at this point – I guess unlike Sherridan, we weren’t cute enough to make the guards overlook procedure). Inside, we had to sign in at another security booth, ride an elevator to the fifteenth floor and sign in at yet another security booth. We even had to do fingerprint and retinal scans.

John liked things as protected as possible.

Finally deemed acceptable, we strode out of the comfortable lobby, with its brown leather couches and lush green plants, and down a long, plain hallway. From there we turned left, left, right, and hit the laboratory encased by tall glass windows. We left the box of chocolates with forensics – Tanner had to pry them from my Kung Fu grip – and headed to the hall of interview rooms. Along the way, we ran into other agents, but no one stopped to talk. At PSI, everyone had a mission and idle chatter was discouraged.

"Who we interviewing first?" Tanner asked me.

I dug Cody’s list out of my purse, glad it had survived the transfer of belongings from one bag to another, and unfolded it. Something untangled from the middle of the paper and fell to the floor. I stopped, grabbed it and – barked out a laugh. Cody had taken a Polaroid of himself, blowing me a kiss.

At the bottom, he’d written: You’re welcome.

Who used Polaroids these days? Men who wanted to take dirty pictures of their bed partners, that’s who, I thought, barking out another laugh.

"You coming?" Tanner asked, ignoring my outburst. He was used to my swift mood changes.

"Yeah." I kicked back into motion and shook my head in wonder at Cody’s antics. No wonder he’d looked so wicked when he’d informed me the list was in my purse. As I stuffed the photo back in my bag, I passed an agent staring into one of the interrogation rooms. Before I realized what I was doing, I was peeking inside the room myself. I spied Rome. I stopped abruptly, breath snagging in my throat.

Tanner cursed, backtracked and pressed into my side.

"What?" he asked. Then, "Oh."

Inside, Rome sat in the corner, looking casual in a slatted wooden chair. He wore black pants and a black T-shirt that hugged every inch of his muscled forearms. His hair was unruly, as though he’d plowed his hands through it a few thousand times. There were dark circles under his eyes and lines of tension around his mouth.

Thank God he didn’t look like a satisfied man. So where exactly had he slept last night?

In front of him, Lexis sat at a metal table, facing one of the people Rome and Cody had rescued from the warehouse. That damn Lexis. How was I supposed to glue myself to Rome if she was always there, right in his face? The nerve of her!

My gaze raked her, and I gasped when I saw what she was wearing. Stone-washed jeans and a green button-up shirt. My teeth ground together.

"That bitch is wearing my outfit." And she rocked it hard-core. She’d even pulled her glossy dark hair into a ponytail, highlighting the perfection of her exotic features.

A moment passed as Tanner studied her. "My bad. You should have gone with your instincts." No shit. Now here I was, stuck in a dress when I’d known, deep down, that Rome preferred me in jeans.

"I think you look nice," the agent beside me said. If I was remembering correctly, his name was Edward and he worked in the labs. He had a folder tucked under his arm.

"What’s Rome doing in there, anyway?" Tanner asked. "He’s supposed to be interviewing his own set of people."

"He’s protecting her," I practically snarled, knowing without having to be told.

"The guy she’s talking to is the one in need of protection," he replied drily.

At least he didn’t sound pissed or sad about seeing the ex-husband and wife together as said ex-wife blatantly attempted to lure said ex-husband under her evil spell.

"Who are they interrogating?" Tanner asked.

"That’s Tobin McAldrin." I knew because I was the one who’d picked the people Lexis was to interview. It was pure coincidence that everyone on her list either resembled a beefed-up Arnold in his prime (having the strength to kill her) or seemed as gentle as a lamb and was amazingly good-looking (to romance her). Really.