Twice as Hot (Tales of an Extraordinary Girl #2)(62)
Author: Gena Showalter

Please?"

A sigh crackled over the line. "Maybe. Eventually. After you’ve dated me a while. That’s all I’m asking.

A few dates. You and me. After that, you may not want me to give them back." I shook my head. "I can’t date you. I’m engaged to Rome." My eyes locked on the room’s only door; the handle remained unmoving. Damn it, where was he?

"Does he still want to marry you?"

My teeth gnashed together so forcefully my jaw ached. There was no denying Rome still wanted me sexually. But did he want something more from me? No. And you know, that was a little disconcerting. If we were meant to be together, shouldn’t he have already fallen in love with me again?

More and more doubts about us were piling inside me, and I hated that. "Look, that’s not important," I said. A lie. "He would want me if he remembered me."

"I’ll treat you better than he could even dream of doing. I’ll treasure you. In fact, I’ve already shown you more romance than Rome ever did."

My stinging pride – pride Rome’s disregard had trampled – smoothed at the edges against the force of such heartfelt dedication. "But what kind of woman would I be if I switched my affections so easily? Not the kind you could love, that’s for sure."

He sighed. "Look, I didn’t call to argue with you. I called to get you to tell me where you were, even though I already knew, well, for the most part, so you wouldn’t freak out when I arrived. I’m on my way to Denver, should be there within the hour."

I lost my smile. "How’d you learn my location?" Had he gotten his information the same place Desert Gall had?

"When you failed to return home, I walked through a few agents’ heads until I located you." Well, that answered that. "You can’t just go around invading people’s heads, stealing their memories."

"You’ll be glad I did. I’ve got some information for you."

My own agent’s mind perked up. "I’m listening."

"There’s a vampire at PSI. Reese."

"Yes. We’re well acquainted. So?"

"He’s feeding Desert Gall information."

I shook my head in disbelief. "He wouldn’t. He couldn’t. He – "

"Craves your blood all the time now. I spent some quality time inside his head. He’s the reason you’ve had so many blood tests lately. He told John you need them, that your blood chemistry is changing. It isn’t. The formula makes yours sweeter than anyone else’s, gives him a high, and he’s addicted to that high. It’s an addiction he’s fought since the beginning. And at first he succeeded. But like any addict who’s lost the war, he needs more. Desert Gall has eyes and ears everywhere and got wind of his little problem. She promised to give you to him when she finished with you. All he had to do was help her capture you."

"But he wants to date Sherridan," I said stupidly.

"No. Another lie. He was going to use her to stay close to you because he knew you’d never accept him, knew that your heart belonged to…Rome." The last was said on a hate-filled snarl.

I – I – couldn’t believe it. Oh, I knew Jean-Luc was telling the truth. He’d fought to save me. He wanted to date me. What he was saying made sense. It was just, I’d trusted Reese. I’d willingly given him my arm, my blood. Yet he’d merely been using me for food. A drug. Was planning to turn me over to PSI’s greatest enemy to get what he wanted. I shuddered.

Did Cody know? Either way, I’d have to call John. Would have to admit I’d played a role in turning his once-faithful lab tech into a spy. "Thank you," I croaked out. "I needed to know. And now I have to let you go. There are a few things I have to do."

"Wait," Jean-Luc rushed out. "Don’t go. I’ve got a few more pieces of information for you." God, would any of them be as devastating as what I’d just been told? Or worse?

"Don’t worry," he said as if reading my mind. "This is good news. I know you had to hate leaving your friend Tanner behind. So I did some checking for you and thought you’d want to know. He woke up.

He’s doing very well. He’s expected to make a full recovery." I pushed out a relieved breath, collapsing back onto the mattress. Thank God. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost Tanner. He was a part of me. One of the best parts, really. "Thank you.

Thank you so much. Is there anything else I need to know?"

"I…know some things about Desert Gal. Spent some time with her."

"Go on."

"Her civilian name is Candace Bright. She worked for Vincent and was my warden after he died. I’m ashamed to say I took several of her memories to give to Vincent in exchange for food. He liked to keep tabs on his employees and he liked using me because they never knew he’d checked on them. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that I spent a little time in her head." He stopped, silence slithering between us.

I tried to process it all. One, Jean-Luc could take memories from one person and simply give them to someone else. Without touching them, since he’d never been allowed near Vincent. Wow. Two, he knew Desert Gall intimately. "Tell me everything. Please." I couldn’t keep the urgency from my voice.

"She likes to blend into both societies, civilian and paranormal, and does her best to keep her respective identities completely separate. The former she uses for monetary gain and to secretly stalk her prey. The latter she uses to commit her crimes. To steal what she covets, to kill those who are in her way, to capture people like us. Her thirst for power is unsurpassed.

"But most of all," he continued, "she hates you. Thinks you took her father from her."

"What? How?" To my knowledge, I had never encountered her or her dad.

"He liked you better than her, that’s all I know. Well, that, and pride is everything to her. She has to be the best at everything, own the finest things, and, like I said, be the most powerful."

"But…but who the hell is her dad?" Could he have been one of the scrims I’d helped PSI put away over the past months?

"In the memories I viewed, she only thought of him as Dad or Daddy, so I don’t have a clear sense of his identity. And at the time, I had no idea who you were. Where are you, Belle?" he asked gently. "Give me your exact location. Please. It’ll save time."

To tell or not to tell? Rome would freak if I did. But Jean-Luc was the best lead we had. "Why do you want to know?"

"I want to keep you safe."

"Does that mean you want to help me fight bad guys?"

"No, but I will if I must. Anything to keep you safe," he said fiercely. "You’re my everything." Knowing someone cared about me that much, even though that affection stemmed from something false and wrong and couldn’t possibly be real, was a dangerous temptation wrapped in a pretty pink box.