“That smells wonderful,” Harper purred, leaning her toweled hip against the white tiled counter.
Rome swung his head to stare at her. His intense gaze raked across her bare shoulders, then down the towel to her thighs and back up. The swirling blue gaze virtually stripped the towel right off her freshly scrubbed body. The air between them sizzled with desire. She knew the feeling. There was something inexplicably hot about a manly man cooking.
“Uh, um…” He blinked and cleared his throat. “This’ll be ready in a minute.” He shook his head and turned his attention back to the steaming pan. “I set out some clothes for you in the bedroom. We can throw yours in the washer later.” He gave her a rueful sideways glance. “Again.”
Rapping her knuckles on the counter, she nodded with a smile and walked toward the room with the big bed. Spread out on top of the comforter were a pair of well-worn gray sweatpants and a soft cotton T-shirt. The black T sported a faded green and gold Minnesota North Stars emblem on the chest that just screamed Rome. She hardly knew him, but somehow, it was right. She tossed the towel on the floor and pulled on the clothes—his clothes. The fit was large, but comfy from wear.
Harper bent to pick up the towel and saw a pair of
thick, gray wool socks on the bed as well. Donning them, she relished the cozy, cushy feel as she padded to the bathroom to spread the towel on the wooden rack. She then returned to the kitchen to see Rome setting full plates on the wooden table in front of the television. He then brought out two frosty bottles of water, setting them on coasters.
Smiling at the strange thought of a man using coasters, she sank into the nearest beanbag chair and grabbed one of the steaming plates, along with one of the nearby forks. The cheesy omelet tasted even better than it looked and smelled as she took the first scrumptious bite. It simply melted in her mouth.
“Mmm.” Harper couldn’t help the moan that escaped. “Good.” She shoved another forkful into her watering mouth.
“Cooking’s kind of a hobby of mine,” Rome said through his own mouthful. “But don’t tell anyone.” He lowered his voice and gave her a mock severe look. And added a killer wink.
“My lips are sealed.” She brought her fingers up to her mouth, mimicking the turning of a lock and key. Then she frowned. “Well, they’re sealed after I finish eating.” She gave him a playful wink back and smiled at his reactive grin.
So, he cooked. Something she was admittedly lousy at. Most everyone had a hobby. She thought his would be fixing motorbikes or snowboarding. Something rough and tough. But it was also somehow fitting that a strong, confident man like him would cook. Actual food, no less, not just reheated premade stuff. His joking about keeping it a secret was for show. He had a confidence in everything he did. And he did eggs very well.
Harper finished her omelet in silence and then stud
ied Rome while she crunched on a piece of cinnamonsugar toast. His muscles were tensed, as if he was upset and wanted nothing but to spring away from there. He was wearing jeans and a black T-shirt, which she was beginning to think was his usual garb. The shirt hugged his chest and shoulders like a second skin. Corded muscles flexed along his forearms as he consumed his meal. His jaw sported dark stubble and his close-cropped hair looked a tad mussed. Rugged and sexy. Like her own personal model for the annual firemen’s calendar. Being able to look at him was the one bright spot in this whole thing right now.
As if sensing her gaze, he took a deep breath, but kept his eyes on his own plate.
“I didn’t know they’d hurt you,” he said quietly. “I mean, I did. I know exactly what they do there, but I…” His voice trailed off and he took another bite. His jaw was hard with tension as he chomped hard. She watched him swallow and sigh heavily through his nose. “I didn’t know what to do, Harper. Your power—or whatever it is—it’s like nothing I’d ever seen. It scared me.” He took another deep breath and unleashed his blue gaze upon her. “I’m so very sorry.”
Sitting there, enraptured by him, Harper had no idea what to say.
It’s okay?
No, it wasn’t. He’d betrayed her. He’d just admitted it. As alone as she was now, that wasn’t something she could just forget. She took the last bite of her toast and set her plate down on the wooden table with a slight thud.
“You said to trust you,” she said softly, squinting with the aching thought. “Then you turned on me.” She watched him wince ever so slightly.
“You should have told me,” he countered.
“It shouldn’t have mattered,” she shot back. He
whipped his glance away from her. Trust was trust. Wasn’t it?
“You still should have told me,” Rome persisted, turning back to her. A puzzled look crossed his face. “How can you do…that?” He wiggled his hand around, obviously referring to her power.
“I don’t really know,” Harper answered, leaning back into the chair. Its tiny foam balls wrapped around her nicely, as if she were sitting in a cloud. “Bobby left me a syringe of something. Some kind of serum.” She could practically hear her brother’s last words. “The men who killed Bobby tracked me down. We fought and the serum was injected into my arm by accident.” She could practically feel the intense fire racing in her head to consume her mind. See the fierce energy surge through the air toward the men. Killing them in less than an instant. “Right after that, I felt this power run through my body. It made my mind burn. And I killed them. Just like you saw at Bobby’s house.”
She kept her weary gaze on him, hoping he didn’t see her as some monster. She still hated that he’d betrayed her trust, but she didn’t hate him. In fact, she rather liked him. More than she knew she should. But she wasn’t sure she could ever trust him again.
“I never believed you were dangerous,” Rome finally said after a moment of soaking in her words. He clenched his jaw, a sign of tension she was coming to recognize. “Then I saw what you could do. You tore up that room. Killed those men. With some kind of semi-invisible force that came from your body.” He shook his head slowly and faced her once more. “That’s dangerous.”
Tightening her lips, she vividly recalled the scene in Bobby’s house. The bright sunlight filtering in. The guns pointed at her and Rome. The thought of being
captured. She hadn’t meant to kill anyone. It made her sick to her stomach. She’d never even thought she was capable of something like that. Heck, every fish she’d ever caught, she’d set free.
But in that moment, just like at the Barracks, she’d come to know what was truly meant by “life or death.” It was them or the bad guys.
She’d chosen them.
And he’d chosen the bad guys.
Harper suddenly realized she shouldn’t be there. With him. The little respite he’d given her was now over.
“You’re right.” She shook her head sadly. “I am dangerous.” She looked around the room, searching for answers. This afternoon, she was able to control the power somewhat. That was good, right? She wouldn’t need his help now. But somehow that made her feel more alone than she ever had in the cold, dark cell. More than his betrayal had. She swung her gaze to meet his unreadable one. “I guess I’d better go. Thank you for helping me escape.” She began to wiggle out of the low chair.
“Harper, wait.” Rome rested his warm hand on her wrist, halting her antsy movement. “I can’t change what I did. I was just doing my job. My duty. You need to understand that.” He lifted his hand away from her and shook his head. “But you also need to understand this: There’s something about you. Something…I don’t know. I just know that I want to help you. Help you get your answers.” His imploring look captured her completely. He genuinely seemed out of his element. Well, they were on even ground there. “I know I said that before, but you weren’t telling me everything. Now I know what you were hiding. And I want to help you. Now more than ever.”
“Why?” she asked. “Why do you care so much?” And he did care. The fact that he’d helped her escape and coddled her since were all the evidence she needed. But could she trust him again?
He was right. She hadn’t told him everything. A girl had to have some secrets. And she still had one more. One she needed to keep to herself for now, just in case.
“I told you I had an instinct about you.” He sighed, rubbing his hand over his head. She remembered him saying that when she was tied up on his couch. “I need to trust that.” His gaze became a little unfocused and uneasy. “A couple of years ago, I worked with a team. Three other people. We were supposed to go into a warehouse and steal some contraband weapons. That’s all.”
She watched him reach to take a sip from his bottled water before he continued, obviously upset, but trying hard to hide it.
“Once we got in,” he continued, “we got the weapons, but we also saw the leaders of the smugglers’ ring in a meeting. My gut told me to wait and call for backup. Our orders were to only take the weapons. I’d never gone against my instincts, but I did this time because I thought it was too good of an opportunity. So I ordered the attack and my team was killed. I was the only one who survived. My mistake killed them. Since then, I’ve worked alone, strictly following orders. And I’ve never doubted my instincts again. Until I turned you in.”
“So what does your gut tell you now?” Harper asked, fascinated that he’d open up like that. And at the same time, his honesty touched the part of her that wanted to believe in him again. Believe they could figure this all out together. Yet his betrayal pricked at her like a bee sting.
“It tells me something isn’t right.” His voice was
troubled. “What’s inside of you. What you can do. There’s something else going on here.”
“What do you mean?” She frowned.
“Those guys at the facility,” he started. “I saw you face off against them.” She remembered. Her power had been met head-on with theirs. Maybe he was right.
“They were like me,” Harper said, watching his face closely. It had surprised her when those men had negated her power with ease and without fear as though they possessed it, too. Maybe she wasn’t unique in this mess after all.
“They were like you,” he confirmed. “Only different somehow.”
“Different?” She was confused now. What exactly did he mean by that?
“I know it sounds crazy, but they just didn’t seem, I don’t know, as pure as you.” Rome smiled and held up his hands in a puzzled gesture. “Their powers were foggy, not clear like yours. It was like looking at dishwater.”
She shot him a skeptical look mixed with a smile. What kind of man said “dishwater”?
“Harper, my job is to fight evil. You’re not evil. But something out there is, and you’re somehow a part of it. I will help you find out why all this is happening to you. Why your brother was killed. I will help you get to the bottom of this. That’s my duty.”
Harper had to admire his personal code of honor. His loyalty to his duty. Those principles meant something to her. Rome Lucian was just doing what he felt was right. Though she had ended up in a worse than crappy hole for a few days, this man was the real deal. A real live hero. He may have betrayed her, but at least now she could understand why. He believed this was bigger than
she was. And after facing those guys today, she believed it, too. Maybe she should consider trusting him again. She really, really wanted to.
“I have something for you,” he said, leaning forward and reaching behind him to pull something out of his back pocket.
Her medal. The one that had meant the most to her. The one she’d found tossed aside at Bobby’s. Really, the only tangible thing she had from Bobby. Rome must have picked it up and kept it safe.
Rome held it out to her and dropped it in her open palm. A tingle passed through her arm from the thin solid disc, warmed from his body heat. The thoughtful gesture reached deep inside her, tugging at her soul and gently sheathing it with compassion.
It was more than a token act; this was Rome’s way of attempting to bridge the chasm of trust between them. Something she imagined he didn’t often do.
Closing her fingers around the medal, she thought hard. Could she survive another betrayal from Rome? The only person in the world who claimed to be on her side? The choice was to go this alone in cold solitude or believe in a broken trust.
Harper shook her head slightly. Whereas she cherished his sincere expression of concern, she knew in her heart that she couldn’t afford to put her complete trust in him this time. But she also knew she could seriously use his experienced help.
And that was a good enough reason to give this alliance another chance, albeit a cautious one.
“An offer I can’t refuse.” She gave him a crooked smile, hoping she wouldn’t be made sorry yet again. “Thank you.”
“No, thank you, Harper.” Rome expressed his grati
tude with a tender hand squeeze that sent pleasant little tremors through her arm. Then his whole demeanor changed in an instant. The tension filtered away and purpose streamed in. “First of all, I think we have a few days. No one knows about this place. It’s my own private safe house. The Bug, too. So we’ve got some time.”
“You won’t get in trouble for helping me?” She had to ask. She didn’t know much about his world, and what she did know was incredibly cruel. But, as much as she wanted his help, she didn’t want his life to follow hers down the pooper.
“They won’t know for a little while yet.” Rome didn’t seem worried. He held up a hand, obviously understanding her concern. “Besides, they won’t know it’s me with the getaway car. Like I said, the Bug is safe and I know how to cover a trail.” She wasn’t sure she believed that, but he would know better than her for sure. “And this is what I have to do. It’s the right thing to do. If it costs me my job, so be it.” His smile was unwavering.
“All right,” she conceded, her body releasing a tension she hadn’t even known had a hold on her. Now that she had an ally again, she realized she really had no idea what to do. “Where do we start?”
“Let’s get comfortable.” He gave her a big grin, grabbing their plates and walking toward the kitchen. “Stay put. I’ll be right back with dessert.”
She watched his retreating rear end, thinking dessert sounded fantastic.
After a gentle shake from Rome, Harper realized she’d dozed off. How long had she been out? A playful pat on the shoulder and a saucy smile later, he’d returned all fresh and showered with a huge bowl of chocolate chip cookie dough. How did he know cookies, raw or cooked,
were her weakness? One of the few sweets she allowed herself while training.