Playing With Fire (tales of an extra ordinary girl)

by Gena Showalter

  “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.”

  My motions were slow and tired as I exited. Tanner was right behind me, and we trudged toward the cabin. He still wouldn’t look at me. I would apologize again, but I’d wait until he was more receptive to do it.

  Before we reached the porch, Rome strode to my side and clasped my hand, bringing me to a stop. “Tanner, go inside. Get some rest. Belle and I will join you in a little while.”

  I opened my mouth to ask what was going on, but Tanner muttered, “Take your time,” and entered without us.

  Rome tugged me into a thicket of trees. “There’s a pond out here,” he said.

  “And?”

  “And we’re going to swim in it. Alone. Then do whatever else we feel like doing.”

  Oh. Oh. Suddenly I wasn’t so tired. Warmth tingled through me. Warmth and lust and a seemingly unquenchable hunger. The rational, keep-me-out-of-trouble part of my brain tried desperately to remind me of what the future had in store. Rome is going to leave. When this is all over, he’s going to leave you.

  Maybe it was foolish o
f me, but I still refused to let that ruin the here and now. I’d guard my heart, keep my emotions on a tight leash, but I would enjoy this alpha male while I could. No regrets, I reminded myself.

  Soon the trees opened up, revealing a large oasis. Dappled water formed a beckoning oval. Boulders lined the edge in a half-moon, and pink flowers bloomed around them, a perfect frame. Bright ribbons of moonlight and curls of mist ghosted over the silvery liquid, making it shimmer like polished glass. Lightning bugs flickered like romantic candles.

  The sheer beauty of the area snagged my breath, and I trembled.

  “Do you know why I brought you here?” Rome asked me.

  “Yes,” I answered. And I was more than ready to begin.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  ROME TURNED TOWARD ME, and I turned toward him. When our gazes caught, held, the warmth inside me flared to a low burn. I licked my lips. It seemed as if I’d waited for this moment forever. Maybe I had.

  “Nervous?” he asked.

  “Yes.” I didn’t try to deny it.

  “Me, too.”

  My eyes widened. “You? I didn’t think anything got to you.” Then realization slammed into me, and my shoulders slumped. “I understand. You’re afraid I’ll burn down the woods or something.”

  Moonlight couched his features, bathing him in gold. His eyes glowed bright blue, shimmering. “No, nothing like that. I’ll filter any heat you create.”

  “Then what are you nervous about?” I asked, confused.

  “I want to be your best. I want to set you on fire. Over and over again. I want to make you wet.”

  Everything inside me tingled with delight, with bliss. With pleasure. Moisture pooled between my legs, drenching me. “You already have,” I said.

  “More,” he replied. His head slowly lowered toward mine.

  I went up on tiptoes, meeting him halfway. At the moment of contact, I opened for him, and his tongue swept inside. The taste I was becoming addicted to-savage man, wild beast-flooded me.

  He took his time with the kiss, laving my tongue, exploring me. Enjoying. My blood simmered, my bones liquefied. I melted into him.

  “You taste so good,” he said. “You smell so good. That’s the first thing I noticed about you. You were horribly sick, but you smelled like apples and cinnamon and total woman.”

  While he spoke, he traced his fingertip down my chest, over the ridged peak of my nipple, the sensitive plane of my belly. Where he touched, I quivered. He gripped the hem of my T-shirt and slowly worked it over my head, then dropped the material at our feet.

  I did the same to him, reveling in the ropes of his muscles, the feel of velvet-encased steel. I yearned to lick every inch of him. To savor him, to have his cock inside me, hard and hot and eager. I’d wrap my legs around his waist and he would sink deeper into me.

  “Your turn,” he said. He reached behind me and unhooked my bra. My breasts sprang free, aching for him. He kneaded them and plucked at the wanting nipples.

  I gasped at the heady sensation, the consuming need. “Now you.” I worked at his weapon holster. My fingers were trembling, so it took me longer than I wanted, but the thin black strap soon lay in the puddle of clothes.

  When I attempted to unsnap his pants, he tsked with his tongue, the sound rough and raspy. “You don’t get to go twice in a row.” He worked the button of my pants and pushed them over my hips, down my legs. “Step out of them.”

  I was aching so much I nearly didn’t have the strength to obey. I had to grip his shoulders to hold myself up. Slivers of moonlight illuminated him, my dark angel. He stepped back, his gaze roving over me. Only a pair of lacy panties shielded me.

  Usually I was comfortable with my body. I didn’t own a car, so I had to walk a lot, which kept me fairly trim. But having Rome see me like this… Did he like what he saw? Did I turn him on?

  “Take them off,” he rasped. “I do get to go twice. I’m bigger.”

  I hooked my fingers in the sides of my panties. Rome still had his pants on, and if I did what he asked, I would be completely naked. Completely exposed. A daunting thought, yet…

  I shimmied them down my legs, stepped out of them and straightened. Nervousness blended with my arousal, a hot and cold combination. I wished he would say something, anything. Wished he would touch.

  As if he knew my deepest desires and wanted only to cater to them, he reached out and swirled a finger in my belly button, saying, “You are, without a doubt, the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen.”

  My breath caught. The words were so rough I could barely make them out. When I realized exactly what he’d said, any lingering doubt about my decision to be with him died the sweetest death. My nerve endings sparked with desire so complete it nearly slayed me.

  He worked quickly, furiously, at his pants, no longer content to slowly strip. Finally he, too, was naked. I drank in the sight of him. The golden rays of the moon paid him absolute tribute. He was a buffet of muscles and corded strength. He was big and strong, utterly majestic, and I needed him inside me.

  Neither of us said a word as we stepped toward each other in unison. I gasped; he growled. His arms closed around me; my arms closed around him. Our tongues clashed together, and his breath became mine. I burned for him, just as he’d wanted. Though my emotions were frayed and raw, I felt passion boiling inside me, flooding from me into Rome.

  He instantly captured and caged the heat. Wave after wave beat around us. A groan purred out of my throat. My hands were all over him-his back, his stomach, his penis. I allowed my fingers to curl around the long, thick length of him, and my other hand gripped the heavy weight of his testicles.

  He hissed in a ragged breath and suddenly I was falling down, falling backward. The kiss didn’t break. Instead of slamming into the ground as I expected, I landed on top of Rome. He had twisted, taking the brunt of the fall himself.

  “Straddle me,” he said roughly.

  I did. With pleasure. My legs settled around his waist, placing the core of me at the tip of his cock. The sensation of flesh against slick flesh rocked me. He tugged me down until my breasts rasped against his chest. Oh, delicious abrasion. Then he slid me up until my nipples perched above his waiting mouth. As he sucked and licked, I rode his cock without actual penetration. I arched and strained against it. Sensation after blissful sensation tore through me.

  The deliciousness… the riotous intensity…

  He captured my other nipple, giving it the same attention he’d bestowed on the first. “ Rome,” I said, his name a desperate plea. Up and down, I rubbed myself on his penis. The fire in my blood continued to spill into him. “I’m going to-”

  “Ride my fingers,” he commanded. He reached between us, his decadent fingers gliding over my stomach, past my pubic hair. “Fuck them like you did before. I’ve thought about it a thousand times since and got hard every time.”

  Quivering, I lifted slightly and gave him complete access. He sank two fingers into me. That’s exactly what I’d wanted, a part of him inside me. I fucked his fingers as he’d requested, like I wanted, riding them, driving myself to satisfaction.

  “That’s it,” he praised.

  My head fell back, and a cry parted my lips. Felt… so… good. Flashing lights winked behind my eyelids as I erupted. Pieces of me soared out of my body, to the stars. While my inner walls clenched and released, tide after tide of pleasure pounded through me. I don’t know how long I milked the orgasm, but when the last spasm tapered away, I collapsed on Rome ’s chest.

  He flipped us over. Reaching out, he clasped his pants and dug inside one of the pockets. Expression tense, he withdrew a condom.

  “When did you put that in your pocket?” I asked breathlessly.

  “After meeting you, I put a condom in every pair of pants I own.”

  I arched my brows and chuckled. “That sure you’d get laid?”

  “That hopeful.” Sweat trickled down his temples. With muscles bunched, poised for release, he rolled the condom over his len
gth, and then his mouth was covering mine. Consuming. Feeding me kiss after kiss.

  I wouldn’t have thought it possible, so replete was I after that mind-shattering climax, but in seconds I began to heat up again. I arched and writhed against him. I strained. I purred.

  I gasped his name.

  He shouted mine.

  “Inside you. Now,” he growled.

  “Inside me. Now,” I commanded. I spread my legs, anchoring my ankles on his back. God, yes.

  He slammed into me, all the way to the hilt. No more foreplay. No more going slowly. We were too far gone for that. My back arched. I cried out. My nerve endings caught on fire. Flames licked at me.

  Rome drew them inside himself, and I think that must have increased his own pleasure because he pulled out of me and drove home again. Hard. In and out. Over and over. We strained against each other. As the pleasure increased, his strokes quickened. My nipples rubbed against his chest, a decadent friction.

  He kissed me again, our tongues battling, following the same in and out pattern as our bodies. My eyes squeezed shut as I savored a frantic thrust, then I opened them-forced them open, really. I wanted to watch him, watch his face when he came.

  I saw glimpses of the beast inside him, flashes of fur and fang, and God help me, it excited me all the more, pushed me over the sweet edge for a second time. Another orgasm blasted through me.

  “Belle,” he roared, as he, too, erupted. “Belle, Belle, Belle.”

  AFTERWARD, I LAY in Rome ’s arms for a long while. Thankfully, the only fires I’d started had been inside us. The trees were intact. The animals went about their business without interruption.

  My body ached with satisfaction. It had been a long-long-time for me, and never like this. Sweat beaded our skin, sticking us together. I stretched languidly. “I’m going for a swim,” I announced.

  “Mmm, but I want you to stay in my arms.”

  I planted a kiss on his mouthwatering chest and eased to my feet. My bones protested, but I forced myself to remain standing. If I lingered in his arms, I was more likely to allow myself to think about what we’d done, more likely to fall deeper in love with him. I was already addicted to him.