He inhaled a sharp breath before finishing his explanation. “This formula has changed the alignment of her DNA.” His voice began to deepen, a husky edge sneaking into the rich timbre. “It’s given her power over the four elements. As you might have figured out when her finger caught fire.”

Lexis paused in her movements, a pair of green silk pants dangling from her fingers. Finally she faced us. “So that’s the hum of electrical output I feel from her?”

“Yes.” Rome dabbled at the top of my butt for a moment, and I bit my lower lip to cut off a moan. “Both Vincent and our boss want her.”

Wait. Our boss? That meant Rome and Lexis worked together, too. Just great.

“Stop tensing,” he whispered to me. “You’re the Periodic Table Chick, remember? Keep it calm.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“This is Dr. Roberts’s formula we’re discussing, yes?” Lexis asked, ignoring me.

Rome nodded. “You’ve worked with Roberts in the past. You know him better than I do.”

“You worked with Dr. Roberts?” I asked. Well, more like growled. I didn’t like the man, for obvious reasons.

“Yes,” she said. “He’s not a bad man. He wouldn’t have hurt you on purpose. He’s sweet and he means well. But he does have a wild, sexual side, and I think Vincent used it-most likely by blackmailing him-to keep the doctor working on the formula, even after he learned Vincent wasn’t the altruist he’d thought.”

“Why did you work with him, though?” I asked.

She shrugged. “We heard what the doctor was trying to create, a liquid that could make the weakest of people strong, and we wanted him for PSI. When he chose OASS instead, I was sent in to befriend, monitor, and make sure he failed. But Vincent figured out what I was doing and took the doctor underground.”

“Do you think you can get a lock on him?” Rome said. “I need to find him. I promised Belle I would help her search for an antidote and get Vincent off her back.”

“What about John?” Lexis asked.

He can’t have me, I mentally answered.

Rome didn’t speak for a moment. “I’ll deal with him later,” he said, and there was an odd inflection in his voice. An inflection I couldn’t decipher. “Tell me about Roberts.”

Lexis closed her eyes, a blanket of extreme relaxation falling over her features. For a moment I wasn’t sure she was breathing. “Roberts is in the city,” she said, completely monotone. “He has not left and will not leave. There’s still something he wants to do here.”

“What?” Rome asked.

“I don’t know,” she answered with disappointment. “That is hidden from me.”

So Pretty Boy Vincent hadn’t captured him yet, I realized. There was still a chance I could find him, talk to him, slap the shit out of him, then force him to reverse what he’d done to me. If that were even possible.

“He’s concealed himself very well, and I can’t pinpoint his location.”

“At least we know he’s still in Atlanta,” Rome said. His fingers ceased all movement on my back, but remained in place. He rested his chin atop my head. “You’re sure Sunny is going to be okay?” he asked, his tone stark. Filled with raw emotion. The words burst from him as if they’d been poised on his tongue all along and he couldn’t hold them back a moment more.

Genuine affection and sadness played over Lexis’s face, changing her exotic beauty to one of haunting delicacy. “She’ll be fine.”

Rome ’s chest was pressed into my back, so I felt the frantic dance of his heartbeat, then the gradual slowing as he accepted her words. My stomach clenched painfully. I reached up with both hands and threaded our fingers together, offering him what little comfort I could.

“We talked about taking her into hiding,” Rome said, his voice different than before. Flatter. Like when I’d first met him.

“Yes,” Lexis replied. She stilled, gazing over at him.

“Soon,” he said. “I have a plan. Belle is going to… help.”

Was that hesitation I heard from him? “I’ll learn to control the powers,” I assured them both. “I won’t be a hindrance.”

Lexis’s eyes widened for a moment and she looked from Rome to me, from me to Rome. “That’s why you didn’t take her to John?”

He nodded.

Lexis hesitated for a moment-come on, I wasn’t that bad-then gave a clipped nod. “I appreciate your willingness to help my daughter,” she told me stiffly.

You’re sooo welcome, I wanted to reply snottily. That stilted tone of hers made it clear she didn’t expect me to be much help.

“Thank you, Lex,” Rome said. “I owe you. For everything.”

“No more than I owe you.”

They shared a smile, and I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying something dumb. Or mean. Or both. Restraint was my new best friend, it seemed.

“Go,” Lexis said, resuming her packing. Her movements were lighter, her expression happier than they’d been since I’d entered the apartment. “Eat. It’s getting late, and I need to finish up here so we’ll be ready to go in the morning.”

Class dismissed, I thought, which meant I could drill Rome for answers about himself, his daughter and his relationship with Lexis. No excuses this time. No evasions. He would tell me everything I wanted to know, or he would suffer the wrath of the Fabulous Flame.

I cringed. Eew. No. I didn’t like that name any better than I liked the ones Rome had given me. I’d think of a better one soon. If I didn’t, I’d be stuck with Four Elements Girl or Periodic Table Chick.

A sigh seeped from me. I did not want to go down in history with a lame-ass superhero name. Not that I thought of myself as a superhero, but I could now see that there was the potential for it. I mean, I was helping Rome track down the doctor who had done this to me, and then I was going to help him hide his daughter.

Yep. Belle Jamison, superhero. I was starting to like the sound of that.

I FOLLOWED ROME into the dining room, meaning to question him about Lexis. Instead, I saw food spread out on the table, and my mind went blank. Ham, crackers, cheese-Lexis must have set it out earlier, knowing we were coming and all. By the time I came up for air, Rome had already locked himself in the shower.

I consoled myself with a bottle of red wine (don’t ask the brand, I don’t know how to pronounce it) and more of the food. It was the perfect midnight snack to top off this long-too long-day. Thirty minutes later, after I’d eaten my fill and given myself a tour of the apartment, Rome still hadn’t emerged, so I decided to shower, as well. Alone. In a bathroom that was as expensive and well-maintained as the rest of the apartment, with gold-veined facets and pink-veined marble. Sheesh. I could live in this bathroom.

Afterward, in the guest room Lexis had told me was mine for the evening, I changed into an ice-green silk pajama set she’d loaned me. I’d expected a coarse brown sack or extra-large flannel, so the silk came as a welcome surprise. The material felt ultrasoft against my skin.

I was walking out of the room when I spied a phone on the nightstand. I paused, pressed my lips together. Maybe I should call Sherridan. If she went looking for me at work, found out I’d been fired and I hadn’t called her, she’d freak. Would her cell be tapped? I didn’t see how it could be. I mean, the woman kept it on her at all times in case a client wanted to see a house in the middle of the night. But…

Should I? Shouldn’t I? In the end, I hunted down Lexis and asked her-hating that I had to rely on her for anything. “Would I cause a disaster if I called my friend Sherridan?”

Lexis looked at me for a moment, her pretty features pensive. “No. I do not sense one.”

“Thank you.” Relieved, I marched back into my room, picked up the phone and dialed Sherridan’s number.

“Hello,” she said sleepily, and I sat on the edge of the bed.

“Hey,” I said. I toyed with the damp ends of my hair. “It’s me. You alone?”