“No underwear?” I managed to sputter. A girl had to embrace a good distraction when it came along.

“I don’t wear them.” He fastened the button. “Ever. Come on. Firemen are here, and we can’t afford to be detained or spotted.”

“We didn’t-” shallow breath “-question any-” another breath “-of the bad guys.”

“There were more than I anticipated. Taking one would have slowed us down or gotten us killed.”

He helped me to a shaky stand and pulled me into motion. I wanted so badly to fall to my face, to close my eyes and sleep forever. It took a conscious effort to place one foot in front of the other. Water dripped from my hair onto my already soaked clothing. I scanned the surrounding area. Plain gray walls. Some type of machinery. The scents of soap and oil. Were we in the basement of the apartment building?

“Faster, Belle. You can do it.”

I tried to keep up with Rome, I really did, but I’d inhaled too much smoke. Racking coughs plagued me. Utter weakness had taken root in my every cell. When I tripped over a cord, I didn’t have the strength to right myself. Darkness blanketed my mind before I hit. No. Not hit, I mused groggily. Floated. Rome had caught me, his strong arms banded around me. His voice drifted through my subconscious. “I’ve got you, baby. I’ve got you.”

If he kept calling me baby, I thought, just before darkness consumed me, I really would fall in love with him.

“COME ON. Take a drink.”

Cool liquid touched my lips before descending my raw, aching throat. I coughed and sputtered and dragged my eyelids open. Hazy light stung my eyes, and I blinked.

“Drink,” Lexis commanded, her expression stern. She loomed over me, the plastic cup in her hand poised at the edge of my mouth.

Had I died and gone to hell? I raised myself as best I could and drank. The liquid’s tart flavor filled my mouth before scraping at my throat. I winced.

“There,” she said. “Don’t you feel better?”

“No.” The word was hoarse, barely audible.

She chuckled, easing down beside me and setting the cup aside. “You scared us pretty badly.”

Images of the fire, of the men I’d hurt-probably killed-flashed through my mind, and I pressed my lips together. They were bad guys. I shouldn’t feel guilty. They’d tried to hurt me, tried to hurt Rome. Rome! His image filled my mind next, his chest bloody. Panic slithered through me. How was he? Where was he?

I tried to sit up. “Where’s Rome?” Gaze wild, I searched my surroundings. Lexis and I were the only ones present, and we seemed to be inside a cabin. Wooden walls, wooden floors. Only the barest amount of furniture: a bed, a lamp, a table and a few chairs.

“Settle down,” she said. “ Rome is fine.”

“He had a deep cut.”

“No, it was a paltry wound that has already begun to heal.”

“There was a cat, a jaguar-”

“I’m sure there was, but Rome wasn’t hurt by it. I promise. Just lie back and relax.”

“Tanner-”

“Is fine,” she said, cutting me off. “Everyone survived. All is well. It was you we worried about. You’ve been asleep almost an entire day.”

“A day?” I allowed her to ease me back onto the mattress. God, I hated being this weak, this vulnerable. I stared up at the domed timber ceiling. “Where are we?”

“My cabin. It’s on the outskirts of Madison. But don’t worry,” she added. “No one knows about it, not even John. Rome built it for occasions such as this. I made sure Tanner and I weren’t followed, and knowing Rome as I do, he did the same.”

“Where is he?”

“I sent him and the boy to gather supplies. They were driving me crazy with their concern for you, and the cave is only a short walk away.” She busied herself tucking the plain brown covers around me. “ Rome found the cave years ago and has stocked it with every item a person in hiding might need.”

Lethargy beat through me, beckoning me to sleep a little longer. My eyelashes fluttered shut, heavy with exhaustion, but I forced them open. Forced myself to concentrate on her words. “Why were they concerned for me?”

“Well… ” She paused, cleared her throat. “You stopped breathing several times.”

Stopped breathing? My hand fluttered to my aching throat. Dear Lord. I’d come close to dying, and I hadn’t known it. I wouldn’t have had the chance to tell my dad or Sherridan goodbye. Wouldn’t have gotten to see them one final time. “I want to call my dad,” I said, suddenly filled with the need to hear his voice.

“Before you do,” Lexis said, an odd inflection in her voice, “ Rome would like to talk to you about him.”

“Why?” I jolted upright, and the hasty action cost me dearly. Dizziness and nausea blasted me; bright lights winked in front of my eyes. I rubbed my temple with one hand and clutched my stomach with the other. He’s fine, he’s fine, he’s fine. “Why?” I repeated, the word no more than a tortured moan.

“There’s no reason to worry. Your dad is alive and well. I promise.”

My heart drummed in my chest, and cool prickles rolled in my veins as I stared into the green depths of her eyes, trying to glean the truth. She appeared sincere, and I decided to believe her. Slowly relaxing, I flopped back against the pillow. “What’s wrong with me? Why am I so weak?”

“Smoke inhalation is our guess.”

I frowned. “Shouldn’t I be immune to that? I mean, I started the fire.”

Her delicate shoulders lifted in a shrug. “ Rome said you’re probably ultrasensitive to pollutants now. While you can withstand the fire itself, the ensuing smoke devastates you more than other people because you are now one with Mother Earth. Pollutants now hurt you as much as they hurt the world.”

That made sense. I didn’t like it, but it made sense.

Lexis turned away from me and walked to the room’s only window. She separated the brown curtains, peeking out. Whoever picked the brown color scheme needed a serious spanking. Talk about bland. Must have been Rome, since Lexis’s taste-as proved by her apartment-was colorful and expensive. So, Rome needed the spanking, did he? My pleasure.

“Is someone coming?” I asked.

“No.”

A thick blanket of silence descended over us. I shifted uncomfortably on the bed. What was she-

“I love him,” she blurted out.

O-kay. Going there, were we? Better to get it out in the open, I guess, than to let it fester between us. “I realized that within an hour of meeting you. So why did you cut him loose?”

She laughed bitterly. “I’m psychic, which is both a blessing and a curse. I-I knew before I married Rome that I wasn’t meant to be with him, but I did it anyway. I hoped I could make him love me the way I loved him.”

My brow wrinkled in confusion. “I don’t understand.”

She tossed me a sad half smile, and my chest actually constricted in sorrow for her. The pain in her eyes was staggering. “We were together for several years, married several more, and then I got pregnant. Yet all along I knew, deep down, that if I didn’t walk away from him, he would be tied to my side when he didn’t really want to be there.”

“I’m not usually this dense. I hope. But I don’t get what you’re trying to tell me.”

I didn’t need an empath to help me read her emotions at that moment. Her shoulders slumped as her sadness deepened. “ Rome likes me. He might even love me, but it’s not the kind of love a man should have for a wife. I knew, I always knew, that there was someone else for him. He didn’t. He thought I was the one, but he would have learned the truth soon enough. And he would have stayed with me despite wanting-no, craving-this other woman.” She wiped a tear from her eye with a trembling hand. “I couldn’t have endured that.”

Her words were both wonderful and terrible. She wasn’t the right woman for him, but was I? I couldn’t kiss him without starting a fire. Trouble followed me everywhere. I was currently jobless. Not exactly great girlfriend material. Still. I wanted to be the right woman. Badly. If I wasn’t… My stomach twisted.