enemy. Which made the feelings she now knew she had for him even more difficult to deal with. So without another word she slid off the bed, taking the sheet with her as she moved closer to her clothes.
“Look, I can get a uniform to sit outside my apartment and keep watch. I’ll report the pictures and Ferrell’s weirdo act this afternoon and all will be well. I don’t have to stay here.” Bending over, she began picking up her clothes that were strewn about the floor.
She gasped when a strong arm came around her waist, pulling her upright against the hardness of his body.
“You’re not going back there alone.”
“This is ridiculous,” she said even though her body was saying something totally different. This desire for him was getting worse, like a craving that just wouldn’t go away. And she wanted it to, oh how she wanted it to. Because despite what she was feeling physically, this thing between them would never work. “I have to get out of here.”
Her voice sounded desperate and almost frantic to her ears. She couldn’t stand it.
“I won’t hurt you.”
Oh, but he already had, she wanted to say. His accusations, although basically true and brought on by her own dishonesty, had hurt. The fact that he thought she could sleep with him as a part of her job hurt. The fact that she ended up sleeping with him as a result of her job was embarrassing and painful. And the mere thought that he wouldn’t want her anymore because of everything he’d learned about her was going to make her physically sick in just a few minutes.
“It doesn’t matter,” she said, trying to pull away from him.
“It does.” He loosened his grip on her only slightly, so that she could breathe but she still couldn’t break free. “I asked you to trust me before, I’m going to ask you to do it again.”
She was shaking her head. “I can’t. And you don’t trust me. So we’re even.”
“I trust you,” he said solemnly. Then as if to show the truth to his words, he let her go.
Kalina spun around and looked at him in all his naked splendor. She simply stared, wondering what was about to come out of his mouth, seeing in flashes the beast he’d turned into, remembering with startling clarity the compassionate lover he’d been. “Why?”
“Because I can scent a lie miles away. Because I knew from that moment I saw you in the alley there was something special about you. Because like it or not somebody is after you and I think that somebody is a shifter.”
“What? Why would a shifter be after me? It’s probably one of the dealers from that night. One who didn’t get busted.”
“Then what does he want with you now?”
“Revenge.”
Rome shook his head. “No. They wouldn’t wait two years to get back at you. He would have struck sooner. This is about something else. When did you get the first pictures?”
Thinking, Kalina tilted her head as she looked up at him. “The day I met you in your office.”
“Whatever they want from you is personal. Ticked anybody off lately?” he asked, his lips lifting into a small smile she suspected was meant to lighten the mood.
As far as after sex banter went—this was rating a low three at best.
With a heavy sigh, she admitted, “I don’t know anybody to tick off.”
“What does that mean? You have to have friends, family. Somebody who’d get angry with you at some point.”
It was Kalina’s turn to shake her head. “I thought you did your research,” she said, but it was spoken so low it lost any biting sarcasm she might have attempted. “I have no family and the only person I know is Mrs. Gilbert, my neighbor. I don’t socialize much.”
“Why?”
This had turned into a question-and-answer session, but she really hadn’t expected him to ask her that. “I don’t know. I just don’t do well with people or relationships or something like that.” Why couldn’t she just say she was afraid to give herself to anyone in any capacity, in case they left her just like her parents did?
For a few seconds Rome was utterly silent.
“I can relate to that.”
“No, you can’t. You’re the Roman Reynolds, playboy attorney, richer than most and on every woman’s to-do list. I’m sure you have no problem with relationships.”
“Relationships that count,” he said solemnly. “You’re quoting the tabloids and making assumptions. I have very few relationships that count, Kalina.”
“Why? You have everything. What reason could you possibly have for being as reserved as I am?”
“No amount of money or success can block out the pain. If something has hurt you, odds are you’re never really going to get over that hurt.” He shrugged. “I’ve resigned myself to that fact and I function accordingly.”
“And does ‘function accordingly’ mean sleeping with women then moving on?” Her lips snapped shut. That question had just sort of rolled out. She’d been thinking it and there it was. To his credit Rome didn’t look too affected by her words.
“That’s been my past experience.”
“And now? What’s this for you now, Rome?” Because she really needed to know. For her, it was getting too deep. What she’d been feeling as she’d lay in his arms, the thoughts growing steadily in her mind, were so much more than she’d ever anticipated in her life. Much more than she’d ever been willing to risk. The least she could do was get a direct answer before suffering the disappointment.
He looked as if he were contemplating his words. “It’s more than I ever thought would happen to me.”
She didn’t know what to say, how to respond. “Oh,” she finally managed. She wanted to kick herself, it sounded so lame.
“I didn’t intend for this to happen,” she told him honestly. “I was just trying to do my job.”
“And you love your job?”
“It’s all I have.” Damn, again with the slipping of the tongue. She was telling this man too much, giving him even more. It was a dangerous situation, she knew.
“Now you have me.”
His words were somber, serious, and she wanted to grab hold of them, wrap herself in them, and believe that maybe, just maybe, they were true.
“I’ve never had anyone. My parents didn’t want me and neither did most of the foster parents I lived with.”
He was moving closer and she knew she should retreat, protect herself from this bad situation growing worse. But she didn’t. Couldn’t. His gaze, his simple presence held her still.
“My parents died when I was young,” he said, coming to stand right in front of her, reaching down to take her hands in his.
“I know,” she said softly.
“I was so angry when they died and I felt so alone.”
Kalina shook her head. “But you weren’t alone. Your housekeeper took care of you.” When he looked a little stunned at her words, she shrugged. “I did a lot of research on you.”
He smiled. “We’re some pair, huh? You investigating me and me following you.”
“Not really a match made in heaven,” she added with a tentative smile of her own.
“But we’re a match,” Rome said, his warm breath whispering over her face as he moved in. “We belong together, Kalina. Without knowing the why or how, we belong together. I believe that.”
And God help her, so did she.
Closing her eyes as his lips touched hers, Kalina thought, We belong together.
Kalina’s cover was officially blown.
Rome didn’t want her back in the office, which was fine. She’d found about all she was going to find there. But she wasn’t finished investigating. There was still a reason why the DEA was looking at Rome in the first place and she wanted to know what it was. Pulling out her cell phone, she called Agent Dorian Wilson again, this time leaving him a message letting him know it was about the case and she had a new development. Then she’d tried
