Deep breath in, out. No mist formed. Thank God. I waited several minutes, but still the cold did not return.
"I'm going back in the room," I said. I wrapped my arm around my middle and as I moved forward, my gaze snagged on Rome's left hand, where a ring - a symbol of our union - would one day rest.
His fingers were twitching.
I stilled, gasped.
"What?" Cody asked.
"He moved!" Eyes widening, I raced around Cody and into the hospital room. I shoved a nurse out of my way and barreled in front of Lexis. She snapped a curse as she stumbled backward.
After righting herself, she quickly made her way to my side. "You're too dangerous to be around him.
Get out!"
"His hand moved," I said, the excitement in my voice ringing like a bell.
"What?" She grabbed his hand and lifted his fingers into the light.
"He really moved! I saw it." I tugged his hand from her grip. He was mine, and I didn't share. But as I held him, time ticking away, the muscles remained relaxed. I tried not to weep with disappointment.
So clearly I remembered the morning he'd left for this last mission. A morning I'd taken for granted, thinking countless more like it were on the way. We'd been in bed, naked, sweating from a wild pleasure-fest.
"I don't want to leave you," he'd said. His fingers had traced the ridges of my spine.
"I don't want you to leave me, either. Maybe I'll hold you prisoner." He'd chuckled. "God, I love you. I'm even addicted to you. Get twitchy without you."
"Good, 'cause I tend to get homicidal without you."
Another chuckle. "Too bad that happens while I'm gone. You know I love to exhaust you into calmness.
For world safety, and all that, because I'm such a giver."
"Well, I feel a hot rush of fury suddenly sweeping through me..."
"Do you, now? Let's see what I can do about that." He'd kissed me then, a hot, breath-stealing kiss that had rocked me to my soul.
"Come back to me, baby," I whispered now. "I need you."
His fingers twitched.
I uttered another of those shocked but happy gasps. "Rome?" His eyelids began to flicker open.
"I think...I think he's waking up," Lexis said excitedly.
My heart nearly burst from my chest when his eyelids finally remained open. Thank God. Thank God, thank God, thank God. Rome really was awake. He was going to be okay. I twined our fingers so we were holding hands like we did every night after making love. His skin was callused and hot, so amazingly hot. So wonderfully familiar.
I breathed deeply, taking in his warmth, his deliciously feral scent. My heart kicked back into gear and fluttered wildly. I was so energized - and had been so upset - I could feel a wind swirling inside my head, a blend of the negative and positive. Maybe that wind blustered even outside my body, since my hair was dancing around my shoulders. I didn't care, though. One of my tornados could gust through the room, and I wouldn't have budged from Rome's side.
I wanted to be the first person he noticed, truly noticed. In my mind, I could already visualize him smiling warmly, love and lust gleaming at me.
Then, finally, blessedly, his eyes lost their glaze of sleep, gradually becoming alert. He glanced around the room and frowned in confusion.
"Hey, Cat Man," I said softly. "You were out in the field and got hurt, but you're going to be fine.
You're back with PSI now." You're back with me. "You're safe." His gaze locked on me. His frown deepened and his brow furrowed. "Who are you?"
Chapter Three
"Okay , what the hellis going on?" I shouted, trying to tamp down the flames already leaping inside me.
"Keep your voice down," John, my boss, said, shaking his head in exasperation.
"Your walls are soundproof so there's no need for quiet." We were inside his office at PSI headquarters, Lexis, Cody and Tanner with us. Everyone was seated. Except me. I was pounding from one wall to another, too agitated to stay still. "If I don't get some answers, I'll do more than shout!" And they all knew it was true.
So far, I'd managed to keep a tight leash on my super-reactions. Maybe because I was numb. A numbness that was due to shattering disbelief. I was a freaking stranger to my own fiance.
I kept replaying his rejection through my mind, trying to make sense of things.
"Stop kidding and give me a hug," I'd said to him after his "Who are