rome didn't give mea chance to consider his words. he leaned forward, grabbed the base of my neck and jerked me onto his lap, my blanket falling to the floor in a forgotten heap. completely caught off guard by the aggressive display, i flailed for a moment, unsure what was happening as i searched for a solid anchor. then his hot body met mine and his equally hot tongue thrust deep into my mouth.

he kept his fingers firm on the back of my neck, angling my head for even deeper contact. his familiar flavor filled my mouth, primitive and spicy. the muscles in his back were clenched, rock hard under my hands - hands i allowed to roam, kneading with abandon.

over and over his tongue rolled against mine, shooting little sparks of ecstasy directly into my bloodstream. his free hand settled on my breast, the nipple beading immediately. the thin gown i wore was no kind of barrier, so it was as if he caressed me skin to skin.

my stomach quivered as heat speared me. heat i had not thought ever to feel again. "rome," i moaned.

"wrap your legs around me," he commanded huskily.

my legs? lost in the pleasure as i was, it took me a moment to one, remember what legs were, and two, figure out what mine were doing. when i realized they were hanging over the edge of his chair, i shimmied until they were anchored around his waist, my core pressed against his erection. sweet heaven!

never once did i break the kiss.

"you taste good," he said. "like fire and ice. i didn't expect that. "

"what'd you expect?" i managed to gasp out between licks inside his mouth.

"amazing. just not...perfection."

see? this was how he'd gotten me to fall in love with him. at times like this he made me feel like the most treasured woman in the world. "so you don't remember doing this to me? naked? in the shower?

on the bed? on the floor?" with matt damon? okay, how had the sarah silverman video gotten in my head, now of all times?

the hard length of his shaft throbbed against my heat. "no." it was a tortured cry.

"i do. i remember every...delicious...detail."

he pulled away to stare into my eyes. he was panting, sweat trickling from his temples. he didn't release me, though. no, he held me more tightly. "tell me. help me remember." his thumb played with the pulse at the base of my neck.

i shivered. "more kissing first." i had him where i wanted him. talking could come later.

needing no more encouragement, he dove in for another taste. every time his tongue rolled over mine, it was like white lightning shot through me, molten flashes branching and spreading. i couldn't catch my breath, didn't want to catch my breath. this was nirvana, a place i could die without regrets.

"i want to touch you," rome said.

"yes." i tangled my hands in his silky hair, fisting. "touch me." he groaned. "i shouldn't."

"you should." please, please, please, i almost added, but managed to hold the pleas inside.

"we shouldn't."

pull away and i'll kill you."we're dumb if we don't."

another groan. "how do you do this to me?"

i nipped at his lips, so desperate, so needy for more. i wanted his hands all over me, caressing every inch. i wanted his naughty tongue to follow, to lave me deep and forever. "do what?"

"make me so...crazed."

now i groaned. i made this strong, drool-worthy man crazed? still? "touch me, like you want," i urged.

"please," i allowed myself to add this time. pride was foolish in the face of passion, i realized.

his palm was under my gown a second later, his fingers kneading my breast. just like that, the kiss turned savage. he snarled, pressing into me with so much force our teeth banged together. i writhed against him, the friction delicious. consuming. my nails sank into his scalp, probably drawing blood.

he didn't complain.

he nipped at my bottom lip, his teeth sharper than normal, his fingers slipping around me and clamping onto my ass, urging me to rub against his erection, harder. faster. i did, rocking with complete abandon, feeding him kiss after fervent kiss. he was in my nose, my mouth, on my skin, inside my cells, deep in the marrow of my bones. just then, he was everything to me. but strangely, that did not reduce me to nothing. it made me...more.

he hissed at me. "we keep this up, and i'm going to come."

i was, too. was so close, needed only another brush...it had been too long, too long without him...another taste and i'd - yes, yes, yes, right there! with a scream, i erupted into a million pieces.

and as the earth-shattering orgasm ripped through me, i also erupted into flames. not just a fireball sprouting in my hand, and not simply fire spraying from my eyes.

my entire body burst into a crackling, orange-gold inferno.

rome yelped and jerked to his feet. i slid off him, slapping into the cold floor. i couldn't see him through the flames, and whimpered. crackling and hissing filled my ears, roaring through my head.

"belle," he shouted, reaching for me, probably meaning to pat me out.

panting, i scrambled backward before he could touch me. i wasn't in pain, could feel the heat but not the burn, and knew the same would not be true for him. he would blister. perhaps worse.

stubborn man that he was, rome chased after me.

i continued to scramble away until my back hit the bed, and the flames leaped onto it. no. no, no, no.

calm down, i had to calm down. passion and anger were both volatile emotions and ignited my body like matches (literally). but never, not even when i first underwent the change from human to superhuman and my abilities had been horribly unstable, had i experienced this.

"i don't know what to do," i cried. was this happening because of the blood reese had taken or the fact that rome wasn't filtering for me as he'd done in the past? probably the latter. i was a mess without him, our passion as out of control as the fire.

"don't move," rome said. i still couldn't see him, but i heard the pound of his footsteps amid the chaos inside my head.

i was too frightened to move, yet that fear failed to produce ice. what. the. hell. deep breath in, deep breath out. happy thoughts might work, i thought. or hoped. 'cause i couldn't think of anything else that had worked in the past. happy thoughts were hard to conjure, though, when i was a freaking human bbq. try. try, try, try. kissing rome - that had been nice. and sexy. shit! a flame shot from the top of my head, making sparks fall in every direction.

no thoughts of the kiss. that only inflamed me - on every level.

my heart drummed erratically in my chest, visions of agents catching fire and burning to death, their screams in my ears, filling my brain. if only rome could remember how to filter for me! he could take the hottest thrums of my emotions and cage them inside himself, calming me inside and out.

happy thoughts,my mind screamed. my dad. sherridan. tanner. my mom, when she'd been alive. not that i remembered her. i felt a wisp of sadness stir inside me, felt a raindrop land on top my head, the fire crackling, and realized i was going about this the wrong way. ice might be beyond me at the moment, but rain wasn't. besides, happy thoughts might stop the fire from blazing from my body, but they wouldn't stop it from spreading throughout the room - and the building - and the city.

i needed more rain. which meant i needed more sadness.

before i could work up a good reason to cry, though, another round of footsteps echoed. ice-cold foam was suddenly sprayed at me, dousing me completely. i closed my eyes and pressed my lips together, even stopped breathing so i wouldn't inhale the frigid stuff. since employing me, john had made sure a fire extinguisher waited in every hallway.

when the spray stopped, several moments ticked by in silence.

"it's okay," rome said, panting. "the fire's out."

slowly i cracked open my eyes. i had to wipe my face with my hand to clear my line of vision. rome hovered in front of me, his face concerned.

"you're covered in soot and your clothing has holes," i told him, shivering as the cold seeped into my bones. and i had done that to him. me. i had placed him in danger. hurt him. could have killed him.

"i'm sorry. so sorry."

"well, you're naked." there was no anger in his tone, no accusation about what i'd done. he was genuinely amused. "nothing to be sorry about. i like the end result." still. tears burned my eyes as i surveyed the damage to myself. i gasped. my gown had indeed burned away. the only thing that saved me from a complete, full-body flash was the white foam. i looked like a snow queen, covered as i was with it.

rome scooped me up, and i yelped in surprise. "i've got you." he latched onto the blanket before settling back on the chair with me on his lap and draping the material over me. "you okay?"

"yes." embarrassed to my soul, but fine physically.

"does that kind of thing happen - "

"belle jamison. want to tell me why - " john, who'd charged into the room, stopped abruptly. his expression didn't change when he spotted me sprawled on rome's lap, but his voice did calm. "i don't even want to know what kind of kinky sex games the two of you have been playing this time, but it's nice to have you and your memories back, rome. i'll want an eeg, of course, to compare your brain waves then and now."

rome lost his air of relaxation. "my memories haven't returned." john's gaze flew to me, confusion registering. "oh. then why...never mind." my cheeks heated and i scrambled off rome and back onto the bed, taking the blanket with me. i covered myself as best i could. cold as i was, i couldn't hide the two little pearls saluting anyone who glanced my way.

"fine. i have to know. something happened between the two of you." both of john's brows arched, and he sighed. "what?"

"you already know, you pervert," i snapped.

he didn't back down. "reese says the components that make your blood different from the average human's increase every time he tests you. this time, they were off the charts." i'd suspected that before, that the bloodletting was making my powers wonky, but had decided that was wrong. i still thought so. being without my filter was the issue. had to be. because every time rome left me, i had problems. i didn't tell that to john, however. not now. he might try to find me another filter, someone who didn't mind being with me, and that wouldn't do. not when the only person i wanted that close to me was rome.

"well, something's off," i said, which wasn't a lie. "i managed to set myself on fire." john's eyes widened and he looked to rome for confirmation.

rome gave an ominous nod.

"i wonder what's different. is the formula strengthening as time passes?" silent, john tilted his head to the side. he tapped his chin. he looked from me to rome, rome to me, and his eyes widened further.

"ah, of course. you hinted, i think, but i didn't understand. something's different about you every time he leaves, yes?"

"what's different?" rome asked.

crap. john had figured out the truth on his own.

"should we put her in lockup?" he asked, surprising me, the question clearly aimed at himself. he continued to tap that finger against his chin as he studied me.

"i'm right here! and no, we shouldn't. i'm not a scrim. and before you say it, i do not want another filter."

dark eyes leveled on me with unerring intensity. "i do what's necessary to protect both my agents and the world, no matter what's required. you know that. if your powers are that unstable..."

"i can handle it," i told him. "i'd already figured out the problem, but hadn't realized how bad it could get. i know now and i'll take precautions." though the only precaution i could think of was staying away from rome until his memories returned, and that wasn't acceptable. "just back off."

"listen hard, miss jamison," john said through clenched teeth. "you are not my boss. you do not issue commands. i, however, do. from now on, you are to inform me of every change that occurs, not just hint about them. you could have killed someone today! understand?"

"i understand." and i did. he wanted the best for everyone. so i backed off instead, remorseful.

"new tests need to be run."

"of course." i'd known that would happen, which was part of the reason i'd kept quiet. john liked to test everything. in ways that were sometimes painful, sometimes humiliating, but always a nuisance. he meant well, i knew that, but it didn't lessen the aggravation.

dr. roberts, the scientist who had secretly placed that formula in my grande mocha latte, had also given it to several other people. i was the only one who survived - and still, months later, no one knew why - so i was the only living vessel john had, which made me the only source for answers.

"if i let you stay in the field," he said, "you'll have to be monitored." i shook my head, my hair slapping my cheeks. "no way." monitored equaled babysat. reports would be made, detailing my every mistake. any sense of privacy i had would evaporate.

he didn't back down. "no exceptions. no negotiations."

rome watched the entire exchange, attention volleying back and forth between us. blank as his expression was, i had no idea what thoughts he entertained. perhaps it was better that way. he'd just kissed me to climax, watched me catch on fire and had nearly lost his life - not to mention his eyebrows - because of me.

"fine." a tremor raked my spine, vibrating into each of my limbs. damn cold. "tanner can - "

"i'll do it." rome's voice echoed in the sudden silence.

"which will cause you and lexis to fight, and fighting isn't good for our cause," john said. "with your memory loss - "

"i haven't forgotten how to do my job," he snapped.

nope, he'd just forgotten me.

"i'm damn good at what i do," rome continued, "and i have more experience than anyone else you've got. you want to win this one, you'll send me out there. whether lexis and i fight or not, we would never compromise a mission."

"fine," john said after a long pause, in which he'd probably been weighing each of his options. "rome, you will monitor belle. i'll expect daily reports."

yep. i'd been right about those reports.

rome nodded, anger defused since he'd gotten his way. "you'll get them." with their every word, the illusion that i was in charge of this mission was shattered, and it was beyond annoying. i had the most to win - and lose - if this thing went - hey. wait. if rome acted as my

"monitor," he would have to spend all his time with me, and that's exactly what i'd wanted to happen. i almost smiled - until a new thought occurred to me. no longer did rome observe me through rose-colored lenses. what if i irritated him so much he decided he didn't want to remember me?

"lexis might not compromise a mission, but she'll compromise me," i muttered. it was the only argument i could think of.

rome shrugged those strong shoulders. "no, she'll deal."

"and you'll keep your hands to yourself," john stated matter-of-factly, pointing at me, then rome. "i won't have any more fires like this."

outrage blustered through me. "you have no right - "

"no more fires," rome interjected. "nothing like this will happen again." it wouldn't, would it? i narrowed my gaze on him. he'd liked my kisses, i knew that. but he hadn't liked the consequences. was i no longer worth the danger, then?

i could feel a hot poker jabbing at my chest, wanting out. maybe he hadn't liked my kisses, after all.

maybe he'd lied; maybe he hadn't been near climax. he wasn't panting, wasn't strained and desperate for release. his erection was gone.

if i wanted to keep the blanket draped over me rather than burn it away, i had to calm down. again.

"listen, tobin mentioned that he had a friend who wanted to talk to me." anything to change the subject.

"in fact, he said she wanted to talk. she. a woman. tanner and i were listening in on his interrogation and tobin said he'd never spoken with desert gal. tanner verified that was a truth. maybe this mystery woman is one of the women pulled from the warehouse. or maybe she's on the outside, working with desert gall or even secretly against her. maybe she was the one taking care of the prisoners. either way, we now know someone else is involved."

john sighed. "we really didn't need another needle in our already massive haystack. i'll have all the women from the warehouse who have already been questioned interrogated again, this time in regards to tobin. hopefully, our mystery girl is here. i don't like the thought of someone else being out there, gunning for you."

me, either. i glanced at rome to gauge his reaction. his expression was blank again.

god, i hated this. how could he dismiss me so easily? would he really act as if the kiss had never happened? would he run back to lexis because she was the safe choice?

another flicker inside my chest. i had to stop this. thinking about rome rather than my case was what had gotten me in trouble in the first place.

i raised my chin. "i'll do whatever you need me to do, john, to figure this out. even dangle myself out there as bait." determination seeped from my voice. one way or another, i wanted this case closed. as soon as possible. until it was, i couldn't concentrate fully on rome. or destroy lexis.

"good girl. i'm not sure we need to do something so extreme just yet, but i'll keep it in mind. now get cleaned up and dressed," john told us. "it's time to get back to work, and you two have people to interview and a meeting to attend."

with that, he left us alone. and this time, when i told rome i needed some privacy, he didn't ignore me.

he left.