“An offer I can’t refuse.” She gave him a crooked smile, hoping she wouldn’t be made sorry yet again. “Thank you.”

“No, thank you, Harper.” Rome expressed his gratitude with a tender hand squeeze that sent pleasant little tremors through her arm. Then his whole demeanor changed in an instant. The tension filtered away and purpose streamed in. “First of all, I think we have a few days. No one knows about this place. It’s my own private safe house. The Bug, too. So we’ve got some time.”

“You won’t get in trouble for helping me?” She had to ask. She didn’t know much about his world, and what she did know was incredibly cruel. But, as much as she wanted his help, she didn’t want his life to follow hers down the pooper.

“They won’t know for a little while yet.” Rome didn’t seem worried. He held up a hand, obviously understanding her concern. “Besides, they won’t know it’s me with the getaway car. Like I said, the Bug is safe and I know how to cover a trail.” She wasn’t sure she believed that, but he would know better than her for sure. “And this is what I have to do. It’s the right thing to do. If it costs me my job, so be it.” His smile was unwavering.

“All right,” she conceded, her body releasing a tension she hadn’t even known had a hold on her. Now that she had an ally again, she realized she really had no idea what to do. “Where do we start?”

“Let’s get comfortable.” He gave her a big grin, grabbing their plates and walking toward the kitchen. “Stay put. I’ll be right back with dessert.”

She watched his retreating rear end, thinking dessert sounded fantastic.

After a gentle shake from Rome, Harper realized she’d dozed off. How long had she been out? A playful pat on the shoulder and a saucy smile later, he’d returned all fresh and showered with a huge bowl of chocolate chip cookie dough. How did he know cookies, raw or cooked, were her weakness? One of the few sweets she allowed herself while training.

Rome set down the bowl, then brought out two tall glasses of unsweetened iced tea. As he flopped down on the other beanbag next to her, he divulged that he’d made both himself. From scratch. And put her clothes and towels in the wash. He was quickly climbing close to perfect on her scale.

“The Five Watch is the group that’s after you,” Rome said after they’d shared a few spoonfuls from the bowl. “I think.”

“You’re not sure?” she asked around her own mouthful of gooey rapture.

“It’s a small unclassified section of the government that keeps very quiet.” He shrugged and ran a hand over his damp hair. The short dark locks were curled from the wetness of his shower. “So quiet, most doubt its existence, but they’re around. Everything they do is top secret, unofficial, and unsupervised. From what I know, they do a lot of-how should I put it?-ambiguous research.” She watched him watch her carefully, his eyes intense. “Ever heard of them?”

“No, never.” Harper licked the spoon clean and delved into the bowl for another tasty chunk. “If it’s so secretive, why would I know about it?”

“Your brother’s lab was a Five Watch facility,” he answered.

“My brother was a good and decent scientist, not some shady cloak-and-dagger operative.” She heard her voice turn cold and narrowed her eyes. How dare he accuse her brother of crooked deeds? She felt like dumping the bowl of cookie dough on his head. “He wouldn’t, couldn’t hurt anyone.”

“Whoa, easy. Harper, I’m not saying he was a bad guy.” He held up a hand in a calming motion. “I’m asking if he ever said anything to you about what he did. Or if you ever saw anything.”

“I’m sorry, it’s just…” She backed down a little, consciously trying to relax. Her brother’s death was still very raw and the questions surrounding it even more cutting. She cleared her throat. “Bobby rarely talked shop. All I really know is that he experimented with plants. I think.” She had to own up to her ignorance.

Honestly, she and Bobby hadn’t talked much about his work. All she knew was that he did research for the government and was a genius when it came to vegetation and biology. Maybe she should have been more interested in her brother’s career. He had always been involved with her swimming and was at almost every meet. Sadness filled her, knowing that she should have shown more interest in his work.

But right now, his work was all that interested her.

She tried to clear away the sorrow. She knew she needed to buck up and talk this out with Rome.

“Okay.” Rome seemed to sense her misery and covered her knee with a comforting hand. “It’s okay, Harper. We just need to pool our information. We’ll figure this out.” He gave her a reassuring smile. Oh, how she wanted to believe him.

“The place I was just at.” Harper watched him flinch at her words. “Was that a Five Watch place?”

“No.” He shook his head and sucked another bite off his spoon. “It’s just a local government branch. My boss is located there.”

“That’s where you work?” she asked, wanting to know more about what he did.

“I don’t have an office,” he said wryly. “I just go there to get my orders sometimes.” She watched his face as curiosity passed over it. “What do you do for a living?”

“I’m a swimmer.” She was thankful to be talking about something normal for a change. “I’m in the middle of training for the Olympic trials. I was just up here for a break.”

“Olympics? So you must be really good.” Rome seemed genuinely fascinated and impressed, which charmed her to no end.

“I am good,” she said with confidence, but knew she was blushing under his admiration. When was the last time she’d done that? It usually took a lot more than a compliment to make her self-conscious. “But to pay the bills, I’m a programmer for a small video-game company.”

“Really? Video games?” Rome’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. “Cool. Maybe I’ll have to take you on in the other room.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Her blush deepened. For crying out loud, she felt like an idiot. He meant the PlayStation. She reached a hand up to try to rub the heat from her cheeks.

With a leer, Rome reached forward and picked up the bowl. He used his spoon to scrape the last bits of raw dough. A big hunk clung to the utensil. They both stared at it. She caught him looking at her inquiringly.

“Split it?” he asked in a friendly tone. Thank goodness he offered. She could eat another bowl by herself.

“Absolutely.” She smiled back and held out her spoon for a scrape.

Harper just about moaned when he put the spoonful in his mouth and sucked off half of the dough. He then passed the spoon to her, picked up his iced tea, and leaned back, just watching her, spinning the ice around in his glass.

Keeping her gaze on him, she licked the last of the dough off the spoon, imagining the taste of him as she swallowed.

Holy cow. With that one innocently simple, yet unexpectedly provocative act, the festering aches in her body gently drifted away, like a riptide brushing the shore, gently pulling her grief along for the ride.

She was certainly no stranger to the art of flirting. She’d had her share of men. More than her share, Bobby used to say. But never a serious relationship. They were way too messy. Nonetheless, she hadn’t ever lacked for companionship. In her experience, guys loved no-strings-attached girls, and she took willful advantage of that.

But Rome was a different kind of guy altogether. He was a man in every sense of the word. Hard and intense. And the way he purred the r’s in her name made her want to crawl into his lap. Made her want to get to know him. To find out things about him, such as why this tougher-than-nails government agent liked to cook.

The inclination was a first for her and one she was surprised to find she wanted to pursue despite the gloomy circumstances. It just figured that her timing would be so bad. As much as she didn’t trust him, she sure was fascinated by the man.