He set her handbag on his dresser. "I'd like to take you out again." He gazed at her with that hungry look that made her knees weak. "We have unfinished business."
Good Lord, if the man was any sexier, she'd have a heart attack. But what a way to go. "I-I had a wonderful time." Sheesh, what a lame thing to say.
"You screamed."
"Well, yes." Her cheeks grew hot. "I don't usually..."
"I liked it." His eyes glittered with a softness that made her heart squeeze painfully in her chest.
Oh, she wanted to run into his arms. She wanted to love him. "Jack, I'm so... tempted by you."
The gold flecks in his eyes started to gleam. "Cara mia, let me love you."
She sucked in a ragged breath and prayed for strength. "I can't. I can't get more involved with you until you tell me everything." She lifted her chin. "So, here's your chance. Talk to me. Let me into your world."
He grimaced with a pained expression. "Lara, there are several reasons why I can't tell you. If it was only me, I might risk it. But there are others like me-dear friends who trust me. Their lives depend on my silence."
"I wouldn't do anything to hurt you or your friends."
He shook his head. "I can't risk their lives."
Dammit, why wouldn't he trust her? She clutched her hands into fists.
"I'm sorry, Lara, but I have to be loyal to my friends. Would you be able to respect me if I was the type of man to betray them?"
For the first time, she realized she was forcing him to choose between her and his friends. And if what she suspected was true, and he was centuries old, then he could have had these friends for a long, long time. Still, she was falling in love with him. Didn't she have the right to expect his trust?
She made a strangled sound of frustration. "What will it take for you to open up to me? Do we have to be married before it could happen?"
His eyes widened. "Are you proposing?"
"No!" She gritted her teeth. "I was being sarcastic."
His brows drew together. "Do not toy with me, Lara."
She groaned. "I only meant that if we're going to make ourselves vulnerable to each other, then we have to trust each other. I can't go any further until you trust me enough to tell me everything."
He dragged a hand through his hair. "Isn't it enough that I love you? That I would protect you with my life? And I will honor and cherish you for the rest of my life?"
That was beautiful, but still, she needed to know. "How long a life are we talking about exactly?"
He scowled at her. "It shouldn't matter. Not if you love me."
"Of course it matters! I'm not stupid, Jack. I'm guessing that you're really old. In fact, I have this bizarre theory that Giacomo Casanova is actually your father. Can you deny that?"
His face paled.
Her heart sank as time stretched out and he remained silent. He couldn't deny it. Her theory must be correct.
She pressed a hand to her mouth to keep from crying out loud. What was she doing here? She couldn't fall in love with someone who never aged. This was awful! He should have warned her.
He had. He'd told her to run like the hounds of hell were after her. He'd tried to avoid her. She was the one who had tracked him down at the wedding, at his townhouse, at Romatech. She'd pursued him relentlessly.
And now, he said he loved her.
Oh God, what had she done? "I need to go." She grabbed her handbag and strode from the room.
"Lara, I could teleport you home." He followed her as she headed down the stairs. "Or I could drive."
"I already called a cab." She was breathing heavily by the time she reached the ground floor. Her chest felt like it had been hit by a Mack truck.
"I need to turn off the alarm." He zoomed past her to the security panel by the door.
Tears stung her eyes. He was so different from her. Too different. "I won't tell anyone about you. You can trust me, Jack. You and your friends will be safe."
He frowned as he opened the door. "I want to see you again. We've come too far to give up now."
She stepped onto the front porch. It hurt too much to give him up entirely. "We'll keep in touch. We're working that case together, remember?" She descended the steps. "I was really impressed by all the work you did."
"When I am determined, nothing can stop me from obtaining my goal."
She paused at the sidewalk to look back at him. He was watching her with a fierce gleam in his eyes. She had to wonder if she had become his personal goal.
Lara dragged out of bed Tuesday afternoon about one. She'd been too upset to sleep when she'd returned to her apartment the night before. And she needed to stay acclimated to the night shift. So she kept herself busy printing off hard copies and studying all the material from the Apollo folder that she'd e-mailed to herself.
By five a.m., the kitchen table was covered with information, and her eyes were stinging too much to look at it anymore. She'd stumbled off to bed. Her last waking thought had been about Jack. She'd been right to back off. But when her eyes flitted shut, she remembered the soft way his eyes glimmered with love when he looked at her.
"Jack," she whispered and hugged the spare pillow to her chest. How could she not want him? She drifted off to sleep and dreamed of Venice.
After she awoke, she trudged into the kitchen, still bleary-eyed. She started the coffee machine and fixed herself a bowl of cereal. There was a dirty bowl and glass in the sink. LaToya must have been in a rush this morning before going to work.
Lara was sitting at the kitchen table, methodically spooning cereal into her mouth and wondering if Jack ever ate cereal, when she noticed the table was bare.
She blinked. Where the hell was all the stuff she'd printed out? She jumped to her feet and quickly checked the apartment. All the Apollo papers were gone.
LaToya. Lara grabbed the phone and called her.
"Hey, sleepyhead," LaToya told her. "I was just about to call to wake you up. I think they're going to want to see you."
"Who?"
"The special task force," LaToya said. "Can you believe it? This is so exciting. Here, let me get into an interrogation room here so no one can hear us."
"LaToya, did you take all my Apollo stuff?"
"Of course. You had so much information, girlfriend. It was amazing."
Lara's heart sank. "You shouldn't have taken it."
There was a pause, then LaToya whispered, "Are you serious? Girl, you can't withhold information concerning an ongoing investigation. People get arrested for that."
Lara winced. Her roommate had a point. "All right, but you should have asked me before taking it."
LaToya scoffed. "Why? Were you intending to keep it a secret? I thought we were working together. And I thought the idea was to catch the guy."
"Well, yes, but..." She'd wanted to work the case with Jack. If the police took over, she'd have no reason to see him again. Her heart sank deeper.
"Don't worry," LaToya said. "I wrote your name at the top of everything so the detectives would know that you'd done all the work."
"But I-"
"The guys were really pissed at first 'cause we weren't supposed to be doing it," LaToya continued, her words rushing out with excitement. "But when they realized you'd uncovered a serial kidnapper, they got real excited. They showed it to our captain, and he called your captain. Then they got together and called the police chief and the FBI!"
"Oh shit," Lara breathed.
"They're putting together a task force, 'cause it looks like this Apollo dude has kidnapped at least ten women from four different states. How did you find all that information so fast?"
Lara groaned. "I didn't."
"What do you mean? I heard you working last night. That damned printer is too loud."
"I didn't do it. Jack did."
"Oh. Damn." LaToya lowered her voice. "I sorta told everyone that you did it."
Lara sighed. "I can't take credit for Jack's work."
"Fine. You want to explain who Jack is to the police chief and the FBI?"
Lara winced.
"I think you should stop seeing that guy," LaToya said. "He's too strange."
Lara gritted her teeth. "That would really be ungrateful. He spent hours compiling all that information."