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"And you're still having your visions or flashes or whatever you want to call them." She covered her eyes with one hand. "It's just so damned hard to watch you go through that, Jack."
"You did good last night." He circled her wrist with his fingers and pulled her hand away from her eyes. "No matter how bad it looks, let it play out. I can handle it."
"Is there anything you can't handle, Jack?"
He couldn't handle being this close to her and not kissing her lips. "Hunger."
He speared a couple of Rosa's pancakes and dropped them onto a plate. Shoving the plate next to the laptop in front of Lola, he said, "Eat."
He served himself, and then drizzled syrup all over the golden spheres lumpy with nuts and smooshed bananas. Closing his eyes, he savored the sweet, nutty taste. "Do you think once I find out who I am, Rosa will come and cook for me?"
Lola skewered a neat triangle of pancake and held up her fork. "Rosa is clearly smitten with you. She'd follow you anywhere."
"What about her husband?"
"Roberto? What about him?" She slid the bite of pancake into her mouth and licked her sticky lips.
Jack dragged his gaze away from her mouth. "We haven't seen him since we got here."
She waved toward the window. "They live in the guesthouse. He spends most of his time there. He used to do some yard work around the estate, but Gabe hired gardeners to take care of most of the work. Why? Are you really thinking of snatching her away from Roberto?"
"For these pancakes, I just might."
They ate in silence for a few minutes and then Jack pushed away his plate. "I'm going to see Cain this morning."
"You're going to see Cain? You mean we're going to see Cain."
"I don't want to keep dragging you around on my mission."
"It's my mission as much as it is yours." She dabbed her lips with a paper napkin. "Besides, Cain knows me. Do you think he's going to allow some stranger with a crazy story to poke around Gabe's computer?"
"Probably not." He stacked their plates and carried them into the kitchen.
"So you're stuck with me...for now."
AN HOUR LATER, Jack fidgeted in the seat next to her on their way to Gabe's lab. Lola had come to the conclusion that Jack didn't like being chauffeured around. To be fair, the fact that his chauffeur was a female probably didn't make it any worse for him. He just liked being in control. He did not like depending on other people.
She slid a glance at his stern profile. He apparently had regrets about making love to her last night, too. He'd been downright standoffish after breakfast, modest even.
She sniffed. Too late for that.
"Here it is." She parked in a small parking lot on the side of a low-slung green stucco building, which housed a clinic on one side and Gabe's lab on the other.
"Doesn't look like much." Jack squinted out the window, shielding his eyes against the hazy, wintry sun. Almost Christmas and the Florida sun shined on.
"It's just the two of them most of the time. They're not associated with a hospital. They run on private grants and Daddy's money." Lola grabbed her purse and turned in her seat. "Let me go in by myself first. Once I convince Cain to give me access to Gabe's computer, I'll come and get you."
"Are you going through that door?" He leveled a finger at the side door.
"Yes."
"No other access to the lab?"
"No." Her heart skipped a beat as she watched him retrieve his gun from under the seat and slip it into the pocket of his jacket. "It's broad daylight, Jack."
"You were in the middle of a busy hospital yesterday."
"Okay, I get it."
By the time she was jiggling the handle of the door, Jack had stationed himself outside the car, leaning against it with his hand in his pocket.
She dangled her key chain in the air. "It's locked but I have a key. Cain's probably busy in the lab."
She slid the key into the lock and waved at Jack before slipping into the building. A flickering fluorescent light in the hallway illuminated the way to the back offices. "Hello?"
If Cain wasn't here, she'd try to access Gabe's computer herself, not that she'd know what do with his formula. She crept down the hallway, her breath coming out in short puffs.
