Page 124 of Floodgates

“That sounds good,” I consented, leaning forward.

He drew me close, and the solid strength of the man grounded me. I was working really hard not to lose it, but as my adrenaline waned, I started to shake. What I wanted to do was sit in his lap, but I burrowed against him instead.

As Cord mandated, I didn’t go back to the Alcott house. Three hours later, he drove me to the motel, and even though I was barely coherent, Cord put me in the shower. He brought me a large bottle of water, and I hydrated some more—I had drunk what seemed like a gallon at the hospital—before I collapsed in bed. I fell asleep with my head in Cord’s lap as he talked on the phone.

I woke up because my phone was buzzing. I answered it blindly.

“Hello?”

“You are fine?”

Dimah. “Yeah. I should be home tomorrow, so I’ll be at work the day after. What’s today?”

“It is Thursday, but don’t worry; you will be back when you’re ready.”

Something occurred to me even as fuzzy as I was. “How’d you know I was fine?”

“Danya told me.”

I coughed. “You sent him here to watch over me?”

“Da. He and Vassi are both there.”

“I haven’t seen them.”

“I should hope not.”

“Well, you know, they kind of suck at their jobs,” I told him, sitting up in bed, not happy to realize I was the only one in it. “I almost died tonight.”

“No, you did not. Danya said that your inspector had everything under control.”

“Oh, did he?”

“He said he found you with no difficulty. Danya stayed with him, Vassi trailed after you.”

“He shot at me, you know. Lucien, the guy who was trying to kill me,” I explained. “He shot at me.”

“Vassi said he was poor shot.”

I growled at him. “Tell Vassi I’m gonna kick his ass when I see him.”

The low chuckle made me smile in spite of myself. “I will, dorogoi, I certainly will.”

Clearing my throat, I finally got up the guts to ask, after so many years of friendship between us, what the Russian term meant.

“What?” he asked me.

“Dorogoi. What is that?”

“Dear,” he said flatly. “It means dear.”

“So,” I hedged. “You like me a lot.”

“Da.”

And that was all I needed to push further into his life. “We should hang out more once I get home. Like, you should come over, and we’ll have dinner, and you can meet Cord. All right?”

“I would like that.”