I sag against the wall. Just for a moment, I want to rest, but if I sit down, it'll only be harder to get back up and keep going.
"You did well tonight," a voice says from the side, and I jolt back upright. "But you need to rest now."
Raffi is half in shadows, but he's looking at me with a softness in his eyes.
"I still have duties to attend to, Mr. DeLuca. You know as well as I do?—"
"Your duties are done for the day." He steps out of the shadows and reaches for my arm with a gentle squeeze.
And I…let him.
"You ran yourself into the ground tonight. You'll be no use to anyone if you collapse from exhaustion. Go get some sleep before I have you forcibly escorted to your room."
There's no smirk following up his words, no suggestion that he's just teasing, not like he usually does.
"Mr. DeLuca?—"
"Raffi," he says softly. "When we're alone like this, there's no reason you can't call me Raffi."
My mouth goes dry. There'severyreason in the world for me not to be so familiar with him, but all those reasons flee my mind as his hand rubs slowly up and down my arm, soothing and gentle.
"I mean it, D. Go on, now. I'll stay here and make sure the place is cleaned up. Toyourstandards," he adds, "even though they're just about beyond human capacity. The place'll be perfect." His voice drops to a murmur. "Trust me. You got nothing more to worry about tonight."
"I can't ask you to?—"
"You aren't asking, and I'm not offering. I'mtelling." He takes my chin in his fingers and tips my face up a little, dark eyes scanning me. "You're beat, and you need to be firing again tomorrow. Place doesn't run without you, and we both know it. Now, I don't have the energy to argue about this either, so just saythank you, Raffi, and get going."
All my protests die away. His willpower in this moment is absolute, and I can't imagine why Iwouldn'tlet him have his way. So I take a slow breath and say, "Thank you…Raffi."
His lips part and that tongue darts out to wet them. His thumb slides over my chin, almost but not quite touching my bottom lip, and then his hand drops to my arm again, grips reassuringly.
"Come on," he says, turning me around. He steers me to the foyer, then to the hallway to the right of the stairs, walks me down it, around a few corners, until we reach the door of my suite.
I pause, heart fluttering in my chest, and a wild thought seizes me, forces its way into my throat, and I take a breath to voice it?—
"Goodnight," Raffi says.
"G-goodnight."
He stares down at me, and for a moment I think he's going to ask me something, but all he says is, "Lock the door, D. Dangerous people in Redwood tonight."
There are dangerous people in Redwood every night, but I know what he means. He reaches past me to open the door, his arm brushing mine, and I catch my breath. The door swings open, but I can't move.
All I can do is stare at him.
"Go on, now," he says after a moment. "I'll stay out here till I hear that door locking."
His hand finds its way to the small of my back, ushering me in…and then he closes the door for me, leaving me staring at my dimly lit bedroom.
I whirl back around, put my hand on the doorknob?—
And I pause.
CHAPTER 11
RAFFI
I stand there staringat Darian's shut bedroom door,willinghim to open it again.
