“Until then we keep breathing. Keep moving. Keep fighting.” I squeezed his leg. “I'm not going to live scared, Troy. That's not who I am.”
“I know.” He pulled into the driveway and killed the engine. Turned to face me. “I know that's not who you are. But fuck, Declan. I just got you. I just got this. And I'm not ready to lose it because some asshole wants me dead.”
“You're not going to lose me.”
“You can't promise that.”
“No. But I can promise I'm going to do everything I can to make sure it doesn't happen.” I touched the cut on my forehead and winced. “Starting with being more careful about checking my truck before I drive it.”
He reached over and touched the cut gently. “Let's get you inside. Get you cleaned up before Dmitri gets back and starts lecturing both of us.”
“He's going to have a field day with this.”
“Yeah. He is.” Troy got out of the truck and came around to my side. Opened my door. “Come on.”
We went into the house. Inside was quiet and empty except for the two of us.
Troy led me to the bathroom and made me sit on the closed toilet while he grabbed the first aid kit. He started cleaning the cut on my forehead with the antiseptic that stung like hell.
“This needs stitches,” he said.
“It's fine.”
“It's not fine.” He applied the pressure with gauze. “Hold this.”
I held it while he rummaged through the kit for the butterfly bandages.
“You're good at this,” I said.
“Had a lot of practice.” He pulled my hand away and applied the butterfly bandages carefully. “There. Should hold until we can get someone to look at it properly.”
“I'm fine, Troy.”
“Stop saying that.” He stepped back. “This whole situation is completely fucked and getting worse by the hour.”
I stood up and moved toward him. “Then we figure it out. Together. Like we said we would.”
“How? How do we figure this out when we don't even know who we're fighting?” His voice cracked. “They could be anyone. Could hit us anywhere. Could already be planning the next attack while we're standing here.”
I grabbed his face and made him look at me. “We stay alert. We trust Dmitri and Luka. We don't give up. And we don't let the fear control us.”
“Fear is keeping us alive right now.”
“Maybe. But it's not going to solve this.” I kissed him. Quick and hard. “We're going to be okay.”
“You don't know that.”
“No. But I'm choosing to believe it anyway.” I let him go and headed toward the bedroom. “I need to change. Get out of these clothes.”
“Declan.” His voice stopped me at the doorway. “I saw what you bought.”
I turned. He was holding the bag from the lingerie shop. He'd opened it at some point and was looking at the tissue-wrapped contents with an expression I couldn't quite read.
“Yeah,” I said. “I saw the shop on the way home. Made an impulse purchase.” The heat crept up my neck. “Thought you might like them.”
“You bought me lingerie.”
“Is that okay?”
