Page 43 of Dr. Do-Right
“Yeah, I heard that.”
“I didn’t want to tell you like that,” I huffed, blinking my eyes open to frown at him. As he looked at my pout, his expression softened even more, if that was possible.
“So, tell me now, Kitten.”
“I love you, Mal. I love you so much sometimes I feel like I can’t breathe. You’re the only person I want to share my life with. And my bed, and my dog and my sex toy collection.”
He was laughing now, a big wide grin spreading across his face while he showered me with kisses. I laughed, too, kissing him back whenever he got in range of my mouth.
“I was going to tell you after this all blew over,” I said, grabbing his hair and weaving my fingers through the short strands to hold him still. He kissed me again, his tongue darting between my teeth playfully.
“I’ve been waiting for years to tell you I loved you. I’m so glad I don’t have to wait any longer.”
“Years?” I’d loved Malachi for a long, long time. Maybe since the first night we’d met. I knew he liked me, sure. Was attracted to me. But love?
His smile grew. “Since the night we met, and you treated me like I’d run over your cat. You glared at me every time I tried to talk to you and I thought to myself, ‘That woman who hates me, I want to spend the rest of my life with her.’”
I sputtered with laughter, trying to cover my face. I could still remember that night two years ago, when it had seemed like only righteous indignation could protect my virtue from Malachi Dobrev. I was so glad he hadn’t let me hold him at arm’s length for too long.
He palmed my wrists to pull them off my cheeks, kissing me again, long and hard, like he wanted to seal this moment into his memory. “You’re the only one for me, Rija. You and me and Siggy. That’s the family I want.”
“That sounds perfect,” I whispered, pressing my face into his neck. He held me like that for several minutes, rocking back and forth some more. His hand swept up and down my spine again and again. “But you know Sonnie’s going to pitch a fit if she’s not included in there, too.”
His laugh rumbled under my shoulder. “Thatdoessound perfect.”
Chapter 14
Forty-eight hours locked away in an emotionally charged apartment—even one as big as the penthouse—took its toll. There was only so much doomscrolling I could do. Only so many shows we could agree on.
As the hours lurched and plodded along, I ended up fielding Mal and Sonia’s bickering sibling fights more than actually watching the screen. Food was prepared, or delivered (after Asher thoroughly vetted it). We tried to sleep, and sometimes succeeded.
Asher was our constant companion, while Grayson came and went as he checked in with the new rent-a-cops down in the lobby, or did whatever it was personal security people did when an unhinged woman was running loose out there trying to murder your client.
It was a lot, but something about Asher’s dry sense of humor balanced Grayson’s militant rigidity, and the whole setup lulled me into a sense of dull, bored security.
I still felt the tension in the air—someone out there wanted us dead, after all—but after the first day, then the second, my brain adjusted, and I just felt restless.
I’d even logged into my work laptop and caught up on patient notes and administrative paperwork, desperate for something to do other than watch Sonnie eye-fuck Asher from across the room.
We were all slumped on the couch while Asher scrolled through his phone when the piercing screech of a fire alarm shattered the quiet, lazy evening. Sonia screamed, jumping to her feet at the same time Mal jerked, lunging for me. We all looked around wildly as the high-pitched alarm blared through the apartment. My heart thundered, the wailing sharpening the cold edge of fear my brain had conveniently begun to muffle.
Asher was the only calm one, standing to place a steady hand on Sonia’s back. She looked like she was ready to jump out of her skin.
“Grab your shoes,” he instructed, hand cupping around his earpiece like someone was talking into it. We didn’t have to be told twice. I pulled on my sneakers with shaking hands, cringing as the alarms seemed to get louder. Mal knelt to slip the leash on a yelping Siggy, before scooping him up.
“Is this for real?” Sonia shouted, pointing at the flashing alarm. Asher nodded.
“As far as we can tell. Won’t know till the fire trucks get here, but I’m not taking any chances.”
“We’re leaving?” Mal sounded as incredulous as I felt. The walls around us felt safe. Contained. Leaving seemed like taking a big dangerous step in the wrong direction. At least, that’s what the anxiety yelling at me louder than the alarms was telling me.
“I can defend a stairwell as easily as this apartment. Better, even. Bonus.” His familiar crooked smile seemed out of place when every cell in my body was screaming at me to run or hideor hit something. He winked at Sonia when he pulled open the door to the emergency stairwell.
The sound of feet echoed up the floors below, bouncing off the concrete walls like thunder. More noise, more fear. I jumped about a foot in the air as Mal stepped up behind me and Siggy’s trembling nose brushed my arm.
“Here’s the drill.” If the echoes from the stairwell were thunder, Asher’s voice was the roar of the ocean, steady and calm. Rising and falling in a predictable cadence that made it easier, somehow, to focus on what he was saying. “I go first. We’ll wait for the floor below us to clear then move forward. No one’s coming down behind you. I’m the first one around every corner, got it?”
“Yes,” I whispered, my mouth Sahara dry as he took the first steps downward. Sonia followed him close enough that she almost stepped on the back of his shoe. Even though the alarm was slightly quieter in the stairwell, the blaring rhythm set my nerves jangling, slicing straight through whatever calm I’d managed to collect today.
