Page 52 of Forged By Sacrifice

“Honest. We take turns. Next meal can be on you.”

“Okay, but if this is just a way to pay for the poor college student, I happen to know where you live and can gut you in your sleep.” She winked.

I chuckled. “Said the lady to the spy.”

She grinned. “I always forget that part about you.”

Then, she returned to the sofa, and Dani, and the show they both were watching like it was the next coming of M.A.S.H.

As the night progressed, I observed with a strange sort of fascination as my sister and Georgie argued over the singers who came and went on the TV. They were so comfortable with each other that I was jealous, happy, and captivated all at the same time. Dani got along with everyone, for the most part, but she didn’t let anyone get close. She’d had a hard time in high school in the shadow of our two perfect, gorgeous older sisters. She’d always felt like an ugly duckling. But she’d slowly come into her own beauty. Regardless, she’d made acquaintances easily, but friends not so much. It was refreshing to see her get along with Georgie.

When the show ended, Dani rose with a yawn. “I’m turning in. I have a five a.m. spin class tomorrow.”

“That seems obnoxiously early to have a spin class,” Georgie said, and I snorted.

“What?” she asked me.

“That’s exactly what I tell her every time she takes it. And then she’ll be griping about how tired she is all day long,” I responded.

“Well, tomorrow night, I have plans, so I can’t do it at night.”

“Like a date?” I asked.

“No. A work thing.”

“How come I don’t know about this work thing? Am I not invited?” I teased.

“Week one and you think you can just blow in and take over everything.” She kicked my legs off the coffee table as she went by, and I kicked her in the butt. She flipped me off as she went around the corner.

“Classy, Daniella,” I called after her.

She didn’t respond.

I turned back to Georgie to see her smiling, and I couldn’t help the smile that took over my face in response. “What?” I asked.

“The sibling thing. It’s nice.”

“She’s a pain in the ass, but I love her. Are you close with your siblings?” I asked. I’d eased myself down onto the couch farther, my head resting along the back, and when I turned my head toward her, we were close. Almost as close as we’d been the night before when she’d looked like she wanted to kiss me.

The humor and lightness that I’d been teasing Dani with went whooshing out of me in one big breath.

“It’s kind of hard to be really close when they live on another continent,” she said quietly.

“I’m sorry,” I said, feeling like a dick for having brought it up, for not thinking about the fact that her siblings were in Russia.

“It’s okay. Raisa and I—that’s my little sister—we’re pretty close. She usually visits me during the summer, but she is starting at Stanford in the fall, and I don’t think Petya and Mom wanted her to leave until she had to.”

“Stanford, huh?” I repeated like a moron, but I just wanted to keep her talking to me. I wanted to keep her relaxed and sitting there where her smell could wash over me.

“Yep. She’s one of the smartest people I know and all at the age of eighteen. She has this whole plan to create clean, renewable energy that she can offer to the world for free.”

“Like in The Saint?”

“What?” she asked with a little frown.

“You know, the movie with Val Kilmer and Elisabeth Shue.”

“Don’t know it.”

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