Page 48 of I Dated a Retired Hero

He ended the call and headed back to the house and the room she had pointed out to him. He heard her moving in the room down the hall, and while he wanted to go and continue what they had started, he now understood that she wasn’t in the mood for teasing. She was on or off. She didn’t have a midway setting because she had no settings.

He took a shower, climbed into bed, and lay back, trying to sense Litha in the house. He found her and sighed as he lay back in the bed with the quilt that her grandmother had probably made.

He really hoped he didn’t dream.

Midnight woke slowly, and he heard the laughter outside. “Last chance for air before your radiation poisons your own people as you rot.”

“I am a negotiator.” He slammed his hands on the perfectly smooth surface inside the container he was in.

“Actives don’t speak for anyone in Uradda!”

He heard a countdown, and then, the capsule heated and lifted off. He screamed and shouted, but no one heard him.

* * * *

Litha bolted down thehall and ran to his room. Light and energy were flaring wildly, and his hands were clawing at a barrier that wasn’t there.

She pulled in the extra radiation and began to sing over his shouting. She walked to him and touched the top of his head, stroking him as she continued singing an Erradian folk song. His arms snapped out and pulled her against him.

She lay with her head pressed to his jaw and his arms around her. He breathed in deep and shuddered into a restful breathing.

Well, one of them was getting rest.

He let her go near dawn, and she staggered to her room, set her alarm, and crashed. If she got an hour, that should be good enough.

Chapter Nine

Asoft knocking onher door got Litha up. Her alarm was trying to wake her, but it wasn’t working. She sighed. “Yeah. I am up.”

Sergei walked in with two cups of coffee. “I made some coffee, and the pastry from last night is in the oven. Your alarm sounded desperate.”

He held out a cup to her and easily crouched down next to her. She took one of the cups and sipped the sweet and evil coffee. “Thanks for that.”

“Rough night?”

“Yeah. You could say that.” She sipped at the coffee, trying to get the caffeine in and working.

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