“Oh.” I’m embarrassed to admit I nearly forgot about the dinner, despite that being the reason we were both getting ready. I show Viktor who it is and then answer. “Hello?”
“Thank God,” she says with a relieved sigh. “Seamus just heard about the attack. Are you all okay?”
Viktor can hear her through the phone, and he frowns and then nods his head at me.
“Fine,” I say, following his lead. “We are all okay.”
“Good, good,” she repeats. “Are you all still up for dinner tonight? We obviously understand if you aren’t.”
Viktor nods again, and I assure Niamh we’re excited, even though Viktor had all but wiped the event from my memory with his shower sex. “We are looking forward to it.”
When I hang up with Niamh, I turn to Viktor. “Why are we still doing dinner? Don’t we need to be figuring out how Fedor knew where we were and how to attack us? What if he tries it again?”
“We do need to figure all of that out, but we also need to keep up appearances,” he says. “Our alliance with Seamus is new, and I don’t want him to think I can be so easily shaken. I need him to know I am strong and resilient.”
“You are,” I assure him. Viktor is all of those things. I only hope I am, too. Right now, I feel shaky.
“So are you,” he says, bending down to brush his lips over mine.
Viktor digs clothes out of the dresser—I cleared out a few drawers for the stuff he brought with him from his house—while I dress in a black pair of jeans and a long gray sweater that hugs my waist.
When I turn around, Viktor has his shoes on and is slipping a leather jacket on over his black shirt.
“Are you leaving?”
He nods. “Just for a little bit. There is something I have to do.”
I want to ask where he is going, but Viktor told me he would tell me anything that was important.
“You’ll be safe?” I ask, pressing my hand to my stomach, which feels suddenly queasy.
“I’ll be safe. I’m just going to handle some business.” He presses a kiss to my cheek as he leaves.