“But I decided to take care of it myself.” I turned back to Michael. “How are we doing there?” I was suddenly desperate to leave the basement.

Michael raised his head, sweat dripping from the fat folds on his forehead. He held up my shoes. “Titanium coating and tips for the heels. Weaponized sexiness, gugu.” He winked at me, leaving a few drops of perspiration clinging to his lashes.

I strode forward and took the shiny-heeled shoes from his hands. “Cool. So basically, I should try not to step on anyone’s foot unless I want to sever some toes?”

He grinned. “Bravo, lovely. You got it in one.”

I braced my palm on the edge of his table and slipped the shoes onto my feet. When I straightened, Malachi was watching me. “You’ll need to practice with those. They’ll be heavier than your regular shoes, and you want to make sure you don’t turn your ankle. I’ll get more dummies down here for tomorrow so that you can work on it.”

“Okay. Thanks.” I waited, wondering if maybe he would say more, hoping he might comment on how I looked, but after a few seconds of watching him fiddle with his tie, it was obvious that wasn’t going to happen.

Not wanting to make a fool of myself, I carefully slid my shoes off and walked toward the stairs. Jim hopped off the bottom step and strode forward to bump fists with Michael, and then immediately started arguing with him about how many knives he could conceal in his vest and still be able to slow dance with Tegan.

Malachi brushed his fingers against my arm as I passed, and then immediately drew back when I turned to him. “Are you sure about this?” he asked me. “You are wearing so much … less than Jim and I.” He glanced down at my shoes. “And your footgear—”

“You don’t think I can handle myself?”

He gave me a warning look. “I know you can handle yourself. But you are at an automatic disadvantage because you are wearing what appears to be underclothes and little more.”

“Underclothes? You think I look cheap or something? What do you think Laney will be wearing, Malachi? Has she modeled it for you?”

He raked a hand through his hair and looked over my shoulder at the forge. “She is irrelevant to this conversation.”