Page 4 of Archer (Dirty Misfits MC 3)
I knew the decision I had to make.
“Astrid, can you give us some privacy?” I asked.
Her eyes begged me. “Don’t do this. Please.”
I brought her hand to my lips to kiss. “Just a few minutes is all. Then, you can come back in. I promise.”
She glared at Archer before she stood to her feet and charged out of the bedroom. She slammed the door behind her, and I rolled my eyes before a searing pain shot through my head. I hissed, my hand coming up to my temple, and a pair of strong, warm arms immediately wrapped themselves around me.
Before Archer’s soothing voice sounded against the shell of my ear. “Let’s lay you down. You need the rest.”
I watched him carefully as he laid me down and raised himself back up. He continued to sit on the side of my bed, his right arm pressed into the mattress on the opposite side of my body. It was as if he naturally wanted to cloak me away from the world, even though it looked like he had no idea he was doing it.
And that only drew me toward him more.
“Where would I sleep at your place? I mean, if I were to agree,” I said.
His eyes danced between my own. “There’s a guest bedroom upstairs that has a beautiful view of the ocean when you’re lying in bed. I’d put you there, unless you wanted to be somewhere else.”
“Like, with you?”
He didn’t skip a beat. “Like, in one of the other three bedrooms I have in the house.”
I snickered. “That’s some serious house for only one guy.”
He shrugged. “I have hope that it won’t simply be ‘only one guy’ one of these days.”
The sentiment melted my heart. “That’s actually really sweet.”
He grinned. “And—not for nothing—but there is a hot tub on my back porch. Which I’m sure would feel good on your bruises.”
“I bet it would.”
“You’d have your own bathroom as well, with a bathtub you can relax in and a walk-in shower that would enable you to sit down in it.”
I giggled before I started coughing, and the coughing gave way to pain. I tried to raise up out of instinct, but Archer’s hands planted softly against my shoulders.
“Deep breaths. Pain coughs are a bitch,” he said softly.
Tears rose to my eyes before sliding down my face. The coughing continued until I honestly thought my bones would shatter from the force of them. But as Archer massaged my shoulders and talked softly down to me, they slowly eased up.
Before ceasing altogether.
“Need some more water?” he asked.
I swallowed hard. “Food is more like it.”
He leaned up. “We could stop and get something on the way back to my place.”
I shot him a look. “I haven’t decided what I’m doing yet.”
“You have; you just don’t want to admit it yet.”
“Cocky, aren’t we?”
He shrugged. “Realistic.”
I tilted myself toward him. “And how do you figure?”
He licked his lips, and the motion was more mesmerizing than it needed to be. “For starters, no woman in this world can do what you do and be an idiot about it. It’s dangerous, even if you believe it isn’t. That means you have a good head screwed onto your shoulders. You clearly live alone—judging by your conversation with Astrid—and that takes a whole other kind of intelligence that not everyone possesses. That tells me you’re both smart and resourceful, but the fact that you don’t want to own up to your decision tells me you’re stubborn.”
“I really don’t like being told what I am and am not thinking.”
He grinned. “I didn’t tell you what you were thinking. I simply gave breath to what you’ve already decided.”
I stared him down for a long time, trying to come up with a way he was wrong so I could throw it back in his face. But I couldn’t. He was spot-on with everything he had just spouted off to me, and it was both impressive and unnerving. I knew Astrid wasn’t going to be happy with my decision, however, I knew the safest decision for both my best friend and myself was to go with Archer.
So, I cleared my throat. “Does Chinese food count as healthy?”
Archer chuckled and the sound washed over me like warm ocean water. “Not by a longshot. But we could make it healthy.”
I quirked an eyebrow. “I’d love to hear this.”
He smiled. “Simple. We get chicken only, and we sauté vegetables ourselves.”
“What about the egg rolls?”
“Take away the outer shell and it’s just sauteed vegetables with seasoning and some juice.”
“Soup in a roll?”
He chuckled again. “Which can easily turn into ‘just soup.’”
I drew in a deep breath. “I really love some crab rangoons, though.”
“The filling’s easy. Imitation crab meat, cream cheese whipped up with some seasonings, then you mix it up together and warm it. Makes a great dip for crackers.”
