Page 134 of Archer

I turned from the window, feigning shock and innocence. “I thought you were sleeping. And I’m not hovering. I’m admiring the view.”

“You haven’t been more than five feet from me in three days.”

That was true. Aside from the time it took for me to shower, I tried to stay close in case he needed anything. He’d nearly given his life to save mine, after all. “Are you complaining, Marine? Because I’m the woman who holds your pain meds, so you might want to rethink those accusations.”

He shifted against the throw pillows I’d piled behind him this morning. The movement pulled at his stitches. He’d never say it, but his eyes tightened and his breath eased out flat. “I don’t even need those pain pills. They’re only extra-strength Tylenol. And I’m fine.”

I turned and walked past the couch. “Big talk, but I saw you wince.”

“Did not.”

I brought him a glass of water from the kitchen and set it on the side table beside a stack of paperbacks where he could reach it without twisting. He tracked my every move with those dark eyes, as if I were the one who’d come home from surgery with orders not to lift anything heavier than a coffee mug.

The surgeon said Webb’s knife had missed Archer’s heart by millimeters. The second wound in his torso wasn’t much better, but the location was far less precarious. The cut on his arm was healing. His lip, split during the fight, was swollen but comparatively inconsequential. He looked like a man who’d gone twelve rounds before coming out the other side.

He looked like a human representation of the island, post-storm.

“The new windows look great, and the roofers are making good progress,” I said, directing our thoughts from the dark place they always went. “Repainting the clapboard siding was a smart choice, too, I think. Why not make this whole place fresh and new again while the crews are already here?”

I’d acted on a whim the morning after the storm, still in shock from all that had transpired, and desperate for an outcome I could control. So, I’d decided to spend some of my inheritance from Gram on her cottage. Fresh yellow paint, white trim, and a new roof. The maintenance was long overdue. The storm just pushed the need to the forefront. Add the new windows, and the place looked like the cottage of my childhood again.

Better yet, it looked nothing like the place where Webb had followed and threatened me. I refused to let him ruin anything else for me again.

Maybe I was more like Carolina Bay than I realized.

Archer struggled to sit up taller, fussing with the pillows at his back. He sipped from the glass before meeting my eyes. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, but you’re a terrible patient. I’m glad I saw you got some sleep while I was in the shower.”

He pursed his lips. Forever the caretaker, completely clueless about how to be the one receiving the care. “Nash called before I dozed off.”

I sat in the armchair across from him, heart slowing as I waited. “And?”

“Webb’s been formally charged. Breaking and entering, assault, stalking, attempted kidnapping. Attempted murder.” His hand tightened on the blanket across his lap. “He’s going away for life.”

Outside, a nail gun fired in short, sharp bursts.

I crossed the room and sat on the edge of the couch beside Archer. He didn’t reach for me.

“He got in,” Archer said. Voice rough at the edges. “I promised to protect you, and I nearly failed.”

“You never let him near me.” I waited until he looked at me. “Not once. You kept that promise.” I laid my hand over his. “You loved me through the unthinkable, and you never let him win.”

“We never let him win.”

My phone buzzed for the billionth time in seventy-two hours. I pulled it from my pocket and checked the screen.

“Alexis,” I said, then answered the call.

“Are you sitting down?” she asked, in lieu of greeting.

I pressed the speaker button and lowered the phone between Archer and me. “I’m sitting.”

“Then you should know that in the last forty-eight hours, I’ve received formal inquiries from three separate record labels. All are offering better terms than your current deal. Significantly better.” A pause. “They’re coming for you, Harper. All of them, and they’re screaming for you to take their money.”

I looked at Archer and he raised one eyebrow.

“Alexis,” I said. “I’m not ready to think about this yet.”