Page 25 of Shots Fired

“Why did you tell people you have a girlfriend?”

He shakes his head slowly. “I didn’t tell people. Your brother assumed I did when I got caught by your stepdad, scrolling through dresses on my phone. He asked me if they were for agirl I was seeing, and your brother ran with it.” He breathes out slowly and studies my face, taking a piece of my hair and twizzling it around his thick finger. “I’m not into being dishonest, and I hate that I lied to Jack. But at the time, it seemed like a good opportunity and a decent cover story. I’m hoping it still is.”

My heart is pounding, racing so fast that I feel sure I’ll cardiac arrest at any second.

Holy shit.

“What are you covering up, Archer?” I don’t know how or where I find the words as they fall from my lips.

He presses his leg higher, the rough denim skating across the thin fabric of my already-damp underwear. “My obsession with you, Darcy. And hopefully, if I get my way, the insane amount of fun we’re going to have in my bed tonight.”

In the space of five minutes, I’ve gone from being convinced Archer had a girl in bed with him when I showed up at his apartment to him inviting me into it. My instincts in the bar were right—hewasflirting with me; hedoeswant me.

Holy hell, did he show up and interrupt Harry on purpose? My head spins with possibilities as I try to stay upright against the door.

I push down the anxiety surrounding my lack of sexual experience, only for it to be replaced by a fear of my brother finding out and murdering Archer in his sleep. “Do you think this is a good idea?”

A deep rumble reverberates from his chest. “Based on what?”

I look off to the side, thinking over the best way to word this. “Because Jack will likely unalive you if he finds out, and that’s before you lied to him about Abbie. Plus, and more importantly”—I focus back on Archer, my tone deadly serious—“you said it yourself the other day—I’m not the kind of girl who would happily be part of a one-and-done arrangement, andyou were right. The stakes are higher with us than one of your random girls, and I’m not doing the walk of shame tomorrow once you’ve had your fill of me. We do this because we want each other and not because I’m the only option you have tonight. Getting with your assistant captain’s baby sister is not a power flex I’m okay with.”

He leans forward, our lips a whisker from touching. “Did you not hear or listen to a word I said the other night? Some girls will never be a one-and-done arrangement.” He cups the back of my head in his large palm. “You are that girl to me, Darcy.”

I draw in a deep breath. “I-I don’t know what to say …”

“Say you’ll come home with me tonight.” He runs his tongue across his bottom lip. “Don’t leave me hanging because I just crossed a line, and now I can’t go back. Not now that I have you in my hands, beneath my touch.”

His lips draw closer to my mouth, full and wet as my eyes drop to them.

“I’m going all in here with you because I know it’s only a matter of time before you go home with the wrong guy and he treats you all the ways you don’t want, all the ways you just described.”

I remain frozen to the spot, motionless, speechless, lost in time, as Archer hovers over me, burying his fingers in the hair at the back of my neck.

“Let me kiss you, Darcy.”

“Why?” It’s a fucking stupid question. Of course I know why he wants to kiss me. Still, I want to hear his version of the answer.

“Because you say you want to have fun, and I can absolutely give you that. But tell me, have you ever experienced a real man kiss you before?” His lips brush mine gently. “Or is Liam every bit the immature boy I think he is?”

Words fail me once more.

“Part your lips for me,” he coaxes.

After what feels like an eternity, my body finally catches up to my brain, and I do as he asked.

The first sweep of Archer’s tongue is soft and everything a first kiss should be, our tongues massaging slowly, small whimpers rising up my throat as he deepens our connection. His hand moves from the back of my head to cup my cheek, his thumb stroking me gently.

The tingles I felt in the bar are nothing compared to the fizz of electricity as it illuminates every nerve ending. It’s like I’m here, but also not really, and I reach out to palm his hip, checking this is real and not another one of my crazy dreams.

A few more seconds pass, and Archer pulls back, chest heaving like he’s been starved of oxygen for way too long. “And now that I’ve tasted you,” he pants, “there’s not a chance in hell I’m allowing you to say no tonight.”

I know in my gut this situation has disaster written all over it, not that it’s going to stop me from taking what I want.

“You could just stay at mine?” I suggest.

Archer doesn’t like that idea; I can tell by the way his face falls to the crook of my neck, and he scrunches his nose, skating his lips along my pulse point.

“No. I’ve only ever fantasized about having you in my bed. I changed the entire frame and mattress a few weeks back because I couldn’t stand the thought that any other woman had been in it. The first time I take you, it has to be this way.”