Page 32 of The Strawberry Patch Pancake House

‘Yeah,’ he sighed.

Iris couldn’t imagine having news like that dropped in her lap.

‘Do you want kids?’ he asked.

‘God, no,’ she blurted out and then immediately felt awful for her reaction. ‘Sorry,’ she winced. ‘I mean, kids are wonderful, I just never really pictured myself as a mom… What about you?’ she went on, feeling braver in the dark. ‘Did you always want to be a dad?’

‘God, no,’ he echoed her, with a wry smile, meeting Iris’s eye across the hall. ‘But here I am.’

She smiled at him. ‘I guess your old life wasn’t very conducive to having a kid.’

‘Definitely not. A lot of late nights, long hours. I’m not sure how people fit kids into that lifestyle.’

‘But here you are,’ she whispered.

She wasn’t sure he’d admitted it to himself yet, but Iris knew he was all in now. Archer was Olive’s dad, and he wasn’t going anywhere. He was going to do what was best for Olive. Iris could see that, even in the dark, even with Archer looking like he needed about a week of solid sleep. Whether he knew it or not, Archer was a good dad.

Archer’s foot pushed against hers again. ‘Thanks,’ he said.

‘For what? Believing your child was possessed?’

His laughter washed over her like a caress in the dark. ‘No, just for … cheering me up, I guess.’

He was looking at her, his gaze tracing over her face, slipping down to her bare shoulder and back again. Iris knew she’d been flirting with him since she moved in, and she also knew that she shouldn’t be flirting with him at all…

Nothing could happen between them.

Obviously.

He was her boss, and she needed this job, and she certainly didn’t need to get caught up with a guy with a kid. And he couldn’t be seen as the type of guy who has a fling with the nanny. That would definitely conflict with the wholedoing what was right for Olive thinghe was working on.

Iris could leave at any time if she was just his nanny, but if she was anything else…

She shook her head.

Nothing else was on the table anyway, but what was the harm of a little flirtation? It was hard for Iris to resist. She’d always been a flirt. She liked the banter, the teasing, the small touches. Was that so wrong? It didn’t always have to lead anywhere.

It was harmless, really.

Except when she met Archer’s gaze again, even in this dark hallway, even though it was only their feet pressed together, Iris already knew nothing about this was going to be harmless.

He looked dangerous in the dark. His hair was disheveled again because he’d been messing with it in that way that made Iris want to substitute her fingers for his, and a dark stubble covered his jaw. It would burn. If he kissed her that stubble would burn her skin. A shiver ran through her at the thought.

She thought about the dedication and sacrifices he’d made to achieve what he had. About how he was so damn good at what he did. Iris had never really dedicated herself to anything. She flitted from job to job, man to man.

She was a flake.

Archer clearly found her attractive. And she him. But they would never mesh well together. She would drive him crazy with her inattention, her inability to stick with anything.

And she knew she was in trouble when even this imagined rejection hurt her feelings.

‘I should get to bed,’ she said. ‘For real this time.’

‘Right. Of course.’

She got up, but Archer stayed where he was, like a sentry outside of Olive’s door.

‘You going to stay there all night?’