Page 83 of The Strawberry Patch Pancake House

Shit.Hewas the one who was going to make this complicated.Hisfeelings were the ones that were going to get hurt.

Somehow, he had not seen that coming.

She leaned forward and planted a kiss on his cheek. ‘I’m gonna go clean up.’

‘Yeah, of course.’ Archer was slowly coming back to his senses, to what they’d done and to how much it had affected him.

‘But I wouldn’t mind company later,’ Iris said. ‘You know where to find me.’

‘Yeah, okay.’ He wasn’t even sure Iris heard him; she was halfway down the hall by the time he answered. What the hell just happened?

After he cleaned himself up with a towel from the kitchen, he sat back on the couch and tried to piece together the last half hour. He should feel relieved, right? Satisfied to have finally had the thing he’d wanted for weeks.

But it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t just about getting off.

At least it wasn’t for him. Not anymore. But Iris had run off immediately after they were finished so maybe it had been just sex for her?

She’d told him she never planned on having kids. And if they were together in any sort of real way, the whole arrangement came with an automatic child in the mix. So where did that leave them?

Archer dropped his head back on the cushions. He’d thought he could compartmentalize his feelings for Iris. He’d thought that he could handle having her living in his house. He’d thought he could just control this whole thing, like he was so used to doing, but none of this was going how he thought it would.

And now he was left with a choice.

This could be it. They’d gotten the forbidden-sex thing out of their systems and he could let the whole thing go. Move on. He should probably even look for a new nanny. And kids were resilient, right? Olive would be okay. She had him. And he was proud of that. Proud that he was here for her. They’d get through Iris’s departure together.

Or…

He could take Iris up on her offer to keep her company later.

It took him exactly three seconds to decide on choice number two. He didn’t know what Iris wanted in the long run, but if there was an inkling of a chance that she wanted him, then he had to take it.

* * *

Iris stood under the warm spray of the shower and tried not to freak out. Okay, so she’d finally slept with her boss. And it was amazing. And then she’d quite literally run away, while also extending an invitation for more fun later.

Good lord, what was wrong with her? She was all over the map. Was Archer as confused as she was right now? Maybe she shouldn’t have bailed so quickly afterward, but it was all so fast and hard and good, and then she didn’t know what to do with herself!

He probably thought she was just using him to get off because she kinda was, but she also kinda wanted more and shelikedhim. Genuinely, actually liked him and it had been creeping up on her all this time and then it just slammed into her and she panicked.

It had been a very long time since Iris had liked a man and wanted to be around him when their clothes were on. She didn’t really know what to do with that.

Okay, breathe, Iris. First you need to get out of the shower because you’ve been in here for a really long time and Archer is going to start to think it’s weird.

She turned off the water and stepped out of the tub only to realize that she hadn’t thought to bring in a change of clothes, or even the ones she’d stripped out of in the living room. She had her tank top and sports bra and absolutely no bottoms. Perfect.

She didn’t bother wrangling herself back into her tank top and instead just wrapped a towel around her and prayed that she could get to her bedroom without being caught.

She opened the door and walked straight into Archer’s chest.

‘Oof.’

‘Sorry.’ He grabbed her arms to steady her. ‘I was getting worried. Thought maybe you hit your head in there or something.’

Iris laughed. ‘Nope. Just … thinking.’

‘Yeah, me too.’ Archer’s gaze was steady on hers, dark and serious in the dimly lit hallway. Iris was hyper aware of her lack of clothing. Her skin prickled beneath the towel, every nerve ending standing to attention.

‘And what were you thinking about?’ she asked.