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“One you regret?”
“No.” He shook his head adamantly. “God, no. She’s the best thing about me.”
It made my heart clench the way he talked about her, the way he obviously felt about her, because I knew in my gut that my parents didn’t feel the same way about me. Sure, they loved me the way they’d been brought up to know how, but it wasn’t the same. I’d already heard from Serena the way Archer had done everything in his power to help her when she went through a destructive phase in her teen years. At that point she’d been commuting between her parents for years, her mom on the West Coast and Archer in New York. From what she’d told me, she’d gotten a little too good at keeping secrets, falling into the wrong crowd when her mom had to travel so much for work. It was Archer who’d put a stop to the back-and-forth, to create the consistency and routine she needed by living full-time with him. Being such an amazing father only made him that much more attractive in my eyes.
Like I needed a longer list.
“So her mom was the only woman you were ever…with?”
“You know when I said sometimes you don’t know what you’re good at until you try? Well, same thing goes for not knowing what you like until you try.” He grinned, his eyes crinkling at the edges before he mouthed, “Very gay.”
“That’s good to know. And just soyouknow…” I pointed at myself. “Also very gay.”
His gaze moved to the entrance briefly, and then he reached for my hand, turning it face up so he could trail his fingers up and down my palm. “Do you have any other questions for me?”
How was I supposed to do anything but breathe with him touching me? In public, no less.
“Preston…?”
I tried to clear the lust-filled fog infiltrating my brain, but it was impossible. “I’m sure I have more, but I can’t seem to think when you’re doing that.”
“Oh? Feeling distracted?”
My cock throbbed, and I shifted on my chair. “Incredibly.”
“This is how you make me feel,” he said, his voice husky. “All the fucking time.”
Oh my God.Forget the questions. Forget the food, the other diners. All that existed in that moment was Archer, his sexy-as-sin voice, and those dark eyes that were staring into mine like he could see inside my soul. It made me weak in the knees, and I had to open my mouth twice before I could get the words out.
“Want to get that to-go box yet?”
That smoldering stare only intensified, sending a wave of goosebumps all over my body.
“Fuck yes.”
TWENTY-EIGHT
preston
“YOU MISSED ONE.” East pointed with his martini at the lone pillow lying on Gavin’s stripped bed. He leaned casually against the wall as he watched the rest of us carry out boxes of Gavin’s belongings from his room, and if any of us had a hand free, we’d all be slapping him with it.
Daire growled in East’s direction. “You could lift a fucking finger, asshole.”
East cocked a brow and slowly lifted his pinky from his glass. “There.”
Good God, this was about to go from bad to worse if these two remained within a few feet of each other. The tension was already palpable, as none of us were used to doing much manual labor, and this was already our fourth trip down here.
Hoping to defuse things before Daire lost his mind or East threw the rest of his martini on his scowling face, I shifted the heavy box in my arms and stepped in between them. “East, just put it on top of my pile and then go oversee somewhere else, please.”
He pursed his lips and sniffed arrogantly, but strolled over to the bed and picked up the pillow between his fingertips.“Since you asked so nicely.” He dropped it on top of my already overflowing box, and I held it down with my chin.
“Think you can manage the door, or will that cause you to break a sweat?” West called out over his shoulder, already heading toward the living room.
“You really are a very needy bunch.” East rolled his eyes and moved past us. He opened the front door of the condo and leaned against it as we all filed out into the hallway. “Nice job,” he said, patting West on the head as he passed, and then doing the same to West’s boyfriend, JT. “Keep up the good work.”
“Touch me and die,” Daire said, not even sparing East a glance as he followed after JT.
“Looks like someone already did that,” East called after him, staring pointedly at the black and purple bruises surrounding Daire’s left eye that had mysteriously appeared since yesterday. “I never got a call to help you hide a body, so is whoever did that still limping around somewhere?”
