Page 78 of Archer

I thought about the chemistry I’d seen between Colton and Maggie today, and I hoped to be around when they made their move, because I had a feeling it was coming. Bro code or not.

Chapter 24

Harper

I unbuckled my seatbelt when Archer parked in the driveway, thankful no deliveries awaited on the porch. I’d had a good afternoon, and I wanted to hold onto it.

Archer settled the engine, then leaned across the console and kissed me. When he pulled back, his eyes were dark, and my pulse quickened.

“I should really get you inside,” he said. “We have something to discuss.”

We climbed out and walked onto the porch together. I smiled, recalling the thing he’d asked me to remind him of.

“I had a really good time today,” I said. “I liked being part of your group, and I especially liked being there with you.”

Archer set his big hands on my waist. He turned me to him, then pulled me close.

I arched to keep my eyes on his, and my unzipped coat parted in front.

Standing on the mat outside the front door, I felt like a teen again, being walked home by a date. Nerves fluttered in my stomach. Heat rose in my chest.

“Harper.” His voice lowered, and he curved his body above mine, bringing his lips close to my ear.

“Yeah?”

His thumbs traced small circles on the exposed skin above my waistband. “I’ve been thinking about this all day,” he murmured.

I fought a growing smile. “About what exactly?”

His chest rumbled with a barely audible growl. “Kissing you. Touching you. Getting you alone.”

I ran my palms over the ink on his arms, over the curves of his biceps to the breadth of his shoulders.

His mouth found the sensitive spot below my ear. He pressed a kiss there, and I shivered. “Harper?”

I made a sound that might have been his name. My fingers dropped to the hem of his shirt then slid beneath the soft fabric, eager to trace the hard planes of his abdomen.

He pulled back to look at me, the usual grimace on his face. “Be my girlfriend.”

I smiled before responding, absorbing the moment, adding it to my collection of things that didn’t seem real.

“I don’t know what that will mean once you leave town,” he said. “But I want to figure it out with you.”

“Yes,” I whispered.

Archer tangled strong fingers in the length of my hair and supported my head as he rained kisses over my face and jaw, my neck and collarbone, before returning to my lips with a deep, sexy growl.

“Yes,” I repeated, head lolling against his hand. “I’m already yours.”

His mouth moved from joy-filled to greedy as the heat of our newly spoken commitment rose between us. I parted for him and moaned as the sensual slide of his tongue against mine erased every thought in my head.

The evening air was cool against my heated skin.

Archer’s mouth trailed down my neck, teeth grazing my collarbone and making me squirm.

I wound my arms around his back and pressed our bodies closer, desperate for more of him.

“You’re so damn beautiful,” he murmured against my ear. “Do you have any idea what you do to me?”