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“We work the cases togetherhere. You’re not moving in with me.”
She pulls the office door open and laughs. “You’ll learn to love me, Minka. I swear you will.”
“Too soon!” I shout after her. “My name is Doctor!”
Fletcher’s phone trills in his pocket and pulls my attention away from a still-dancing Aubree.
He takes it out with fast hands, checks the screen, then looks to Archer. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”
“Do you have something that pertains to this case?” I push up to stand, but with the movement, my stomach drops. Too little sleep, not enough food in my stomach, and too much caffeine. “Charlie?”
“Nothing to do with Louisa.” He looks to Arch. “You know how to find me.”
“Yeah. I’ll catch up with you later.”
Before Archer is done speaking, Charlie turns on his heels and blows through the door and past Aubree’s desk.
And just like that, it’s just me and Archer in my office, all alone and silent.
“You look beat.” He makes his way to my visitor chair and sits. “Your eyes are sad, Minka.”
“I’m tired. I didn’t leave here till two this morning. And I’m sad because I have a ten-year-old sitting at the top of my workload.”
“Hell of a way to start your new job.” He tilts his head to the left and chews his bottom lip. “Are you hungry?”
“Yeah.” Locking my computer once more, I make my way around my desk. “I don’t feel hungry, but my blood sugar is low. Is there a vending machine nearby?”
“Yeah.” He pushes up to stand too. “I’ll show you the way.”
“You don’t have to show me.” I leave behind Tim’s glistening white mug and make sure my phone is still in my pocket. I’ve yet to switch out my coats, but once I’m back at my desk with a protein bar and more caffeine, I’ll change and get back to work. “Just tell me where it is, and I’ll go about my day.”
“I’d rather show you.” He steps up beside me and slides the tips of his fingers to the soft skin behind my ear.
It’s like he knows my weakness; the one spot of my body he can use to control my every move. My every emotion. My every everything.
Though, I never knew about that spot until he started touching it.
Wordlessly, he leads me through my office door and into the hall, and the moment a member of my staff comes into sight through the glass walls, he drops his hand and walks beside me instead. He remains close, showing me the way, but he keeps his hands to himself and his words locked away until we step into the elevator.
Hitting the G for ground level, Archer steps to the back of the elevator, but not before hooking his finger in the loop of my pants and gently tugging me back too. We stand, side by side, his shoulder pressed to mine, his aftershave filling my lungs and adding to my already dizzy state. His chest lifts and falls, slowly, controlled, in my peripherals, and his eyes follow me just as surely as mine follow him.
“Wanna talk about last night?”
“Nope.” I fold my arms and work on closing myself off from the man who has somehow slipped under my defenses… twice.
Archer Malone is the first man I’ve had sex with in eighteen months. The first man I’ve ever brought back to my living space, whether here or in New York. He’s the first man I’ve ever had a repeat with, and he’s the first whose mere presence is somehow comforting and off-putting all at once.
Though, it’s easy for me to know why I don’t want him around: he’s a cop. That’s strikes one, two, and three all in one go.
“So you just wanna ignore what we did last night?” He slides the tip of his thumb along the small of my back, sending goosebumps sprinting along my skin and tingles up my spine. “We were—”
“We were nothing.” I paste on my kindest smile and turn to meet his darkening eyes. “We were hanging out at a bar, then we weren’t. Then we were on a job, and now we’re officially linked together in our careers. We need to ensure professionalism and a healthy distance.”
The moment the elevator dings open, I push forward and hate how, when his hand falls away from my back, I wish I could undo what I just did. But that would be foolish, so I push forward and slow in the lobby to search for a vending machine.
“Where—”
“This way.” His hand wraps around my elbow, then he’s leading me across the lobby and into the path of the revolving door.
From the warmed George Stanley building, to the cold of the streets of Copeland, I shiver under my coat and look up when the wind whips my hair across my face. “Why’d you bring us out here?”
“Food.” He grabs my arm once more and drags me across the street. “You’re too pale for this time of the morning, and I’m too much of a fucking sucker to let you starve yourself. So we’re eating.”
