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Staringat Archer play for almost an hour had been enough to empty her mind. In a good way.
Even from that distance, she could tell he lookedreally goodbare-chested and covered in sweat.
Sitting back on the bench after he’d left without so much as a word, she stared after Archer, watching as he almost vanished from sight.
Some impulse raged in her. The same kind of impulse that had made her follow Daniel down his dorm room hall months after she’d already known he was bad news because he’d given her some look, said something halfway flirtatious, and she’d been lonely and tired from all of that studying and writing she’d been doing for weeks on end.
So it was a bad impulse, she knew, but she pushed the guilt down anyway and ran after her cantankerous client. “Archer!” she called more than once. She got louder as she picked up the pace in order to catch up to him.
Is he actually moving away from mefasternow?
She hesitated, not wanting to bother him or break the tenuous working relationship they’d managed to hash out between them, not wanting to seem desperate.
Which after weeks—monthsof getting no action—she kind of had to admit she was.
Damn it, she thought.Please tell me I’m not turning into Lilac.Take away the endless assignments and constant research, though, and her brain did seem to wander to more sensual things apparently. Not that the job hunt was much less mentally taxing than school at this point.
Her foot caught a crack on the sidewalk and she stumbled, crying out.
Archer stopped and spun his chair around in time to see her hopping on one foot to regain her balance. “Hi,” she said after the fourth dorky hop.
“Hey,” said Archer. He was panting and looked like he’d just had a cooler of water dumped over his head. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” she said, putting her hands behind her back and shuffling her foot. “I just…” She pointed back to the bench. “I was sitting back there and I saw you and I thought I’d… say, ‘hi.’” It sounded really stupid when she said it. “I didn’t know you’d be here—I mean, I know you live near here, but—”
“You didn’t think I’d be into park sports, considering the wheelchair?”
She shrugged. “No, not that. I mean… This is just the closest park to my place, too. And sometimes I just need some fresh air and peace, you know what I mean?”
She wondered if Archer really did know what she meant since he had his peace alone in his condo and seemed to find camaraderie here in the park.
He nodded, though, his gaze drifting off somewhere behind her. Brielle felt eager to fill the silence and said the first thing that popped into her head. The stupidest thing, she would soon think. “So… ‘Hot date’? That guy said you had a hot date.”
His face grew three shades darker and his Adam’s apple bobbed perceptively. “He was just kidding. Trash talk.”
Brielle wasn’t sure “trash talk” meant what he thought it meant, but she could certainly tell he meant the guy was teasing him. “Oh,” she said, interlacing her fingers in front of her abdomen. “That’s good.”Dumb, dumb, dumb.
He raised an eyebrow and looked into her eyes for the first time since he’d spun around. “It’sgoodI don’t have a hot date?”
“No! I mean… Of course not. I guess.” She laughed nervously.
“Well, I’ve never had one.” He swallowed.
“A hot date?”
“A date at all. Not really. Not if you don’t count a pity dance date in school.”
Brielle frowned. She hadn’t meant to bring up such an uncomfortable topic with him, hadn’t meant to insinuate anything. She supposed he was a bit old not to have been on a date—although Pembroke wasn’t much better, but she was a girl at least and guys typically didn’t patiently wait for “the one” to walk into their lives—but there was his disability to consider. It was definitely rude to question him further on that point. Maybe he couldn’t even… Maybe he didn’t want to date because of where it might lead and maybe he couldn’t go that far. Her own face darkened at the picture that had just popped into her head. It wasn’t her business anyway.
“Ican… date,” he said as if reading her mind and deciding to censor her thoughts somewhat considering there were kids just a few hundred yards away. “I just… haven’t.” He cleared his throat. Then he laughed, his face stricken as if she’d caught him in an embarrassing admission. “It was always just easier not to try. I can’t even picture how I’d kiss a girl comfortably.”
Brielle’s cheeks blazed harder. “You’ve never been kissed?”
He stared at her. “Well, I mean… Not more than a peck on the cheek. From… relatives.” The ground seemed suddenly far more intriguing for him to look at. He was squeezing the life out of that shirt with both hands. Brielle was just glad he hadn’t thought to put it back on.
“Would you like to try?” Brielle could feel the heat on her breath. She knew she was being bold, knew this type of interaction was awakening something inside her she usually managed to keep hidden.God, if Lilac even knew, she’d never stop teasing me.
Startled, Archer jumped a little in place and looked around. “With who?”
