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Questioning, typed both Gavin and Pembroke at once. Brielle figured they’d know better than she would, so she decided to let it go and wait until Pembroke felt like explaining more.
In any case… Glad to hear! Happy for you.Brielle cracked her neck. It was getting sore from all the weird gymnastics she was doing to pay attention to her phone and the mountain of paperwork currently beneath her buttocks.
Yeah. Good for you.Lilac seemed to be biting her tongue, which was probably the best one could hope for from her. She probably thought she’d hold the “told you so” until Pembroke revealed whatever it was she was holding back.
ANYWAY, typed Gavin.I’m super happy for Pem, but I wanted all three of you here at once to ask you one thing: Will you be my groomsmaids? Boyfriends, partners, and dorky mascots welcome to come as guests.
The screen practically went blank for a minute.
SHUT UP, said Lilac.How could you not tell me you were getting married?
Holy cow,wrote Pembroke.You just started dating!
Um, yes!typed Brielle. She noticed no one else was actually answering his question. Not that she wasn’t shocked, but Gavin deserved happiness more than any of them.
…So only Brielle is going to stand beside me?Gavin added a frowny face.
UM, I’M THE MAID OF HONOR, RIGHT?typed Lilac. Of course she’d be the one to ask that.
I’d love to!wrote Pembroke.
Congrats, added Brielle. A door opened and she lifted her head up on instinct.Send more details soon, she added.Sorry, got to go!
She finally shoved her phone into her purse and that was going to be the end of it for the next few hours at least.
“I didn’t think my van qualified as one of those hot cars sexy models pose on,” said Archer as he wheeled closer. “But I think the right hood ornament can make any car sexy.”
“Oh, be quiet, you,” said Brielle, wrapping one arm around his shoulders and bending down to kiss his forehead. She struggled to keep her papers under her other arm. “Putting on a clown routine trying to keep all these papers from blowing away hardly qualifies as ‘sexy.’”
“Says you.” Archer grabbed her around the waist and brought her closer. Her folder almost dropped again and he reached forward to catch it, laying it flat on his lap so he could grab her with both arms. “Have a nice day?” he asked, leaning up for a quick kiss.
“Yeah,” she said. “And it’s even better now.” She was practically toppling over, but leaning in for that second, longer kiss was worth it.
“Flatterer,” said Archer, but that didn’t stop him from squeezing her tightly.
Since she was about to topple over or fall onto his lap—which might have been his goal, now that she thought about it, even if they were in the middle of the parking lot and the chilly weather wasn’t exactly inviting—she pulled back. “You’ve got to show me.”
Wincing, Archer cocked his head. “You sure you don’t want more kisses first?”
“I’ll get those later,” said Brielle, arching an eyebrow. “And maybe more than that if you’re up for it today.”
“You can’t seriously not know the answer to that…”
She ignored him. “But you can’t just tease me like that and not show me.”
He sighed, gripping his wheels and turning around to head back to his condo. “All right, all right. If you’d rather look at some drawings than my naked torso, then I guess that’s what we’ll do.”
“Har har,” she said. “I’m not even going to stroke your ego and tell you what you already know I think about said torso.”
“Okay,” he said, pushing the door open. “I’ll settle for you stroking something else after we’ve had a bite to eat.”
“You dirty little charmer,” said Brielle, kicking her shoes off and dropping her purse behind the door. The fact was, she loved it. When Daniel had “talked dirty” to her, it was just gross—hewas just gross. But any time Archer opened his mouth, she felt a warm flush throughout her body from head to toe, so she didn’t care how dirty those words were. In fact, she really liked the boost of confidence it seemed to give him. More confidence equaled less rudeness. She still caught him snapping at anyone he didn’t know who dared to disturb his little work sanctuary, like the plumber he’d had to hire when his sink had overflowed. Luckily, she’d been there to knock some sense into him.
“Act like they’re all your fans,” she’d said.It seemed good enough advice, since he put on a million-dollar-smile for them.“And stop acting like everyone who walks through your front door is an invader.”
He could still be grumpy sometimes. When his muscles ached, when he didn’t feel well, when the physical therapy was too much or he’d pushed his limits and walked too far. But she knew how to put a smile on his face. And he was starting to becomehersurly guy. So long as she reminded him that the people he was taking it out on had nothing to do with how he was feeling and hardly deserved it, he’d lighten up. All it took was reminding him how terrified she’d been of him the first time they’d met.
“Let me see, let me see!” She bounced as she followed him to his drafting table and computer desk, where he tossed her papers. He’d been working on the sequel toWheelsfor months—said he didn’t even care if hisThe Mystifiedpublisher didn’t want it (they did, it turned out, and they also wanted to rerelease the first volume), that he’d wanted to draw it for her—and he hadn’t let her evenpeekat it until it’d gotten to this stage. His publisher had sent over a draft complete with inks, colors, and text, and there it was, waiting on his computer screen, open to the first page.
