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All three of us turned to look at the bearded man.
“That’s…” Archer said. “You’re completely out of line. And even if that were true—which it’s not—it wouldn’t change the fact that having Kaylee here is a—”
“No,” Harrison interrupted. He drank the rest of the milk straight out of his bowl, then wiped his mouth with a sleeve. When he locked eyes with Archer, his gaze was as hard as steel. “Kaylee stays.”
The two of them remained in a standoff for several heartbeats. Then Harrison calmly slid back his chair, stood up, and carried his bowl into the kitchen.
That’s a man who gets what he wants, I thought while listening to his heavy footsteps. That kind of alpha-male attitude would have been incredibly sexy except that Harrison still felt like an untrained dog who might bite me at any moment.
“Guess it’s settled,” Jordy said with an awkward smile. “Seriously though, I want to echo what Trish already said. We won’t let this change anything about the situation. We’ll try to keep…”
He trailed off as Archer got up and left the table.
“Hey, about what Harrison said,” I began, but then I heard footsteps on the stairs. Kaylee was trudging down while rubbing the sleep out of her eye with a fist.
“Good morning, sweetie!” Jordy said. “We were just about to go get you.”
“I was really tired,” she said.
“It’s the jet lag,” he explained. “Sometimes it takes people a while to get used to being on a new sleep schedule. Let me make you some pancakes to wake you up.”
She brightened. “I want to help! Can I stir the batter?”
Jordy made a face at her. “I don’t know. Stirring the batter is areallyimportant job…”
While he watched her, I went upstairs and took a shower. I thought about what Harrison had said. Did Archer have a small crush on me, too? That didn’t seem right. He had always been polite at the gym, but never outwardly friendly, like Jordy.
I returned downstairs and helped Kaylee finish her breakfast. When she was done, I spotted Jordy making a snack by himself in the kitchen.
“Hey, real quick,” I whispered. “Did Harrison mean what he said about Archer? Or was he just making a joke?”
Jordy chuckled. “Sort of, kind of. We both thought of you as our gym crush. We used to joke about which of us you would rather date. Honestly, I thought he had the upper hand, having a fancy accent and all. Until you asked me out.”
“English accents are definitely hot,” I admitted. “My friend Lisa is going to be devastated when she hears about this. She’s been fantasizing about Blondie for months.”
Jordy flinched. “Blondie?”
Shit.
“Our nickname for him,” I replied. “Don’t tell him I said that.”
He gave me an evil smirk. “No promises.”
We gathered by the garage door to say goodbye as the men left for the peace conference. Each of them took a moment to say goodbye to Kaylee. Then they disappeared into the garage.
Kaylee immediately ran upstairs to get her laptop so she could play Minecraft. I was wondering what I was going to do with myself when the garage door opened again and Jordy appeared.
“Forget something?” I asked.
He swept me into his arms and gave me a long, passionate kiss. The kind of kiss that usually leads to more than just kissing. I felt lightheaded when he finally let go, and I knew there was a goofy grin on my face.
“If you called Archer Blondie,” Jordy asked, “then what was my nickname?”
“Brownie,” I replied.
“I should have guessed. I like it.” He winked. “Later, Kettlebells.”
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