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“Are you two talking about me behind my back before he even got to meet me? I’m flattered.” Resting his fingertips atop his chest, Gavin chuckled.
“Oh,” said Archer, and strangely, his face lit up as he studied Gavin. “You’rethatfriend.”
“The one and only.” He turned to Brielle. “Well, I should get going. Fewer late night trains.”
“Right,” said Brielle. She wrung her hands as Gavin kissed her on the cheek. She didn’t know how she felt about being left alone with Archer just then, in just about the last place she’d expected to see him. “Thanks so much for everything. See you online?”
“And in person soon, too, I hope,” he said, tapping her nose lightly. “Nice to meet you, handsome,” he said to Archer, and then he left before Archer could even do more than say, “You too…”
Brielle and Archer stared at each other. Running a hand over the back of his head, Archer looked almost sheepish. “Would you believe I happened to be in the neighborhood?”
A joke.He was, despite stern appearances, surprisingly prone to them. She couldn’t believe how much he’d changed in her eyes in less than a week—in so many different ways.
But this didn’t seem like a good sign. He was clearly following her around like a puppy because she’d been his first. And she felt so bad about it. Just because it’d been a few months since she’d last been with Daniel. But Archer had been so hot and willing...
I don’t need a relationship right now.She should have just kept her pants on, especially after he’d confessed he’d never been kissed. “You wanted to help me,” she said, a smile skirting her lips. “That’s sweet of you.”
Relief seemed to wash over Archer’s face. “I don’t know what I thought I could accomplish,” he said. “I just thought maybe… You’d need some support.”
Brielle reached forward to grab hold of his hand and squeezed it. “Thank you,” she said.
“But then I should have thought how you’d already asked your friend—”
“No,thank you. I mean it. I… I would have asked you to come along if I thought you could. I know that’s dumb and that we hardly knew each other, but I didn’t like feeling like I was just walking out on you after—”
“Bri?” said a voice. Both Brielle and Archer turned, their hands still clenched together. Brielle’s mom readjusted the strap on her purse and looked from Brielle’s face to her hand and back. “I thought you were headed home.”
From behind her, Nora snorted.
Brielle dropped Archer’s hand like it was a hot potato.
Chapter Nineteen
Brielle’s mother looked tired, haggard—absolutely on her last straw. Considering the sullen teen behind her—the one with both hands clutching a gym bag, staring at them like she was seconds from popping invisible popcorn into her mouth—was probably the sister who’d started this whole mess, it made sense.
But Archer couldn’t help but feel that this slightly plump, attractive older woman was studying him like he was to blame for everything.
“I was,” said Brielle, and Archer suddenly remembered her mother had said something about her heading home. “I ran into Archer on the way out.” She gestured to him and then clasped her hands together. “Mom, Nora, this is Archer. Archer, my mom—Leah Clark—and my sister, Nora.”
Archer rolled his shoulders and extended his hand. It took Ms. Clark an extra minute to move forward to take it. “Archer Ward?” she asked. She really did look like she’d just finished running a marathon.
For a second, Archer thought Brielle’s mother was a fan of his. He laughed when he realized the truth.She owns the cleaning company.“Yes. Nice to meet you. Brielle’s been… great. She’s been a great job. I mean, she did a great job.” His throat went dry. Where was he going with this? Was he trying to compliment her as a worker, despite the fact that he’d just slept with her? But he didn’t want her to think she was being let go because of anything she’d done. Not that he was even sure his mother had canceled the service yet.
“I just got a call to cancel the account,” said Brielle’s mom, frowning. Nora’s eyes lit up, though she tried to mask her sudden spike in interest with a forced look of boredom.
Brielle stared at him, her lips slightly parted.
“Right, well, it wasn’t that she wasn’t good at it. Because she was.” Archer felt like an idiot. He could speak in front of a crowd of fans, but put him in front of someone he didn’t know well and expect him to speak one-on-one and he grew a second tongue he didn’t know how to handle. “My mother is just concerned I was relying on her too much.”
“She said something about my ‘maid’ fraternizing with you too much.” There was no missing the look that passed between her and Brielle. Her mom shook her head, cradling her forehead. “I can’t deal with this today. I’ll see you at home, Bri.” She smiled awkwardly. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Ward. Thank you for your business. I’m sorry it wasn’t satisfactory.”
“No, itwas—” started Archer, but Brielle’s mom had already moved around him toward the exit to the parking garage.
Nora lingered a beat, staring Archer up and down. He winced under her gaze. Sometimes he could tell when someone was biting their tongue. Maybe the girl knew she’d already bitten off more than she could chew with her antics for the evening.
“Nora!”
The girl stared at Brielle and nodded, heading off without a word.
