“Oh, good, she bagged a smartass. You insist on testing me, Doctor Douchebag. But it’s fine. You have your fun.” I meet Taylor’s dancing eyes and pray my boobs stay on their shelf where they belong. “It was nice tomeet you. Good luck with…” I gesture Raquel’s way. “That.” Then I snag Archer’s hand and drag him around the pair. “Let’s go.”
“Love you, too, Chief.” Raquel spins with a laugh. “You did better than I expected.”
“She’s awfully smug for a woman who’s set to receive six months of backlog files on her desk first thing Monday morning.”
“You’re mad because she caught you off guard.” He drapes his arm over my shoulders, holding my hand until we become a tangled puzzle, and approaching the wedding reception doors, we slow for the guards to swing them open and for the music inside to hit us like a wall. “You recovered quickly. Bravo.”
“Shut up.” I would toss his hand and storm away if I had even an iota of desire to leave his side, but since I don’t, I lean into him instead and silently wish the band could read minds and show me pity.Turn the music down. Please.“Did you know she was into chicks?”
“Before five minutes ago?” He walks me all the way to the dance floor, though I had absolutely no intention of coming here, then he releases me, turns me, and slowly drags me back. So smooth. So easy, despite our lack of practice. “No. Can’t say I’ve ever given it much thought. I suppose I assumed she was dating a man, too, since you’ve mentionedhimin the past. But with the handholding and whatnot, I figured her out relatively quickly. Quicker than you.”
“She set me up,knowingmy brain would short-circuit.” I catch sight of Eliza—the real Eliza, with blonde hair and blue eyes matching her sister’s—crossing the dance floor about ten feet from where we stand. But then Cato follows, a wide grin plastered across his face, and a fast stride that promises he’s going wherever she goes. He lopes forward and snags her hand.
I brace myself for the inevitable explosion, gritting my jaw when she balls her free hand. Then I gasp when she swings…
And he ducks, fast as a viper and more arrogant than he has any right to be. He yanks her in and slams her against his chest.
“He has no respect for how close he comes to death every single day.” I shake my head and ignore the power struggle between the two athletes. Eliza’s snarling, snapping teeth, and Cato’s goofy smirk. His lips move, some smartass quip no doubt pissing her off more. But I can’t hear him over the live band, and as I step closer and rest my ear on Archer’s chest, I realize I don’t really care. “This feels nice.”
“It does, doesn’t it?” He sets his chin on the top of my head, his warm breath bathing my scalp. “Big day, huh?”
“Started before the sun even came up. Hair and makeup.”
“Torture, really.”
He mocks me. But I have no energy left to fight with, so I snuggle in close and allow him to hold my weight. “I hear you, Detective. You’re lucky I’m too tired to hurt you.”
“Mmhm.” His heart pounds a steady, powerful rhythm in my ear. “Your dress looks fantastic, by the way. And your hair. And you’re not working tomorrow, so once we’re done here, we can go back to the house and stay in bed for as long as we want.”
“Unless—”
“No unless. We’re not on call. And I’ve been drinking, which means I can’t work even if the city started falling apart at the seams.”
“Ihaven’t been drinking. I could work.”
“I’ll spritz vodka in your mouth if I have to.” He sets his hand beneath my chin and prompts my gaze up to his. “I’ll do whatever I have to do to get you into our bed tonight, and I won’t let you out until you’ve rested an appropriate number of hours.” His eyes flicker with challenge. “You’re off from now until nine o’clock Monday morning. No exceptions.”
“Your brothers are staying at the house tonight.” I drape my arms over his shoulders, linking my hands together at the nape of his neck. “Felix and Christabelle.Andthe baby.”
“Naturally. Can’t leave an infant in the car overnight.”
“And Micah, too. And Tiia. And she brought her brother, right?”
So serious. So unbothered. He drops his chin. “That makes six.”
“And Mary will be there. And Steve.” Fresh panic sizzles in my veins as I remember the sickly old man I abandoned for our tryst in the kitchen. “Steve?—”
“Left already. With Mary. He’s in good hands, Minnnka.” He pinches my chin between his thumb and finger, drawing me closer and feathering his lips over mine. “He’s fine, and you’ll have him under the same roof as you from now until he’s recovered.” Another kiss. “Better yet, he has round-the-clock care, which means you don’t have to worry. Ever. Even when Mary has to pee, Steve will be covered.”
“Seems you’ve been making arrangements while I had my back turned.”
“It’s what I do.” He nibbles along my bottom lip. Tasting. Biting. “Just needed you to agree to the plans I put in place. Which,” he adds. “Youhave.”
“Arrogant.”
“Forward thinking. Any other concerns I can help you with?”
I release a pouty exhale and decide,no, I don’t have anything to complain about right this second. “Since we’re staying at the house, and our bedroom is technically self-contained with a bathroom and mini-kitchen and all that jazz, can we just?—”
