He was starving and had planned to grab a PowerBar before he hit the sack. “I only texted so I wouldn’t startle you.” She was still unsettled after Offenbach had kidnapped and assaulted her during his reign of terror. Thankfully, she didn’t remember much of what’d happened because he’d also drugged her.
“Which I appreciate, but I was awake, so I decided to make you an omelet and toast.”
His stomach growled loudly, making them both laugh. “That’s very nice of you, and it smells delicious.”
“When was the last time you ate something?”
Archie thought about that. “I have no idea.”
“You need to take better care of yourself.”
“Normally, I do, but when there’re kids missing, and one of them is the nephew of a close friend…” He shrugged. “None of the normal rules apply.”
“I’m so glad Sam’s nephew and the other boy were found safe.”
“Me, too.”
“Have they found the missing girl?”
Archie shook his head.
“I’m so worried about her.”
“I know. We all are. I didn’t want to leave while she’s still missing, but I was out of gas.”
She turned to him and put her hands on his chest, looking up at him with gorgeous brown eyes full of compassion. “I can’t imagine how hard it must be to leave when there’s a child still missing, but you’re only human. You have to take care of yourself so you can continue to help find her.”
“It sucked to leave, but I left things in good hands so I could get some rest.”
“This is ready, so have a seat.”
He glanced over her shoulder at the omelet that included some of the broccoli and peppers he’d gotten at the grocery store Friday night after work. “That looks good. Thank you for getting up to cook for me.”
“Oh please, it’s the least I can do after everything you’ve done for me, plus it helped to have something to do. Hearing about the missing girl has been a bit… triggering.”
When she would’ve stepped away from him, he stopped her with an arm around her waist. He was still careful about how and when he touched her, not wanting to hurt her healing ribs. “Although I hate the reason you needed my help, I’ve loved every second of having you here with me. In fact, if you want to just stay, that’d be okay with me.”
She blinked twice in rapid succession. “Oh, um, you want me to stay?”
He drew her in closer to him and stared down at her gorgeous face. The bruises had faded from a dark purple to light yellow, but he still wanted to murder Offenbach for daring to harm her. That he’d hurt her to get back at Archie was something he’d suffer over for the rest of his life.
“What’re you thinking? Your whole expression changed.”
“That I probably have no right to ask you for anything after you were hurt because of me.”
“It wasn’t because of you.”
“Yes, it was, Harlowe. He had a beef with me because I helped to prove he was having an affair that torched his whole life.”
“It was because of him and only him. He did this. You did your job.”
“Still…”
“No, Archie. I need you to hear me on this. I don’t blame you. Not for one second do I think you’d ever let anyone hurt me intentionally. In fact, I’ve started to think you might step in front of a bullet that was coming for me.”
“I would. I absolutely would.”
“Don’t do that. It would break my heart to lose you.”
