“Good.”
“You met her?”Violet asked.
“She wanted to interview me.”
Violet’s eyes glittered with curiosity.“How’d that go?”
“Good.Real good.”He’d actually enjoyed meeting the badass Jessica James.It gave him a better understanding of the woman who seemed to be the glue that kept the task force together.
“And it pays well?”
Better than Archer had been expecting.“It does.”
“And you’d be good at it, right?”
Archer smirked because Violet was looking at Simon when she asked, evidently attempting to get him to participate in the conversation.
When he didn’t respond, she elbowed him.“Right?”
Simon looked up, frowned.“Yeah, sure.”
She huffed a laugh.“You don’t even know what the question was.”
“You said he’d be good at it.”Simon smiled.“And to answer, I said, yeah, sure.”
Violet rolled her eyes, still smiling.“Whatever.”She looked at Archer.“Once you say yes, what happens?”
“The yes is pretty much a box to check.They’ve already started a background check.I figure once that checks out, they’ll push to get my answer.”
Violet looked at Simon, her tone serious.“Should we be worried?”
Simon smiled.“We shouldalwaysbe worried about him.”
She continued as though Archer wasn’t there.“That’s what I thought.Maybe I can pass Reese a buck or two under the table to make any skeletons in his closet disappear.”
Archer chuckled.“Honey, I can assure you, there are no skeletons in my closet.Not since I came out of it when I was twenty-two.”
“And that washow manyyears ago?”Violet asked, clearly fishing.“One or ten, I forget.”
“Somewhere right in the middle.”
“He’s on the last leg of his twenties,” Simon said with a smirk.
“Twenty-nine?Really?You’re just a young buck, aren’t ya,” Violet drawled, giggling as the waitress approached to take their order.
“Hey, girl,” Archer greeted the waitress with a smile.
As was the case far more often than should be, the waitress giggled and blushed.Archer pretended not to notice, just as he always did.
He gestured for Violet to go first.
“Strawberry banana pancakes and orange juice.”
When Simon peered over at him, Archer smiled.“Age before beauty, my friend.”
He knew Simon was mentally flipping him off as he ordered up his egg whites and toast.
“And you, hun?”
