“Silas,” I repeated.“He’s got good taste in music.”
“Yeah.”She smiled and then turned her attention back to her book, effectively dismissing me.
I quietly closed the door behind me.
And like a fugitive, I retreated to my room.
Three days later, it was just past ten in the morning, and I was enjoying a quiet house.Lenni was at school.Archer was at work, and he’d taken Mildred with him because Muddy had a rodent problem in the chicken feed storage shed.
I was on my second cup of coffee and third load of laundry when the front door of the house blew open.Archer stormed into the living room, his face a mask of anger.
“What’s wrong?”I asked in shock.
“What’s wrong?”he repeated, his voice tight.Controlled.Barely.“What’swrong?”
I raised my brows.“Kind of in the dark here.You want to tell me why you’re angry?”
He took a labored breath.“Did you or did you not call Nancy and leave a tirade on her voicemail?”
I frowned.“How do you know about that?”
He stalked toward the couch and peered down at me.“I just got off the phone with her!Fuck, Wyn!You had no right to call and lecture her.”
My mouth dropped open.“No right?Noright?Someone had to go to bat for Lenni.”
“Yeah, someone should’ve gone to bat for Lenni.Me.I’mher father.”
I shot up in anger, disregarding the folded clothes on my lap.I didn’t care that they fell to the floor.“Yeah, you’re her father.And you had no fucking idea that Lenni was even upset becauseIwas the one who heard her crying in the middle of the night!And I yelled at Nancy for throwing out all of Blair’s belongings, leaving Lenni nothing!”
He grasped my upper arms, and I thought for sure he was going to shake me in rage.But even though his eyes blazed and his grip was strong, he wasn’t hurting me.The pulse in his neck throbbed.
“Nancy didn’t throw out Blair’s shit.She had it packed up and put in a storage unit because it was too damn painful for her to go through it.She was crushed when Blair died.It took her getting all the way to Hong Kong and settling in before she was even able to reach out and discuss having it sent to us.”His stare was intense.“Nancy’s not the villain you think she is.”
“She hurt Lenni,” I gritted out.“She drove off without so much as a goodbye.”
“Yes,” Archer stated, his voice softening.“But that was Nancy barely hanging on after losing the most important person in her life.How she treated Lenni, I don’t have to forgive that, but I understand it.But you shouldn’t have called her.”
“How can you say that?”I tossed my head, sending my blonde hair flying over my shoulder.“Because I’m not Lenni’s mom?And I have no right to act like it?”
“God damn it, Wyn,” he rasped.
He let go of my arms, but only so he could wrap them around me and haul me toward him.And then his mouth was on mine.His tongue pillaging.Plundering.
My hands whipped off his cowboy hat so I could plow my fingers through his hair.And then I gave him everything.
My anger.My frustration.My lust.
Because I couldn’t contain it anymore.
We tore at each other’s clothes.Our desire finally combusting.Rage gave way to pleasure.We fell onto the rug.A bed was too far.
His touch was lightning.His tongue was fire.His body scorched mine.
He slid into me.
Hot.Silky.Bare.
Archer grasped my hip and lifted my leg, so he could angle deeper.
