“Nope.”
A look of satisfaction sparkled behind her eyes as Cassie took a few seconds to briefly consider his claim. With a slight tilt of her head, she asked, “So why me?”
He should probably lie. Give her some lame excuse about being caught up in the moment or using the kiss to ease the pain of her disturbing situation. But that wasn’t the type of man Archer was.
From day one, he’d promised to always be open and honest with her. And while that promise had been made in reference to her case, he’d meant what he’d said. So rather than going back on his word and blowing smoke up her ass, Archer told her the God’s honest truth.
“You walk into a room, and I’m filled with need.” His throat worked with a hard swallow. “I see you and I want. You pass by me in the hallway or the kitchen, and I become intoxicated by your scent. And now that I’ve tasted you”—he licked his lips, which had suddenly become desert dry—“I want even more.”
“More?” Her long lashes fluttered with surprise, and it was easy to see that wasn’t the answer she’d expected to hear.
“I want everything, Cassie.” He leaned in, even as the voice in his head was shouting at him to stop. “I want…you.” A slight pause. “But?—”
“But?”
“You’re my client.”
“And you don’t date clients.”
He shook his head at the reiterated statement, but said nothing.
“Well then.” Cassie placed a palm over his racing heart, her touch electric even with the barrier his clothes provided. “I guess it’s a good thing dating isn’t what I had in mind.”
“Cassandra…” Another warning. “We can’t.”
But God, do I wish we could.
“Why not? Because it’s against company policy?” A sly smirk lifted one corner of her luscious mouth. “How about this?” She removed the hand from his chest and held it up so that her palm faced him. “I promise not to sue.”
His lips twitched, and this time Archer couldn’t contain his own crooked grin. “A lawyer who tells lawyer jokes, huh?”
“If you can’t laugh at yourself every once in a while…” Her sweet voice trailed off as a sliver of the same fear and sadness from earlier returned. “I need to laugh, Archer.” Cassie’s expression turned serious. “I need to laugh, and joke, and kiss, and touch, and make love to you with everything I have so that I can forget because I just want to...” Her shoulders fell with a sigh. “God, Archer, I just want toforget.And I-I know this is crazy, and you’re probably going to fire me as a client, and right now, I don’t even care.”
Dropping her as a client was the furthest thing from his mind. There was no fucking way he was walking away from her. Not until he found the person who tried to kill her. Not until he knew she was well and truly safe.
Maybe not even then.
Archer opened his mouth to tell her those exact thoughts, but Cassie had gotten herself so worked up, her frantic rambling was starting to spin out of control…
“It’s not that I don’t have confidence in your team’s abilities,” she rushed to affirm. “I know you’re the best chance I’ve got. But let’s face it, Archer.” The damp strands of her blonde hair stuck to her shoulders as she gave a confident shake of her head. “No matter how many hours you and your team put into this thing, it’s not going to be enough. I’m going to go on trial for the murder of a man who was days away from becoming my ex, and…given the prosecutor’s evidence, Iwillbe convicted and sent to prison for the rest of my life. So trust me when I say, I’mnot asking for more than this. Here. Now. Tonight.” Her voice cracked even as those incredible eyes continued pulling him in. “That’s all I want. I just want to lose myself for one night. To escape from this whole ridiculous nightmare that’s become my life. The reporters and cops and assholes who think it’s okay to paint someone else’s house…I need to forget about it all, and just?—”
Fuck it.
Archer slammed his mouth to hers in a kiss so hungry, so powerful, it was as if time itself stood still. He hadn’t taken her into his arms to stop her rambling. He wasn’t feasting on her sweet taste to calm her down or give her panicked thoughts a hard reset.
This kiss—thismoment—had nothing to do with any of that. It was about a man who couldn’t stand by another fucking second listening as the woman he was starting to fall for continued listing off countless reasons why she needed this escape.
Reasons why she neededhim.
So yeah, he was saying fuck it to the rules. Written or otherwise. And he was going to spend however long it took…use everything in his power…to make the woman in his arms forget.
11
I’ll never forget.
Of all the things Cassie wished would vanish from her memories forever, this moment—thisman—was not one of them. And as he pulled her into his arms and parted her lips with his tongue, she finally became…
Lost.