“I’d rather be there. With you.”
She chuckled softly. “I can’t argue with you there, sailor. But Logan called this meeting for a reason, so I’m betting he’dlike the entire team present. Besides, Natalie will be here any minute.”
“You could always call her and reschedule lunch for another day.”
“Archer…” Cassie drug out the playful warning.
“Fine, fine. Have it your way. I’ll stay here at work, staring at my teammate’s ugly mugs while you and your new friend do…whatever it is women do while having lunch.”
“We eat, Archer.” She bit back a snort. “We eat, and we talk. That’s pretty much all we do.”
“Yeah, but it’swhatyou talk about that has me worried.”
Okay, he had her there. “If you’re thinking we’re going to sit around here and trade stories about our men, then…you’d probably be right.”
“I knew it!” he teased. “That’s it. I’m coming back there right now.”
Shoulders shaking, Cassie was about to tell him to keep his sexy ass put when her phone dinged with a notification from her security camera out front.
“Oh, hang one a sec.” She tapped the phone’s screen to be sure before returning to the man on the other end of the line. “Too late. Natalie just pulled up.”
“Damn.” He pretended to pout. “Okay, fine. But we’re still on for dinner, later. Right?”
Excitement built deep within her belly. It was silly, really. The man had slept in her bed every night for the past two weeks. He’d given her so many wonderful, electrifying orgasms, she couldn’t possibly keep track.
And yet, the thought of making him a nice dinner for their first “official” date made her as giddy as a schoolgirl going to her very first dance.
This, Cass. This is what true love is supposed to feel like.
Exciting. Passionate. Selfless. Equal.
Russ hadn’t been a horrible human being, but he’d been a pretty bad husband. But not Archer. Oh, he wasn’t her husband. It was much too early to be thinking about that. But someday…
Be it with her or someone else, Cassie had no doubt in her mind that he’d be a wonderful, caring, devoted spouse. Because she’d learned that about him. In the short time she’d known him, she’d learned a lot about the kind of man Archer Nash was. And one thing she’d noticed right off the bat…
When he was in, the man wasallin.
“I’ve got the chicken brining, the veggies chopped, and dessert just went into the oven,” she confirmed their plans. “I figured I’d start cooking around four-thirty so it would all be ready by six. Is that okay?”
“That’s perfect. I should be out of here by two at the latest, but if anything changes, I’ll let you know.”
“Sounds good. And don’t think you have to rush back here.” She thought about how that might have sounded and rushed to add, “Not that I don’t want you here. I just meant I’m really doing okay, today. Promise.”
If she’d said that seventy-two hours ago, it would have been a lie. But today…today was better. She was better. And deep down, Cassie knew that, with time, she would continue to heal.
With Archer’s support—and her own inner strength—she even suspected there’d come a day when she’d look back on everything that had happened and see it as a sort of blessing in disguise. Not Russ’s death, of course. Never that.
As for the rest…
Yes, she’d lost her only remaining business partner. But given the disturbed man Eddie had turned out to be, she was damn glad she didn’t have to work by his side on a daily basis.
The scandal had all but destroyed the firm’s previously stellar reputation. Not hers. No, she’d been repainted in the news andacross social media as the pretty, sympathetic widow who’d been wrongfully accused.
Now instead of reporters spewing accusations and writing hateful headlines, they now begged her for a chance to tell her side of the story.
Screw that.
They hadn’t given a damn about what she had to say before Eddie nearly strangled her to death, so they didn’t deserve a single second of her precious time, now. And timewasprecious.