The last time I was here, I smashed a pie on the floor and stormed off.
I’m enjoying this visit more.
Archer presses me against the wall, his weight pinning me in place, as he shoves the key into the lock. The door gives way and so do we — falling inside in a tangle of limbs, landing on the hardwood floor with a thud that knocks the wind from both our lungs.
“So…” I laugh breathlessly, straddling him. “This is your place.”
I see the ghost of a smile, hear the fragment of a chuckle before he flips me over onto my back and rolls on top of me. The door slams with a bang as he kicks it closed with one foot. Bracing one arm on either side of my head, his weight settles between my legs — bone-crushing in the best kind of way, setting off a hollow ache that demands to be sated.
When he tears his mouth from mine, he’s panting hard. I stare up at him, feeling drugged. Dazed by lust and desire. I can barely process the fact that this is happening. All I know is, I don’t want it to stop.
Not now.
Not ever.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” Archer murmurs. There’s a vulnerability in his eyes that shakes me to the core; the hazel of his irises are molten with longing and disbelief, as though he doesn’t quite trust that this is real. That I’m here, in his apartment, in his arms. “I thought I’d never get the chance to touch you again. I thought…”
A tear snakes from my eye, down my cheek. He watches it fall, tracking its path from my jawline down the length of my neck, creating a tiny puddle in the hollow of my throat. His eyes widen fractionally as he spots something. I watch disbelief bloom over his expression before I recognize its trigger-point.
The necklace.
At some point in our frantic tumble, the gold knot worked itself free from where I’d tucked it into the neckline of my dress. Archer’s eyes flicker up to mine for the briefest of seconds as he pushes off me and sits up, creating a bit of breathing room between us. I mourn the press of his body against mine, but I don’t dare say a thing as he reaches out a shaky hand to touch the pendant, moving so slowly you’d think it were made of the most fragile glass. As he takes it in his palm, his knuckles brush the bare skin of my clavicle — perilously close to the top curves of my cleavage — and I fight back a shiver.
“Where—” The word breaks in his throat. His voice is rough, almost hoarse with shock. “Where did you get this? I thought it was lost.”
“I found it in our spot.”
His eyes flash to mine. “The boathouse?”
“You didn’t leave it there?”
He shakes his head. “No, I… I left it on the dock last summer, on your birthday. I wonder how it got into the rafters.”
“Maybe Flora or Miguel found it. Or one of my parents.”
“I’m pretty sure Vincent or Blair would’ve left it to be swallowed up by the tide. They aren’t exactly my biggest fans.”
A faint ember of annoyance flares to life inside me. I sit up, bringing our faces even again. The pendant falls from Archer’s palm, swinging down to rest against my chest. His eyes never shift from it. I stare at his face, trying to work out my sudden brewing anger. Something is bothering me, but I can’t quite put my finger on what.
“Why did you leave it on the docks?”
“Seemed as good a place as any.”
“So you never planned on giving it to me?” I ask, temper flaring. As the fog of lust clears from my head, my annoyance gains clarity. “You never planned on telling me how you felt?”
He’s watching me carefully, now. Perhaps sensing my gathering ire. “No, Jo. I never planned on telling you how I felt.”
“Felt?” I stress. “Orfeel?”
“What do you want me to say? That I love you? You need those three words to make this real?”
I recoil. “If all I needed were words, I wouldn’t be here! If all I needed were words, I would’ve accepted Oliver’s perfect proposal! He said all the right things. He was romantic and kind and straightforward. He didn’t play deceitful little games or make my head spin!”
Archer goes completely still, like a snake before a lethal strike. His tone is dark, shaky with tightly leashed anger. “He proposed to you?”
“Yes, he proposed to me!” I snap. “Why? Does that shock you? That someone else wants me?”
“Did you say yes?”