by Jill Shalvis
“We weren’t ever a real family.”
“Yeah,” Morgan said as she stood up. “I know. I’m just saying, people change, including you. In fact, you’ve changed a whole hell of a lot.” She tossed some money onto the bar and walked out.
“Morgan,” Elle said. “Wait.”
But she didn’t. Watching her go, Elle drew a deep breath and before she could let it out, Spence slid onto the stool Morgan had just vacated.
“Am I crazy, or did I just see you and your doppelganger sitting together?”
“That was my sister.”
Spence lifted a brow. “The elusive Morgan Wheaton?”
“The one and only. Long story.”
“I love long stories,” he said.
So Elle told him what Morgan wanted, leaving out most of their wretched past. She loved Spence, she loved all her friends as if they were family, but no one knew the whole story.
Well, except Archer.
Spence was quiet a moment. “You don’t think she’s good for it this time? You think nothing’s changed?”
Elle hesitated and then shook her head. “I don’t know.”
Spence nodded slowly. “And I’m guessing you’ve been burned by her in the past.”
Elle lifted a shoulder.
“Yeah, you have, and I’m guessing you’re worried you’re wrong about her this time.”
“Yes,” she said softly.
Spence slung an arm around her and kissed her on the top of her head. “What does your gut say?”
“That I’m a bitch.” Elle resisted the urge to burrow in and pretend her life wasn’t in complete uproar. She wanted her calm quiet back. But she managed a smile. “I like to stick with what I’m good at.”
Spence smiled back but his eyes said he was onto her. “I don’t know, Elle. If you were such a bitch, you wouldn’t be giving this the time of day; instead you’re sitting here hoping she proves herself.”
“Is that what you think I’m doing?”
“Isn’t it?”
Yeah, she supposed that’s exactly what she was doing. She wasn’t big on trust and Morgan would be the first to tell her that was wise. Hell, it’d taken her an entire year to trust Archer.
And look how that had turned out . . .
“I know you hired me because Archer asked you to,” she said, and then she grimaced. She’d meant to finesse that statement but it was too late now.
Spence looked confused. “What are you talking about? Archer didn’t ask me to hire you.”
“Then how did you end up with me in the pool for the position?”
“I started out with a headhunter,” he said. “Your resume came to me in a stack of a hundred others. Getting them down to the top ten nearly killed me. Archer helped.” He paused and gave her a quiet look of speculation. “And yeah, he recommended you personally but I made the final decision on my own. The truth is, once I met you, I knew you were the only one for the job.”
Okay, that didn’t seem nearly as intrusive as she’d imagined.
Finn brought them a tray of sliders and fries. They dug in for a few long minutes before Spence got a text. He snorted, responded, and put his phone away.
“What?” she asked.
He slid her a look and said nothing.
Annoying alphas. “What?”
“Caleb wants to know if he should bother trying again.”
“And you said?” she inquired, brow raised, not sure she knew what she wanted the answer to be.
“I said that we’re not in high school and he could figure it out for himself. Although I should’ve told him not to bother because you’re all sorts of screwed up.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“You are.”
“Don’t start,” she said.
“Then you don’t start,” he said seriously, putting down a French fry—which meant he was very serious indeed. He blew out a sigh, muttered something about hating being forced to discuss feelings, and then looked at her. “Okay, so you’re you, which means you’re going to bury your heart deep and you’re going to continue to wear that ice shield you’re so fond of. Poor Archer probably doesn’t know what hit him.”
“Poor Archer?” she asked in disbelief. “Poor Archer is a big boy.” A very big boy . . . “He plays by his own rules and anyway neither of us even has a copy of the rules. So trust me, Spence, he’s not the one who’s going to get hurt here. He probably has them lined up.”
“Are you talking about other women?”
“No, I’m talking about kittens and rainbows!” she said, exasperated. “Yes, I’m talking about women!”
Spence blinked at her unusual vehemence. “Elle there’s been no other women for him, not in a long time. A year, in fact.”
She narrowed her gaze. “Did he tell you to tell me that?”
Spence laughed. “Yes, right after we talked about what to wear to the prom. Jesus. No, we don’t talk about this shit, thankfully.”
Elle sighed. “He said he wants to have something with me.”
“Something . . . like dinner?”
She had to laugh. “I think he meant more than dinner. I think he meant a relationship. Not that it matters.”
“Let me guess,” Spence said. “Because you don’t trust him.”
“He didn’t want me until I started going out with other men.”
It was Spence’s turn to laugh. “If you believe that then I’ve got some swampland to sell you. The truth is, you don’t trust him. Hell, you don’t trust anyone with your heart. And shit . . .” He pushed away the food in disgust. “Not only did you just trick me into a relationship conversation, but you just made me say heart. I hate you right now, but I’ve got one more thing to say and then I’m cutting out my tongue. I think you’re just looking for reasons to hold back. There.” He tossed up his hands and stood up. “I’ve done my Dr. Phil for the day. Hopefully for the year.” He pointed at her. “And if you tell anyone we had this conversation, I’ll deny it.”
When he was gone, she sat there thinking too hard.
You’re just looking for reasons to hold back.
Was that true? No. No, it couldn’t be. This was all about Archer and how screwed up he was. Not her. And that’s what she continued to tell herself the rest of that night as Archer didn’t come to take her out as promised. And she’d continue to tell herself as long as she needed to hear it.
Chapter 16
#YouWantFriesWithThat?
Later that night Archer paced the ER waiting room restlessly until Mollie took his hand.
“Archer, sit,” she said softly. “Please.”
So he sat. For her. Joe had been jumped on what should’ve been a routine surveillance job. He’d been hit over the head with a baseball bat and hadn’t regained consciousness at the scene. Archer, the guys, and a teary Mollie had been huddled in the waiting room for well over an hour when Elle came in and sat at Archer’s side.
“Any word?” she asked quietly.
He no longer questioned how she seemed to know everything. Maybe Mollie had texted her. Or Spence, who’d called him a few minutes ago. Archer hadn’t been able to do anything but concentrate on Joe. He remained still, leaning back, eyes on the ceiling, exhausted to the bone, very aware of her gaze on him. “No word.”
Her hand settled on his arm, stroked up and down a few times and then her fingers entwined with his and she gently squeezed.
No empty platitudes, no promises of “it’ll be okay” or “don’t worry” because she knew more than anyone else just how not okay the world could be.
She just held on.
He appreciated that more than anything she could have done. He closed his eyes and after a few minutes she set her head on his shoulder. Her breast pressed against his arm and a fast tactile memory rose in his body—the feel of her smooth skin, her nipple pushing against the palm of his hand.
A strand of her silky blonde hair stuck to the stubble on his jaw. The scent, some complicated mix of feminine magic, made h
im want to inhale her. Maybe it was his sheer exhaustion that did him in but he turned his face and buried it in her hair. “I’m sorry about tonight.”
“Don’t be.”
He knew she said that so easily because she honestly didn’t believe in them. He’d do better, but for now he’d believe in them enough for the both of them. And so they sat there like that, quiet, taking comfort in the moment—or at least he did—when the doctor appeared.
Everyone stood. Elle did too but she hung back a little bit as Archer and Mollie spoke with him.
The news was grim but not nearly as bad as it could’ve been. Concussion, brain swelling, but it was coming down on its own and he’d regained consciousness several times but was sleeping now. Mollie sagged in relief against him and Archer hugged her tight.
“I’m going to go see him,” Mollie said, and she followed the nurse back.
The tension in the waiting room drained considerably. Archer took in some deep breaths himself and watched Elle vanish into the little gift shop. Five minutes later she was back with a big bag of jelly beans.
“His favorite,” she said and Archer didn’t bother to ask how she knew that either.
She was magic.
They kept Joe company while he dozed. Archer sat on a chair at one side of Joe’s bed, Elle on the other side reading a Cosmo magazine whose cover claimed “Guys Think about Sex Every Five Seconds.”
“Is that true?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she said flipping pages without looking up. “You tell me.”
He thought about it. “I mean I think about it a lot, but I also think of other things.”
This had her lowering the magazine to eyeball him. “Like . . . ?”
“You,” he answered truthfully.
She cocked her head. “In what way?”
“Naked.”
This had her arching a brow. “Always?”
“Depends,” he said.
“On . . . ?”
“On if I’m hungry or not.”
She snorted and went back to her magazine. But she was smiling now and he felt like he’d won the lotto.
Archer stayed all night with Joe and Mollie, and so did Elle. He figured that had to mean something. At dawn, Joe woke up and said he wasn’t going to die and that they all needed to get some rest because they looked like zombies.
Archer gave Elle a ride home.
“You’re not coming in,” she said when he parked in front of her place. “Don’t follow me up.” She started to get out, sighed, and then turned back. “But thanks for the ride home.”
He smiled because it was hard to be polite and murderous at the same time but she managed it like no one else, looking sexy and adorable at the same time. “I’m going to follow you up, Elle.”
“No, you’re not. I’ve been preoccupied, but I had time to think all night and I realized something. In order to get me this job when I needed it, you must have been keeping track of me for longer than this past year. You’ve been keeping track of me for eleven years and I had no idea. And now I want to be alone with that and stew in my mad.” She pointed at him. “And you’re going to let me.”
Yeah, he was. He had to. She deserved the time. “Get some sleep,” he said quietly.
“I only have time to shower, I’ve got homework.”
She’d be exhausted by the end of the day. “At least let me in and I’ll make you breakfast while you shower.”
She held his gaze. “No cracks about wanting to help me soap up?”
“Well, I don’t like to brag,” he said, letting a teasing tone come into his voice, hoping to lighten the mood, “but I’m really good in the shower.”
She snorted.
“Admit it,” he said with a smile. “You’re a little tempted.”
“Maybe,” she said, her gaze dropping to his mouth. “And maybe more than a little. But I’m also angry and confused. I need to get unangry and unconfused, Archer.”
“I could help you with that too.”
“I’ll let you know,” she said.
That had been two days ago.
Joe was out of the hospital and laid up at home, pissed off because Archer wouldn’t let him work until the doctor cleared him for light duty. This meant Mollie was also off because she was taking care of Joe, leaving him without a receptionist, forcing them all to pick up the slack—which, for the record, they hated.
Archer had had no idea just how much Mollie did until she wasn’t around. All of them universally hated answering the phones, so they were taking turns and fighting about it.
Yesterday Morgan had showed up out of the blue and offered to answer phones. He’d been desperate enough to let her, but there was a steep learning curve and he wasn’t sure he’d ever heard a bunch of big-ass grown men whine or bitch so much.
Morgan appeared in his office doorway. “The latest searches are in your email,” she said.
In his line of work there was a lot of computer footwork, something else they all hated. It was quiet, boring work that none of them wanted to do, and he figured it was safe enough to put her on it. Also it would keep her occupied and out of trouble while he figured out if she was still trouble herself.
His own investigation on her had assured him that she’d been in things deep as late as six months ago but that she’d kept herself clean ever since. Still, the difference in her claimed timeline and the truth troubled him. “Thanks,” he said.
She nodded and shifted her weight around, giving herself away. Elle would never have done that but Morgan was far more transparent.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“I know it’s only been two days and I haven’t done all that much yet,” she said. “But I wanted to thank you for the opportunity to prove myself to you.”
“You don’t have to prove yourself to me.”
“To my sister then.”
He leaned back and met her gaze. “I’m not sure that your working here is going to do that.”
“I’m hoping that seeing me work a real job is going to help change her mind about me.”
“I don’t have that much power,” he said. God didn’t have that much power.
“You underestimate yourself. You could talk her into being my sister again if you put your mind to it.”
He let out a low laugh because he doubted his ability to talk Elle into anything.
“I know I’ve asked a lot of you but will you at least think about it?” she asked. “About helping me get back on Elle’s good side?”
He looked into her baby blue eyes that were so like Elle’s and sighed because he knew he’d try. Not for Morgan.
But for Elle.
Because she deserved that. She deserved family. Hell, she deserved the damn moon. He didn’t know if it was because he was so fucking proud of who she was and what she’d made of herself, or if