Sworn to Be His (The Archer Family Book 3)

by Allison Gatta

  It would have to be clear to everyone that they were together, especially if she wanted to get Zac's attention, but it couldn't be so in your face as to put their jobs on the line. Or to put their partnership in jeopardy. If they did this wrong and she wasn't allowed to work with Derrick again...

  The swirling feeling in her stomach sank deeper and tied itself into a tight little knot. God, how had she not thought this through? How had she not considered the consequences?

  She tried to picture a day when she didn't eat her lunch with Derrick or run her leads by him, but she came up with nothing. Nothing but sitting at her desk with her stupid lean cuisine and staring at the computer while she tried not to look at Detective Freddrick's unhealthy collection of troll dolls in the cubicle across the aisle.

  That was no way to work. Hell, it was no way to live. She had to do something. Make a plan.

  Jade Lockhart: Are you free tonight?

  Derrick Archer: You know I'm only dating you at work, right?

  Jade Lockhart: Yeah, but I think we need to come up with a plan for what that's going to look like. Want to go for some drinks and talk it over? I think I have some leads from an interview today, too.

  Derrick Archer: You paying?

  Jade Lockhart: You wish.

  Derrick Archer: Fine. But it'll cost you five more court orders.

  Jade Lockhart: Two

  Derrick Archer: Three.

  Jade sighed.

  Jade Lockhart: You've got yourself a deal.

  * * *

  The fact that the bar around the corner from the police station didn't have a biohazard sign in the window was a mark of the Department of Health and Safety's falling standards. Or maybe there was a sign and the window was simply too dusty for anyone to see it clearly. Whatever the case, Derrick walked into the place with trepidation and not a little bit of skepticism.

  As soon as the door opened, loud heavy metal music blasted all around him and he skirted past bikers and their girls in order to sidle up to the varnished cherry bar.

  The man behind the counter, a skeletal version of Steven Tyler, was on the far side of the room, talking to the woman he now recognized as Jade. Apparently the old guy said something funny, and she threw back her head as she laughed along with him.

  "Hey," Derrick called to her, and she turned the full force of her smile on him before extending her copper mug in his direction. "Hey. Come sit down." She said something else to the barman before Derrick was in earshot, and the other man rushed away with another copper mug in hand.

  "Why the hell would you come to a place like this?" Derrick glanced around.

  "Don't say that too loud. One-eyed Jerry is sensitive to newcomers as it is." She winked at a man with a hunchback who was in the middle of throwing a dart at a hand-drawn cork board target.

  "Are you about to tell me you have a whole secret life I don't know about? Because I have to tell you that is not what I signed on for."

  Jade rolled her eyes. "Don't be stupid." She lowered her voice and leaned in, "This is where you get the best snitches."

  Derrick glanced around, careful not to allow anything to register on his face and even more careful not to show how deeply he breathed in her cinnamon apple scent.

  In a whisper she went on, "I come here all the time. The bartender keeps me informed and in drinks."

  As if to prove her point, the man was already trotting back toward them with a fresh drink in hand.

  "Sully here makes the best Moscow Mule this side of the big island." She beamed at him and he smiled back a crooked, jagged grin.

  Derrick followed their lead, but the man's smile dampened in return.

  "Ignore him. You're new. It's gonna take awhile for them to trust you. Plus it doesn't help that you look like a cop."

  "I am a cop."

  "Even worse." Jade took a sip of her drink and then plunked it back down on the bar. "Okay, so what do you want to start with—the case or the plan for our so-called relationship?"

  "Let's get the easy stuff out of the way first. The case."

  "Dealing with the mafia is easier than pretending to be my boyfriend?" She raised her eyebrows.

  "So far..." He didn't bother to finish his thought and Jade guffawed in response.

  "Fine, whatever. So, I had three other witnesses this afternoon and basically none of them panned out."

  "No big shock there."

  "Except one." Jade held up a finger. "Her name is Crystal, and she's a dancer at the Slippery Beaver."

  "The...what?"

  "Hey, I didn't name it." She held up her hands in mock innocence.

  "Okay, okay, so what did Crystal say that was so helpful?"

  "She said she recognized one of the guys, not from the news but because he was one of her regulars. The club is one that Scaglietti and his guys launder money through. She said they're there almost every Friday night."

  "So you...what? Plan to put a wire on her and send her in?"

  "Strippers can't exactly hide wires. No, I was thinking we'd have to go undercover." She frowned at him, apparently waiting for something.

  And then it clicked.

  "You're going to go there undercover as a dancer? Why can't I just be a bartender instead?"

  "Who do you think has a better chance at getting information? A scantily clad woman or a guy who looks like a cop?"

  Derrick was silent, but he couldn't argue her logic. Still, the idea of her going into a place like that, with people like that...

  "I'm going with you." he said at last.

  "You don't—"

  "I'm going with you. I'll pose as a customer. Nobody will notice me, but I can get pictures and case the place in a way you won't be able to."

  This time it was Jade's turn to think. She pursed her full mouth silently, then gave him one single nod. "Okay, you've got a deal. So now that the easy part is handled..."

  "We have to talk about your harebrained scheme."

  "Not harebrained. Maybe just a little...unconventional."

  "Call it whatever you want. It's nutty."

  "Be that as it may, the more I think about this, the more concerned I get. I filed all the HR paperwork this morning and that's all ready to go, but I have no idea how we can be a couple and be professionals at the same time," Jade said.

  "We'll have to spend a lot of time together."

  "We already do that, though. I think we need to engineer some kind of spark or something. Some...flirtatious spirit."

  "Flirtatious spirit? Are you serious?" Derrick asked.

  "Dead serious. Now, come on. We've got to brainstorm how to flirt."

  "Do you even know how to flirt?" he asked, and she blinked up at him with a blank expression before it contorted into something like anger.

  "Of course I know how to flirt," she shot back.

  "Okay, give me your best come on."

  "Well you can't just put me on the spot like that. The best I've got is 'Hey there sailor.'"

  "Which would work great if we were in the 1940s."

  "Fine then, how do you normally flirt with someone?"

  "I don't normally have to try."

  She rolled her eyes. "Why is that always your go-to response? Everybody has to try sometime."

  "That's where you're wrong."

  "Okay, well, um, what if we tried to hold hands?" She rested her palm on the bar top and Derrick reached out to take it. The second his skin met hers, it was like a little electric spark had fizzled up his arm and shot directly into his heart. For an instant, he nearly pulled away in surprise, but then he wrapped his fingers around hers and squeezed gently.

  "This is..." He started and she nodded.

  "Weird." She finished for him. "So we could, I guess, hold hands during lunch."

  "Right, Okay. We can do that."

  "And we could also, I don't know, could we have nicknames for each other? Cutesy ones?"

  "Like Sugar Tits?" He offered.

  "I was thinking a little less graphic."
<
br />   "Sugar Boobs?"

  She frowned at him.

  "Okay, fine. I'll come up with something else. I'll call you..."

  "You can call me Jay. That was what an old boyfriend of mine used to call me."

  Derrick grimaced. He wasn't sure why, but the idea of calling her by some affection another man had given her rubbed him the wrong way. "No, I don't think so. I'm going to call you Champ."

  "And what am I supposed to call you? Slugger?"

  "No, you can call me Dare. That's what they called me in the service." He said it casually, almost without thinking. In fact, he wasn't sure what had jogged his memory of the nickname to begin with. He hadn't thought of it in years, not since his last deployment. That name was one of the very few good things he had to hang on to from those days.

  "Okay, then, Dare it is." she looked at him thoughtfully for a moment, then said, "We'll think of something else for you to call me."

  "Yeah, I'll keep at it." He nodded.

  They sipped their drinks in silence for a moment, then Derrick said, "So is that all? That seems like the basics."

  "There's one more thing."

  "Yeah?"

  "Well, I was thinking...Kelly and Freddricks kiss before they leave every day."

  "Yeah, so? They're..."

  "They're together. And we're supposed to be, too. So if we're going to act like we're together, we're going to have to be able to kiss without it being weird."

  "But it is going to be weird. It's going to be very weird."

  "Right, so we're going to have to work through that and practice," Jade said.

  "You want me to make out with you in a biker bar?"

  At the words "biker bar" One-Eyed Jerry stopped mid throw and shot Derrick a warning glare. Or, really, half of a warning glare.

  "Shhh," Jade shushed him. "They don't like labels. And no, nobody said anything about making out. We just have to, you know, master a good, natural kiss."

  "Right." Derrick took another gulp of his drink, then glanced around the place. It wouldn't be so conspicuous to kiss her here. There was even one couple already going at it near the pool table and another whispering heatedly to each other in one of the ripped leather booths.

  He considered leaning in, breathing in her scent, wrapping his hand in her hair, and he had to take another drink.

  This was Jade.

  Jade who regularly made jokes about his numerous girlfriends. Jade who was his friend, one of the few friends he'd held on to since leaving the service. Jade wasn't the sort of girl you kissed. She was the kind you held on to. The kind you didn't want to tarnish.

  Suddenly, he wasn't sure how much his paperwork being done really meant to him. But then, if he went back on his word, Jade wouldn't have her chance with Zac.

  Good. She deserves better than a guy like that.

  "Dare?" she said, and he focused on her again. Her square face, the lock of blond hair hanging lazily in front of her eye. And most of all on her eyes—clear sky blue, pleading and hopeful all at once. She'd be heartbroken if this didn't work out.

  "Sorry, I was just wondering if you'd be able to handle kissing me. Frankly I'm not sure you're woman enough." He turned his smile on her and she shoved him playfully.

  "I've seen the kind of girls you've been with. If they could handle you, I'm sure I can."

  "So how do you want to go for this? Just...kiss?"

  She surveyed him for a moment, then shrugged. "Yeah, I guess that's our best option, right? We just...go for it."

  "Right. Go for it." Derrick leaned in and, just as he’d imagined, the smell of her overwhelmed his senses the closer he got. Then there was the ginger on her breath, fresh and crisp, and then the heat of her mouth on his. The softness of her lips.

  He took her bottom lip between his and she responded, slowly opening her mouth to him and deepening the kiss. With one hand, he wound a strand of her hair between his fingers and with the other, he gripped her waist, steadying her as his tongue dipped out to find hers.

  It was as though his body knew what to do without his command or consent. He didn't even take the time to wonder if he'd done something wrong or gone too far. Instead, he was focused on her, the silky strands of her hair, the way her kiss sent another electric jolt straight to his core.

  Suddenly, he was aware of a growing ache between his legs and he stiffened as he felt his cock harden.

  No, that was all wrong. This was Jade. Jade, his friend.

  He pulled back to find a blush trailing from the apples of her cheeks down her neck and down to the collar of her shirt. He imagined it went lower, too, probably painting her breasts the most delicate shade of rose.

  No. This was Jade for Christ's sakes. He had no business thinking about her breasts. Or how she seemed to respond to his touch. Or just how pliant and soft her mouth was...

  "Okay, mission accomplished. Do you think you can manage to do that without flinching?" he asked, though he knew the tension in his voice was loud and clear.

  Jade nodded. "I'll have to psych myself up, but I can probably manage."

  "Great. We're good then. We'll just, uh, tell everyone at the staff meeting tomorrow and that will be that."

  "Yep," Jade nodded. "That will be that."

  "And before long Zac will be all yours," Derrick finished, but the words left a bitter taste in his mouth and he had to take another drink to wash them away.

  Chapter 4

  The next morning, Derrick ran a brush through his hair, tugged on a shirt, and sighed. It was one of those days where all he wanted to do was climb back into bed and go back to sleep, if only because he still felt like sleep had never really come last night.

  But then again, when did it ever?

  He shook his head, desperate not to think about the dreams that came back to him every now and then. Memories of his time in Afghanistan, played back in slow motion. Just slow enough for him to see wrong move he'd made. Slow enough for him to feel every razor edge on the sting of bitterness his tour had left behind.

  He'd wake up, sweating and aching with regret, only to roll over and find himself thinking of Jade. The rest of his evening with her had gone well enough. They'd laughed and finished their drinks, talking over the latest news in the unit and making plans for their undercover operation.

  Still, as she spoke he kept finding himself staring at her lips, wondering at the effect she'd had on him. He'd had plenty of kisses—and more—from women before, but that moment she'd been in his arms? It was like a magnet had drawn him to her, pulling him closer and closer until they were wound together.

  Frankly, he wasn't sure whether his waking thoughts or his dreaming ones bothered him more.

  And now he had a new day ahead of him. The first day of their deal. He'd have to hold her hand again, kiss her again, flirt with her. Then there was the morning meeting where they were going to break the news to the entire unit that they'd decided to get together.

  Silently, he pictured what the supervisor's face would look like when they broke the news. In his mind, it wasn't all that dissimilar from the expression the old man had worn during their discussion about the new badge. Shock and horror. Just the slightest dash of disgust.

  He wondered what Zac Flynn's face would look like, too. If he'd suddenly start lurking around Jade's desk now that she belonged to Derrick. If he'd think that he could get in on Derrick's territory and—

  No. No more wondering. No more what ifs. If there was one thing he'd learned in the service, it was not to build on expectations or anticipations. No matter how well-planned something was, fate would have more of a hand in everything than anyone could account for. The best thing was to go with the flow.

  To lay in wait.

  And if Zac Flynn did come sniffing around...

  That was ideal, wasn't it?

  Derrick fastened his belt and holster, and then made for the door, determined to make quick work of his trip to the station and get this damned meeting over with. After that was over, this whole
thing with Jade would be short-lived and he could finally have some peace. Who knew? Maybe he'd even be able to sleep through the night.

  When he walked into the Criminal Investigation Unit's corridor, it was to find most everyone still at their desk, sipping their morning coffee before they went in to the meeting. Everyone, that was, except for Jade. And Zac.

  Quickly, Derrick entered the meeting room, and caught the two of them laughing at something.

  "Oh hey," Jade said. "I was wondering when you'd get here."

  "Here I am." Derrick made his way to the coffee machine as he nodded to Flynn who was sitting on the edge of the table nearest to Jade. Any closer and the guy would practically be in her lap.

  "Morning," Flynn said, nodding back while Derrick took his first sip of coffee.

  "We were just talking about the Scaglietti case. Detective Flynn is almost done reviewing the files."

  "Please, call me Zac." Zac smiled down at her, and Derrick couldn't help but to pipe in.

  "Actually, we call almost everyone by their last name."

  "Right. Except you call her Jade. And she calls you Derrick." Flynn narrowed his eyes, though the gesture wasn't as menacing as the other man seemed to hope it would be.

  "That's different." Derrick took a seat at the opposite end of the table. "So what's the word on Scaglietti?"

  "Not much of anything," Zac said. "Just surprised at how involved you two seem to have been on the case. Nearly three quarters of the documents were filed by one of you."

  "We're devoted." Jade said, breathier than he'd ever heard her before. The knot in his stomach turned over, and he was about to open his mouth to change the subject when the supervisor walked in and greeted each of them.

  "Flynn, Archer, Lockhart. Glad you're already here."

  Behind the older man, the rest of the unit started filing into the room, everyone holding some version of a coffee mug and pastry. Feddricks noshed on a bear claw before taking his seat beside Derrick, and Derrick watched as Flynn slid into the seat beside Jade and started scrawling a note.

  Fucking unprofessional.

  The supervisor launched into his speech for the day, reviewing the progress the unit had made since yesterday's check in and then notifying them that the new badges had been commissioned for a redesign. Here, he paused to nod toward Derrick.