Authors: Piper Vaughn
New shirt, hair perfectly styled (without a single
dark root to be found since I’d remembered to do a
touchup during the week), septum ring removed. I
did look good… even if it
was
a little weird
seeing myself without the piercing anymore. I
could get used to being without it, though, if
Archer wasn’t a fan. It was a small enough thing to
change, if there was potential for us becoming
something real. But first, I had to see how this date
went, see if that feeling came back to me the
moment I saw him. I hoped it would. My belly
quivered just remembering it.
“Well, have fun,” Rue said. “You need a lift
anywhere?”
“No, thanks, hon. I already called a cab.” I
glanced at my watch to do a quick time check.
“Crap, it should be here any minute. I’d better go
wait outside so it doesn’t take off.”
I gave Rue a brief hug, stopped in the
backyard to say good-bye to Erik and Alice, and
made it out the door just as the cab I’d called was
pulling to a stop at the curb. I settled in the
backseat and sucked in a deep breath, nervous,
hopeful despite my misgivings. My life was so
close to being complete. There was really only one
thing missing.
Please let this date end better than the last
one….
THE Indian restaurant where Archer asked me to
meet him was a total hole-in-the-wall. Walking in,
I was a bit dubious—it looked a lot like a fast food
joint, and the decor was minimal at best—but I
wasn’t the type of person to dismiss a place out of
hand. I’d worked at The Bean, after all, which
hadn’t exactly been a beacon of cleanliness. On
top of that, Archer was already there waiting for
me in a corner booth, smiling broadly and
gorgeous as ever, so I couldn’t say I had any real
complaints.
It wasn’t until I saw him, though, that I
realized how much tension had been building
inside me during the cab ride from my house. I’d
worried that I’d get there and he wouldn’t be, that
he’d blow me off even after being the one to call
and ask me out. His presence unknotted the tight
ball of anxiety in my gut, the ever-present fear of
rejection that I tried to fight and usually lost
against. It was a relief to be able to let it go.
Archer’s smile went from friendly to flirty as
I slid into the booth across from him, his brown
eyes appraising me and seeming to like what they
found. “I know what you’re thinking,” he said. “It
doesn’t look like much, does it? But the food here
is amazing, and I figured what we save on dinner,
we can spend on drinks later.”
I smiled back at him. “I love cheap as long as
it’s good.”
“It is. And bonus, everything they serve is
vegetarian.”
“You remembered,” I said, surprised.
He shrugged a little, casual, as if it wasn’t
really a big deal. And I guess in the grand scheme
of things, it wasn’t. But it showed me he’d been
paying attention the last time we’d seen each other,
and not just focused on how quickly he could get
me into bed. That had to be a good sign, right?
“Let’s order, huh? I’ve been craving this all
day.”
I nodded and started to look over the menu.
Once we’d made our decisions and the waiter
had come and gone, Archer reached across the
table to run a finger along my forearm. “I see you
took out the septum ring. Did you do that for me?”
Warmth bloomed in my cheeks and spread
down my neck. “Um….” He was right, of course. I
had
done it for him. I didn’t exactly want to admit
that aloud, though.
Archer chuckled. “Don’t be embarrassed. We
all have to do things to make sure we look our
best. Some of us more than others, maybe.” I
blinked at that, but before I could comment, he
added, “I mean, I’m hot, right? If the guy I’m
seeing is anything less, it’d be a waste.”
For a second, I wondered if I should be
insulted or flattered. Clearly, Archer wasn’t
lacking in the confidence department, and I
couldn’t say it wasn’t without reason. Still, my
brain couldn’t help but latch onto the last thing
he’d said. “Is that what we’re doing?” I asked.
“Seeing each other?”
Archer grinned and lifted one shoulder in a
half shrug. “Seeing what happens.”
I would have said more, but our waiter
showed up then, placing two large ceramic plates
in front of us. The no-frills presentation matched
the general vibe of the place, but Archer picked up
his fork and dug into his mix of cauliflower and
potatoes with obvious enthusiasm. I decided the
rest of the conversation could wait and did the
same with my food.
It only took a couple of mouthfuls to find out
how right he’d been. My chickpea curry was
flavorful and delicious with a mild kick, but not
too spicy. His
aloo gobi
looked good too, but I
wasn’t comfortable enough yet to snag a piece of
cauliflower off his plate like I might have done
with Rue or Erik. He must’ve noticed me looking,
though, because after a moment he offered me a
bite from his fork.
I hesitated for a second, indecisive—take the
fork from him or just lean forward and let him feed
it to me? But before I could reach any real
decision, instinct took over, and I parted my lips to
accept it from him.
As I chewed, he watched my mouth with such
rapt attention it left me a bit flustered. I swallowed
nervously, squirming in my seat. It wasn’t often
that men looked at me the way he was, all hungry
and focused, and that look only intensified when I
drew my lower lip into my mouth and sucked
lightly at one of my studs. It was sheer force of
habit, not an attempt at seduction, but Lord only
knew how it appeared to him because the grin he
gave me in response was naughty enough to send a
rush of heat to my groin.
“Let’s finish up and get out of here,” he said.
“I want to dance with you.”
All I could do was nod. Yeah… dancing.
That sounded good.
THE club he took me to wasn’t all that much
different from Reilly’s—bigger and with a second
level, but sharing the same music videos and
topless bartenders theme. I knocked back a couple
of appletinis and did a few lemon drop shots with
Archer, not even paying attention to how much
alcohol I was consuming. We were running a tab,
and it was easy enough to flag down a passing
waiter and place another drink order. Too easy,
maybe, because by the time Archer was grinding
and undulating against me on the dance floor,
sweaty and hard and smelling irresistible, I was
too caught up in that dazed, happy-floaty feeling to
do anything but go with the flow.
I looped my arms around his neck and let him
cup my butt and hold me in a position that left
almost nothing to the imagination about the size
and length of his erection. He felt big enough as he
rocked against me that I couldn’t contain a pleasant
shudder. I also couldn’t stop myself from saying
yes when he bit my earlobe and asked if I wanted
to go back to his place. My mind was hazy, fogged
by heat and desire, and it had been so long, so
very
long, that even when a tiny part of my
subconscious tried to rear up in protest, I shot it
down without thinking.
The cab ride was a blur of hands and lips,
whispers and biting kisses. Before I knew it, we
were on a leather couch and he was on top of me,
between my spread thighs, and I had no real
recollection of having gotten there.
I had a brief moment of clarity when he
stopped kissing me long enough to take his shirt
off. His hands reached for the hem of my V-neck
and started yanking it upward. He urged me to sit
up, and a few seconds later, my own shirt had
disappeared, and my skin erupted into goose
bumps at the cool air in the room.
“Wait,” I tried to say, because the cold had
brought me out of my lust-haze just enough for me
to realize how quickly the situation could get out of
hand if I didn’t stop it. “I don’t—”
Archer’s insistent mouth swallowed the rest
of my words, his tongue sweeping in and tangling
with mine. I couldn’t deny it—the guy knew how to
kiss, and it was majorly distracting—but not so
much that I didn’t notice when his fingers went to
work on my belt buckle.
I tore my lips from his and turned my head
before he could kiss me again, breathing roughly.
“W-wait. Wait, Archer, I—”
“Come on,” he said, his mouth at my throat.
His fingers had gotten my belt undone and started
on my button and zipper. “No one likes a cock
tease. You know why you’re here.”
I froze beneath him.
Cock tease?
Was he
right? I hadn’t promised him sex with words, but
had my actions—agreeing to come to his place,
allowing him to kiss me, eagerly returning his
gropes and kisses—signed a check my body now
had to cash?
I stayed stock-still as I thought about it.
Archer didn’t seem to notice. He bit and sucked at
my neck, his hand tugging at the waistband of my
jeans and the briefs underneath.
I’d never intended to tease him. And maybe
s ex
had
been on my drunken brain when we left
that club.
But a guy can change his mind. He can
always change his mind.
“Don’t,” I said, turning my head so I could
look him in the eye, let him see how serious I was.
“It doesn’t matter why I came here. I—”
But once again he didn’t let me finish. His
lips cut off my words, and a little-bitty part of me
started to panic. I didn’t want to believe he’d force
me. I was pretty sure he was just drunk and horny
and he’d stop if I put up a fight, but one way or the
other, I didn’t get to find out.
Suddenly, the door to the apartment swung
open, and light from the hallway angled across us,
illuminating our tangled, half-naked bodies for
whoever it was who stood frozen on the threshold.
There was a sigh, and the person in the
hallway stepped into the apartment, closing the
door with a quiet click. I heard the flick of a
switch, and the room, which had been mostly dim,
brightened enough to make me flinch.
“Dammit, Arch.” Another sigh. “Can’t you at
least take this to your bedroom?”
Archer growled and pulled away from me.
“Fuck off, Asher,” he said. “I thought you were
gonna be out of town until Monday.”
He stood and went to collect his shirt from
the coffee table. I was too stunned to move. That
voice—
Asher’s
voice—had slid down my spine in
an icy caress and kicked my pulse into overdrive.
I knew that voice. I couldn’t say how, but the
knowledge was there in my head, unwavering.
Somehow, somewhere, I’d heard it before, and a
part of me responded to it, coming alive with a
sharp, deep, vibrating buzz that resonated in my
body like a tuning fork being struck.
Oh God. That voice….
“The job got canceled,” Asher replied, what
must’ve been only a second later, though it seemed
so much longer to my alcohol-soaked brain. “And
since that couch is both of ours, I’d appreciate it if
you didn’t—”
The words broke off abruptly. While I’d been
lying there, shocked, too surprised to even think
about buttoning up my pants or covering my bare
chest, he’d rounded the couch and gotten a glimpse
of me. Which meant, of course, I also had a clear
view of him.
“Oh, shit.” It was the first thing I’d said since
he walked in, and I was amazed the words were
even coherent. I didn’t swear all that much, but the
moment seemed to call for something stronger than
“crap” or “damn.” Because I was staring up at this
guy, Asher, whose brown eyes made my chest
burn, and unless I’d gone totally crazy, which I
wasn’t ready to rule out just yet, he was Archer’s