Chapter 23 #2
“Yes,” Archer stated, his voice softening. “But that was Nancy barely hanging on after losing the most important person in her life. How she treated Lenni, I don’t have to forgive that, but I understand it. But you shouldn’t have called her.”
“How can you say that?” I tossed my head, sending my blonde hair flying over my shoulder. “Because I’m not Lenni’s mom? And I have no right to act like it?”
“God damn it, Wyn,” he rasped.
He let go of my arms, but only so he could wrap them around me and haul me toward him. And then his mouth was on mine. His tongue pillaging. Plundering.
My hands whipped off his cowboy hat so I could plow my fingers through his hair. And then I gave him everything.
My anger. My frustration. My lust.
Because I couldn’t contain it anymore.
We tore at each other’s clothes. Our desire finally combusting. Rage gave way to pleasure. We fell onto the rug. A bed was too far.
His touch was lightning. His tongue was fire. His body scorched mine.
He slid into me.
Hot. Silky. Bare.
Archer grasped my hip and lifted my leg, so he could angle deeper.
My back bowed and I grabbed his hair so I could tug him closer.
We were hot, sweaty and no one was more surprised than me when I felt the first crackles of an orgasm. I clenched and spasmed, gripping his ass in my hands, urging him to ride me harder and faster.
“Wyn,” he growled.
He pulled out just as I was about to break apart.
I cried at the loss of him, my orgasm flaming out.
Archer grabbed his shaft and held it while he came all over my stomach. And then he was between my legs again, only this time it was his mouth. He nibbled and sucked as he held me open.
I came with a shout, my thighs clamping his head. Writhing, tears streaming down my cheeks because my release had been so powerful, so effortless.
And I knew it was because I had deep feelings for Archer.
Because it had never been like this before.
My legs went slack, and they slid off his shoulders.
He raised his head and looked at me. His dark hair tousled, his mouth glistening with my release.
“Oh no,” I muttered, scrambling away and looking for my leggings. I couldn’t find them. I grabbed the closest thing to me—an extra-large T-shirt that covered me all the way to the tops of my thighs.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Archer sit back on his haunches and he made no move to conceal his nakedness.
His chest was beautiful, rippled with muscle and ink. His thighs were works of art.
Art I wanted to bite into.
Because damn, they were meaty perfection.
“Wyn.” His voice was low and raspy. Lazy, without a sense of urgency.
I shook my head, sending blonde waves streaking through the air. “No. Don’t speak. We don’t have to talk about this ever again. This never happened.”
Before I could scramble away, Archer pounced. I fell back to the floor as his body covered mine.
“This happened,” he said, his voice soft. His maple syrup eyes bored into mine. “I was inside you without a condom.”
I dragged a rickety breath into my lungs. “Don’t remind me.”
He gently clasped my cheeks in his large, callused hands. “I have to remind you. God, Wyn. I’m so fucking sorry for that. I didn’t mean to—but we were fighting and it just—and you felt too good and I lost control.”
Shame coated my cheeks.
He’d at least had the forethought to pull out.
I’d done nothing to insist on protection.
“I’ve always used condoms before, I swear,” he said.
“Oh.” I bit my lip. “Me too.”
His eyes darkened and his head dipped.
I turned my head and attempted to slither out of his embrace, but he had me pinned beneath him.
And I liked being there.
A lot.
“Get off me,” I commanded, attempting to inject steel into my voice, but all that came out was wobbly vulnerability.
“Do you promise not to run if I let you up?”
“Yes.”
“Wyn.”
“What, Archer?” I snapped. “We had sex. It was a mistake. It won’t happen again. There. We talked about it and it’s over.”
I placed my hand on his chest with the intention of pushing him away. Instead, my fingers curled against his flesh.
He looked down at where I was touching him and then back to me.
“We had sex. It was not a mistake. It will happen again. It’s not over. There. We talked about it.”
He finally rose and gave me space.
I slithered away from him and managed to stand.
Drat, my leggings! Where are they?
On the back of the couch.
The carnage of freshly folded clothes littered the living room.
I grabbed the leggings which also had my underwear in them and pulled them on. “I’m not having sex with you again.”
“Why not?” Archer asked, buttoning his flannel shirt as his eyes tracked me.
“You know why.”
“Spell it out for me,” he commanded.
“Because sex complicates everything! That’s why I enacted the penis embargo.”
He blinked. “The what?”
I sighed. “The penis embargo. You know the laminated piece of paper with all our signatures? It was my vow not to have sex with someone until they lo—I failed. I failed miserably. This is your fault!”
“How is this my fault?”
“You have a mustache.”
He raised his brows.
“And you wear slutty glasses.” I pointed at him. “That first night we ran into each other in the kitchen, you didn’t have a shirt on. You did that on purpose. Didn’t you?”
“You caught me,” he said with a devilish grin. Archer stalked toward me and everything in me wanted to flee. Instead, I forced myself to hold my ground.
But I couldn’t stop the full body shiver when he gently placed his hands on my shoulders and pulled me to him.
“I’ve wanted you since the first moment I saw you,” he said.
“Wanting isn’t enough,” I stated. “I want more. I deserve more. Sex confuses things.”
“Wyn, I—”
“Don’t, Archer. Don’t say anything because whatever you say, I’ll believe you. And men have lied to me in the past. I can’t take any more lies.” I swallowed. “I’m sorry I yelled at Nancy.”
“Don’t be.”
I refused to wrap my arms around him. If I did, I’d want to burrow deeper and my resolve not to fall into bed with him again would go out the window.
“We gonna talk about it?” he asked.
“Talk about what?”
“Talk about the fact that I was inside you without a condom.”
“Back to that, are we?”
He pulled away ever so slightly so he could stare down at me. “Back to that? We touched on it briefly but didn’t really establish anything.”
“Don’t worry about it, Archer.” I shoved out of his arms. “I’m not gonna get pregnant.”
“Are you on birth control?” he asked.
I swallowed. “No. Not anymore.”
“Then there’s a possibility—”
“No, there’s really not,” I informed him.
I hoped to see relief wash over his face. Instead, all I saw was a man staring at me with intensity that stripped me down to my marrow.
Without another word, I turned and fled up the stairs into the bathroom. I took a scalding shower and washed his seed from my belly.
Wishing I wasn’t such a colossal idiot.