4. Anna
ANNA
FIVE YEARS AGO
The bar was packed. I sat at the very end—my preferred spot since it was tucked away in the corner. Archer was in the seat next to me—my roommates and his friends were playing a game of pool off to the side.
I’d learned his full name was Archer Alexander Papadopoulos , so Greek , not Italian , heritage was where he got his olive complexion and dark hair.
I’d also learned Vacation Vinnie really was his cousin—well, just in name. His cousin Vince was in the Army and lived in Georgia . Archer was going to visit him in several weeks when he came home on leave. He didn’t have any siblings, but he and his cousin were as close as brothers.
I liked that he had that.
Who knew if I had cousins out there somewhere? I probably did but likely wouldn’t ever meet them.
“So, Archer , when you’re not hanging out at a casino, what do you do? Teach surfing lessons?” I asked, nodding to his Hawaiian shirt.
He chuckled. “ I’m actually a cop.”
“Hawaii Five -0?” I inquired as I sipped on my Long Island iced tea.
I planned to make that drink last as long as possible.
One, because I wasn’t the type of woman to make a guy buy me drinks all evening long, so this was likely my only free one.
Two, because I had never liked drinking enough that you lose control over what's happening around you, and besides, my roommates had already had several, so one of us needed to remain at least semi-sober.
And three, I had a feeling there was a chance I might be headed for a one-night stand tonight—something I was not normally into doing. Archer specifically seemed like the kind of guy you would want to remember everything with, and I couldn’t remember it if I was three sheets to the wind.
“Despite the shirt, no, not Hawaii Five -0,” Archer answered with a small smirk. “ I work here in Vegas . Manny works with me, and Nick went to the police academy with us but now works over at ATF in Texas .”
“Ahh, so the Hawaiian shirts are to make you look less like cops and more like tourists, eh?”
He grinned at me and nodded. “ Something like that. What about you, Ace ? When you’re not running a card scheme, what do you do?”
“I’m graduating from UNLV actually,” I answered, feeling all sorts of pride that I could say that.
“So you’re a Rebel . I’m a fellow graduate, too,” he noted. “ Got my degree in criminal justice. What about you?”
“Journalism and communication, and hopefully I’ll have a job lined up in a couple of weeks.”
“Ahh, so TV news reporter?”
“That’s certainly one of the options,” I told him as I leaned back in the bar chair. “ I just had an interview in Bakersfield , California , at a local TV station there, but I also have an interview at a newspaper here in Vegas tomorrow. That one would be nice so I could stay in the area.”
“You grow up here?”
“No, I grew up in Northern California actually, but this place has grown on me, though Bakersfield isn’t that far.”
“Nah, it’s less than four hours,” Archer responded. “ That’s cool. I can’t wait to see your face one day on the TV so I can tell all my friends I knew her back in the day when she was just a card swindler,” he said, and I laughed, harder than I’ve laughed in ages.
When I finished laughing, I turned to look at him and noticed he was staring at me with such ferocity, as though I was so fascinating he couldn’t pull his gaze away.
“Your eyes light up when you smile,” he said, and I found myself shifting in my seat under his intense gaze. I took another small sip of my drink.
“I can get you another one of those so you don’t have to keep taking the smallest sips in the world to make it last,” he said. I was a bit embarrassed because I should have known that, as a cop, he would pay attention to details.
“You don’t need to do that,” I told him.
“I know, but I genuinely don’t mind, especially if it keeps you here next to me,” he replied. “ I’m enjoying our conversation, so I’d like to get you another drink so we can keep this going.”
I wanted that too, but I also might want to take him back to my place, and if I did that, I didn’t want another alcoholic drink.
“Okay, but just a Coke or Dr . Pepper or something. No more alcohol.”
“Alright,” he responded and then turned to the bartender. “ Can I get two Cokes , please?”
“Oh, you don’t have to stop drinking beer just because I don’t want alcohol,” I told him, feeling a little bad.
“I’m not. I’m doing it for the same reason you are.”
I highly doubted he was, but I was too curious to let it go. “ Oh really? And what reason do you think that is?” I lifted my brow at him in question.
He leaned forward, putting his hand on the back of my chair, and spoke right next to my ear in a low tone but still loud enough for me to hear him. “ So both of us are alert and can remember everything that’s going to happen later after we finish our drinks.”
My heart rate picked up as he hinted at the same scenario I had thought of as well. “ Mighty confident in yourself.”
“Nah, not confident. Just hopeful,” he replied. “ Hopeful I can pick up some of that luck you’ve had tonight, if you feel like sharing it with me.”
He winked at me and threw out that sexy grin. I knew this man was going to be trouble. I just hoped it was the good kind.
The bartender set our Cokes down in front of us, startling me out of my thoughts. I looked over to see Archer handing him his credit card.
“I’ll go ahead and close out my tab now,” he said to the bartender.
Before I had enough time to ask him why he was closing it out now when we just got our drinks, Karyn walked up to me, waving her hands.
“My winning streak has returned, and I’m on fire!” she yelled and then turned to the bartender who had just brought Archer his bill. “ Sir , can I please get two fuzzy nipples?”
I chuckled before correcting her slurred words. “ It’s fuzzy navel , Kare -bear, not nipple.”
She waved her hands at me in dismissal. “ He knew what I meant. Close enough.”
She smiled back at the bartender, who also smiled and nodded.
“Alright, you party animals,” Karyn said to us. “ Are you just going to sit here all night, or are you planning to do anything a bit more exciting?”
My thoughts instantly went to extra-curricular activities after our drinks, but I didn’t say anything. I glanced over at Archer , whose face told me he knew what I was thinking and was definitely on board.
“Oh snap,” Karyn said, looking at our faces, and then she turned to me. “ I like this plan. I approve. Just text me if you go anywhere, and let me know you’re alive so I don’t have to track you on your phone.”
I smiled briefly and shook my head at her.
I knew she would do it, too. We’d all heard horror stories about how women went missing after supposedly going out with a man or going back to his place.
Which was why Archer didn’t know it yet, but if we ended up leaving here, it was going to be to my place, not his.
I’d never had a one-night stand before, since all my previous partners had been guys I’d dated and at least known a little about them. Not that that guaranteed they weren’t a serial killer or anything, but in this case, I really didn’t know much about Archer , so I wanted to be safe.
When Karyn’s drinks arrived, she hugged me and then grabbed her drinks and said her goodbyes as she made her way back to the pool table with the others.
I smiled at her departure as she sing-songed her way over in true Karyn fashion. When I turned back to Archer , it was to see his gaze on me.
“You want your Coke ?” he asked.
I paused before telling him the truth. “ Not really.”
“You want to get out of here instead?” he asked, but I saw the way he watched my lips with rapt attention. The look on his face also said he was perfectly happy to just stay put and keep on chatting.
I wasn’t, though. I was on a high of being done with school. Ready to start the real world. Winning at a game I had never played before. I wanted to give myself another thrill. The thrill of the incredibly sexy man in front of me.
“Yeah,” I responded. “ How about my place?”
His smile grew and his eyes sparkled with promise of what was to come, and I couldn’t wait.