Chapter Thirty-One
Archie arrived home after another long day and went looking for Harlowe. She was seated on the floor of his bedroom, folding a huge pile of laundry. He’d texted her to say he was on his way home, as he was still concerned about startling her as she recovered from her ordeal with Offenbach.
“Hey.”
She smiled up at him. “There you are. Another long day.”
“They all are lately.”
“I did the laundry.”
“Oh, thanks. I was planning to do that when I got home.”
“Now you don’t have to. I liked having something to do.”
Archie dropped to his knees next to her and kissed her cheek. “Thank you.”
“Welcome. Are you hungry? I used Instacart and got some stuff to make soup. It’s on the stove.”
“I could smell it when I came in.” He kept his head on her shoulder, breathing in the sweet scent that was all her. No enhancements needed. “I like coming home to you.”
“I was wondering if I’m outstaying my welcome.”
“What? No. That’s not possible. If I had my way, you’d stay forever. If you want to, that is.”
“Forever is a long time.”
“I have a feeling it won’t be long enough.”
“You should think about it when you’re not exhausted after working so many extra hours.”
“I’m perfectly clearheaded, and I don’t need to think about anything. I’d love to have you living with me all the time, not just temporarily. But only if you’re comfortable with it.”
She bit her lip as she studied him in a way that made his heart flutter, which had never happened before he’d met her.
“The fact that you care about me being comfortable means a lot to me. I’ve been…
remembering more about being married to Evan and how miserable I was, and then later how afraid I was of him.
” Her memory had been spotty since her ordeal with Offenbach.
“I hate that you had to live like that.”
“He showed me what to avoid—men who make it all about them, who need to be the center of everything, and when they don’t get the attention they feel they deserve, they lash out.” She shuddered. “I wish those memories had stayed buried with the other bad stuff.”
Archie put his arm around her and held her close.
He lived in desperate fear of her remembering being assaulted by Offenbach, especially when she’d seemed so much more like herself again in the last few days.
The attack had left her with badly bruised ribs that had caused her no end of agony until a day or two ago, when she’d seemed to start moving more easily again.
“You never have to worry about any of that with me. I hope you know that.”
“I do, and that means so much to me.”
“Can I tell you something?”
“Anything you want.”
He took a second to choose his words carefully.
They were the most important words he’d ever say to anyone.
“From the first minute I saw you across the room at Joe and Deb’s, I had this incredibly strong feeling that you were going to change my life.
It was the strangest thing… I’d never experienced anything like the absolute certainty that came over me, and I hadn’t yet exchanged a single word with you. ”
“Archie,” she said on a sigh.
“You were—and are—the most beautiful person I’ve ever met.
You’re beautiful inside and out, and after seeing you only a few times, I was already completely obsessed and wanted to spend every minute I could with you.
I was leaving work on time! My whole team was asking me what was wrong.
‘Nothing,’ I said. ‘Everything is finally just right.’”
She chuckled and dabbed at tears with a washcloth from the folded laundry. “You’re making a mess of me.”
“When I heard you’d been hurt… I honestly felt like I could kill the person who’d dared to harm you, and then, when I found out that it was tied to me and my work…
” He shook his head. “I wanted to walk away from you and never look back because I was absolutely sick at the thought of someone hurting you like that because of me.”
“We’ve already had this argument, and I won, remember? You would never hurt me, and I’ll never blame you for what happened.”
“That’s more than I deserve.”
She shook her head and gazed at him like no one else ever had. “You deserve all the good things, and after this, I want you to never say again that it was your fault, okay? I don’t blame you, so you shouldn’t either.”
That was easier said than done for him, but if it was what she wanted, he could give her that.
“It might take me a minute or two to get past feeling responsible, but I promise not to bring it up with you again.” He took her hand and brought it to his lips.
“What I’m trying to say in the most roundabout way possible is that I love you.
I’m in love with you, and I have been from that first second I saw you. ”
He tucked a strand of gorgeous auburn hair behind her ear.
“So if you’re wondering if you’re outstaying your welcome, please believe me when I say the only thing I want in this entire world is you right here with me.
I want to come home to you every night. I want to sleep with you in my arms. I want to wake up with you every morning and do everything else with you.
Please don’t go. You’d ruin me if you did. ”
She pressed the washcloth to her eyes, and when she pulled it back, she was smiling.
“I love you, too. How could I not? My fierce protector, my guardian angel, my everything.” She put her hand on his face and ran her thumb over the late-day stubble on his jaw.
“Not to mention, the handsomest, sexiest, sweetest man I’ve ever known.
You’re the one I pictured when I was a little girl, thinking about the man of my dreams and what he’d be like. He’s you.”
“Harlowe,” he whispered as he leaned in to kiss her. “She’s the one I’ve been waiting for, and her name is Harlowe.”
The kiss went from soft and sweet to fiery in a matter of seconds.
Moving carefully, he eased her back until they were stretched out on the floor next to the piles of folded clothes as one kiss became another.
Her arms circled his neck as she kept him anchored to her when he would’ve pulled back to slow things down. When he tried, she whimpered.
“Don’t stop.”
“You’re not ready for this.”
“I am.”
“No, honey, you’re really not, and rushing it would be the worst thing we could do right now when you’re feeling so much better.
” He sprinkled soft kisses on her cheeks, the tip of her nose and on each eyelid.
“I’ll be right here when the time comes, but for now, you need to rest and continue to recover. ”
“What about what I want?”
“That’s all that matters to me.”
“Then you should definitely keep kissing me, because that’s what I want.”
“Harlowe…”
“Archie…”
“Kissing only.”
“We’ll see.”
“I’m serious.”
“As am I, and if you treat me like I’m made of fragile glass, this will never work between us.”
“I intend to treat you as if you’re the most precious thing in my life, which you are.
” He caressed her face and buried his fingers in her soft, silky hair.
“Two days ago, you were still having trouble moving around. Everything you want will be waiting for you to be fully recovered from your injuries.”
Her bottom lip pressed forward in a pout for the ages.
Smiling, he nibbled on it, which was a mistake because she pounced on the opportunity to lure him into another tongue-twisting kiss that had him forgetting everything he’d just said in a matter of seconds.
“You’re very pleased with yourself, aren’t you?” he asked when he finally recovered his wits and came up for air.
“I am indeed.”
“I love seeing you like this.”
“Like what?”
“Happy, smiling, disobedient.”
She laughed. “That last one might be a problem for a law-and-order guy like you.”
“That’ll never be a problem for me. I like you just the way you are.”
“How will you react when I truly make you mad?”
“I can’t imagine ever being truly mad with you.”
Her brows knit in frustration. Even that was adorable on her. “Be so for real right now, will you please?”
“If, and that’s a very big if, you ever make me truly mad, you can expect maybe a little silence and moodiness.”
“Hmm, how long should I expect that to last?”
“A day or two, maybe. But that was in the past. With you, I probably won’t be able to sustain it for that long.”
She ran her fingers through his hair, triggering goose bumps on his arms and back. “Maybe instead of going silent on me, you could talk to me about whatever is bugging you.”
“I could do that, but like I said, I’ll be surprised if that happens.”
“You’re being for real, remember? You haven’t seen me bitchy or cranky yet.”
“I can’t wait to experience all the moods you wish to have. I’m here for it all.”
“It wasn’t like that for me in the past.”
“That was then. This is now. If I ever do anything that scares you, I want you to tell me the second it happens so I can make sure I never do it again.”
“You could never scare me.”
“We’re being so for real, right?”
“That only applied to you, not me.”
He laughed. “I see how it is. I can be intense sometimes, and if that ever worries you, all you have to do is say so.”
“I will. Thank you for saying that.”
“Let’s get you off the floor.”
“But I was having so much fun down here until you got all adult on me.”
He kissed her once more, softly and sweetly and with all the love he felt for her. “There’ll be much more fun to come when you’re fully recovered.”
“I’m going to hold you to it.”
“I can’t wait for that.”
After Mike left, Tracy walked through the house, checking doors and windows to make sure everything was locked and no one could get in to harm her or her children.
She wished they’d put in a security system years ago, because she’d really like to have it on a night like this, when she was home alone with her babies and raw after the trauma of the last few days.