Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
M ac’s was slammed. Which was typical for a town meeting night. After those things, everyone needed a drink.
Iris stood in the doorway with Archer, scanning the crowded pub for Kira and Bennett, who’d promised they’d get a table. Instead, she spotted Noah first, his height and his hair making him stand out in the crowd. He waved and Iris waved back.
‘They’re over there. Come on.’ She grabbed Archer’s hand and started pulling him through the crowd. It was what she would have done with whoever she was with, grab their hand, but now that Archer’s fingers were tangled with hers, she couldn’t think about much of anything else. They were big and rough, calloused on the palms. Strong. Capable. Talented hands.
Thankfully, they arrived at the corner booth her friends had snagged before Iris could let her mind wander to all the places she would like those hands to travel. She dropped his hand before Kira could comment on any of the things Iris could tell she was thinking. Iris shot her a ‘don’t you dare’ glare that just made Kira’s smile grow.
‘You made it!’ Annie was standing beside the booth with Kira and she greeted them with hugs. Archer’s startled face from inside of Annie’s embrace made Iris giggle.
‘Of course we did,’ Iris said. ‘The after-meeting drinks are the best part of the town meeting.’
‘Cheers to that,’ Logan said from his seat in the booth, raising his pint in Iris’s direction. She was pretty sure he hadn’t even made it to the meeting in the first place.
‘That was another bizarre example of Dream Harbor’s quirkiness,’ Kira said.
‘Oh, you love it.’ Annie bumped her with her hip and Iris smiled at her friends. Already crowded in the booth with Logan were Hazel, Jeanie, and George. Noah was taking their drink orders to bring up to the bar, so she ordered a hard cider and Archer ordered a local ale.
The book club was taking up most of the stools at the bar, the PTA parents were getting rowdy in the back corner, and several of Iris’s favorite aerobics students were sipping their wine and working on an enormous basket of fries at two of the high-top tables in the center of the pub. The whole place was dark and homey as all good pubs should be. Dark wood, dark furniture, dim lighting. The perfect place to be on a rainy April evening.
Behind the bar, Amber and Isaac were scrambling to fill drink orders and Noah ended up waiting on more than just their own table. Iris saw him making the rounds around the dining room.
‘So, you brought the chef,’ Annie said, letting her gaze wander to where Archer was still hovering somewhere over Iris’s shoulder.
‘Yep. He needed a night out.’
‘I hope it’s all right that I crashed your night,’ he said, his voice a deep rumble that Iris could feel vibrate down her spine. The crowd had forced him to stand closer, his breath tickled her ear when he spoke.
‘Honey, half the town is here!’ Kira yelled to be heard over the din of the crowd and the music streaming in over the speakers. ‘You didn’t crash anything!’ She leaned a little tipsily into Iris.
‘Have you been drinking already?’ Iris asked her and Kira winked.
‘We had to get here early to get the booth,’ she said. ‘And then we may have done a couple of shots to pass the time.’
‘Okay, where’s Bennett?’ Iris asked, scanning the bar. The first thing to go when Kira got tipsy was her filter. And Iris really needed her to keep that thing on tight right now.
‘Bathroom. He’ll be right back.’ Kira refocused her attention on Archer. ‘So,’ she said, tipping her head as she examined him. Oh lord, here we go. ‘Archie,’ Kira went on and Iris expected Archer to correct her but his laugh caressed the back of her neck instead.
‘Settle an argument for me.’
‘Okay…’
‘Grits and polenta are different, right?’
Iris blew out a sigh of relief. A food question? That was fine. Demanding what business Archer had licking his employee was another matter altogether, and of course Iris had already told Kira about that. She required zero drinks to lose her filter.
‘For sure. They’re both made from ground corn, but the texture is totally different. Polenta is usually coarser. And prepared differently.’
‘Thank you! That’s what I said!’ Kira shouted. ‘Where the hell is Bennett? I told him they were different.’ With that argument won, she stormed off in the direction of the bathrooms.
‘I want to introduce you to someone,’ Annie said, breaking the weird silence Kira left in her wake and tugging Archer by the sleeve.
He looked back at Iris with a shrug as Annie led him toward the bar, so she followed close behind. She didn’t trust any of these people not to make things even more weird between her and her boss.
‘Archer, this is Mac. Mac, Archer,’ Annie said, gesturing between the two men. ‘Mac’s basically your only real competition in this town.’
‘Oh?’ Archer said. ‘Competition for what?’
‘Food,’ Annie replied, leaning against the bar. Mac hadn’t stopped staring at her since they came over.
‘Are you saying my food is good, Annie?’ he asked.
Annie flicked her gaze toward him with a sigh. ‘I would never say that and you know it.’
He shook his head, his mouth tipping into a cocky smirk.
‘Mac is a cook,’ she said, clearly leaving out any evaluation of said cooking. ‘So I thought you two should meet.’
‘Are you sure you didn’t just want an excuse to come over here and talk to me?’ Mac asked, leaning closer to Annie across the bar. Their eyes met, and even Iris could feel the heat.
‘I was just trying to be neighborly,’ Annie ground out.
‘I’m sure you were, darling.’
‘Don’t. Call. Me. Darling.’
Mac grinned.
They held each other’s stare for so long, Iris was considering slipping away with Archer before Annie and Mac either started kissing or someone got stabbed, but finally Annie broke first and looked away.
‘Do you two need a minute to…’ Make out? Murder each other? ‘Talk?’ Iris asked.
‘Of course not,’ Annie said briskly, like they hadn’t all just witnessed some sort of staring-contest foreplay situation. ‘I just thought these two would have something in common.’
Mac stood back to his full height and nodded to Archer.
‘Yeah, of course. I’m no world-renowned chef,’ he said, meeting Archer’s hand for a shake above the bar top. ‘But it’s nice to meet you.’
‘Hey, good food is good food,’ Archer said. ‘And right now, I’m not sure this town thinks my food is any good.’
Mac scoffed. ‘Don’t worry about it. This place loves to fuck with people. They’ll calm down, eventually.’
‘They don’t like to fuck with people,’ Annie said. ‘They just like to protect what makes Dream Harbor special.’
‘And crappy diner pancakes make Dream Harbor special?’ Mac asked.
‘Don’t speak ill of the pancakes!’ Iris hissed. ‘They’ll hear you!’ She glanced around at the crowded bar and Mac laughed.
‘Sorry, Iris. And no offense, man.’
‘None taken,’ said Archer. ‘I can’t even get them right anyway.’
‘You will,’ Iris said, running a hand down his arm, only realizing when she reached his wrist that she was tracing the muscles she was so fond of staring at. She yanked her hand back. ‘I’m sure you’ll figure it out.’
Archer’s dark gaze was on her and she felt her cheeks heat from the attention.
Annie cleared her throat. ‘Do you two need a minute to…’ She raised an eyebrow in question with a knowing smirk on her face.
‘Nope. We don’t need a minute for anything,’ Iris said.
Mac just shook his head. ‘I gotta get back to work. It was nice to meet you, chef.’
‘Yeah, you too.’
‘Oh, is that Jacob and Darius? I have a bone to pick with them. Jacob!’ Annie called, starting to head across to him and leaving Archer and Iris alone. Or as alone as one can be in a crowded bar next to a table full of friends. But still.
At least Noah had brought over their drinks. She took a sip of her cider.
‘So,’ she said, flicking her gaze up to Archer’s face. He looked his usual handsome self tonight, a little bit disheveled, with his five o’clock shadow and his hair in messy waves that flopped over his forehead. For someone who ran an immaculate kitchen (from what Maribel had told her at yoga, Iris was right. Archer demanded perfection from his staff and the diner was spotless these days), his physical appearance was always a little bit messy. As though he spent all his effort on his work and that left little effort for himself.
The way she ran his house must make him crazy. It was rarely—if ever—clean when he got home from work. Olive was always alive but not always tidy or cute or happy. Most days, Iris still didn’t really know what her job entailed, but Olive hadn’t missed a day of school on her watch, and Iris had only forgotten to pack her lunch twice (she’d dropped it off for her, of course). But none of what she did for Archer and Olive was perfect or spotless or immaculate.
It was all messy.
But Archer hadn’t said a word about it.
‘I think that went well,’ she continued. ‘The meeting, I mean.’ Not whatever weird energy they’d just witnessed between Annie and Mac. Iris had her own chef that looked at her like he wanted to devour her, she couldn’t deal with Annie’s problems too.
‘As well as it could have, I guess.’ He gestured to an open high-top table and they moved over to it. The stools had been borrowed by another table, but they at least had a place to put their drinks and lean their elbows.
‘I’m glad you came out.’
He took another swig of his beer. ‘Yeah, me too. It’s been a while. Actually, I don’t think I’ve been out at 9pm in a long time.’
For a second, Iris thought he meant he liked to tuck in early but then she realized he was usually working at this time of night.
‘You were basically nocturnal?’
A small tip of his lips sent a thrill through her body. ‘Basically.’
‘Isn’t it nice to be able to see the sun now?’
‘I wouldn’t know. It’s been raining since I got here.’
Iris shrugged. ‘It’ll clear up eventually.’
He was studying her over the rim of his glass and Iris fidgeted with the pull tab on her can of cider. The coziness of the pub was suddenly too hot, too close. She wished this tiny table between them was bigger.
How on earth was she supposed to maintain friendly professionalism when the man looked at her like that? All that dark intensity aimed directly at her? It made her want to say ‘Yes, chef!’ and do anything he asked.
Uh, oh. Danger, Iris! Danger!
It was exactly that type of attitude that had led to those sweaty two-night stands in a stranger’s tent at a musical festival, and to her mother changing boyfriends every other year. In that way, she and her mother were the same, chasing that spark, falling for men that burned hot and then burned out.
Would Archer burn out?
‘How do you do that?’ he asked.
Iris blinked. Do what? Turn a glance into an entire relationship in her head? Easy. A very active imagination. Probably not what he was asking though.
‘Do what?’
‘You’re always so … positive about things.’
‘Oh, that.’ She shrugged. ‘It’s a double-edged sword. It’s also why I’m always late. Optimistic people are overly optimistic about their ability to get somewhere on time. And they’re usually wrong.’
Archer’s smile grew and there was that damn dimple.
‘Are you not a positive person?’ she asked.
Archer’s smile morphed into a frown. ‘I’m not really sure. For so long, I just set my mind to something and then I did it. I didn’t really think about whether it would work out or not.’ His laugh was a little harsh, a little bitter. ‘For a while, I actually thought I was in control of how things would go.’
He shook his head.
‘You told Olive she was the best surprise. Did you mean it?’
He was quiet for a beat and Iris was sure she’d overstepped, but things felt different here at the pub. They were just two people out for a drink. Not a boss and employee, a father and a nanny. And besides, they were surrounded by people instead of being alone in the kitchen. How much trouble could they possibly get into? Right?
‘I meant it. She’s… I…’ He huffed a frustrated sigh. ‘It’s hard to explain. At first, I felt bad I didn’t have this instant love for her, like this immediate fatherly reaction, but now, I don’t know, when she looks at me with those big eyes…’
‘I feel ya. Those eyes are killer.’
Archer laughed like he was relieved that Iris had jumped in and agreed with his confusing and messy and beautiful feelings about Olive.
‘Yeah. They are. And she’s so … vulnerable, she really needs us, Iris.’
Iris swallowed hard. The way he’d just lumped them together did incredibly concerning things to her insides. Did she like it? Did she want Archer to think of them as a little family or was that thought insane and terrifying?
She internally shook herself. That wasn’t what he said anyway. He was just stating the facts. Olive, a minor who was literally incapable of feeding herself, needed both her father and the woman employed to take care of her during the day. Right. That was all. No need to get tummy-swooping feelings over that.
‘And she’s funny, too,’ Archer went on. ‘And, oh my God, when she wants to cook with me? That melts my heart.’
Iris grinned. ‘See, soft and gooey.’
He laughed. ‘I guess you’re right.’ He shrugged. ‘Anyway, yeah, I guess I did mean it. She was the best surprise. Even though I still miss my old life. A lot. And that diner is making me insane. And this town…’
Iris waved away his list. ‘Yes, yes. I get it. The kid is growing on you. The rest, not so much.’
He smirked. ‘Other things are growing on me, too.’
Aha! She was right. Flirting was back on the table when they were out here in the world. It was safe out here.
‘Oh, yeah? Like what?’
‘Like, long red hair clogging my shower drain.’
Iris’s laugh surprised her so much she almost spit her cider out. ‘Hey!’
‘There’s so much of it!’ He said it like it was a problem, but the way he was eyeing her braid made her think that maybe it wasn’t a problem at all.
Iris smiled. ‘It’s not red, anyway. It’s strawberry blonde.’
‘Oh, excuse me for not knowing the exact color of the hair causing plumbing issues.’
‘You’re exaggerating!’
He laughed. ‘Maybe a little.’ His eyes roved over her before landing back on her face.
‘Nice to know you’re thinking about me while you’re in the shower, though,’ she teased.
‘Oh, Iris, you have no idea.’ The words were a low rumble, muttered under his breath as though maybe she wasn’t meant to hear them. But she had. And the idea of Archer thinking about her in the shower zipped through her body, hot and dangerous.
She leaned across the table, like a really stupid moth to a really sexy flame.
‘You think about me in the shower, Archer?’
He held her stare and she was trapped. ‘Iris,’ he growled in warning. She was pushing it. This was wildly inappropriate. But didn’t that just make it hotter?
‘Tell me about it,’ she said and watched the muscle in his jaw flex and his eyes darken. Oh yeah, definitely hotter. But they were safe here in the middle of the bar. This was just harmless flirting.
Just keep telling yourself that, Iris.
‘Those nights when you come out to the kitchen…’
‘Yeah?’
‘I can’t get you out of my head afterwards. Your mouth and your hair and that damn shoulder that’s always bare. I want to rake my teeth across it.’
Iris’s breath caught, forgetting where they were, forgetting that they were surrounded by half the town. She pressed her thighs together. If they were at home, she would have already climbed across this table and attacked him. But they weren’t at home.
‘And then what?’ Her voice was quiet, breathless and nearly lost in the noise of the pub, but Archer’s gaze was trained on her lips.
‘So, I get in that shower that smells like you, like your shampoo, and lotion and just like … you. And I think about how you were naked in that same spot earlier that day. And I think about what would happen if I had joined you.’
Iris let out an involuntary groan, and the place was loud enough that no one heard. In fact, everyone else was going about their evening with no regard to the fact that they’d escalated to full-on foreplay over here.
Archer smirked, that dimple mocking her.
‘What would you do if you joined me?’ she asked, not willing to be the one who blinked first in this game of sexy chicken they were playing.
He shrugged and took another swig of beer. ‘It depends on the night,’ he said. ‘Sometimes just thinking about you naked and soapy is enough to get the job done.’
Heat shot to Iris’s face and between her legs simultaneously.
‘Other nights…’ He shrugged again and Iris wanted to scream. Other nights, what?! What do you think about on the other nights? ‘Other nights, I think of wrapping all that strawberry-blonde hair around my fist and, well…’
And what?! Paint me a picture, chef .
But her surroundings were slowly seeping back in. What the hell were they doing in the middle of the bar?
Archer had apparently realized it a second before her. This had gotten wildly out of hand.
‘We need to stop talking about this, Iris, or it’s going to be very awkward for me to walk away from this table.’
She giggled like a maniac. ‘Right. You’re right. Sorry, I don’t know what came over me.’ Yes, you do! It was him, he came over you. Don’t think about coming!
‘It was my fault. That was way out of line,’ he said.
‘It wasn’t. I egged you on.’
He huffed a laugh. ‘We are not good at this, Iris.’
‘At what? Being super professional around each other?’
‘Yeah, that.’
‘I know. I’m sorry, but in my defense, you’re really hot.’
Archer’s smile grew. ‘Oh, really?’
‘Don’t pretend you don’t know. That makes it even worse.’
‘Well, in my defense, you’re really hot, too.’
‘Thank you,’ she said with a grin.
Archer laughed again and she loved it. She wanted to eat that laugh with a spoon.
‘But I really don’t want to mess this up for Olive,’ he said, suddenly more serious than he’d been all night. ‘She’s been through so much and she likes you and I don’t want anything to ruin that. I’ve slept with enough co-workers to know it never ends well.’
‘Of course. You’re right.’ She finished off her drink, desperately needing another. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll keep it in my pants.’
‘I appreciate everything you’ve done for her. She’s already made so much progress.’
Iris still didn’t feel like letting the kid eat processed snacks and throwing some sheets over the dining-room chairs to make a fort was really doing all that much, but if Archer wanted to praise her, who was she to stop him?
‘Thanks. I’m glad you’re happy with how things are going.’
As much as Iris agreed that a fling with Archer definitely did not mesh with her keeping this job, the fact that this conversation had gone from scorching hot dirty talk to a job-performance meeting was pretty lame.
‘I’m going to grab another drink,’ she said. ‘Want me to get you one?’
Before Archer could answer, Kira, Annie, and Noah landed at their table with a tray of shots.
‘You two looked way too serious over here,’ Annie said with a devious grin. ‘But we have the antidote!’
‘Shots, really?’ Iris asked. Post-meeting drinks did not usually include shots, but apparently, they were going big tonight.
‘Iris, we are on the fourteenth consecutive month of winter,’ Kira said. ‘We need to drink.’
‘Makes sense to me,’ Archer said, grabbing a shot and tossing it back.
Kira and Annie cheered.
Iris took a shot.
And at that point the night got a bit fuzzy.
* * *
‘You can cook when you’re drunk?’ Iris asked, delighted by this prospect. They were back home, and pancakes seemed like the perfect thing to cap off this night. She was starving after her dance-off with the aerobics ladies.
‘Of course I can,’ Archer said, still cocky even in his inebriated state. He looked even messier than usual, his hair flopping over his forehead, his eyes sleepy. But he was quicker to smile now, and Iris liked that a whole lot.
‘You have a dimple,’ she told him as he mixed the batter.
‘I know.’
‘It’s cute.’
He smiled bigger. ‘I know.’
‘God! You are so cocky!’
He laughed, too loud for the time of night. Iris shushed him. ‘Don’t wake Olive! Isn’t one of us supposed to stay sober? For like emergencies?’
Archer paused in his mixing, considering this. ‘I might be a really bad dad.’
For some reason, probably tequila-related, Iris found this hilarious. Archer stared at her in surprise but then started laughing again, too.
‘Sorry,’ Iris said between giggles. ‘I don’t think you’re a bad dad at all! I’m definitely a shit nanny, though. You should probably fire me.’
‘Maybe. Then I could finally fuck you.’
Iris froze.
Archer froze.
They stared at each other until Iris started laughing again. ‘Oh my God, Archer. Did you really just say that?’
A flush had worked its way up his neck. ‘No. Let’s pretend I didn’t.’
‘Okay, we’ll pretend that you don’t have the hots for me.’
‘You have the hots for me, too,’ he said, pouring pancake batter into the pan.
‘So maybe I should quit so I can fuck you .’
‘Jesus, Iris. Don’t say things like that!’ He looked like he was in physical pain now and Iris couldn’t stop giggling.
‘I’m sorry! But this is getting ridiculous!’
He did the pan-flip thing and Iris gasped. ‘You can do that drunk, too!’
Archer winked at her, and she nearly tipped off her stool in a fit of laughter.
‘Breakfast is served,’ he said, sliding two pancakes onto her plate with a flourish.
Iris dug right in. ‘These might be the best pancakes ever,’ she said with her mouth full.
Archer grinned and Iris reached out and stuck her pinky finger into his dimple. He turned toward her hand and pressed a kiss into her palm. Heat shot through Iris’s body.
‘Are you going to lick my finger again?’ she tried to tease, but her voice came out all breathy and low.
He shook his head before he ran his lips from her palm down to her wrist. He kissed the sensitive skin there and then worked his way toward her elbow, kissing and licking his way across her arm.
‘You’re so soft,’ he murmured. ‘Salty and sweet. Perfect.’
Iris sat perfectly still, except for the rapid beat of her heart. She was afraid that if she moved or spoke or blinked, he would stop. And she didn’t want him to ever stop.
‘Iris,’ he groaned. He was leaning across the island now, pulling her toward him. His lips were on her biceps, tracing the curves of her muscle.
‘Yes,’ she whispered.
He pressed his lips into her shoulder. His breath was warm on her neck. Iris was dizzy with the proximity, far drunker than she was at the bar. Drunk with wanting. Drunk with anticipation.
‘We should stop,’ he said, his teeth grazing the bare skin of her throat.
‘Or…’ she breathed. ‘We could keep going.’
He groaned. ‘We’re both drunk.’
‘Some people would argue that makes things easier.’
‘Iris.’ Her name was a rasp pulled from the back of his throat. He was still kissing her neck, soft and urgent at the same time. Iris felt it down to her toes.
‘Okay, I know. You’re right.’
Archer lifted his head and his lips were swollen, pupils blown wide. Oh God, Iris had never been one for resisting temptation and now there was a beautiful man right in front of her! Hers for the taking, if she wanted him. And normally, she would totally take him.
But he would regret it.
The thought crashed into her. Archer would regret this. He would just take it as further evidence that he was a bad father. And Iris couldn’t do that to him.
‘Let’s just go to sleep, okay?’ she said even as the entire rest of her body screamed in agony, Let us have him!
Archer blinked. ‘Right. Good idea.’
Iris got down from her seat and took his hand. ‘Make sure the stove’s off,’ she said, before she led him down the hall to bed.
In the morning, she would blame the tequila for guiding her into his room instead of her own. But if she was honest, it was what sober-Iris had been wanting to do all along.