Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
O ne week after the kitchen-counter incident, they were sitting on the couch together watching a movie. Olive was not in between them. Olive wasn’t even at home. She was having a sleepover at her grandmother’s house. So they’d decided to take advantage of having the TV to themselves and watch a movie. And now here they were, in the cozy darkness of the living room, with no kid at home and an empty couch cushion between them and Archer had no idea what this movie was about.
He’d been staring at the screen for the past forty-five minutes but if asked, he could not tell you a damn thing about this movie. He could tell you that Iris was wearing a tank top and yoga pants and that her hair was piled on top of her head in a messy bun and that she smelled like vanilla and that she’d made happy sighing noises as she ate the dinner he’d made her and that every time she giggled at something in the movie his heart constricted. And that he was absolutely losing his mind being this close to her and not touching her.
This was ridiculous.
He was a grown man and this was his damn house, and if he wanted something, he should have it. Right? Just because he was a father now did not mean he had to be celibate. And Olive wasn’t even here. This didn’t have to affect her, at all. It didn’t have to get messy.
‘Iris?’
‘Yeah?’ She turned to face him with a mischievous smirk. It was almost as though she knew exactly what he’d been stewing over all night. All week, really.
‘I want to kiss you.’
Her smile grew.
‘So do it.’
He was across the couch and dragging Iris into his lap before the words were out of her mouth. She straddled him and ran her hands through his hair, tugging a little on the ends. He smiled up at her.
‘I poured salad dressing on pancakes because of you.’
‘What?’ She giggled, and he kissed the sound from her lips.
‘I can’t stop thinking about you, Iris,’ he murmured against her mouth, and he could feel her smile. ‘It’s becoming a problem.’
‘For me, too,’ she confessed. ‘I basically stopped teaching in the middle of a class.’ She nibbled his bottom lip and he groaned.
‘So, what are we going to do about it?’ he asked.
Iris lowered further into his lap, pressing her ass into his cock. ‘I have a few ideas.’
‘And when things get messy?’
‘They won’t,’ she promised, grinding against him and his breath caught. ‘And if they do, I promise we’ll protect Olive from it all.’
He breathed a sigh of relief at that. They’d protect Olive. Together. This thing between them didn’t have to hurt his daughter.
‘Okay, good.’ His fingers dug into her hips and she rocked forward. ‘But you have to stop doing that or things are going to get real messy, real fast.’
Iris laughed, her breath warm on his face. ‘I want it messy and fast. I don’t want to wait any more for this.’
‘Jesus, Iris,’ he breathed.
‘This time,’ she said, already shucking her yoga pants and Archer barely had time to register her bare legs, her bare ass. ‘Next time we can go slow.’
Next time. His thoughts snagged on that little promise.
‘Please, Archer.’ Iris’s desperate voice snapped him back to reality. She was half naked in his lap, her cheeks flushed pink, asking him to do the one thing he’d not stopped thinking about since she moved in.
‘Yes.’ Yes to her please, yes to everything. And then her hands were on him, tugging his sweats down, wrapping around him with such single-minded determination that Archer nearly laughed, but it died in his throat. Iris stroked him once, twice, three times before raising up on her knees and notching him at her entrance.
She held his gaze. Hers was hungry.
‘I’m on the pill,’ she said, and he nodded. ‘Okay, Archer?’ He knew what she was asking.
‘Yeah, it’s okay. I’ve been tested.’
‘Me too.’
He kissed her hard and desperate as she slid down, both of them gasping when she was fully seated. Christ. It was too good. He wasn’t going to last. But Iris was already moving, already moaning like maybe she wasn’t going to last either.
She rocked her hips hard and fast, and Archer wished she wasn’t still wearing her top and he wished he’d gotten a chance to taste her and he wished he had seen her body, but she rocked and rocked and the words next time, next time , rolled through his brain.
He held tight to her hips, kissing her as she rode him.
‘I’m close,’ she gasped. ‘So close.’
Archer gritted his teeth. So was he.
Iris rolled her hips again, her fingernails digging into his shoulders, a low moan coming from her lips. He hadn’t had time to pay attention, to take it all in, Iris in his lap, Iris sighing and gasping and moaning. It was too quick, too short, too lightning fast, but he couldn’t stop it. He couldn’t stop Iris moving against him or his own pleasure from barreling into him.
‘Come with me, Archer,’ she said and he did, thrusting up into her as she clenched around him. Luckily the house was empty because neither of them were quiet. The moment was loud and breathless and frantic, weeks of tension finally coming to a head. But it wasn’t enough.
‘Holy shit,’ Iris said, slowing her movements and resting her forehead against Archer’s.
‘Yeah.’ He huffed a laugh. ‘That was…’
Amazing, hot. Insufficient to purge this need for Iris from his system.
‘Yeah.’ Iris smiled. ‘That was.’
The pleasure had barely subsided before Archer felt a surge of panic that now that Iris had gotten off, there wouldn’t be a next time. Now that the tension had worn off, she wouldn’t need a next time.
And he shouldn’t care. A one-night stand was nothing new to him. One-night stands were perfect for the old Archer. They’d almost always worked in the past for getting an attractive co-worker off his mind so he could focus on the one thing that really mattered to him, his work.
But he didn’t want that anymore. Not with Iris. His work wasn’t the most important thing in his life anymore. In fact, it ranked a distant third at the moment. The tension was gone, but he still wanted her. He wanted her in his life. Period. Whether they were having sex or not, he wanted Iris Fraser around.
Shit. He was the one who was going to make this complicated. His feelings were the ones that were going to get hurt.
Somehow, he had not seen that coming.
She leaned forward and planted a kiss on his cheek. ‘I’m gonna go clean up.’
‘Yeah, of course.’ Archer was slowly coming back to his senses, to what they’d done and to how much it had affected him.
‘But I wouldn’t mind company later,’ Iris said. ‘You know where to find me.’
‘Yeah, okay.’ He wasn’t even sure Iris heard him; she was halfway down the hall by the time he answered. What the hell just happened?
After he cleaned himself up with a towel from the kitchen, he sat back on the couch and tried to piece together the last half hour. He should feel relieved, right? Satisfied to have finally had the thing he’d wanted for weeks.
But it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t just about getting off.
At least it wasn’t for him. Not anymore. But Iris had run off immediately after they were finished so maybe it had been just sex for her?
She’d told him she never planned on having kids. And if they were together in any sort of real way, the whole arrangement came with an automatic child in the mix. So where did that leave them?
Archer dropped his head back on the cushions. He’d thought he could compartmentalize his feelings for Iris. He’d thought that he could handle having her living in his house. He’d thought he could just control this whole thing, like he was so used to doing, but none of this was going how he thought it would.
And now he was left with a choice.
This could be it. They’d gotten the forbidden-sex thing out of their systems and he could let the whole thing go. Move on. He should probably even look for a new nanny. And kids were resilient, right? Olive would be okay. She had him. And he was proud of that. Proud that he was here for her. They’d get through Iris’s departure together.
Or…
He could take Iris up on her offer to keep her company later.
It took him exactly three seconds to decide on choice number two. He didn’t know what Iris wanted in the long run, but if there was an inkling of a chance that she wanted him, then he had to take it.
* * *
Iris stood under the warm spray of the shower and tried not to freak out. Okay, so she’d finally slept with her boss. And it was amazing. And then she’d quite literally run away, while also extending an invitation for more fun later.
Good lord, what was wrong with her? She was all over the map. Was Archer as confused as she was right now? Maybe she shouldn’t have bailed so quickly afterward, but it was all so fast and hard and good, and then she didn’t know what to do with herself!
He probably thought she was just using him to get off because she kinda was, but she also kinda wanted more and she liked him. Genuinely, actually liked him and it had been creeping up on her all this time and then it just slammed into her and she panicked.
It had been a very long time since Iris had liked a man and wanted to be around him when their clothes were on. She didn’t really know what to do with that.
Okay, breathe, Iris. First you need to get out of the shower because you’ve been in here for a really long time and Archer is going to start to think it’s weird.
She turned off the water and stepped out of the tub only to realize that she hadn’t thought to bring in a change of clothes, or even the ones she’d stripped out of in the living room. She had her tank top and sports bra and absolutely no bottoms. Perfect.
She didn’t bother wrangling herself back into her tank top and instead just wrapped a towel around her and prayed that she could get to her bedroom without being caught.
She opened the door and walked straight into Archer’s chest.
‘Oof.’
‘Sorry.’ He grabbed her arms to steady her. ‘I was getting worried. Thought maybe you hit your head in there or something.’
Iris laughed. ‘Nope. Just … thinking.’
‘Yeah, me too.’ Archer’s gaze was steady on hers, dark and serious in the dimly lit hallway. Iris was hyper aware of her lack of clothing. Her skin prickled beneath the towel, every nerve ending standing to attention.
‘And what were you thinking about?’ she asked.
Archer’s gaze flicked down to the bare skin above her towel and back to her face.
‘I was thinking that that wasn’t nearly enough.’
‘Really?’ Her voice was embarrassingly breathy, but Archer still hadn’t let go of her arms and he was so close Iris felt dizzy.
‘Was that your way of trying to end things between us, Iris? Bang out a quick one and we can move on with our lives because if it was?—’
‘No,’ she responded before she could think. ‘No, that’s not what I want.’
Archer’s lips curved into a relieved smile. He moved closer until her back was against the wall.
‘What do you want?’
‘I’m not sure.’
He frowned and moved to back away, but Iris wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close again.
‘Iris, if you want to stop, we’ll stop. I never meant to pressure you into any of this.’
She reached up and brushed a chaste kiss on his lips. ‘I do want this. I want this physical thing between us. A lot. Trust me.’
Archer let out a small chuckle, but he was waiting for her to go on.
‘But … I don’t know about anything else … and I don’t want to hurt you or Olive. I can’t make you any promises, so if you want to stop, we’ll stop.’ She held his gaze and in that moment she wished she could make him a promise, but she still just didn’t know about any of it. About if this was a life she even wanted for herself.
‘Thank you for being honest with me,’ he said, his mouth brushing against hers as he spoke. ‘Just physical is just fine with me.’ His mouth had moved down to her neck and he licked the drips of water from her skin.
‘Are you sure?’ Iris gasped.
‘Very sure.’ He ran his fingers along the top of the towel. He raised an eyebrow in question and Iris nodded, happy to be heading far away from this conversation and into safer territory.
Archer gave a gentle tug and the towel slid down her body and puddled at her feet. He groaned, his hands grazing along the curve of her waist and over her hips. His eyes were dark, drinking her all in.
‘Last time was far too quick.’ He scooped her up in his arms and she gave a little squeak of surprise. ‘This time, I plan on savoring you.’
Iris clung to his shoulders, not sure she would survive whatever he had in mind, but very excited to find out.