Chapter Twelve
Archer dropped his hand as quickly as he’d raised it to cup her face.
He couldn’t have this. Couldn’t have Zoey. It was inappropriate to zip her dress, to touch that luscious skin, but, damn, that dress paired with that face. He was a goner.
Missing pieces and all.
He cleared his throat and tugged at his tie. “Shall we go?”
“Yes, but…” She walked out of the room into the kitchen, giving him an amazing view of her behind. “I want to be honest with you, and I’m not going to downplay this anymore.”
She swiped and unlocked her phone and handed it to him. “I blocked him, but this must be another number.”
He read the text from someone without a caller ID. The freaking nerve of this guy! He’d like to meet up with him in a dark alley, though he doubted there were many of those in Charming.
“Is this the guy? The one who sent the flowers?”
“Well…who else could it be? It sounded like Scott.” She pointed. “In the card, he asked why I’d blocked him.”
“Right.” He nodded, then started texting without her permission.
“What are you doing?” She leaned over his shoulder, and Dio Mio, she smelled as good as she looked.
He took a step back, for the sake of his sanity. “Don’t worry, you’ll get final approval.”
In the end his text read:
Listen: do not contact me again. The unwanted gifts verge on stalker behavior. Cease and desist or I will go to the police if you continue.
He showed it to her and she blinked.
“That sounds mean.”
“Good.” He quickly hit Send.
“But it also doesn’t sound like me at all,” she said. “I don’t use words like ‘cease and desist.’ He’s going to wonder if it’s actually me.”
The phone pinged almost immediately:
Who is this? Zoey? Why are you talking all weird?
“See? I told you!” Zoey’s palms went up.
“That is fine,” Archer said. “We gave him the message. Now we hope he understands.”
The phone was still in hands when it pinged again:
WTF. I just want to get together so you can tell me what I did wrong.
Interesting. Archer showed it to Zoey and her lower lip quivered.
“What did he do wrong?” Archer asked, curiosity getting the best of him.
“Nothing. I feel bad for him. He wanted to get married and I—”
“What did you say?” He couldn’t have heard right. “Married?”
“Yes, he suggested we get married but…we’re not a match.” She shook her head.
Archer scratched his temple. “I’m sorry, I misunderstood. I thought you had dated this man a short time, but this was a long-term relationship?”
Zoey shook her head and her curls bounced. “Nope. I only dated him a month, which is why I was so shocked.”
Archer cursed in Italian.
“We’re going to have to find a better way to discourage him.”
“Do you have any ideas?”
Archer’s only idea was to make the man think Zoey was seeing someone else. But if he ramped up his stalker behavior, he’d discover there wasn’t really anyone new in her life, other than her new employee.
“Wait,” Archer said. “I’ve got it.”
Zoey smiled. “Yeah?”
“It might help if he believed you were at least interested in someone else,” he said. “Not that you necessarily need to be dating anyone, but simply make him think that there’s interest. It might discourage him enough to realize you’re not marriage material.”
“Okay, yeah. I could do that. I don’t have to give him a name.”
He handed Zoey the phone and her thumbs flew across the screen.
“There!” She finished, then showed Archer the phone.
Archer read the text.
Listen, there’s someone else. We’re not dating or anything, but I just can’t get married when I have these kinds of intense feelings for another man. I hope you understand. Also, he’s Italian. I’m so sorry, but you need to move on.
“That’s…that’s good.”
Archer swallowed around the golf ball in his throat. She’d gone ahead and decided to use him in a small way, just as they’d talked about before. The whole fake boyfriend angle.
“Except for apologizing. No need to apologize. Just be direct.”
She held her arms out, stretching to the sky. “Thank you! This feels so…freeing. Telling the truth—there’s nothing like it.”
Normally, Archer would agree. But in this case, the truth gave him chest pains.
* * *
That night, alone in the guest room, Archer went down the rabbit hole.
Several online searches later, he had sourced a lot of information about bodyguards crossing the line with their clients.
It seemed Hollywood was particularly fond of this idea.
He even found a series about a secret service agent who falls for his client.
It seemed this situation was quite common, though possibly not as common as Hollywood would have people think.
Perhaps it was because of how much time bodyguards and their clients spent together.
There were obviously ethical issues involved, and Archer was certain he’d read something along those lines in the contract he’d signed with his agency.
It was definitely not encouraged and fell decidedly into a morally gray area.
In the end, it came down to what he’d suspected all along, and Archer was unbending when it came to his morals. It came with the territory of the military code. He’d never violate an oath.
But he also hadn’t counted on Zoey Lambert.
He hadn’t expected how direct she’d been with him. This was a huge turn-on, too. He loved women who knew exactly what they wanted. Women who made the first move. Unfortunately, he wasn’t in the position to return the favor, and the job wasn’t the only problem.
It was time to make a phone call and he picked up his cell. The phone rang three times before Sally, his therapist, picked up.
“You said I should call,” Archer said.
“I didn’t mean like this. It’s after hours.”
“Sorry. Never mind.”
He was about to press the End Call button when she said, “Wait! Let’s talk.”
“There’s no point. I don’t even know why I’m calling.”
“You know why you’re calling me,” Sally said. “Something must have happened.”
“Yes,” Archer said.
“And…?” She hesitated. “It’s your turn to say something.”
Archer sighed and raked a hand down his face. “I’m out of town on an assignment. That’s why I canceled my appointment.”
“Archer, don’t avoid the question. It’s okay to tell me you got overzealous again. You’re still adjusting to civilian life.”
“No, that’s not it. I…may have met someone.”
“What did I tell you? I knew it wouldn’t be long.” Archer could hear the smile in her voice.
“I said ‘may’ because it’s impossible. We…”
Archer didn’t know how much he wanted to tell her about Zoey.
These calls were confidential unless he threatened to hurt himself or others, but he didn’t like discussing such private matters.
Still, he had worked hard on his mental and emotional health.
Early on, he’d decided to work as hard on those aspects of himself as on his physical therapy.
“The timing is off,” he said. “Let’s leave it there.”
“But this woman…you’re attracted to her?”
“Yes,” Archer groaned. “And she is attracted to me.”
There was a long beat of silence. “And she doesn’t know.”
No need to ask what she meant. “No, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
“I guess that means you don’t have any thoughts of being intimate with this woman?”
Dio Mio, this was so uncomfortable.
“I…wouldn’t say that.”
“You’ve read the literature. Women are far more accepting of amputees than men realize.”
“I doubt she would be the problem. It’s me.”
“I see. So, you’re still stuck in the same pattern of thinking that ended your prior relationship.”
“That was a different situation.”
With Jenna, everything changed when he returned stateside.
She wanted to immediately pick up where they’d left off, but Archer’s feelings had changed.
In many ways. He needed more out of a relationship than someone who was entirely focused on the physical.
That wasn’t an indictment of her; she had been kind and accepting in every way.
She’d wanted to take care of him. But Archer couldn’t accept the fact that their roles had changed.
He always took care of people, not the other way around.
And when their former intimacy didn’t immediately resume as she would have liked, she was upset.
He actually wasn’t sure who’d pulled away first, but he’d been the one to tell her they were over.
“Do you think you’ve accepted your new body?”
How did a person simply accept missing a piece of his anatomy?
It was easier said than done. Unless he was in pain, Archer kept his prosthesis on even when he was alone.
He only removed it at appointments, and to sleep, because that was recommended.
Even he didn’t like looking at his stump. It reminded him of…everything.
He’d read about people who dated amputees, but the most disturbing thing he’d learned was that a condition existed called acrotomophilia, where some people were sexually aroused by amputations.
This brought about a power imbalance in which the amputee could be exploited.
Sally had told him about it in one of their sessions, because she’d been worried after seeing some of the mail Archer received when his photo was posted on the organization’s Instagram account.
He’d received a dozen marriage proposals from strangers after that.
You’d never have to work another day in your life.
Here’s some money.
I’d take good care of you.
Humiliating stuff that pissed him off.
But on the other side of that uncomfortable obsession, there were women who Archer suspected might be completely turned off by a man missing his ankle and foot. Sally assured him that wouldn’t be the case for most women, but he begged to differ.
She had encouraged him to go on a few dates, even if he wasn’t particularly interested in the woman.
It would be “good practice,” she said. But Archer had not been on a single date since he’d moved to Houston, even if there had been opportunity.
And now he saw Sally’s point. Faced with someone who really mattered, he didn’t know how he could tell the truth.
All he wanted was for someone to appreciate him for who he was, and not what he’d lost.
Zoey was such a soft touch. If he told her what happened, and she started to cry, he wouldn’t be able to handle it. He could not stand her pity. It would be for the best if she never had a reason to find out.
“I don’t know,” Archer said. “This woman…well, she’s extremely compassionate. She’s worried she’ll hurt someone’s feelings with the smallest of things.”
“And you think she won’t admit how she truly feels about the prosthesis because she would be too worried about hurting your feelings?”
“Well…yes. But it’s a moot point. I can’t see her, anyway. There’s a conflict of interest.”
“All right, then we’re back to what I talked about before,” Sally said.
“You might not be able to be physically intimate with her, but what about friendship? If you trust her, and you’re spending time together, share the truth with her.
It will make it that much easier to do it with someone else in the future. ”
Practice…on Zoey? The idea held zero appeal. He didn’t want to practice on Zoey, like she was some kind of placeholder. She deserved more. Even if he couldn’t give it to her.
“If not her, then how about someone else as practice?”
It wasn’t as if Archer hadn’t been flirted with since he’d arrived in Texas. He simply hadn’t had the desire to date anyone, but now he was motivated. Besides, a date didn’t mean anything. It was just a chance to get to know each other.
“Take a direct, confident approach,” Sally said. “For example, ‘By the way, I have a prosthetic foot, but it’s not a big deal. Just thought I’d mention it.’”
Seriously?
It felt like it should be more of a natural progression.
“Or, you could wait until intimacy is near,” Sally said. “With the right person, someone you’ve connected with on every other level, they’ll be accepting. After all, you forget that everyone has issues. No one is perfect.”
She had a point. He didn’t know everything about Zoey. She couldn’t be perfect, could she?