“Great, thanks,” he says.
“And this is the laundry room.”
Archer scans over my scattered dirty clothes on the floor.
“Sorry for the mess,” I admit. “I’ll try to be a bit more tidy since you’re here.”
“Everleigh,” he says. I love the sound of my name rolling off his tongue. “It’s not a big deal. I was in prison for five years. Seriously, this is already a million times better. Even with a naked dude on the couch.”
That has me laughing hard, which only makes my head pound more, but at least he sees the humor in all of this. “Well, I’m glad I haven’t made you want to run away yet. So some ground rules….” I say, moving back to the living room.
“Oh, Tyler already laid some of those down.”
“Did he?” I pop a brow, watching Tyler clean the mess in the kitchen.
“Yep. I sure did,” he admits, and I roll my eyes at his fatherly tone.
“I’m sure they’re nothing like my rules.” I give Archer a wink.
A smirk meets his lips, and I can only imagine what my brother has said about me. I halfway wonder if Archer got the same “off-limits” talk as I did. Tyler drove it home that I wasn’t to lead Archer on, sleep with him, or flirt with him. I explained that flirting was a hard limit of mine and laughed it off. As I’ve told him a million times before, I do whatever I want.
I glare at Tyler, then meet Archer’s chestnut brown eyes again. “Well, my rules are simple. Clean up after yourself. Treat Sassy like the queen she is and take her out if you can. She gets fed twice a day and gets treats after she goes potty. I like to spoil my sweet little baby.” I bend down as Sassy runs over, then starts jumping and licking my face.“Yes, you are my sweet baby girl.”
Tyler rolls his eyes.
“Hey, don’t even. She slept in your bed when you lived here, and you spoiled her more than I did!”
He laughs. “Maybe, but I don’t let her lick me in the mouth. That’s just gross.”
I keep my comments to myself and turn to Archer. “Want to see my room now? It’s where all the magic happens.”
Tyler nearly chokes as I lead Archer past him. If my brother wants to push my buttons, I’ll make sure to return the favor.
“Excuse the mess. I really like clothes and shoes,” I tell him as he follows me to my bathroom. “The tub’s pretty great after a long day at work. I can only imagine how much of a hard-ass your boss is gonna be.”
“I heard that!” Tyler shouts from the kitchen. I can hear a ball bouncing, followed by Sassy’s nails tapping across the hardwood floor. The fact that he’s playing with her makes me smile, especially since he tries to act like such a hard-ass all the time.
After Tyler has nearly cleaned up my entire house and taken out the trash, he checks the time and tells me he needs to get going.
“You gonna be okay here by yourself with her?” he asks Archer, but I’m not entirely sure if he’s joking.
“He will be just fine, big brother. I don’t bite that hard.” I smirk, because my brother’s about to pop a blood vessel.
Tyler looks at Archer. “Call me if she gets out of hand and you need to be rescued.”
“You act like I’m going to make an Archer voodoo doll or something. We’ll be just fine,” I reply, then face my new roommate. “I’ll show you my doll of Tyler later.”
Archer chuckles, clearly amused by our antics, but Tyler is less than impressed.
“Remember what I said,” he warns me, and I wave him off.
“I’ll be here at six to pick you up in the mornin’.”
“Sounds good. Thanks again for everything,” Archer tells him.
“You’re welcome. Bye, y’all. Stay out of trouble, Everleigh.”
“Pfft.” I turn on my heels and grab some meds for my headache.
Once Tyler is gone, I let out a relieved breath. “Well, now that Buzz Killington is gone, are you hungry?”
“I’m okay. You’ve already done so much for me.”
“Nonsense. I’m starving, so I’m gonna make some avocado toast. It’s not a big deal to make you some too.”
“Uh, sure. Never had that before, but I’m willing to try anything once..”
I look over my shoulder at him as I pull the ingredients from the fridge. “Awesome. It’s actually my specialty. Has had men beggin’ for another night.”
He ignores the last comment. “So you like to cook?”
This question makes me snort. “Not really. I can make a few key things, but usually, it’s a frozen meal or a sandwich. Easy stuff.”
“That actually doesn’t sound so bad.”
I meet his eyes and see the same broken expression I saw on Tyler’s face when he was released. Archer’s mysterious and polite, and I’m drawn to him in a way I’ve never really experienced before. I have this urge to protect him at all costs, though he probably doesn’t need it.