“The hell if I know. One minute I am trying to build a house for the family that I don’t fucking have anymore. The next, I’m catching you as you fall off a roof. And then right after that we’re yelling at each other, and then sort of getting to know one another. And I’m baring my soul to you, and then we’re fucking on my kitchen floor. How the hell does all that happen?”
Archer just blinked at me, then moved past, and I ignored the woodsy scent of him as he reached into the fridge, grabbed two beers, and popped their tops off.
“I think we need this.”
“I’m good with that.”
I clinked my bottle to his, and he raised a brow before I took a big gulp of mine. The hoppy brew slid down my throat and I sighed, then followed Archer into the living room.
He patted the cushion next to him on the couch, and I sank down into the dark leather, relaxing.
“Maybe I should get a couch like this.”
“You don’t have much in the ways of furniture except for the bed you said you got for Cora. This is a comfortable couch.”
“Maybe I’ll add it to my list.”
“How long is your list at this point?” Archer asked.
“You don’t want to know.”
Archer shook his head. “That’s the problem. I think I do want to know. Because if you’re here to apologize and for us to talk, maybe we should.”
“You want to talk about my to-do list?” I asked, feeling as lost as ever.
“Maybe. Or just anything. Like, what is your last name.”
I blinked and looked at him. “You don’t know my last name?
“No. Does that make me the whore?” Archer asked, fluttering his eyelashes.
I narrowed mine. “Don’t do that. Don’t call yourself that.”
“I was teasing. I don’t think of myself that way.”
I swallowed hard, my heart still racing. “Hart. My last name is Hart.”
Archer smiled at me, then he swallowed hard, and I watched the way his throat worked. “It’s a good name. A little ironic and on the nose.”
“I can’t help it. I was born with it.”
“How do you spell it?”
“H-A-R-T. No E. Not the actual heart.”
“So. You’re here.”
“Yeah. I am. I don’t know what’s happening, Archer. I don’t know what I want, other than I’ve been on that mountain for three years, trying to hide from or find something in fucking life. And the moment that I see you, I’m suddenly speaking again and growling and cursing, but I’m talking to you.”
Archer smiled then, and it went right to my chest. “I feel like you did the same to me, just in a much more subtle way, since I’m not coming from the same abyss as you.”
I shook my head, then reached out and gripped his hand. We both looked startled at the touch, but I didn’t let go. “I’m sorry. For downplaying anything that you’re going through.”
“I’m sorry for thinking that I’m the center of the universe when there’s more going on out there than me getting dumped and feeling like shit because of the way he treated me.”
“I feel like I should find this ex of yours and punch him.”
Archer just smiled and took a sip of his beer. “My siblings would be in line before you. I’m just saying.”