Bringing the phone to my ear, I stop on the bottom step of the staircase and turn back to watch Aubree’s genuine smile glitter as she and Steve hug.
“Minnnka.” Archer’s seductive voice slides through my phone and straight into my core. “Everything okay where you are?”
“Yeah. Why wouldn’t everything be okay?”
“Because you’re calling me,” he counters easily. “You safe?”
“Of course. Listen, what am I wearing tonight?”
Finally, I render the man who has a comeback for everything, speechless. “What?”
“My outfit for tonight. Are we going full formal, or yoga pants and a t-shirt?”
“Well… what do you want to wear?”
“Yoga pants,” I answer immediately. “And since we’re on the subject, can we scrap the date completely and stay in instead?”
“Agree to wear nothing the entire evening, and I’ll change our plans so we can stay in.”
“Theentireevening?” I set my briefcase on the stairs and lower to sit while Aubree and Steve chatter and catch up. Never mind they see each other six days out of seven. “I can’t agree to the entire evening, Archer. It would be weird and exceedingly unhygienic to sit on the couch or eat my dinner while naked.”
“Then I guess my original plans stand,” he chuckles low on his breath. “Wear a dress.”
“Like, a gown?” I rest my elbow on my knee and my face in my hand. “Where the hell are we going that I need a gown?”
“Not a gown. A shorter dress. Like, mid-thigh… and heels. No panties.”
“No p—” I stop and scowl. “Excuse me?”
“So I can fuck you a few times before we get home,” he teases. “No point wearing panties if I’m only gonna take them off before the restaurant.”
“Archer—”
“You do you, Minka.” His voice is like a breath during sex. Like a promise and a threat, and a vow to show me a good time in just a few hours. “But I’m gonna take ‘em off again. Either you leave them at home, or I carry them in my pocket and take them out when I want.”
My heart pumps a little faster, and in my stomach, nerves swirl and spin.
Pushing up to stand and leaving Aubree behind, I snag my briefcase and head up the stairs. “I guess I could leave them at home. If it’s going to turn into a thing.”
“It’s definitely gonna be a thing. Where are you right now?”
“In my building, heading up to my apartment. I left work early so I could shower and get dressed.”
“And call me,” he rumbles. “Put me on speaker while you touch yourself in the shower.”
“Archer!”
“What?” He doesn’t care that he pushes, pushes,pushespast my comfort levels. “You’re my fiancée. I’m entitled to this.”
“We’re not engaged,” I hiss under my breath as the sounds of Aubree’s goodbyes to Steve travel up the stairs. “And even if we get married and grow old and are stupid in love, you’re still not entitled to anything I don’t want to give.”
“Mmm. But youdowant to give this to me. You’re just playing the part of the prude. Would it be easier if I were there in the shower with you?”
“Duh.” I climb the stairs and stop in front of my door, then juggling my briefcase and phone, I select the right key and slide it into the lock. “Then I wouldn’t have to wait to hit you. I could do it right there and then.”
He scoffs, while around him, chatter and movement create a constant wall of white noise.
He’s inside his station, sitting in the bullpen with fifty of his closest colleagues while he talks to me with a filthy mouth.