“Oh, you have a cat?” Archer takes my hand and yanks me close to his side, then he glances toward one, two, three cats taking a shit in the middle of the room. “Probably need to buy kitty litter, bro.”
Clapping Tim on the shoulder, Arch turns us and leads me down the stairs. Around a corner and then down another flight. “What the fuck?” he whispers just as soon as we’re far enough away. “Did you do any of that?”
“Nuh-uh. Cops won’t find my fingerprints on a single thing except the exterior door handle.” I look across and smile. “Not my first burglary.”
He wheezes as we exit the bar and step into my building instead. “She’s fucking crazy.”
“She called him a pussy,” I murmur, like it’s a secret that’ll get me killed. “She called Timothy Malone a pussy.”
“Risky move,” he sniggers. “Now she’s gonna pay for her screwup. But you and me?” He crushes me close to his side and presses a noisy kiss to my temple as we make our way up the stairs. “We’re going to bed. And you’re going to sleep. Because your eyes are about to fall outta your face.”
I flatten my lips in disapproval, even while sliding my hand into his back pocket. “It’s not polite to tell a woman she looks tired.”
“No?” He brings us to my front door and unlocks it with a fast snick of a key in the lock. “Funny, because I’m really fucking certain it’s my job to make sure you’re fed and rested.”
Leading me inside, he kicks the door shut and whacks the lock to make sure it turns over. Then he flips the lights out and steers me into the hall.
“I’m gonna check my texts, since I’m waiting to hear back from Fletch. You’re going to take a shower and chill the fuck out. Then we’re going to bed.” He drops another kiss on my lips before tapping my ass and sending me toward the bathroom. “If I’m lucky, I’ll be done with Fletch in time to join you in the shower.”
“It concerns me that you could talk to Fletch one second, then have a boner the next.” I stop at the door to the bathroom and glance back with a teasing smile. “Exactlyhow close are you two?”
His face hardens. His smile drops, and his jaw clenches. Then he shakes his head. “You just had to go and make it fucking weird. Dammit, Mayet!” He tosses the phone to the couch and dashes into the hall. “Let’s skip steps and get straight to the boner.”
With a squeal of delight, I charge into the bathroom and flip the taps on. Before I get a chance to peal my clothes off, he’s already behind me, his hands on my hips, his cock pressed to my back, and his teeth latched onto my shoulder.
My squeal turns into a groan of pleasure, and that’s how we bring another day to an end.
ARCHER
Walking into the station the next morning, I drop by our desks and nudge Fletch’s foot as I pass. Grabbing his attention, I keep on moving and don’t stop again until he follows me into the war room.
“Morning, hoss.” He closes the door at his back and shucks off his jacket. “Quiet night last night.”
“We needed the sleep.” I tack scans of Melissa’s brain to our board and stand back to study them. I’m no doctor, and I have no fucking clue what they mean, but Minka gave them to me over breakfast this morning and promised answers before lunch. “Doctors have found something.”
“What?” He comes around the table and stops with his arms folded and his shoulder touching mine. He narrows his eyes, like that’ll help him read CT scans easier. “I don’t know what that means.”
“Neither do the M.E.s, but they’re saying it appears Melissa may have had a medical condition no one knew about.” I look across at him. “Minka said something weird is going on. She’s gonna push the lab today for answers. But in the meantime…”
“What?” he asks. “She’s leaning toward natural causes?”
“No. But why would Melissa have a medical condition that requires certain meds that leave a shadow on her brain, but her medical records have no mention of it?”
At that, his eyes flash wider. “Killer overdosed her on something? Poisoned her?”
“Could be. Minka’s gonna figure it out this morning, even if she has to run the tests herself.” Turning away from the board, I face Fletch. “Got yourself a new nanny? She seems your type.”
He snorts and steps away, circling the desk and heading back to the chair he’s already claimed as his own. “She’s my type, alright. Hot, willing. She touched my cock and promised me a good time, all within minutes of meeting.”
“Well, shit.” I pick up a file on my side of the table. Flicking it open, I hope for inspiration. For something that’ll lead me to where we have to go. “She’s exactly your type. You got laid last night?”
“I did.” He sits back in his chair and clicks his pen. “Twice, actually.”
“So Mia’s with her today?”
“Nope.” He tosses the pen down and drops his elbows to the table. “Moo’s in daycare again, because Lori was more interested in fucking the guy who would be her boss. When she wasn’t talking dick, she was telling me how unavailable she was for working hours, and when meeting Mia, she looked at her so little that, at the end when she was walking away, she said goodbye to the wrong kid.”
He shakes his head and snags a file from the top of the pile. “Made her perfect for one night. But she’s not gonna spend time with my daughter. Talk to me about this medication or whatever Melissa was on.”