The fact Archer shares a name with that family is a dread I never knew I could feel. But to be married to that family, to be legally tied to them… horrifying.
“We have to go to work.” Pushing off the couch with a groan, Archer stands tall and makes his way closer so I can finish his last two buttons. “I’ll swing by and grab Fletch, then we’re going back to see Henry. Then the sister. Then we’ll try Hillary DuPree, the supposed best friend whom Holly loved but Lacey hates.”
“And I’ll be on standby if you decide to dig her up. We have staff ready to go, you just need to hand me the signed order. And if that’s not the way you guys run this, that’s fine too. I’ll be busy with the storage boxes that need to be organized, and an overflowing inbox, since I’m still catching up after my time off.”
“You don’t do your nails.”
I frown and glance down as Archer takes my hands. “What?”
“You don’t go out and get pretty nails like most other women.”
“Are you trying to change me already?” I yank my hands free and circle back to get my coffee. “You were into the primped and preened, beautiful types before me, Malone. But you knew what you were getting when we got married.”
“I’m no—”
“I don’t want to spend my time in a salon. I don’t want to be added to your little black book asMinka with the shiny nails. I don’t want glitters—I’m not allowed, anyway, because of my work. I don’t want pink hair. I don’t want microbladed anything, and when we go out,” I bring my coffee up and suck down a scalding mouthful, “I don’t want to pay someone to do my makeup! I won’t be one of those beautiful women, Archer, and I’m not—”
“Zero to a fuckin’ hundred.” He shakes his head as he starts around the couch. “Swear to god, you go from zero to a hundred in a single second.” Stopping in front of me, he takes my left hand again and holds it up to study my unadorned fingers. “If you’d let me finish, I would’ve said you don’t wear jewelry either.”
“Oh… well…” I frown. “No, I don’t.”
“But you’re married now.” Leaning in with a teasing smile, he presses a kiss to the finger on which I would otherwise wear a wedding ring. “You’re married, and apart from a single length of string you already took off, you don’t have anything to show for it.”
“I have you.” I gaze up into his beautiful green eyes. “I have a husband I get to sleep next to every single night, I have a cat I’m not particularly fond of, and I have that piece of string, hidden in a little treasure box in my closet, with everything else I consider special.”
“Would you wear a ring if we bought one?”
In his pocket, his phone chirps with a tone I know all too well.
It took me a while to realize he has different songs set up for different people. Dispatch gets its own, while Fletch gets another. Aubree gets something soft and sweet, and I getPeaches and Creamby 112.
“Minka?”
When I don’t respond, he asks again. “Would you wear something if I bought it for you?”
“Aren’t you going to answer that? Fletch might need you.”
With a roll of his eyes, he accepts his call and brings the phone to his ear, but he steps around and bites the back of my neck simply to make me jump. Then he herds me toward the door. “Yeah, Fletch?”
I don’t hear the other side of the call, but it’s clearly not an emergency, considering Archer doesn’t run. He bumps me through the door after I grab my bag and keys, then into the hall and onto the stairs.
“I’m heading out now,” he tells his partner. “From Minka’s place.” Then to me, he adds, “We need to decide where we’ll live and which apartment we’ll give up.”
“Why?” I slowly make my way down in heels thatclick, click, clickon the concrete with each step. “I like that we have two spaces.”
He snorts. “Married people don’t do that. Also, married people wear jewelry on their fingers, so think about that for a minute.” Then back to Fletch. “Meet us at the bar if you want. I figure we should drop back in at Henry’s and see how he feels about digging up Holly’s body. If there’s something for the docs to find, then he’ll panic and refuse exhumation. If he’s cool with it, then we have more reason to look at someone other than him. If we get her out of the ground and everything’s toot sweet, then we’ve solved our case and we can move along. Either way, we’re no longer running in circles.”
“Toot sweet was intended as a hurry along,” I mumble, remembering back to my childhood, when television was my babysitter. “The movie wasChitty Chitty Bang Bang, and they meant it like,let’s go, tout suite. You’ve misused the phrase, Archer.”
“Shush up.” He brings his playful gaze to mine. “Toot sweet.”
“Telling me to shush when you’re proven wrong is both immature and lacking in integrity. And no, I don’t think a wedding ring is practical for our work. Perhaps a necklace, or a talisman we keep in our pockets, but not a ring. Also, I think we should keep my apartment, since it’s bigger than yours, and it comes with Steve.”
I step off the final stair and find the handsomely ruffled man in question standing by the front door in a bottle-green cardigan and dress pants that come with a perfect crease down the front.
Steve’s not going anywhere today; his job is to keep our building chugging and his tenants happy. But that doesn’t mean he’ll look dowdy while doing it.
While Archer finishes his call, I step straight into Steve’s open arms and accept the warm hug he gives.