Page 7 of Archer
“Oh my gosh.” I was screwing this up so hard. I finally had my chance to talk to the man I’d been crushing on, and I was acting like an idiot. “Yes.” I shoved the bag, which was clearly marked with the name of the restaurant, into his chest, his very bare chest. Oh nice. The minute I’d drank in his drool-worthy body when he’d opened the door, I’d wondered if his hair was soft or scratchy, and it felt like cotton. I moved the back of my knuckle down, enjoying the softness.
A husky chuckle drew my attention back to his face where he smirked down at me.
“Oh my gosh.” I hopped back, taking his dinner with me. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what’s gotten into me. That was so rude.”
His smile grew. “No problem. What man doesn’t like to feel appreciated?”
Uhh. Had my dreams been answered? Was he gay? He had to be. Between staring at me through the window of the studio and the smirk on his face from me feeling him up, there was no way he was straight. Well, I guess he could be comfortable with his masculinity. I gulped and looked away. My brain was spinning, and I couldn’t find words.
He held out his hand. “I’ll take that.”
“Yeah, sorry.” Where was my normal cool? Okay, I wasn’t actually ever cool, per se. But I liked to think I had a little more game than this. Seeing him on the other side of that door, half naked, had flustered me.
As I held the bag out, his hand covered mine instead of gripping the plastic. “Aren’t you one of the yoga instructors at Harmony and Joy?”
I nodded like a bobblehead. “Future owner,” I blurted.
He quirked his eyebrow, and the scowl I was used to seeing on his face reappeared. “Then why are you delivering food?”
I shrugged. “Like I said, future owner. I’m still trying to buy the brand from my friend, Aziza. You might have seen her before. Willowy Black women with braids. She’s built quite a brand in town, and she’s selling it to me. She’s moving to Florida, and I want to start making payments or something sooner than later, so…” I trailed off, realizing he hadn’t asked me for my life story. So much for hoping he’d be interested in me or even maybe attend one of my classes. He was probably questioning Aziza’s life choices to sell to such a space cadet.
He narrowed his eyes and studied my face. “Unless I’m mistaken, when I passed by to go to my darkroom early this morning, the light was already on in the yoga studio. Don’t you have early morning clients?”
Dark room? In the building? Color me intrigued. “We, well, I guess I do.”
The tilt of his head was barely noticeable. “So you were there?”
The warmth of his hand covering mine was distracting me, as was my curiosity about this dark room, so I nodded absently.
His fingers tightened slightly around mine. “And now you’re delivering food tonight?”
“Mhm.” I glanced down at the big strong hand wrapped around me and wished I could turn my hand over and clasp them together without dropping the bag. I couldn’t, so I wouldn’t, and he’d probably think it was weird anyway. Although, in my defense, I’d never had a customer hold onto me like this before.
His gaze followed mine, and he cleared his throat. He released me and gripped the other edge of the plastic bag. “Thank you.”
Stepping back into the middle of the hall, I waved awkwardly—again—because, apparently, this was something I did now. “You’re welcome. Enjoy your dinner,” I said, skimming my eyes back down his body quickly to memorize every detail of the muscles laying below his golden skin.
“I’m sure I will.” He began closing the door, then hesitated. “Are you almost done for the day?”
Frowning, I shook my head. “Na. You were my first order tonight, so I should probably give it another couple of hours.”
He growled softly. At least, that was what it sounded like, but that didn’t make any sense. Why would he care about my work schedule? Feeling a little self-conscious and uncertain under his blatant scrutiny, I began side-stepping toward the elevator. “Uh. Guess I’ll see you around.”
Expecting him to agree and close the door, I was surprised when he leaned out into the hall. His mouth twitched from side-to-side before he finally said, “Be careful tonight and get some sleep,” in a sharp tone.
Now most people would’ve probably thought he was kind of a dick or that he should mind his own business, but half of what had attracted me in the first place was his grumpy demeanor. I had all kinds of fun ideas on how to turn his frown upside down, but in this case, his words warmed something inside of me. Ihadn’t shared my master plan with anyone, so no one, not even my brother, knew how much I was working outside of the studio or how exhausted I was. Even though I didn’t know…
Stopping short, I said, “My name is Crispin, by the way.”Ugh. I wanted to facepalm. Why was I being so weird? “You know, in case we run into each other again in the building.”
The edges of his lips tipped up at the corners. “I’m Archer. It’s very nice to meet you, Crispin.”
“You, too.”Eek. I finally had a name for my fantasy man. Not wanting him to see the goofy smile on my face, I turned and, with a little skip to my step, headed down the hall. As I rounded the corner, I glanced back, surprised to see Archer in all his magnificence still standing there watching me leave. Well, well, well… maybe I hadn’t made as big a fool of myself as I thought.
Chapter 4
Archer
I didn’t have any shoots scheduled for today, so I’d had all day to work on edits. I went down to Luxe for a cup of coffee and one of the amazing muffins they served in the mornings. It was a nice day out, so today, I decided to sit at one of the small tables under the awning in front of the bistro.