Accidentally on Purpose (Heartbreaker Bay #3)(53)

Dammit. She hated when that happened.

It didn’t matter. She’d been in worse spots before, far worse, and she’d managed to pick herself up. This time would be no different. Yes, maybe a mistake had been made, a big one, but she’d learn from it if it killed her.

The way she saw it, she had only one choice here, if she wanted to save any face at all. She would gather her dignity the best she could, give him a kickass smile and walk right out the door, playing it as cool as he always did.

Her heart started pounding again at the thought, but she fixed her hair and slid a finger beneath each eye, sweeping away the smudged mascara. Without her purse, she couldn’t do anything about the bare lips and suddenly she felt more naked than she had without a single stitch of anything on her except Archer’s body.

Since that thought made her inner thighs quiver in memory, she turned away from the mirror, took a deep breath, and walked out of the bathroom and back into Archer’s office, heading straight for the door.

Archer was dressed and back to his inscrutable self. “Hey,” he said with a smile. He had his cell phone out. “I’m going to order us some food. What do you feel like?”

A mess. She felt like a mess. “Can’t,” she said.

His smile faded. “Don’t run off, Elle. Give this a shot. Give us a shot.”

Her heart just about stopped. “Us?” she asked in shock. “There is no us. There’s a you. And there’s a me. And okay, so sometimes we get crazy and become a very momentary us but it’s not real.”

“It could be,” he said.

She gaped at him, completely gobsmacked. “You pushed me away for a year.”

“I was wrong.”

She shook her head, unable to process this. “So now what, we live happily ever after?”

“Depends on you. What do you want?”

What did she want? Had he lost his marbles? “Okay,” she said slowly. “I thought you were kidding but now you’re scaring me because I don’t think you are.”

“I’m not.”

Who was he and what had he done with Archer? “Is this so we can keep having time-outs that involve naked time?”

“God, I hope so.” He barely caught her when she whirled for the door. “Elle, wait. I’m serious.”

She searched his gaze. “You expect me to believe your feelings changed just like that?”

“Well not just like that.” He flashed a smile. “You wore me down over time.”

“This isn’t funny, Archer.”

“You’re right, it’s not. You need time and we have that. Take all you need. You free tonight?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll pick you up,” he said. “We’ll try the date thing.”

Her phone rang and she looked down at it. It was maintenance, reminding her she had a meeting with them. “I have to take this.”

“It’s okay.” Archer leaned in and kissed her gently. “After work, Elle,” he murmured, and then he walked out of his office, giving her some space.



Elle locked herself in her office, brain going a hundred miles an hour. She paced the small space, unable to decide on a feeling. Shock and panic worked, she decided. She purposely changed gears to problem number two by pulling out her phone and sending a text to Morgan.

Meet me at O’Riley’s in fifteen minutes.



Forget Archer and the fact that he knew her better than anyone else. Forget the amazing orgasms or how he always had her back. She needed to forget all of it for a few minutes and give herself some breathing room.

Instead she’d concentrate on her sister. If anyone was going to help Morgan, dammit, it’d be her. She headed downstairs.

“Hungry?” Finn asked when he saw her.

“Starving.”

“What do you want?”

“Everything you’ve got,” she said as she slid onto a stool next to an already seated Morgan.

“Worked up an appetite today, huh?” Finn asked.

If he only knew . . .

Morgan laughed. “Used to be, she was always hungry. It was like she was hollow.”

True story. Living as they had, three squares hadn’t always been part of the program. There’d been long stretches of time when they’d lived off apples, peanut butter, and Top Ramen.

And just like that, she suddenly wasn’t hungry anymore. “Maybe just some tea to start.” She turned to Morgan. “Okay, let’s have it. What is it you really want?”

“I already told you. I wanted to see you.”

“And?”

“And . . . I was hoping you’d give me references, and maybe help me get on my own feet with a place,” Morgan admitted quietly. “But when you weren’t interested, Archer became my Plan B.”

“Archer isn’t your Plan B,” Elle said. “You need to leave him out of this.”

Morgan reached for the drink in front of her and took a leisurely sip. “You know, it’s amazing how potatoes give us chips, fries, and vodka. It’s like get your shit together, every other vegetable, you know?”

Elle narrowed her eyes, wrapped her hand around Morgan’s wrist, and brought the glass under her nose for a sniff.

“It’s 7UP on the rocks,” Morgan said.