Those women would probably claw her eyes out if they knew she had seen him naked once, had witnessed him in all his glory, could have drunk her fill of his honed muscles and maybe done more than that if she had accepted his offer to skinny-dip in the lake with him.
The thought of swimming in pitch-black water under a moonless sky and not knowing what else was in there with her had been enough to keep her on the shore.
Archer raked his dark eyes over her, a flicker of a frown dancing on his brow before he relaxed again. “How are you doing? Cleared for action?”
Evelyn touched her side through her black T-shirt and grimaced. “Still a little sore. I’m not sure why I’m taking so long to heal. It’s not like me.”
The doctors had always been fascinated by how quickly she could heal any wound she picked up in the field, and sometimes they had looks in their eyes that unnerved her and made her wary of them. The sort of looks they gave the guests held in the pens downstairs.
So she was worried that it was taking her months to heal, even when the doctors she had seen at her regular check-ups had assured her that it was normal to take a long time to fully recover from a wound like this. The wound was in a spot that was easily aggravated by her moving and there had been extensive tissue damage. Enough that the surgeons who had patched her up had told her countless times she was lucky to be alive.
She wouldn’t have been if not for Archer.
Archer sat up and brushed her hand away from her right side, lifted her T-shirt and didn’t hesitate to sweep his fingers over the still-pink scar on her skin just above the waist of her trousers. That earned him a few gasps from their audience and her a few death looks.
It wasn’t her fault that Archer didn’t operate in the same way most men did. He had never been backwards about doing this sort of thing. It didn’t even seem to register that it wasn’t the done thing for a man to just bare a woman’s skin and touch her. Sometimes, she had the feeling he was nothing like other men.
His fingers were warm against her flesh and seemed to grow hotter as they paused over the scar.
“You need at least a few more days rest. Maybe a couple of weeks. This should be healed by now.” His hand dropped from her side and he sat back in his chair again and tossed her an unimpressed look. “You’ve been ignoring the docs again when they tell you to relax and take it easy, haven’t you?”
She tensed.
Rumbled.
Archer had caught her fair and square, and the edge his dark eyes gained said he wasn’t happy about it.
He sighed.
“It doesn’t take a genius to see you’ve been hitting the gym, Evelyn. Water bottle. Damp T-shirt. Flushed skin. You’re only hindering your recovery.” He glanced at the mouse and looked as if he wanted to take hold of it and continue his work, a few tense seconds passing before he looked back at her. “I’m worried you’re pushing yourself too hard. Take the time to heal.”
“It’s been months already,” she snapped, the frustration of being stuck inside HQ for all that time getting to her. She didn’t like being short with Archer, but the inaction grated on her, had her going out of her mind. “I’m ready to get back out there.”
“It wouldn’t have been months if you had followed doctors’ orders and rested until you had completely recovered.” Archer looked at the screen and grabbed the mouse, scrolled down a little.
“I have been resting!” She glared at him, her hackles rising as she tugged her T-shirt down to cover the scar. “It was just a little gym time. I didn’t want to get out of shape.”
He lifted his gaze back to her.
There was an accusation in that look—a look that set her on edge and had her easing back a little.
“What?” she murmured, a feeling that he knew more than he was letting on rolling through her.
Archer shifted his gaze back to the screen. “Marty snitched on you.”
“Son of a bitch!” she barked and then scowled at the other occupants of the room when they all glared at her.
She turned her frown on Archer.
He smiled easily. “Do you really think I don’t have spies everywhere?”
Evelyn huffed, planted her backside against the edge of the desk beside him and pouted at the servers. “I should’ve known he would tell on me. Fine, I did go out. I was going crazy being stuck inside and I needed some air. Marty swore he wouldn’t tell anyone if I went on one patrol with him.”
Archer rapped a knuckle against the screen, his gaze fixed on her face. “You knew he would have to file a report the moment you got into it with that vampire.”
“The vampire had it coming.” She pulled a face at him, could practically see her shot at getting out of this damned building slipping through her grasp as Archer’s unimpressed look shifted towards anger.
“And some might say you had it coming too.” He jerked his head towards her side, his eyes darkening. “You opened it up pretty good according to Marty.”
Evelyn folded her arms across her chest and made a mental note to make Marty pay for including everything in his damned report. Marty knew how protective Archer was of her and that he would find that report and come down hard on her about this. It was the reason she had wanted to keep it secret from him.
But apparently Archer was right and nothing got past him.
“If Marty had been more help, maybe I wouldn’t have reopened the wound.” Did she look as pouty as she sounded? She mentally waved goodbye to all thoughts of hitting the streets, her hope dying a swift death as Archer gave her that look.
The one that said she wasn’t going to be bending him around her little finger this time.
He patted the seat beside him. “Come do some research with me.”
Evelyn let her head fall back on an exasperated groan. “Not research. Anything but research!”
She let her head fall forwards again and slumped over, her arms dropping to dangle between her thighs and her will to live bleeding from her as she thought about sitting in front of a computer screen, poring over boring documents and sifting through reports. She curled her lip and looked over her shoulder at his screen.
It was filled with a long list of reports.
“Ugh. No thanks. What are you researching anyway?” She scanned the titles of the reports, trying to figure it out before he could answer.
“Witches. Magic.” He casually pushed his glasses up with his index finger as his dark gaze drifted over the screen.
The same thing he was always researching.
Evelyn sighed and nudged his shoulder. “Come on patrol. Getting some fresh air and stretching your legs will be good for you. You’ll only get a flat butt if you insist on sitting around all the time.”
He scowled at her, the black slashes of his eyebrows meeting hard. “I have to remind you I only just got back from Hell? I’ve not been sitting on my backside. You have.”
She grumbled about that.
Archer shook his head and went back to his reports. “Not going to happen. You need to rest.”
“No.” She snatched the mouse from him and refused to give it back even when he levelled a black look on her. She smiled sweetly. “I haven’t seen you in forever. I thought maybe we could catch up while we patrolled.”
His dark eyes narrowed, his broad mouth flattening as the corners turned downwards. She tensed as seconds trickled past, the way he scrutinised her making her painfully aware of him and that he was on to her.