Still, I tried to hide my grin as I peered up at Archer. "Well, you have me alone now," I told him. "What do you want to do with me?"
He groaned, his body crushing against mine harder. "So, so many things, Kate, you have no idea." His lips came down on mine again with a crash, and I let him devour me.
Just when I thought things were getting good, he stopped and cupped a hand at the base of my skull. "I do need to introduce you to our guys, though. They're going to be living here for at least a week to sort out our security and run extensive checks on Sampson's team. Also to try and weed out Trevor, wherever the hell he ended up."
I pouted. "So... you didn't drag me up here to fuck me?"
A grin crept across his lips, and he kissed me again, but quickly and not letting me push it further. "I wish," he murmured, his voice pained. "But your safety comes first. Let's go."
Linking our hands back together, Archer led me out of his room and headed for the master suite wing. I pouted the whole way, and when he glanced over at me, he barked a laugh.
"Stop it, Princess," he scolded me gently. "I thought you needed a break after yesterday, anyway."
I grinned, remembering how sore I'd been before going to sleep. I was fine now, though, so...
We reached the double doors to the master suite, and Archer pushed them open without knocking. Rude, yes, but then it was his house, I supposed.
"D'Ath," one of the room's occupants greeted him, not even glancing up from the laptop he was working on. He sat on one of the single beds, his back against the wall and his computer in his lap. "This her?"
"Madison Kate," Archer corrected, his tone sharp. "Yes, it is. Kate, this is Leon." He indicated to the guy on the laptop, who looked up at me with a quick, curious glance. He was maybe in his late twenties, his head shaved and tattoos covering his arms all the way to his fingertips. A set of square-framed reading glasses perched on his nose, totally at odds with his whole gangster image.
"Hi," I said, giving him a small wave. Leon jerked a nod, his gaze already back on his computer and his fingers flying over the keys.
"Good to meet you, Madison Kate," he said, sounding distracted. "You've got a hell of a mess on your hands, huh?"
I bit my lip. I had no idea how to respond to that. "Um, yep. That's one way to put it."
The corner of his mouth tugged into a smile, but he didn't look up again. Whatever he was working on, it must have been important.
"This is Danny," Archer said as someone came out of the en suite bathroom. My brows shot up, and I ran my gaze over Danny, which I was going to guess was short for Danielle.
"Hey." The girl came over to us with her hand extended. "You must be Madison Kate. Nice to meet you."
Her hair was tightly braided and a fascinating shade of silver, and she seemed to be roughly the same age as Leon—younger than I expected any of these super bad-ass mercenaries to be, but also with more vagina than I'd imagined. What did that say about me that I'd assumed our hired helpers would all be men?
"You too," I murmured. Her grip was impressively firm as I shook her offered hand.
She grinned. "You didn't expect a chick, huh?"
I frowned, searching for the right words. "Um... no? Not that I have a problem with it at all. I'm just at least ninety percent sure everyone has been talking about you like you're all guys."
Danny shrugged. "It happens. I can count the number of women in the organization on one hand, so most jobs are a sausage fest."
Leon snorted a laugh from his bed and shot Danny a look. "Thanks for the visual, Dan."
She smirked back at him. "You're welcome."
"Danny and Leon are working on our security team," Archer told me, his hand on my lower back like he had an unconscious need to touch me. "They're working out whether the missing guard is actually our guy or if he's been killed too."
"Also looking into this blogger chick that has a hard-on for Kody," Leon added, still with his eyes on his computer. "She seems... interesting." A smile tugged at his lips as he said that, and Danny rolled her eyes.
"He means she's hot. He hacked her server and found a whole album of masturbation porn she makes while pretending to be with your boy." She wrinkled her nose. "Classy girl."
Leon shrugged, unapologetic. "I like them a bit fucked in the head. Makes them filthy as hell."
Danny gave me a pointed look. "He also means she has huge tits, and he's very much a boob man."
I bit back a laugh, and Archer gave a sigh.
"Is she a threat, though?" Archer asked, his fingers tracing circles over my lower back. "That's all we really care about."
Leon shook his head. "Nah, I doubt it. She probably needs some hardcore therapy for her obsession with Kody, but otherwise she appears harmless."
"But," Danny added with a glare at Leon. "We will still be paying her a visit to shut down her blog site."
That information shifted a bit of weight off my shoulders, and I gave Danny a grateful smile. "Thanks for that."
The silver-blonde woman smiled back. "It's what you're paying us to do."
Archer checked his watch. "Sampson should have the rest of his team here in about half an hour, and Anna is cooking dinner for you both. She won't accept no as an answer, so haul ass down to the dining room around seven, alright?"
"Yes sir," Leon shot back, giving a small salute.
"Nice meeting you, Madison Kate," Danny said. "I'm sure we can get your security breach plugged up in no time."
Archer and I left the room, leaving them to carry on with their work, and headed back downstairs.
"They seem nice," I commented.
He gave me a quick grin. "Nice. I don't think they'd get described as nice very often. Those two have more blood on their hands than Kody, Steele, and I combined."
I winced. "Seriously?" Because that was a lot of blood. Danny had seemed like a normal woman, albeit a feisty, well-toned one. Leon came off as a regular, ink-enthusiast computer nerd.
Archer gave me a smile, then caught my chin with his fingers. "They're the best for a reason, Princess. If anyone can sort out our security breach, it's those two. And who knows, maybe they'll catch us a stalker while they're here."
"That'd be nice," I agreed, then closed the distance between us to kiss him. "Thank you for this."
A frown of confusion creased his brow. "For what?"
I shrugged. "This. Hiring these mercenaries to overhaul our security. For building a safe room in the basement and furnishing it just in case. For, I dunno, taking this all so seriously. My stalker had been sending shit to me for fuck knows how long and my dad didn't give two shits, but you do. Even when you hated me, you still kept me safe. So thank you."
Archer's eyes searched mine for an extended moment, then he shook his head slowly. "Baby girl, I thought we already cleared this up," he whispered, his thumb brushing over my lower lip. "I never hated you. Even if you hadn't forgiven me for what I did, I'd still do everything imaginable to keep you safe. I won't stop until these threats are eliminated for good, Kate. On that you have my promise."