****
He knew it.
The second Archie saw Annalise and Vinny in the kitchen, he knew he’d gone and opened his big mouth. Archie told his friend that sharing a woman wasn’t realistic and to put the thought out of his head. Vinny was proposing some twisted ménage relationship where all four of them lived happily ever after and Annalise had no qualms about fucking three cowboys.
It was a fantasy. Nothing more.
Now he expected Vinny had ruined everything. By the tension in the room, Annalise was probably ready to walk.
“It was an accident. I don’t blame Vinny.”
“So he did say something?”
She shrugged. “He was just talking out loud. Remembering dumb things you all did when you were teens.”
Archie wondered what Vinny had said. How much had he revealed about their fucked-up lives? Some things were better kept in the past where they belonged. The last thing he wanted was for Annalise to think less of him or judge him for his past.
“He needs to learn to keep his mouth shut. I can’t even count how many times he’s made a mess of things by saying too much.”
“You all were close.”
“Still are,” he said. “Not everything was bad. He has his good qualities.” Archie remembered the many times they’d only had each other to lean on. Vinny was a lightning bolt, a hot wire. He’d follow them to hell if he thought they were in trouble. “I was a runt in high school. Vinny got suspended more than once beating up guys who picked on me.”
“You were a runt?”
“Sometimes bad experiences are the catalyst for change.” He’d packed on muscle after having a late growth spurt. Years of working on the ranch and hitting the home gym made him unrecognizable from the skinny kid he was in his youth. Many of those deep-seated insecurities still remained, no matter how much he’d remade himself as an adult.
He didn’t feel worthy.
Annalise was too damn good for a scrap like him.
“Well, you’ve done well,” she said. “I never would have known.”
The way her gaze roved up and down his body made his cock harden in his jeans. He didn’t need this right now. Archie was trying to be the voice of reason, but now he was sinking as low as Vinny. His thoughts were in the gutter. He blamed his friend for putting these twisted thoughts in his head.
“I just wish I’d had the ability to protect myself when I was a kid, you know?” He scrubbed a hand over his face. God, he was a fucking downer. “But no need to dwell on the past.”
“I don’t mind listening,” she said. “It’s nice. I’m not used to having anyone to talk to.”
“You have all of us.”
She smiled, but it wasn’t happy. “I know, but I work for you. There’s a line I know not to cross. I’m good at keeping professional, so you never have to worry.”
Archie frowned. He didn’t want a robot working for them, but he also knew he wanted more from her than just cooking and cleaning. How would he survive living with Annalise underfoot without screwing up? Vinny had even less willpower than he did.
“I don’t mind. We’re not assholes. I mean, you live here, too. Is it so wrong to be friends?”
“What kind of friends?” she asked. “Foursome friends?”
He felt the color leach from his face.
This time her smile reached her eyes. “I’m just joking.”
Archie laughed along with her, but deep down, there had been a smidge of hope. Vinny’s fantasy was getting under his skin.
He leaned over the counter and beckoned her closer with a finger. When she was close enough he could smell her subtle perfume, he whispered, “Don’t take Vinny too seriously. He speaks before he thinks. I don’t want him to upset you.”
“You don’t have to worry, Archie. I’m a good judge of character.”
She did work at the diner for years. A lot of different characters probably passed through. But she wasn’t that good at judging because she couldn’t read him. He yearned for her, felt like a rider constantly pulling on the horse’s reins. What would her skin feel like? How soft were those curves of hers?
How long could he play the nice guy before he fucked up a good thing? Vinny would probably be the one to send her running first.
“I wanted to ask you something,” he said. Archie was pulling at straws, trying to think of any reason to stay close to her just a little bit longer.
“Okay.”
Damn, her innocence was a turn-on. She looked up at him with those big doe eyes while he was thinking the most unholy of thoughts.
“Next month is Gabe’s birthday,” he blurted out.
Her mouth fell agape. “What? Really?”
He shrugged. “It’s kind of a secret because he hates the thought of growing older. He’s already five years older than me and Vinny.”
“Oh. No celebrating?”
She sounded so disappointed, and that wasn’t his intention. “I was hoping you could help me make a cake. A nice homemade one. He loves strawberry best.”
Her smile lit up the room. “Yes! I’d love that. We can get the ingredients together. He may not want a fuss, but everyone wants to be remembered, don’t they?”
He nodded. “Yeah, I guess deep down everyone wants to matter to someone.”
Archie had his two friends, and that was it. For a long time, that wasn’t enough. There had been a deep-seated desire for a parent’s love, but that went unfulfilled. The foster system fucked him up in more ways than he cared to imagine.
That was the past.
This was his life now, and lately, he started wondering if he’d ever be satisfied. Annalise made him yearn for more. The status quo with his two friends wasn’t enough. He needed a woman, a family, a future. Just thinking about spreading his wings at this age made him well up with guilt. Gabe and Vinny were all he knew.
“I know exactly what you mean. I’ve spent so many years believing I only amounted to anything if I had someone in my corner,” she said.
“I don’t get it. You’re a Davenport, aren’t you?” As soon as he finished speaking, he remembered what her landlord had said about her stepfather. Maybe things weren’t so rosy in her life after all.
“Yes, I’m a Davenport. It’s just a name. And it’s not really mine at all.”
“What does that mean?” He craved to get closer to her, to heal all her sorrows. Archie felt a soul-deep bond or connection between them, even though they weren’t much more than strangers to each other at this point.
“My mother remarried. Davenport is his name.”
“Don’t like the sound of it?” He was pushing for more and hoped he didn’t cross too many lines.
She started chewing on her lower lip. Normally, he found it sexier than fuck. Right now, it made him sad. “I guess you could say I was the black sheep. He had two daughters and—”
She stopped talking, right in the middle of a sentence. The house felt quiet. Too quiet.
“Annalise?”
After a deep breath, she continued. “I’m sorry. I’m thirty years old. These memories shouldn’t still cut me so deep. I don’t even like to hear that name.”
He reached out and ran a hand over her hair, gently tugging her closer. He kissed her atop the head. “I don’t need to know if it upsets you. I’m all for blocking out the past. It’s all I’ve done.”