Page 185 of My Ruthless Neighbor

“Keep Archer out of it.” I glower at him.

“Keep me out of what?” The group fall quiet as I feel him at my back.

“Nothing.” I squeak and try to escape but stumble. Archer clutches my upper arms.

The teasing “oohs” and “aahs” from the group make me blush hard.

“Boss!” Brielle grins as she looks over my shoulder at Archer. “Are you guys dating?”

He pulls me at his side. “What do you think?”

My head whips up and I find him already staring at me.

The entire floor goes crazy after that. Am I dreaming? Did Archer subtly claim me as his in front of his employees? Damn.

I thought he’d be angry at the rumors about us. I never imagined him to be so cool about it.

“All right, enough. Get to work.” He orders. Then leave but not before giving my arm one last squeeze.

???

“How does it feel?” I ask Archer the following night as I work on a knot in his shoulders.

He makes a sound that tells me he likes what I am doing. It’s strange that I understand his moods based on the sounds he makes.

Archer is not talkative like me but he is an expert in expressing himself through a single arch of his eyebrow or a simplehmm. Like now.

We are at his place. We had sex a while ago and are hanging out.

He is shirtless and currently sitting on the rug with his back pressed against the side of the bed, working on his laptop. And I am perched on the bed Indian style, massaging his neck and shoulders.

I love this. Us. He likes to spend time with me outside of sex.

We fit together like two pieces of a puzzle. He is silence to my loquacious. Peace to my chaos. Ying to my yang.

He listens to me going on and on without any complains. And I don’t get pissed at his silent treatment anymore. I find it comforting.

Goldie emerges from his walk-in closet with his gray tie in his mouth. “You should lock your closet when we are around,” I grumble and move to get the tie from him but Archer grabs my hand.

I watch with round eyes as Goldie walks over him and flops down beside Archer.

Without taking his eyes off the laptop screen, he holds out a hand, Goldie drops the chewed wet tie on his palm. As a reward, Archer pets him, scratching at his favorite spots. Goldie revels under his attentions, his ears bending backwards.

Leaning down, I wrap my arms around his neck and press a kiss to his temple.

“My baby likes you a great deal.”

“Yeah?” he stops typing and turns his head to look at me.

“Mm-hmm.” I kiss his nose.

“What about his mama?”

“Oh, she’s still on the fence about it.”

He raises a brow. “Is that right?”

“Yeah.” My heart does that free fall again when he smiles at me.

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