Page 26 of Cascade

“That was really rude,” I tell Archer, shoving him off me.

“Who? Diana? She’s always like that.” He grins and closes his eyes again, hands clutched behind his head as he sprawls on my bed.

“No! You!” He cracks open one eye and looks at me skeptically. “You’re so…brazen.”

Archer laughs and I try not to notice the flutters I feel in my tummy as I observe the way his abs tighten while he chuckles. “Precious, I hate to break it to you, but this is a small town. And I know everyone’s business because I do their taxes.”

“Well I’m not ready to be everyone’s business,” I snap, pulling the sheet up to my neck.

“You don’t have to be,” he says. “As long as you’re my business.” Noticing my stiff demeanor, he turns instead to Oscar, who has been watching us, judging, and Archer starts petting my cat. The traitor begins to purr.

“Oscar never enjoys being petted,” I whine. “How are you doing this?”

“What?” He asks, massaging the skin under Oscar’s chin as my cat nudges up against my…I don’t even know what to call Archer. “How am I making your grouchy-ass cat fall in love with me?”

“Wheedling your way into my life,” I say, and I hit him with a pillow. “I was going to send you atext. You weren’t supposed to come over or be here when my friends call and…” I drift off. None of this is going as planned, and I start feeling out of control. I take a few deep breaths in and out through my nose and think of Pam’s example of blowing a feather.

“Hey,” Archer says, shifting my cat so he’s on my lap, where he stays. For once. “Precious, will you go on a date with me?”

“What kind of date?”

“You’ll love it,” he says, kissing me on the cheek. “We’re gonna throw axes.”

I want to say no to him. I want to remind him that I can’t handle conversations and expectations. But as I remember the way he made me come last night, and then look at him loving on my grumpy cat, I can’t resist. I agree to let him take me out later.

“But you have to let me out of bed so I can go to work,” I tell him, shoving at his chest.

He doesn’t let me up, but leans on one elbow to look at me as I explain that I have to check in on a few patients at home today. “Can I come watch, Precious?” Archer bats his eyelashes at me. “I want to see you in action.”

“If only you could,” I tell him, patting his arm as I slide out of bed and start to dress. “But as a CPA, surely you know about confidentiality and all that. Privacy.”

He arches a brow at me, and talks with his face half buried in my cat’s fur. I want to be annoyed by that, but I feel my heart flutter a little. “Even if it’s my brother’s wife? They don’t care if I’m there to watch. At least Abigail doesn’t. Who knows what Hunter gets worked up about…”

“Listen,” I tell him. “If you should happen to be at my patient’s house when I arrive for our checkup, and my patient doesn’t ask you to leave, then you can be there. Otherwise, I can’t say a word about it.”

When I leave the house with my bag a few minutes later, it’s not until I get to my car that I realize I haven’t checked the stove or double-checked Oscar’s water dish. And I don’t feel compelled to go back inside and do so. The calm and at-ease feelings usually washed away within a few hours of sex-capades with Archer. I glance up at the window, where Oscar sits flicking his tail at me, and I drive toward my first patient’s house feeling so light I might float away.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Archer

“ABIGAIL, LET ME in!” I bang on my brother’s door, which is locked for once. I consider going around back to let myself in, but then I remember that time I found Hunter and Abigail getting jiggy on the floor in their living room.

Abigail makes her way to the door slowly. She’s starting to get really round and, I know I’m not supposed to say this out loud, but she’s got kind of a waddle situation going on. “Hey, Archer,” she says, always happy to see me. “What’s up?”

I brush past her and notice Hunter working at his giant computer setup. He sits at his desk with his face pressed nearly against his monitor. “I see you guys are really getting ready for Baby Crawfod,” I say, gesturing around the duplex-turned-single family home. They basically chopped down the wall between Hunter’s bachelor pad and Abigail’s actual nice half, but Hunter’s side is still more of a Crossfit gym and computer lab. “Shouldn’t you have a cradle down here at least?”

Abigail laughs. “Well, you know, Opal is helping Diana plan my shower, which is amazing. I think things will be a bit more real for Hunter once we actually start getting baby gear. Ooh!” She grabs my arm and places it against her ball of stomach. “Can you feel that?”

And holy shit, I can. Like a tiny piston beneath Abigail’s skin, I feel some sort of limb jabbing at me repeatedly. “Woah! Hunter, have you felt this?”

“Ung.” He just grunts at me, clearly involved in his data.

“Abigail, that’s sort of blowing my mind. There’s a person in there.”

“Isn’t it amazing?” She floats around the house, telling me about her mother coming to visit and the work they’re doing to get the guest room ready for the Bakers. I marvel that she is just walking around like usual with an actual living being rolling around inside her. No wonder Opal likes doing what she does.

“So,” I interject, scratching at the back of my head. “I was kind of hoping I could stick around for your prenatal visit with Opal today.” I grin, not wanting to offer any more information, but knowing they both know perfectly well the nature of my relationship with their midwife.

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