Page 111 of The Mentor
With my eyes fixed on his coffee cup, I avoided looking straight at him when I spoke. “I’m sure the kids will enjoy that, but they were planning to welcome you and your bride back with a nice banner.”
Archer angled his head but didn’t say anything, so I turned to leave.
“Khan will be here at nine.” His words made me stop. “I was thinking we could wake up the kids a little earlier today. You know, to give them time to get ready for the ceremony.”
Clearing my throat, I licked my lips and finally turned around to look straight into his eyes. “Archer, I can’t stay for the ceremony.”
He frowned. “You have to.”
“You can’t make me.” He was being completely unreasonable and any minute now Lori Ann, the ballerina, could come dancing in and kiss him in front of me. I needed to get away from here, right now.
“You made a promise,” he said and set down his coffee cup.
“What are you talking about? You didn’t even tell me about the tournament. When did I promise to watch you get married?”
He stalked over and held up his wristband in front of my eyes. “Don’t marry her. Marry me!” he read aloud. “I would say that constitutes a fucking promise, and if you try to change your mind on me now, I’m going to spank you until you change your mind right back.”
My legs grew wobbly and my hands flew up to hold on to the doorframe. “But you, you, you…” I stammered. “You got married yesterday, I saw you.”
“You didn’t see me get married.”
My eyes darted around the room while I tried to clear my head. “I saw her pick you,” I insisted.
“Uh-huh.” Archer leaned in and planted a kiss on my cheek while I stood stiffly with eyes large and confused. “And then what did you see?” he asked.
“Then I ran,” I admitted in a small voice.
“So did I.”
“You ran?”
“Well, not literally. But I showed Khan your text message and told him I couldn’t marry her.”
“In front of the whole nation?” I asked in a high pitch.
“Yes, your timing really stunk.”
My hands were shaking when my tears started running again.
“It wasn’t just your text, though,” he said and brushed away one of my tears. “Finn texted me too.”
“He did?”
Archer showed me Finn’s text that simply said, “Kya loves you.”
“I never told him that,” I said quickly. “How did he know?”
“So, it’s true then?” A slow smile grew on his handsome face. “Youdolove me?”
I looked around the kitchen, trying to determine that this was reality and not just another one of my confused dreams.
“Kya, I just asked you a pretty important question,” Archer said and made me look at him. “Do you love me?”
The answer was screaming from my insides but my voice translated it into a small soft “Yes.”
“Yes?” he asked and this time I nodded and smiled at him.
“Yes, I love you and I’m sorry I was so slow to realize it.”
