Page 112 of The Mentor
He closed his eyes and exhaled deeply. “You don’t know how happy that makes me.”
I waited for him to open his eyes again but this time a small triangle formed between his eyebrows as he frowned at me. “If you love me, then why the hell did we have to go through all of this? Why didn’t you just say yes when I asked you to marry me?”
“Because I didn’t know then,” I defended myself while letting my hands roam across his strong chest. “I’m afraid I’m going to wake up and realize this is just a dream.” My eyebrows shot up. “Wait, when did you get back from the tournament? I had a dream about you and we made love.”
Archer’s lips pursed upward. “Sounds like a wonderful dream, but I’m afraid we didn’t make it that far. I came home around two in the morning and went straight over to talk to you, but you were so hard to wake up that I just crawled in and slept next to you for a few hours.
“We didn’t talk?”
“I talked a little, you snored.”
“I don’t snore,” I said with a soft smile. “And I think that in my dream I answered you, because I remember us having a whole conversation.”
“Uh-huh, but you also remember us making love and that didn’t happen either.”
By instinct, I moved back when we heard noises from the door.
“Don’t you dare,” Archer muttered and pulled me back into his arms. “No more secrets. It’s time the world knows that you’re mine.”
Finn came in rubbing his eyes and yawning. “Morning, you two. I’m surprised to see you up, Kya.”
“Why?”
“Because of the sleeping pill I gave you.”
“What sleeping pill?”
“Sweetheart, surely you remember me checking in on you with a cup of tea?”
“Yes,” I said slowly.
“It was one in the morning and you were crying so hard that I had to help you somehow. I crushed a sleeping pill into the tea.”
“You drugged me,” I accused him.
“It was either that or gagging you so I could get some peace and quiet.” He winked at me and yawned again.
“That explains why you were impossible to wake up,” Archer said and moved us aside when Finn pushed past us to get a cup of coffee.
“Kya and I are getting married today. Khan is coming over at nine to do the ceremony.”
“Congratulations – wait, did you say nine?” Finn lifted his wristband. “That’s in a little over two hours. Who the hell marries at nine in the morning?”
“We do,” Archer said firmly. “Right out there in front of the school with all the kids as witnesses.
“Why not do it tonight?” he asked.
“Because I’m not going to give Kya time to come up with an excuse not to marry me,” Archer said firmly and added, “Boulder is bringing over Christina too.”
I folded my teeth around my lower lip, shamefully remembering my lie to Christina about my mother being sick.
“What’s wrong?”
“Ehhm, there’s a chance that Christina is going to be upset with me.”
“Oh yeah? How so?” Archer asked.
“I… ehhm, well…” Sighing heavily, I finally spit it out so fast that I practically stumbled over my own words. “I thought you had married the ballerina and I didn’t want to be here when you got back with her, so I told Christina my mom was in the hospital and that I needed a lift to the border. Also, she doesn’t know about us and she won’t like that I have kept something that big a secret from her.”
