Page 66 of Turning Tides
“Then I guess we’re going shopping.” Unlocking the door, I pulled it open for Archer. Heat flared in his eyes when he looked at me. It was almost enough to tempt me to take him straight home and let him have his way with me, but I wanted to know everything about Archer.
He told me where he wanted to go, which turned out to be a stationery store that I had no idea existed. It was near the library and it wasn’t like it was hidden, but I simply didn’t have a reason to notice it before now.
“You can wait here. I promise I won’t be long.” Archer undid his seatbelt and got out of the truck. When I followed him inside, he looked at me and quirked an eyebrow questioningly. “You didn’t have to come inside. You’ll be bored. It’s just art stuff.”
“I wanted to see you in your element.” I loved the way his face turned red when I said that. “This place is clearly your version of a candy store, so show me your favorite candies, Archer.”
He shoved me gently and playfully, but his eyes crinkled the way they did when he was pleased with something. He grabbed a shopping basket and set off toward the art supplies. I followed, trying to watch for the things that caught his interest. He spent a few minutes checking out the stretched canvases before pulling out a few of various sizes.
“I can take those for you if you want. Might make it easier to keep looking.”
Archer surrendered the canvases to me. “I need some new paint.”
“Lead the way. I am but your humble servant.”
“Oh, my God, shut up.” Archer turned away, but even the tips of his ears were red now.
“Did you always want to be a tattoo artist?”
He scoffed. “Not especially. Don’t get me wrong, I like what I do. But…” Archer stopped and took a breath. His fingers danced over the rack of acrylic paints. “My parents weren’t supportive of me. Cyrus could do no wrong, but I could do no right. They were convinced art was a waste of time. That it could never be a career. So I became a tattoo artist. Because if you’re good, and I am, you can make a decent living.”
Archer deserved more than a decent living. He deserved the world and I wanted to be the one to give it to him. Which meant I was going to hire someone to help convert the attic space into a studio for him so it could be completed faster. The idea of Archer having a space in my home settled the flutters in my stomach. This was it. Archer was the one for me. Forever.
It was too early to make those kinds of promises. He deserved time to get on his feet. Once his life was sorted, with his business off the ground and working steady, I could bring up the idea of him moving in with me. He could keep the space above the bar for his business, but I wanted my home to be his home too. Which meant paying attention to the kinds of supplies he worked with so I could deck out his studio with everything he could ever want or need.
Turning my attention back to Archer, I watched him look at different colors. He picked a few and put them in the basket and seemed to be trying to decide on what else to get.
“Why don’t you get one of everything?” I asked.
Archer made a choking sound. “I can’t afford that. I’ll just get the basics for now.”
“What if it was my treat?”
Archer turned and looked at me. Instead of a happy expression, his brow was pinched and he seemed annoyed. “You don’t have to do that, you know.”
“I know I don’t have to buy you things, Archer. But I want to. I like being the one to give you what you need. But if it makes you uncomfortable, I can try to rein it in.”
Archer ran a hand through his hair, making it stick up. “I don’t want you to think I’m like taking advantage.”
Turning to the rack of small bottles of acrylic paints, I started at the top row and, one by one, grabbed a bottle and dropped it into his basket.
“I’m offering,” I said, moving down to the second row. “You’re not taking advantage of me. Anything I want to do for you, I want to do it because I love you and making you happy makes me happy.”
I dropped in more bottles of paint. “Some people might think I took advantage because I never paid you for the tattoo.”
“You don’t have to pay me. It was my idea.”
“And this is my idea. If you need to, you can consider it payment for the tattoo. Though I’m still getting the better end of the deal.”
Archer adjusted his grip on the basket. “I’m not going to win this argument am I?”
“Who’s arguing? I’m not. I’m just telling you that I’m allowed to buy you things and do nice things for you. It didn’t stop me before we were together and it’s not going to stop me now.” Ducking down, I kissed him before I could think about whether or not he was into PDA. By the way he chased my mouth, he clearly wasn’t against it.
“I guess I’m going to have to get used to this.” Archer stared up into my eyes.
“I plan to spoil you for as long as you’ll let me.” It wasn’t quite the promise of forever that I’d wanted to make, but it was close enough for now.
Chapter 32
