“NOT GONNA LIE, I’m getting a little nervous.” Archer glanced out the back window of his car and then raised a brow at me.
“What? You don’t trust me? Even after I didn’t let you break a hip at the rink?” I smiled, because Archer wasn’t anywhere near the disaster on ice that he’d claimed to be. As a matter of fact, he’d only almost fallen once, and that was due to the group of kids weaving in and out between our legs. The list of things Archer did well kept growing.
He held his hands up. “You’re right. We could be in the ER right now if it weren’t for you.”
“Exactly. So in keeping with the festive holiday theme we’ve got going on today, and the fact that we’re trying to stay on the down-low, this place is perfect.”
His driver opened the back door, and I stepped out first, followed by Archer. He whispered something to his driver, who nodded, and then we headed toward the entrance of Rolf’s.
Archer reached for the door first, pulling it open for me, and that made my stomach do a little flip. Such a gentleman, opening doors for me—but also such a date thing to do.
Because, holy shit, we were on a date. Me and Archer Carrington. That blew my mind.
I felt Archer’s hand on my lower back, guiding me inside, but the moment the hostess greeted us, it disappeared. I wished I could tell him to put it back, or reach for him, but those were luxuries we couldn’t afford outside of a hotel room. It was enough just to be somewhere, anywhere, with him.
“You said festive, but I think Christmas threw up in here,” Archer said as he looked around at the décor.
It was a little ostentatious, with so many holiday lights, garlands, and decorations that you couldn’t see the ceiling or the walls. There had to be thousands of ornamental balls of every color hanging from the ceiling and wrapped around pillars. The wildest part was that Rolf’s was like this all the time, not just for Christmas.
“What’s wrong, Mr. Carrington? Can’t handle a few balls in your face?” I teased, as the hostess led us past the bar to a small table for two.
Before I could sit down, Archer pulled out a chair and motioned for me to sit.
First he was holding open doors, and now he was pulling my chair out for me? There was definitely something to be said for dating an older man.
“Thank you,” I said, taking the seat.
“You’re welcome.” He scanned the room before sitting down, and when his eyes stayed over my shoulder, I frowned and looked behind me.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. “Someone you know?”
He shook his head, unfolding his napkin and laying it across his lap. Then he finally looked at me and smiled, while under the table I felt his foot brush against mine.
“I needed this view so I can watch the door and play with you at the same time.” He winked, and I felt my stomach do that damn flipping thing again. “Oh, would you look at that, you’re blushing.”
My cheeks did suddenly feel a little warmer. “No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.” Archer leaned across the table and said in a voice that did nothing to help the heat in my cheeks, “It’s fucking adorable.”
It was embarrassing. After everything we’d done together last night, I was getting all rosy-cheeked because he was playing footsie with me. I highly doubted Archer’s previous dates would blush so easily.
He chuckled as he picked up the menu. “What’s got you nervous? The public space or my touching you? I can stop.”
My cheeks burned even hotter then, because it was none of that. I loved the fact he was touching me, even more that he was doing it in public. If I could, I would announce to everyone in this restaurant that Archer was mine, and I’d reach over and hold his hand right here at the table.
“I don’t want you to stop.” I moved my other leg to rub against his. “And I’m not nervous. It’s just…”
Archer raised a brow when I paused, and I shrugged, trying to play off how much I’d enjoyed those familiar touches, those intimate moments on the way in.
“It’s just… I like the way you were…um, treating me.”
“Treating you?” Archer put his menu down and the question in his eyes told me he wasn’t quite getting the fact that I was usually the one doing all the…gentlemanly things.
“Opening the door, pulling out my chair.” I bit down into my lip. “You know, date things.”
“Ah, I see. Well, this is our first date.”
My heart skipped a beat at the confirmation that he felt the same way I did about the day—music to my ears. But then my mind played it over and over in my head. “First date… You say that like there’ll be more.”
Archer ran his gaze down over me. “I sure hope so.” He gestured to my menu. “Now pick something to eat, before I drag you over here and—”
“Eat my wiener?”
Archer’s mouth fell open, his words leaving him until I started to laugh.
“Sorry, I couldn’t help it. We’re in a German restaurant. I’m allowed to say wiener.”
“Of course we are. Balls and sausages.”
“I mean, do I know how to pick a first date or what?”
“It’s definitely one I’ll remember.” Archer’s lips twitched, even as his eyes softened. “For many reasons.”
By the time the waitress stopped by, we’d each picked out something to eat, but apparently we’d both had enough sausage for now. Archer went for the roasted Long Island duckling with mashed potatoes, red cabbage, and cranberry sauce, while I opted for the Rahm schnitzel in paprika cream sauce with vegetables and spätzle.
For now, though, we were sharing a jumbo shrimp cocktail.
“These are delicious.” I dunked the end into the spiced tomato sauce on the plate.
“Watching you eat them is delicious.”
I took another bite, licking my lips clean. “Are you flirting with me, Mr. Carrington?”
“Are you trying to drive me out of my mind, Preston?”
I brought my thumb up to my lips and sucked it clean. “Maybe a little.”
“Maybe a lot, I’d say.” Archer took a bite of his own shrimp and shook his head.
“What?” I grinned and reached for the glass of wine in front of me, enjoying the choice of vintage that Archer had picked out for us.
“Nothing.”
“Liar.”
He swallowed his bite of food and reached for his own glass, settling back in his seat. “Okay, fair enough. I was just thinking how…young you make me feel.”
I paused, wine glass halfway to my mouth. “And is that a good thing, or—”
“Yes, yes.” He grinned at me, a relaxed, charming smile that was so sexy I decided it was all mine. “It’s a very good thing. I think I’d forgotten how to have fun, how to exist outside of work and family, and I’d definitely forgotten to take the time to enjoy…” His words trailed off as he eyed my body, and I knew what he meant, but there was no way in the world I wasn’t going to push him to say it.
“To enjoy what?”
Archer took a sip of his wine, his eyes finding mine over the rim of his glass. “You know what.”
“I do, but can you tell me anyway?”
“Now who’s flirting?”
“And who’s driving who crazy?”
Archer scoffed. “Touché.”
“Sooo…” I sat forward in my chair and rubbed my foot up the inside of his leg. “What had you forgotten to take the time to enjoy?”
Archer shifted in his seat in a way that told me his dick was just as interested in this answer as mine now was. “A sexy body and flirty mouth. But don’t worry,” he promised as he topped off both our glasses. “I plan to take the time to rectify that as often as possible, now that I’ve found someone who has both.”
Jesus. He was waaay better at this dating thing than me. Probably because he’d been doing it longer. But somehow Archer had made me feel all the things in one date. I’d been nervous, excited, happy—and now hot as hell.
“Hmm. You sure you can fit me in with those workaholic tendencies you mentioned earlier?” I lifted my glass to my mouth, teasing the edge with my lips and watching the way Archer’s eyes caught on the move. “I can be a little distracting.”
“I think we both know it’s more than a little.” His gaze darkened as I swallowed down a mouthful of wine. My tongue dipped out to catch a wayward drop from my lips, and I saw the way his fingers tightened around the stem of his glass.
“You’re looking at me like you want a to-go bag,” I said with a smirk.
“I’m seriously considering it.” Archer hooked his foot beneath mine, and I was surprised when he didn’t flag down the waitress. “But I can show some self-restraint to get through lunch. I think.”
I chuckled. “Guess I’d better make sure never to bring you lunch at the office. You might shove everything off your desk and have your way with me.”
As soon as I said the words, I remembered the way I’d wanted to do just that during my last visit. From the way he stilled with his wine halfway to his lips, so did he.
He set it down without drinking.
“This is a fantasy of yours,” he said.
I’d started to agree when the hostess came back to seat a couple behind me, and I leaned forward, keeping my voice low. “You fucking me into your desk so hard I feel you for days? I’ve thought about it more than a few times…Mr. Carrington.”
Desire flared between us, and Archer’s hand on the table inched toward my own. It was only the slightest touch, just his fingertips grazing mine, but it felt like an electric shock.
He swallowed thickly. “I’ll have to see if I can make that happen. After hours, of course.”
Of course. Because no one could know about us, especially those he worked with. Even if I always visited under the guise of working on Elysium projects, I doubted we’d be able to stay a secret if they heard his heavy thrusts making his desk creak.
I cocked my head, studying his sinful mouth. “I look forward to it, sir.”
“You better stop. Or is punishment another one of your fantasies?”
“No, but I’m beginning to think I’d be open to anything with you.”
“Funny. I was just thinking the same about you.”
Before he could elaborate on that, our meals arrived, bursting the private bubble we’d been in. Archer unhooked his foot from mine but kept us touching as he cut into his duck.
I tried to behave myself, tried to stop squirming in my chair from the clear picture of us I’d been building in my mind. Since this was a date, that moved us past the realm of just fucking, and there were things I’d always been curious about but had never gotten a chance to ask him.
“Do you enjoy all these things you do?” I asked.
“Such as?”
“Your job. Running the Elysium. Are they things you enjoy, or did you get forced into them?”
Archer topped his duck off with a bit of the potatoes and took a bite. “I don’t think I’d work so much if I didn’t enjoy it. It was always my goal to own my own company. I just wasn’t sure what form it would take until college. I got a job at a talent agency, worked my way up, realized it was something I could see myself doing in the long run.”
“How did you know you’d be good at it?”
“I didn’t. Sometimes you don’t know what you’re good at until you try everything.”
His words struck a chord inside me that had my questions faltering. I’d never really had a choice to try anything. My path had been set my entire life, and like the good son I was, I’d never questioned it. Why would I? It was the easy road, the one already laid out for me to take and succeed my father.
But did I really want to be stuck doing something I hated when there was a chance I could find something I loved instead?
God, I didn’t want to think about that right now, because it would require asking myself hard questions I didn’t want to know the answers to yet.
I cut into my schnitzel and dipped a corner in the cream sauce. “And the Elysium?”
“That one I kind of fell into because I knew I was the best choice.” When I looked up, he winked. “Who else could corral a bunch of elitists and get them to part with their money? My contacts make it easier than most.”
“It’s not your contacts that get people to drop money at your feet.” When Archer lifted a brow in question, I said, “You also happen to be gorgeous. You think anyone can say no to you?”
He bit back a grin and shrugged. “It’s not a word I hear very often. I doubt it’s one you’re entirely familiar with either.”
“Ha, nice try, but we’re not talking about me.”
“That doesn’t seem fair.”
“Maybe not, but I’ve wondered about you far longer than you’ve wondered about me.”
Archer brought his napkin up to his lips, a curious look in his eyes. “You can ask me anything.”
I knew some of the details of how Serena had been born, that her mom and Archer had been young and it was a one-night kind of thing. What I didn’t know was if he’d ever been with other women.
“Are you gay?” I asked before I fully thought through how I wanted to ask him, and the look of disbelief on his face was comical. “Okay, let me rephrase: are you bi or gay or…?”
Amusement had one side of his mouth curving up as he swirled his wine. “Very, very gay. Do I have to guess why you’re asking?”
“No, that answer pretty much sums it up.”
He took a sip of his drink, and as he set it down, his fingers grazed mine. “Serena was quite the surprise. For both her mom and me.”
“One you regret?”
“No.” He shook his head adamantly. “God, no. She’s the best thing about me.”
It made my heart clench the way he talked about her, the way he obviously felt about her, because I knew in my gut that my parents didn’t feel the same way about me. Sure, they loved me the way they’d been brought up to know how, but it wasn’t the same. I’d already heard from Serena the way Archer had done everything in his power to help her when she went through a destructive phase in her teen years. At that point she’d been commuting between her parents for years, her mom on the West Coast and Archer in New York. From what she’d told me, she’d gotten a little too good at keeping secrets, falling into the wrong crowd when her mom had to travel so much for work. It was Archer who’d put a stop to the back-and-forth, to create the consistency and routine she needed by living full-time with him. Being such an amazing father only made him that much more attractive in my eyes.
Like I needed a longer list.
“So her mom was the only woman you were ever…with?”
“You know when I said sometimes you don’t know what you’re good at until you try? Well, same thing goes for not knowing what you like until you try.” He grinned, his eyes crinkling at the edges before he mouthed, “Very gay.”
“That’s good to know. And just so you know…” I pointed at myself. “Also very gay.”
His gaze moved to the entrance briefly, and then he reached for my hand, turning it face up so he could trail his fingers up and down my palm. “Do you have any other questions for me?”
How was I supposed to do anything but breathe with him touching me? In public, no less.
“Preston…?”
I tried to clear the lust-filled fog infiltrating my brain, but it was impossible. “I’m sure I have more, but I can’t seem to think when you’re doing that.”
“Oh? Feeling distracted?”
My cock throbbed, and I shifted on my chair. “Incredibly.”
“This is how you make me feel,” he said, his voice husky. “All the fucking time.”
Oh my God. Forget the questions. Forget the food, the other diners. All that existed in that moment was Archer, his sexy-as-sin voice, and those dark eyes that were staring into mine like he could see inside my soul. It made me weak in the knees, and I had to open my mouth twice before I could get the words out.
“Want to get that to-go box yet?”
That smoldering stare only intensified, sending a wave of goosebumps all over my body.
“Fuck yes.”
