Pure Gold

“She’s going to poison my food.”

“She knows better than to fuck with me.” Archer grabs me, picking me up easily and setting me on his desk.

“I’m not you.”

“Might as well be. You belong to me.” I grip the side of the desk. “You don’t want to belong to me? I want to belong to you.”

“Archer,” I breathe. He’s too tempting.

“Truth is you already own me, sweet girl. Have since I found you. Think you did long before that even.”

“What does that mean?”

“Never wanted anyone as my own until you.”

“Archer.” I breathe out his name again. This man is always catching me off guard. He’s the kind of man my grandfather always warned me about. The one that will say all the right things to get what he wants and then once he has it he’ll be gone. “I’m saving myself for marriage,” I blurt out. I don’t know why I said it, but it’s out there now, so I might as well roll with it. Maybe if he thinks I’m not going to let him in my pants, he’ll give up, and I’ll see if that’s all he’s after.

The whole mood in the room changes. That darkness that is always lingering under the surface when it comes to Archer rises up. His entire face changes, and his jaw gets tight.

“Have you ever been married?”

“What!?

He stands from his chair, gripping my chin. He tilts my head all the way back to stare up at him. I guess the joking around about marriage is over. Maybe because I wasn’t really joking so much. I’ve never thought about saving myself for marriage before, but now it doesn’t seem as if it’s a bad idea. I want to know how serious this man is with me. It would kill me if we had sex and then he didn’t want anything else to do with me.

“Be a good girl and stay put.” He releases his hold on my chin before he strides out of the office, seemingly pissed off now. I glare after him thinking maybe I don’t want to be a good girl at the moment. Then again, pot pie is on the way.

So I guess for now I’ll stay put.

9

Archer

“Where are we at?” I walk right into Neil’s office, not bothering to knock.

I’ve worked with Neil for years. He’s a damn good lawyer. So much so that when he told me he was leaving Silver Springs to head to New York because he’d gotten an offer at another firm, I’d stolen him right out from under them.

I never understood why he was here in Silver Springs to begin with. We’re not a tiny city, but we’re not a giant one either. I brought him on to be our full-time lawyer. It’s nice having a lawyer on staff. It’s comforting knowing that he’s only down the hallway from my office. Especially with all that is going on right now.

The day has been damn good so far. So damn good I’d forgotten about the bigger picture until Savannah started talking about getting married. It knocked me right back to fucking reality. It was a fight to control the rage that hit me when I remembered she was married to some other fucknut.

I can’t and won’t lose her to anyone else. Since I left the service, one day tends to bleed into the next. Everything is pointless at times. That was until Savannah came along. For the first time in my life, I have real goals. Things I actually want. Things that no amount of money can buy.

Savannah is different from any other girl I’ve ever known, and I’m not sure how to handle her. Her heart is tender, and I want to handle it with care. She has this sweet innocence to her that I want to keep intact as best I can.

“It’s all bullshit from what I’ve gathered so far.” He grabs a folder on the corner of his desk and opens it. “Thanks for getting her handwriting for me. The girl has no record of anything. Not even a speeding ticket, so I had nothing to try to compare her signature to.”

He’s right. If not for the Hart family, Savannah could essentially drop off the planet and not many people would notice. She has a state-issued ID and a bank account. That’s about it. She works for a temp agency where people are known to stop showing up.

I had her fill out some bullshit paperwork this morning to get her handwriting and signature. Neil wanted to compare it with the one that is on her wedding license.

“It wasn't her signature,” I say before he can.

“Nope, not even close. The forensic investigator said it’s William’s. He signed both spots actually.”

“How good is this forensic investigator?”

“She’s the best. I sent her everything first thing this morning. You’ll know exactly how good she is once you receive her bill.” Neil shakes his head. I don’t give a shit what it costs. All I care about is getting to the bottom of all this.