“And you’re just going to stare at the mess?”
Vinny glared at his friend. “I was about to clean it up when you walked in.” He took the broom from Annalise and began gathering up the glass bits from the tiles. “I’ll be out in a minute.”
“Is there any more lemonade?” Archie asked.
She took a breath to keep calm. “Yes, of course. Would you like some?”
“I’d love some.”
Annalise turned back to the pitcher and poured some into a clean glass. She handed it to Archie, but he put his hand over hers rather than taking the drink. Did he notice the shake in her hand?
“You okay?”
She nodded, not trusting herself to blurt out something inappropriate.
“Vinny, you say anything dumb?”
The last thing she expected from Vinny was more silence. Why wasn’t he lying or covering up what just happened? Instead, he set the broom against the wall and left the house.
Archie took the glass and watched his friend leave. He exhaled once they were alone.
“What did he say?” Archie asked.
“Nothing.”
He drank his lemonade. She watched the movement of his throat. He had some rough stubble along his jaw. After he slammed the empty cup on the counter, he looked her straight in the eyes. “Did he ask you for a foursome?”
She gasped, then slapped her hand over her mouth. Her cheeks felt like they were on fire. It may be surprising for them, but she was a virgin, and all this talk about sex was way out of her comfort zone.
****
He knew it.
The second Archie saw Annalise and Vinny in the kitchen, he knew he’d gone and opened his big mouth. Archie told his friend that sharing a woman wasn’t realistic and to put the thought out of his head. Vinny was proposing some twisted ménage relationship where all four of them lived happily ever after and Annalise had no qualms about fucking three cowboys.
It was a fantasy. Nothing more.
Now he expected Vinny had ruined everything. By the tension in the room, Annalise was probably ready to walk.
“It was an accident. I don’t blame Vinny.”
“So he did say something?”
She shrugged. “He was just talking out loud. Remembering dumb things you all did when you were teens.”
Archie wondered what Vinny had said. How much had he revealed about their fucked-up lives? Some things were better kept in the past where they belonged. The last thing he wanted was for Annalise to think less of him or judge him for his past.
“He needs to learn to keep his mouth shut. I can’t even count how many times he’s made a mess of things by saying too much.”
“You all were close.”
“Still are,” he said. “Not everything was bad. He has his good qualities.” Archie remembered the many times they’d only had each other to lean on. Vinny was a lightning bolt, a hot wire. He’d follow them to hell if he thought they were in trouble. “I was a runt in high school. Vinny got suspended more than once beating up guys who picked on me.”
“You were a runt?”
“Sometimes bad experiences are the catalyst for change.” He’d packed on muscle after having a late growth spurt. Years of working on the ranch and hitting the home gym made him unrecognizable from the skinny kid he was in his youth. Many of those deep-seated insecurities still remained, no matter how much he’d remade himself as an adult.
He didn’t feel worthy.
Annalise was too damn good for a scrap like him.
“Well, you’ve done well,” she said. “I never would have known.”
The way her gaze roved up and down his body made his cock harden in his jeans. He didn’t need this right now. Archie was trying to be the voice of reason, but now he was sinking as low as Vinny. His thoughts were in the gutter. He blamed his friend for putting these twisted thoughts in his head.
“I just wish I’d had the ability to protect myself when I was a kid, you know?” He scrubbed a hand over his face. God, he was a fucking downer. “But no need to dwell on the past.”
“I don’t mind listening,” she said. “It’s nice. I’m not used to having anyone to talk to.”
“You have all of us.”
She smiled, but it wasn’t happy. “I know, but I work for you. There’s a line I know not to cross. I’m good at keeping professional, so you never have to worry.”
Archie frowned. He didn’t want a robot working for them, but he also knew he wanted more from her than just cooking and cleaning. How would he survive living with Annalise underfoot without screwing up? Vinny had even less willpower than he did.
“I don’t mind. We’re not assholes. I mean, you live here, too. Is it so wrong to be friends?”
“What kind of friends?” she asked. “Foursome friends?”
He felt the color leach from his face.