This time her smile reached her eyes. “I’m just joking.”
Archie laughed along with her, but deep down, there had been a smidge of hope. Vinny’s fantasy was getting under his skin.
He leaned over the counter and beckoned her closer with a finger. When she was close enough he could smell her subtle perfume, he whispered, “Don’t take Vinny too seriously. He speaks before he thinks. I don’t want him to upset you.”
“You don’t have to worry, Archie. I’m a good judge of character.”
She did work at the diner for years. A lot of different characters probably passed through. But she wasn’t that good at judging because she couldn’t read him. He yearned for her, felt like a rider constantly pulling on the horse’s reins. What would her skin feel like? How soft were those curves of hers?
How long could he play the nice guy before he fucked up a good thing? Vinny would probably be the one to send her running first.
“I wanted to ask you something,” he said. Archie was pulling at straws, trying to think of any reason to stay close to her just a little bit longer.
“Okay.”
Damn, her innocence was a turn-on. She looked up at him with those big doe eyes while he was thinking the most unholy of thoughts.
“Next month is Gabe’s birthday,” he blurted out.
Her mouth fell agape. “What? Really?”
He shrugged. “It’s kind of a secret because he hates the thought of growing older. He’s already five years older than me and Vinny.”
“Oh. No celebrating?”
She sounded so disappointed, and that wasn’t his intention. “I was hoping you could help me make a cake. A nice homemade one. He loves strawberry best.”
Her smile lit up the room. “Yes! I’d love that. We can get the ingredients together. He may not want a fuss, but everyone wants to be remembered, don’t they?”
He nodded. “Yeah, I guess deep down everyone wants to matter to someone.”
Archie had his two friends, and that was it. For a long time, that wasn’t enough. There had been a deep-seated desire for a parent’s love, but that went unfulfilled. The foster system fucked him up in more ways than he cared to imagine.
That was the past.
This was his life now, and lately, he started wondering if he’d ever be satisfied. Annalise made him yearn for more. The status quo with his two friends wasn’t enough. He needed a woman, a family, a future. Just thinking about spreading his wings at this age made him well up with guilt. Gabe and Vinny were all he knew.
“I know exactly what you mean. I’ve spent so many years believing I only amounted to anything if I had someone in my corner,” she said.
“I don’t get it. You’re a Davenport, aren’t you?” As soon as he finished speaking, he remembered what her landlord had said about her stepfather. Maybe things weren’t so rosy in her life after all.
“Yes, I’m a Davenport. It’s just a name. And it’s not really mine at all.”
“What does that mean?” He craved to get closer to her, to heal all her sorrows. Archie felt a soul-deep bond or connection between them, even though they weren’t much more than strangers to each other at this point.
“My mother remarried. Davenport is his name.”
“Don’t like the sound of it?” He was pushing for more and hoped he didn’t cross too many lines.
She started chewing on her lower lip. Normally, he found it sexier than fuck. Right now, it made him sad. “I guess you could say I was the black sheep. He had two daughters and—”
She stopped talking, right in the middle of a sentence. The house felt quiet. Too quiet.
“Annalise?”
After a deep breath, she continued. “I’m sorry. I’m thirty years old. These memories shouldn’t still cut me so deep. I don’t even like to hear that name.”
He reached out and ran a hand over her hair, gently tugging her closer. He kissed her atop the head. “I don’t need to know if it upsets you. I’m all for blocking out the past. It’s all I’ve done.”
“It’s not healthy,” she whispered.
“Survival isn’t pretty.”
She looked up at him, his hand still in her hair. “Shouldn’t we want more?”
He swallowed hard. Archie wanted to tell her he wanted it all. Wanted to make all her dreams come true while chasing away her demons. Instead, he was a coward and nodded.
****
He’d promised to give her a tour of the property on horseback. All they’d done so far was take a quick walk by moonlight. It had been a disaster. Gabe had been avoiding her because she unraveled him every time he got alone with her. He prided himself on his self-control, and Annalise was his kryptonite.
Showing weakness wasn’t an option, and trust was something he’d given up on decades ago. A woman like Annalise could break his heart if he lowered his walls too low. They had a good thing going on at the ranch. She’d only make things more complicated, get the three of them fighting for her attention.