“You mean when you shied away when I tried to take off your bra last night,” Archer said in her ear.
“Shut up, Archer!” she said with a blush as she covered her eyes with a graceful hand, shielding her face from view. “Daryl doesn’t need to hear about that.
“I didn’t hear a word,” Daryl said, obviously trying to hold back a chuckle. “Shall we go inside now?”
“Yes, let’s,” Kady agreed. “I’ll just make an appointment at the doctor and see if we’re right, okay? No need for further speculations about the state of my anatomical sensitivities.”
Archer chuckled as he helped her out of the car. “Well, princess, we’re pretty overdressed for this place. We could just send Daryl in there.”
“No way,” Kady chuckled. “Might as well have a bit of fun.”
“That’s what I love about you, kid,” Daryl laughed.
“Hands off, Daryl, this one is mine,” Archer said as he wrapped Kady into his arms.
“Okay, then, that’s what I like about you, Kady, since Archer feels completely threatened by that other word. You enjoy shocking the masses. You really should become an actress or something.”
“Yeah, right,” Kady scoffed, she’d been lucky enough to snag the few lowly modeling gigs that she had before. Not to mention she had absolutely no experience in acting whatsoever, unless you counted the rendition of “The Little Mermaid” she was in when she was eight at the community center. Which she didn’t. Kady really didn’t think portraying a goofy sea gull counted as real acting.
“No, he’s not wrong,” Archer agreed, distracting her from her memories. “Although I’m such a possessive kind of guy, I might find it even more difficult to share you even than I would if you were just on the runway. My mother always said I wasn’t good with sharing my toys.”
“Yeah, well I’m not a toy,” Kady reminded him light heartedly as he held open the door. “But really, if I wanted to work on a movie set, I’d probably rather make their clothes.”
“Why could you not do both?” Archer wanted to know, the business like wheels of his brain already spinning. She could practically see the cogs moving behind his enchanting eyes.
“I have no clue,” she said, more sharply than she intended. “Have I ever been on a movie set?” Kady instantly regretted her outburst. “Damn! Sorry I snapped. I really am kind of cranky, huh?”
Archer and Daryl exchanged a glance, and then Archer said, “That would be a yes.”
Kady smirked and leaned against him as he stepped up to order. When it was her turn she said, “I want goo goo cluster in a bowl, please.”
“That sounds really good, but I’ll take mine on a cone,” said Daryl.
Armed with their ice cream, and a stack of much-needed napkins, the three of them found a table and sat down to enjoy.
A couple of teens came inside and shouted, “Hey, there’s a sweet limo outside! Oh, it must belong to you guys, huh? What did you do, get married or something?”
Laughing, Kady replied, “No, we just decided we didn’t like the atmosphere when we tried to go out to dinner. But you know, ice cream really can make things better.”
“Wow, Ted, we’d better get some goo goo cluster too!”
“Yeah!” Ted agreed, and that’s exactly what they did.
Chapter 19
Kady was so excited as she and Daryl drove back from the doctor’s office three days later that she couldn’t possibly convince him to wait until she told Archer before he weaseled the test results out of her. Positive, of course. With all the sex she and Archer had been having, it couldn’t have possibly been anything else.
“Oh no, Archer with a kid?” Daryl teased. “Now there’s a scary thought. Say Kady, don’t let the man browbeat you into doing everything his way. He and his mother are two peas in a pod, and neither one of them is willing to admit it. You’re such a sweet girl, I think you could probably break the trend if you just put your foot down.”
“Come on, Daryl,” she grumbled. “Archer likes some things a certain way, I’ll admit, but I doubt he’d try to tell a baby that stuff as soon as it was born. Even he isn’t that bossy.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” he chuckled as he disagreed. “The man didn’t become CEO of his own string of companies by allowing chaos to reign, you know. His very first rule at the office has always been ‘my way or the highway’, so who knows if he’ll adapt well to fatherhood or not.”
“Dude, quit trying to harsh my mellow,” said Kady, imitating one of the men her old roommate had brought home the day her money was stolen.
“Okay, okay,” he said, laughing at her phrasing. “Just a friendly warning. You don’t have to grouch me to death over it or anything. Hey, whose car is that?”
Kady glanced out the window at the little red two-door sitting near the entrance to their driveway. Her heart sank when she noticed who was seated in the driver’s seat. One of Mia’s sidekicks. The other two women were, however, decidedly missing. What were they doing here in the first place, and where were they in the second?