Sworn to Be His ( The Archer Family 3)

No. This was Jade for Christ's sakes. He had no business thinking about her breasts. Or how she seemed to respond to his touch. Or just how pliant and soft her mouth was...

"Okay, mission accomplished. Do you think you can manage to do that without flinching?" he asked, though he knew the tension in his voice was loud and clear.

Jade nodded. "I'll have to psych myself up, but I can probably manage."

"Great. We're good then. We'll just, uh, tell everyone at the staff meeting tomorrow and that will be that."

"Yep," Jade nodded. "That will be that."

"And before long Zac will be all yours," Derrick finished, but the words left a bitter taste in his mouth and he had to take another drink to wash them away.

Chapter 4

The next morning, Derrick ran a brush through his hair, tugged on a shirt, and sighed. It was one of those days where all he wanted to do was climb back into bed and go back to sleep, if only because he still felt like sleep had never really come last night.

But then again, when did it ever?

He shook his head, desperate not to think about the dreams that came back to him every now and then. Memories of his time in Afghanistan, played back in slow motion. Just slow enough for him to see wrong move he'd made. Slow enough for him to feel every razor edge on the sting of bitterness his tour had left behind.

He'd wake up, sweating and aching with regret, only to roll over and find himself thinking of Jade. The rest of his evening with her had gone well enough. They'd laughed and finished their drinks, talking over the latest news in the unit and making plans for their undercover operation.

Still, as she spoke he kept finding himself staring at her lips, wondering at the effect she'd had on him. He'd had plenty of kisses—and more—from women before, but that moment she'd been in his arms? It was like a magnet had drawn him to her, pulling him closer and closer until they were wound together.

Frankly, he wasn't sure whether his waking thoughts or his dreaming ones bothered him more.

And now he had a new day ahead of him. The first day of their deal. He'd have to hold her hand again, kiss her again, flirt with her. Then there was the morning meeting where they were going to break the news to the entire unit that they'd decided to get together.

Silently, he pictured what the supervisor's face would look like when they broke the news. In his mind, it wasn't all that dissimilar from the expression the old man had worn during their discussion about the new badge. Shock and horror. Just the slightest dash of disgust.

He wondered what Zac Flynn's face would look like, too. If he'd suddenly start lurking around Jade's desk now that she belonged to Derrick. If he'd think that he could get in on Derrick's territory and—

No. No more wondering. No more what ifs. If there was one thing he'd learned in the service, it was not to build on expectations or anticipations. No matter how well-planned something was, fate would have more of a hand in everything than anyone could account for. The best thing was to go with the flow.

To lay in wait.

And if Zac Flynn did come sniffing around...

That was ideal, wasn't it?

Derrick fastened his belt and holster, and then made for the door, determined to make quick work of his trip to the station and get this damned meeting over with. After that was over, this whole

thing with Jade would be short-lived and he could finally have some peace. Who knew? Maybe he'd even be able to sleep through the night.

When he walked into the Criminal Investigation Unit's corridor, it was to find most everyone still at their desk, sipping their morning coffee before they went in to the meeting. Everyone, that was, except for Jade. And Zac.

Quickly, Derrick entered the meeting room, and caught the two of them laughing at something.

"Oh hey," Jade said. "I was wondering when you'd get here."

"Here I am." Derrick made his way to the coffee machine as he nodded to Flynn who was sitting on the edge of the table nearest to Jade. Any closer and the guy would practically be in her lap.

"Morning," Flynn said, nodding back while Derrick took his first sip of coffee.

"We were just talking about the Scaglietti case. Detective Flynn is almost done reviewing the files."

"Please, call me Zac." Zac smiled down at her, and Derrick couldn't help but to pipe in.

"Actually, we call almost everyone by their last name."