“You really are the most gorgeous womanIhave ever laid eyes on,”Isaid, continuing to play with her silky hair.
“Stop trying to make me fall in love with you,” she whispered.
“Can’t help it,”Itold her, looking into her eyes. “It’smy inherent animal magnetism, rugged good looks, and charming personality.It’sokay that you’re in love with me too, becauseInever stopped loving you.”
“I didn’t sayIwas in love with you.Isaid—" she started to counter, butIcut her off, waving my hand in front of her face.
“Semantics.”
She chuckled, andIkissed the smile on her face before begrudgingly moving off the bed.
“Archer,” she said softly, almost as if she didn’t intend for me to hear her. “Youwere the first personIsaid ‘Ilove you’ to.Ittook me two years to work up the courage to say it again—and that was toMomandAuntie.”
Fuck.Iknew whenIfiled for divorce—even though it was to save her life—that it would hurt her.Ijust never realized how bad.
It was going to be harder thanI’dthought to get her back.
23
ANNA
Archer andIwere gearing up in the hotel room, grabbing our ear comms and trackers in case we needed to divert and separate.Aswe got ready, we went over the plan one more time.Assoon as theLVPDofficers alerted us thatMysteryFrontLobbyManhad arrived,Archerwould go out to the front area, near where our mystery man would hopefully be.
Archer would be visible to him but in a semi-protected location.Hewould then wait for the man to approach him, or he would walk to his location to try to get more information out of him.
There would also be two snipers ready to go if needed.Theywere positioned in the parking garage right next door and had a perfect view of the valet drop-off area whereMysteryManwould meetArcher.Thoughideally, we wanted anyone and everyone involved to stay alive so they could be arrested and testify against thePaganos.
Sara andIwould be inside, over near the slot machines in the casino.AsArcher—hopefully—moved from just outside the front entrance into the lobby, an assembled team would intercept the mystery man.
“Remember, when in doubt, just talk into the comms if you see or hear anything out of the ordinary,”Archersaid to me asItied my shoes.
“Jesus,Archer, this isn’t my first rodeo,”Iinformed him.
“I know that, but there is way more on the line here than any of your other missions,”Archercountered. “Youwere mostly gathering intel, and none of those people were planning to kill you.”
“Look.Iknow it’s in your nature to protect the people you care about, but it’s in my nature to fight back.Imay not be strong enough to win a physical fight, butI’malso not just going to lie back and take it.”
“Woman, don’t make me blow this whole mission up just to keep you safe.”
“Archer, you blow this mission up, and you’ll also blow up any second chance with us.We’reeither a team on everything, or nothing at all.Makeyour choice,”Iasserted, hoping it conveyed the seriousness of my message loud and clear.
“Geezus, you drive me insane.”
“Right back at you, stubborn mule,”Iretorted. “YouthinkI’mhappy that you are going to be close enough to talk with this creepy mystery man?No.Ifyou are close enough to talk, he is more than close enough to shoot you,”Ipointed out.
“Which is whyI’mwearing a vest and will have two snipers close-by ready to take shots if he reaches for a weapon.”
“You andIboth know that’s not good enough sometimes,”Itold him, my voice softening a bit because he did know that—sadly, very well.
He walked to me and put his hands on each side of my head, tilting it up soIcould look straight into his eyes.
“IfIdidn’t know any better,I’dsay you care about me and are worried you might lose me as a husband.”Hiswords were teasing, but they were also soft enough to hold meaning.
Now was not the time to be squishy and sentimental.Ineeded to be focused, and so did he.
“If you don’t want to lose me as your wife, then you need to get your old cop face on and pay attention,”Itold him, adding in a little snark at the end.
“You calling me old?” he teased.
