Chapter Twenty-Three
Archer
Zoe was hesitant to stay any longer than a day. She was anxious to get back home, and I didn’t blame her. But I couldn’t let her go back with Mr. Beetle still running around. I needed to know that she was safe, so the next day I stopped by the bakery with the promise of dinner and took her back to my place, where I sat her down in the living room.
I took the armchair across from her. “I need you to understand something,” I began.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s this guy, Mr. Beetle. He worries me.”
“He hasn’t been back at the bakery since you hired the guard.”
“That worries me even more. He’s obsessed with you. If he can’t get to you at the bakery, he’ll go to your apartment if he has to. It’s not safe for you to go back there, not until we find him and send him to jail.”
“I know, but I can’t stay here forever.”
“And I can’t sleep knowing that you’re not here and that you could be in danger. I want you close to me. Can we look at this realistically?”
“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about it. I love it here, and I love being with you and the boys. I know I should stay. I’m just not used to being away from home for so long. It makes me feel like I don’t have any control of things. I have to rely on you for everything, and I’m not that girl.”
“I understand, but I don’t want you to get hurt. Can you commit to staying for a little while longer?”
“Yes,” she said.
We went back to her apartment so she could get some of her things while I guarded the door. Then we came back to my place.
It became easy and natural having her there. As the days went by, we slipped into a schedule. We ate together, slept together, and left for work at the same time together. We even took turns putting the boys to sleep.
I was in a comfortable spot, living with the woman of my dreams and sharing the burden of taking care of the twins. I never wanted it to end. I wanted to lock her up and keep her there with me forever.
By the sixth day, I’d slipped so deep into the experience that it became normal. Having her there wasn’t just a treat. It was the way things were supposed to be. Even with Cara, I couldn’t get used to having a girl living with me. When I woke up the next morning, it felt like the most natural thing in the world to have Zoe at my side.
She was sleeping in her spot, between my arm and my shoulder. I lifted my arm up slowly so that I didn’t wake her and pulled on a robe so I could go down and check on the boys. They were asleep when I walked in, but they needed changing. I had to be careful.
I picked Andrew first. He was starting to stay asleep longer without waking up. I lifted him up the way Mona taught me and put him on the changing table as carefully as I could. He shifted around and wiped his eyes, but he didn’t wake up until I took his diaper off.
The second he caught sight of me, his face bunched up and turned bright red. The sound of him howling woke his brother up.
“Hey,” Zoe said as she walked in. She pulled Abel out of his crib. He stopped screaming right away. “It’s okay, little guy.” She sat down with him on the rocking chair.
“Thank you so much. You didn’t have to do that.”
“You know I love it.”
“I still don’t get it. I swear one of these days I’m going to buy you an island or a star or something. I don’t know, but it won’t be enough.”
“I don’t want, either. I just want to be here with you and the boys.”
I finished changing Andrew and set him back down in his crib. He sniffed, then sat down. “They aren’t waking up as much anymore,” Zoe said.
“I know. I blame you.”
“Really?”
“You’re really good with them. Sometimes it takes me ten or twenty minutes to put them to bed, but with you, it’s completely different. They stop crying as soon as you pick them up.”
“I’m just glad to be able to help. I know it’s been hard on you having to take care of them yourself.”
“Remember what happened the night we first met?”
“You mean when you fell asleep halfway through my striptease? How could I forget?”
“They had kept me up all night. They gang up on me. One will cry and wake up his brother. Then as soon as I get his brother to sleep, the other one will wake up. Abel’s the instigator.”
She laughed. “You’re not doing it on purpose, are you, Abel?” She swept her hand over his cheek.
“Hello,” Mona called from the bottom of the stairs.
“I should go meet her.” I walked downstairs. Mona was wearing a pair of black leggings and a purple tunic. Her hair was the perfect shade of blond, and she was wearing cherry red lipstick.
“Well?” She turned around with her hands stretched out. “What do you think?”
“You look twenty years younger.”
“You think so?”
“Oh, yeah. You’re a cougar.”
She growled and clawed at the air. “How are the boys?”
“They woke up and cried for all of two seconds when I started changing Andrew. Then Zoe walked into the room and pulled her human tranquilizer trick.”
“I told you they needed a woman’s touch.”
“You did, and thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. You still haven’t heard my surprise.”
“I don’t like surprises.”
“Then I’ll tell you quick. I’m kidnapping the boys.”
“Did I say you could take them?”
“No.” She started walking up to the nursery. “I decided to take the initiative. You two have been holed up in this house for too long. You need a weekend together. Get your groove on.”
I stopped on the stairs to think about it. “That’s not a bad idea. I think I can live with that.”
“You never had a choice.” She walked into the nursery to check on the boys. When I walked upstairs into my room, Zoe was smoothing out the covers and tucking the ends of the bed spread underneath the mattress.
“You’re picking up on my military bed making skills.”
She stood up to admire her work, then pulled a nickel out of her pocket. She dropped it onto the bed, and it bounced. “I think I’ve mastered the art of bed making.”
“You have.” I came up behind her and kissed her neck.
“Mmm.” She pulled away and started walking to the bathroom. “I have to shower.”
“Can I come with you?”
She shook her head and walked inside. I let her take her time while I chose my clothes for the day. When I walked out of the shower, butt naked, she was pulling her pants on with her back turned to me. I slapped her on the butt and collapsed onto the bed with my legs open. “I wish we didn’t have to go to work.” I grabbed my cock by the base and swung it around.
“I’d gladly quit my job for a full day of lovemaking, but I have to live somehow.”
“How about two days?”
She pulled her shirt on. “Two days?”
“Mona told me that she’s keeping the children for the weekend, and there’s nothing I can do about it. You should see her. She got a makeover. She looks good.”
“I have to see that.” She pulled on her socks and grabbed her shoes out from under the bed.
“It’s surreal.” I went back to getting dressed.
There was a group of Navy men coming to the warehouse that morning to watch the feed from the Palantir. I hated standing around, answering all their questions. They wanted to know everything, and they expected me to know the answer to every question they asked. I decided to throw Rick to the wolves and let him handle it. After the Navy guys left, I went down to the warehouse.
He was sitting in the office, drinking coffee, when I walked in. “Where were you?” he asked.
“You know the Palantir better than I do. I figured my presence would be redundant. How’d it go?”
“They wanted to know the entire molecular makeup of the device down to the atom. One guy spent twenty minutes grilling me on the placement of the heat sensor. He had no idea what he was talking about.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You owe me.” He took a drink of his coffee and poured himself another cup from the coffee pot sitting next to his desk.
“Another bonus?”
“That, too.”
“And?”
“A night out. And I’m not taking no for answer. You’ve been way too stuck on that girl. You’ve got to diversify before you get whipped.”
“I’m not cheating on Zoe.”
“Cheating? What’s next? You going to give her your credit card?”
“I’m not discussing the legitimacy of my relationship. If you don’t understand love, that’s not my problem, and I’m not going to keep moving from one girl to another. I need some stability in my life, and so do the boys.”
“You just met her, and you’re talking about stability.”
“I get it. You’re worried that I’m rushing things.”
“You are rushing things.”
“But you don’t know what this is like. If you were in my shoes, you’d understand.”
“You’re crazy.” He downed his coffee and poured himself another cup. “You’re going to get tired of her eventually, and by that time, it’ll be too late, and you’ll have to sneak around on her.” I walked out without saying anything else.