“I told him that I wouldn’t marry him until my daughter got married,” Ester said, leaning across Archer’s couch to cup Nya’s face.

As usual, the two women were sitting at opposite ends with their legs stretched out toward each other. The kiss Ester smacked to Nya’s lips was unexpected and just a fraction longer than it should’ve been. Nya lifted her eyes to their top corners to see Archer glaring down.

Grabbing his mother’s shoulder, Archer pulled the older woman away from the kiss. “No more wine for you, Ester,” he said.

But his mother wasn’t listening. She melted off the couch onto the floor to reach across the coffee table for her wine glass that had somehow ended up on the opposite side.

“I’m not getting married,” Nya laughed, wondering where Ester might have got the idea that she was. “If you really love this guy, Ester, you should do it. You should marry him. Archer will pay for the wedding.”

“Will he?” Archer asked, but he wasn’t actually pissed off by the suggestion. The man was busy distracting himself with his subtitles, and was happy to drink his beer and ignore the women having their private couch party.

“I don’t need someone to pay for it,” Ester said. Hooking an elbow onto the couch, she slurped from her glass and patted Nya’s bare foot. “I just want to see the two of you going down the aisle.”

Nya laughed again and curled her upper body over her bent knees. “How many times, Ester? We’re not together. How many bottles of wine have you had?”

Ester waved a flippant hand. “Oh, I know you keep saying that,” she said, as distraught about the news now as she had been when she first heard it. “But I have been staying here for a whole week and you guys have had dinner together three times.” Holding up the last three fingers of her hand, she waved them at Nya, then at Archer who was still focused on the TV. “Three whole times.”

But Archer didn’t seem to accept her premise. “The night you arrived, Ny had a slice of pizza from the box that was already here,” Archer muttered. “The second time you set us up. And last night she brought leftovers.”

Was he saying that none of those times counted? Nya regularly brought him leftovers these days and when she did, Archer invited her in to watch as he polished them off.

Ester wasn’t interested in her son’s justifications, she just hit Nya’s foot harder. “Nya Yorke, you are in love with my boy, you love him.”

Nya hugged her knees and used one as a rest for her chin. “You won’t hear me arguing, Est,” Nya said. “I’m nutso in love with him and he knows it.”

“I knew it!” Ester said. Slamming her glass onto the table, she climbed onto the couch to punch her son in the gut. “You’re just like all the others. You and your big proud pecker, you think ‘cause you’re cock of the walk, you can put it anywhere you like? How much pussy did you fuck while Nya’s was waiting at home for you, hmm?” She punched him again.

Archer wasn’t offended or apologetic, he was still just annoyed. “I didn’t fuck around,” he said, giving his mother a shove, not to hurt her, but to put her on her back on the couch so she couldn’t slug him again.

Ester stretched her legs and rubbed her feet up and down Nya’s shins. “You young ones complicate everything. You love each other? You get married. End of story,” Ester said.

Nya glanced at Archer and found him looking at her. This was a conversation he was so tired of having that Nya had stopped pushing… most of the time.

Saving Archer from his mother’s judgement, Nya returned Ester’s thoughts to her new love. “Then you should marry Woodrow if you love him so much,” Nya said. She didn’t know that people were still called Woodrow, but apparently that was the name of Ester’s latest boyfriend.

Ester was so pleased by the reminder of her man that she shot upright. “He’s coming in to town tomorrow. You’ll have to meet him!”

“He’s not staying here,” Archer said.

“Sure he can,” Ester said. “It’s great having Nya so close. You can bunk in with her or if you’re so precious about your apartment, Nya will let us stay at hers and you can have her here.”

“You can stay at mine,” Nya said because she wouldn’t see the woman and her new love on the street. But it would make Archer uncomfortable to hear his mother going at it in his bed. “I can stay with Tag. He’s not far from the club and—”

“No! You stay here,” Ester whined, lunging over the couch to grab Nya’s hand.

This was more meddling. “I can’t stay here,” she said.

Archer’s response was to keep ignoring them while downing most of the liquid in his beer bottle.

“Why not?” Ester asked, stroking the back of her hand. “If you two are just friends…” Ester mocked the words with a roll of her eyes. “You should be able to sleep in the same apartment without screaming in anger.”

Maybe Nya had had more wine than she realized because she dropped her knees and leaned over, pulling Ester even closer to whisper, “It’s not anger I’d be screaming in, that’s why Archer won’t let me stay.”

“Is it ten-thirty yet?” Archer asked, glaring at her.

Nya had to admit, she probably shouldn’t have said that because Archer didn’t like her discussing their sex life with his mother. Ester gave her a hug. “Ten-thirty? Who cares?” Ester asked and picked up Nya’s glass to push it back into her hand. “Nya and I are just getting started.” Ester tipped her head all the way back to look up at her son. “And if you want to get the hard liquor and join us, I promise I won’t let Nya take advantage of you when you’re drunk.”

Nya laughed. “I’ve already threatened to do that. He has a few more weeks.”

“Then what happens?” Ester asked, drowning her curiosity with wine.

“It’s my birthday, I told him he had until then to come to his senses.”

Ester gasped. “And if he doesn’t? You’ll walk away?” she asked, seizing Nya’s hand with a ferocity that matched her panic.

Nya pulled the back of Ester’s hand to her cheek; it was so nice that the woman worried about her. “No. If he doesn’t come to his senses by then it will be my turn to chain him to his headboard and I’ll be raiding your purse for more blue pills.”

Ester wailed with laughter.

“Ok, ding, ding,” Archer said, turning to put his beer on the dining table. “Time for Nya to go home.”

Ester groaned. “Nya’s staying here,” she insisted, but that was when Nya’s phone flashed on the table to show that it was ten-thirty. “Who cares about ten-thirty?”

Nya picked up the phone to turn off the alarm. “We have a ten-thirty rule,” she said. “We’re not allowed in each other’s places after that.”

Archer did like his rules.

Ester laughed. “Why not? Who turns into a pumpkin? This I have to see! Wait.” Ester climbed onto her feet. “I have to pee, tell me when I come back.”

She ran away to the bathroom. Nya stood, but she’d had more wine than she realized and laughed at her loss of balance when she dropped straight back down onto the seat. “You didn’t take your pill today,” Archer said. “And your period starts tomorrow. You need to take care of yourself.”

He came over to pull her to her feet. “How do you know these things about me?” she asked, although she didn’t know why she bothered because he knew everything and forgot nothing. Nya was comforted that he was so detail focused.

“You always need to take your pills when your time of the month is due, ‘cause it’s when your anemia flares up,” he said, guiding her toward the door. “And when you don’t take them, and your system is fried, the alcohol goes straight to your head.”

Pushing her back against the door for support, he steadied her. “I had shoes,” she said, willing to admit that she was tipsy.

“I’ll get them.”

“I can do it,” she argued.

But when Nya took a step forward, he planted a hand on her upper chest and pinned her to the door. The forceful move was meant to put her in her place. He seemed to have forgotten that she liked being in any place he put her.

When her smile sloped to an angle, he tilted his head. “No,” he warned.

Gaping in innocence, she blinked. “I didn’t say anything.”

But Archer wasn’t fooled. “You think I don’t know that look, horny one?” he asked.

“I’m always horny around you,” she said, drawing a finger up and down his arm.

Pushing her hand, he clamped it straight against her side. “That’s exactly what I just said no to. We’re supposed to be over your attempts to get me into the sack.”

Nya couldn’t argue when he’d made it clear she should stop trying. “Maybe I should go to the club to find myself a date,” she said.

“Yeah, you do that,” he agreed.

She didn’t like that he wasn’t worried. “I could go to the club.”

“Ny, you couldn’t walk from the couch to here. Now do you want me to get your shoes or do you want me to just carry you downstairs to bed?” he asked and immediately put a finger to her lips before she could draw in a breath. “Not like that.”

“Sometimes you’re the worst boyfriend ever,” she said, her lips squashed behind his digit.

“I’m not your boyfriend,” he said and she nodded, humoring him as she had done since he’d rid them of their Hexam problem ten days ago. “Stay here. Don’t move. I’m gonna get your shoes.”

Nodding, she flattened her hands on the wall at her ass to watch his as he went over to the couch. “Will you call him Woodrow or Daddy?” she asked and then grimaced at the idea of either. “You don’t want to call him Daddy Woody.”

She laughed at her own joke, Archer didn’t. “Ester’s been engaged about forty-five times in the last twenty years,” he said. “They never stick.”

Examining the lamp shade hanging over the dining table, Nya reflected on her night. “I like that she calls me her daughter. I know I’m not, but it’s kinda sweet that she wants to claim me.”

“The first thing she asks about on the phone is you,” he said, coming over with her shoes in hand.

“We still haven’t worked out payment for the job you’re doing for me,” she said because she’d been meaning to bring it up for a while. “We were supposed to talk about it and then Ester showed up and I stopped thinking.”

He crouched in front of her to pick up one foot to slide on her shoe. She steadied herself with a hand on his hair and she liked the texture of it, so she ran it through her fingers, scrunched it, played with it and remembered all the times that his head had been between her thighs.

Archer put her foot on the floor and stabilized her ankle before moving onto the second. “We had incredible sex,” she said.

Supporting her foot flat on his thigh, he blinked at her. “That didn’t sound like a come on,” he said.

Continuing to run her fingers through his hair, she drifted into his gaze. “It wasn’t. I’m just amazed that you never miss it.”

“I miss it every night,” he said, putting on her shoe and fastening the buckle. Lowering it to the floor, he steadied it as he had done with the other before he stood up and took hold of her waist. “That’s why we have a ten-thirty rule.”

Archer hadn’t been wild about the idea of them eating together and he’d been raging at Ester for hooking them up like she had, setting out the food, asking Nya to join them, and then ducking out after a couple of mouthfuls.

Nya couldn’t stand the haphazard meetings, the days without each other, and the intense encounters in Sizzle or in their apartments. She missed the routine of their relationship and it was crazy the things she thought about, like missing the times they spent cooking together or just hanging out.

The only way Archer agreed to let her come in to hang out was when she agreed not to stay late and that was where the ten-thirty rule had come from. She also had to agree not to ask him to kiss her goodnight, except she didn’t have to ask anymore, her need for him always simmered when they were together. He just knew she wanted it.

If they were together in private at night, that’s when their hands started to explore, when their bodies would gravitate toward each other, and Archer would have to shut them down. He’d stopped drinking around her too, the beer tonight was the first exception. She saw his struggle all the time and Nya wished he’d stop being so goddamn stubborn and just admit that they were almost as close as they once had been.

He walked her a few paces down the hallway outside his place then got frustrated when she wobbled, so he picked her up to take her down the stairs to her door.

“Don’t go out again tonight,” he said when he set her on her feet. “And don’t shower or take a bath, just numb out in front of the TV and then go to bed, ok?”

Taking his key from his pocket, he unlocked her door. He’d had a key to this apartment before she did, the landlord had put one in his mailbox and had facilitated entry for the craftsmen who laid the carpets and hung her TV. But she liked that he had access to her personal space.

Pocketing his key, he opened the door an inch. Nya was still against the frame with her hands on his torso and she really didn’t want to say goodnight. “Tell Ester sorry I had to duck out. If she wants to come down—”

“I’m not sending her down here. You’ve already had too much to drink. She’s a bad influence. I’ve never seen you drink as much as you have this week.”

“Renovations start at the club next week,” she said. “So I’ll have some time to party with her when Sizzle is closed.”

Tucking her hair behind her ear, Archer slid a hand up the frame above her. “Here or upstairs, no partying anywhere else.”

He’d insist that he wasn’t her boyfriend anymore, but didn’t hesitate to give her orders. “I don’t want to say goodnight,” she said. Archer exhaled. “Not because I wanna play with your dick, I mean, I do, but you’re gonna go back upstairs and Ester’s gonna keep drinking and she’s gonna keep needling you and you’re gonna end up fighting with each other and I’ll have to sit down here listening.”

Having to stay out of his business was the second hardest part of living under him.

Archer tried to lighten her worry. “Are you gonna call the cops and report a noise violation?”

But she didn’t want to laugh. “I’m serious,” Nya said, scratching her fingernail on his tee shirt. “I know you think her relationship with this guy is not gonna last, but she’s in love. You remember what that’s like, don’t you, Fella?”

“I got your subtle hint,” he said.

Grinning, Nya tipped her head back. “I’m never subtle about telling you that you love me,” she said, winding her arms around him.

“I meant about your birthday,” he said. “Is there anything special you want?”

“Sex,” she said, wearing a grin. “Lots and lots and lots of sex.”

She expected a serious response, but didn’t get one. “I’ll hire a tag team,” he said, taking every chance to get one over on her. “I’ll make you a tape. We can have a gangbang night at the club and play it across big screens.”

“Only you,” she said.

Searching her eyes, he said nothing for a minute. “Nya, one day, soon, we will end up in bed together again.”

While his deep voice was somber, excitement bubbled up inside her. “How soon?” she asked. “My calendar’s empty tonight.”

Bowing lower, he murmured, “I’ll give you a hint, it won’t be when you’re drunk.”

That was fair enough. “Does that mean my punishment is nearly over?” she asked.

“Fucking is either gonna take us right back to where we were or blast apart what we have now.”

“I don’t see how it can do that,” she said. “We want each other.”

But he was serious. “What I do is dangerous, when you’re connected to me, you’re at risk. I never realized how much, I’d never had a girl I…”

“A girl you what?”

It had to be easier for him not to look at her because he pulled her forward to brush his lips on her hairline. “A girl I’d do anything for. I respected them, but I’d have told them to fuck off way earlier on when I figured out their baggage. Most of them were too scared to cause shit, you leap right in and, God it does something to me when I pull you out.”

Grinning, she knew what it did to him. “When I’m grateful, I’m happy.”

“It’s a weird kinda drug being able to do that to you by just doing what I do.”

Letting her head fall back, it hit the frame. “I love what you do.”

“Right now, you can tell anyone who asks that we’re over and put distance between us. If we get back together, you’re in trouble.”

“You told me no one would ever come after me.”

“But it’s not just me,” he said. “It’s your buddy, Tag… You’ve asked me to track down Gio, and everything I’m learning tells me he’s mixed up in something dirty.”

“So I’m as likely to be hurt by Tag’s business,” she said.

Her friend was working overtime to gain some ground in recovering his reputation. But it was an unenviable task, Tag’s relationship with Farrah Hexam had damaged more than just his business interests. People were reluctant to work with him after Brett Hexam cut all ties. What Tag needed now was a solid group of men he could trust and even on that he was coming up short.

“Same as ever, baby.”

“Do you know where Gio is?” she asked, hope cleared some of her intoxication. “If you’re sitting on this information because I haven’t paid you then you need to tell me what it is you want. You know Tag didn’t want your help, but I told him there were no hard feelings. This was a deal between you and me. It’s nothing to do with Tag. I told you I needed to know where he is and you said you would find out. You never told me what you wanted in return. I don’t have any weapons. You don’t want sex. Every time I try to give you money, you give it back.”

She’d tried again to give him rent and he just flat-out refused to take the bills from her hand.

“I’m not sitting on the information. I know where he is. But I don’t know what he’s doing.”

That was such an Archer distinction. “Well where is he?” she asked because that was what she actually needed to know. The what wasn’t as important as the where. Tag could find out what Gio was up to if he knew how to get in touch with him.

“I’ll have all the pieces in the next day or two and I’ll deliver them to Tag.”

So he was trying to cut her out of the loop? When Archer talked business, he tended to address the men in the room. Archer could be arrogant and his ego was healthy, but Tag hadn’t been involved in this job.

“This was between me and you,” she said again. “When you have all the information, bring it to me. I don’t want you two arguing with each other and I don’t want you charging a fortune either. He’d never tell you himself, but you know his finances have taken a hit since the whole Farrah Hexam mess. Do you think I’m just a weak woman who can’t handle the information?”

“I think that I want you away from all the danger. I don’t want you acting as a go-between. I’m doing this for you, but I’ll let Tag decide what to do with the information ‘cause this isn’t your mess, Ny. I won’t let him rope you into anything.” Picking up her hand, he pressed his lips to her brand. “Now what are you gonna do when you go inside?”

“Numb out in front of the TV,” she said. “Then go to bed, alone, to pleasure myself.”

He’d been ready to turn and walk away; she loved to throw him a curveball once in a while. “You’re not supposed to hit on me, that’s the rule.”

Steadying herself on the doorframe, she rose onto her tiptoes. “Then punish me, Fella.”

Nya kissed his jaw, then curled around the doorframe to slip into her place. Archer didn’t want her to talk about sex, not because it disgusted him, but because when she said naughty things, he got turned on. Those were the times she got her greedy hands on his hard dick, and it did get hard for her, a lot. But always in the nick of time, he took it away from her.

Being drunk would help her sleep, Nya just hoped when she woke up she’d remember what he said: “soon.”