Break the Sky (Spiral of Bliss Spin Off) by Nina Lane Page B

whole thing, don’t you?” In his eyes was an unmistakable guilt and pain whose source I didn’t want to know. “You found the best one, sweetheart. If you’re backing off because of Dean, then yeah, I fold.”
    I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. And while part of me was very aware that he was saying exactly what I
should
want to hear, a wave of hurt crashed into me.
    “What the hell?” I snapped. “What happened to
I’m going to finish this
and
I want to sleep with you
? You can’t come on to me like a fucking hurricane and then fold just because I mention Dean.”
    “If you’re thinking about my goddamned brother when you’re with me, then fuck it, Kelsey. I’m not competing with him. No way.”
    “I’m not asking you to!”
    “Then why did you bring him up?”
    “Archer, you
ass
, you didn’t think Dean just might be an issue? You knew from the beginning that he and I are friends!”
    His features tensed. “I didn’t know from the beginning.”
    I fell silent. My breathing was fast. A sudden yearning hit me—the desire to rewind time and go back with Archer to the corner booth of a bar where we hadn’t known anything about each other. Where I’d pressed my thigh against his, and had the courage to touch his tattoo. Where I hadn’t been Professor March. Where the world had distilled to a single, hot kiss.
    “You made up your mind about me at first,” Archer said. “Then you find out I’m Dean’s brother, and suddenly I’m nothing but a fuck-up who screws with people.”
    I swallowed my rising shame. “That’s… that’s not true.”
    “No? That’s not what you still think?”
    I stared at him, my heart racing. Of course it wasn’t. In less than three days, Archer West had shaken everything I’d ever heard about him. He’d also tilted my world off its axis, and I wasn’t at all certain I wanted it back in place.
    “No,” I said honestly. “That’s not what I still think.”
    His shoulders relaxed a little. “Well, I still think you’re a controlling bitch who hasn’t gotten laid in years.”
    I laughed. “You’re not far off the mark, then.”
    He grinned, his eyes creasing as he approached me. He reached up to take a few strands of my hair between his fingers.
    “I also think you’re smart, incredibly sexy, and that you want this to happen as much as I do. We could have one hell of a good time together while I’m here.”
    My breath shortened. I stared at the pulse beating at the side of his neck and wondered what it would feel like to press my lips against the warm, taut skin there.
    “But,” Archer continued, “not if you’re worried about Dean.”
    “Not if you give up without a fight, either,” I reminded him.
    We looked at each other. The sunlight fell through the leaves, casting Archer’s strong features in both shadows and light.
    “I’ll get back in the ring,” he said, “if you don’t use my brother as an excuse to back off. You don’t want to do this? You give me a reason that has to do with
you
. Not him.”
    At the moment, I couldn’t think of any reason at all why it would be a bad idea to start up with Archer West, even if he was only here for a few days.
Especially
if he was only here for a few days.
    I knew I
had
plenty of reasons to back off. But standing there with him in the middle of the forest with birds tweeting and the sun practically dancing around us like we were in a Disney movie… not a single reason came to mind.
    Then he kissed me. A warm capture of my lips, just like that night in the bar. Except this time I didn’t succumb to escape my problems. This time I wanted to be caught. By him. I wanted him to fight for me, pursue me, want me, and capture me.
    I parted my lips and let him inside. Heat spread through me, and my head filled with the taste and scent of him. I put my hand against his chest. A shiver ran up my arm at the sensation of his muscles beneath his T-shirt. He was such a man, all hard edges and coiled