Page 62 of The Mentor
The small gasp from Shelly was followed by her scrambling clumsily to get out of the chair and excusing herself before she ran off.
“The word isno,” I answered Marco, with my eyes glued to Shelly’s fleeing back. This wasn’t the first time I’d picked up on her crush on Marco and it worried me. The last thing I needed was for her to develop feelings for him. Councilwoman Sheana Rene would never forgive me if one of her daughters chose to stay here.
I gave a sigh. At least Marco didn’t seem to reciprocate the interest one bit.
“I’m going to bed,” I announced and rose from my chair too.
“Alone?” Finn asked with disappointment.
“Yes, alone.”
“Hey now, don’t get all mad at me for coming on to you. You can’t blame a man for making you an offer.”
“I’m not mad at you, Finn.” My hands mechanically folded the blanket that I had been sitting under. But at the same time my senses were focused on Archer and the obscure way he’d made my heart race just by staring into my eyes before. He too got up and his closeness had me move back a little. Something strange was definitely going on.
“Are you okay?” he asked and searched my eyes.
“Uh-huh,” I muttered dismissively, and holding to a pattern practiced to perfection, I picked a fight with him. “You need to take it easy on the children for tomorrow’s run. You’re pushing them too hard.”
My demanding tone instantly put him into the role as the primitive, stubborn, and highly annoying male whom I wasn’t attracted to.
“I'll push them as fucking hard as I want to,” he told me with an attitude.
“You're being too hard on them.”
“And you are being too soft,” he retorted but there was no real menace behind his words, so I pushed harder, wrinkling my nose in disgust.
“This week you spanked three children!”
Archer took the bait. He narrowed his eyes and hardened his jaw. “I spanked Nboys who are used to that sort of punishment and expect it. But you know what struck me? You didn't volunteer to take their punishment, did you? Apparently, you feel differently about boys and girls.”
I moved closer to him, lowering my voice. “Don't for one second make the mistake of thinking that I don't believe in equality. You might have issues with me, but I'm not going to make it easy for you to spank me just by punishing the children. If you have a problem with me, you’d better man up and come talk to me about it.”
“As if I was ever afraid of a conflict,” Archer hissed softly.
It was getting chilly and with the twilight drifting into night, the fire pit offered the only source of light. I had always found Archer's eyes incredibly beautiful with the sharp sapphire blue color and dark eyelashes. But now, with the shadows from the flames dancing across his face, his eyes looked black.
“Marco, why don't you and Finn go and check up on the children while Kya and I have a little talk?” Archer said without breaking eye contact with me.
“Do you need me to stay and protect you?” Finn asked from behind me. “You know, in case he decides to spank you again or something.”
Stay firm, I reminded myself and tried not to blink from Archer’s intensity. “It's fine, we’re just going to have a talk.”
We didn’t speak until the two men had entered the school and left us alone.
“It's about time you and I cleared the air between us,” Archer said in a deep voice. “You're still mad about the spanking, aren't you?”
“How could I not be?” My voice was full of indignation. “You humiliated me and scarred Sky for life.”
He scoffed. “Trust me, she'll survive and so will you.”
I turned my head when he started circling me. This was a typical move on his part because he hated standing still, but I still wished he wouldn’t do it.
“Just because you feel offended doesn't mean you're right,” he muttered. “You've been acting all civil with me in front of the kids, but most of the time you won't look at me and you hardly talk to me unless it's to criticize.”
It was an adrenaline rush. For someone raised to always be polite, I had gotten good at bantering with Archer.
Electricity sparked between us, but anger was much safer than attraction and I sucked in oxygen to fuel my angry words. “I'm not offended, Archer, I'm furious with you. What kind of man hits a woman anyway?”
