Page 63 of The Mentor
“The kind of man who doesn’t like you undermining him in front of his students. I would spank you again if I had to, and don’t you forget that you asked me to.”
My voice rose to a high pitch. “I never wanted you to hit me, I wanted to protect Sky.”
Archer was in my face so fast that I didn't have time to step back. “And now you’ve made up your mind that I'm a monster, haven’t you?” he breathed, his eyes looking intently into mine before they lowered to my lips.
I swallowed hard, trying to find my voice and to make my brain work, but his closeness made parts of my body hum and tingle. “I think that…” I started with a voice vibrating with emotions. “I think that you are too hard on the children and that your approach is old-fashioned.”
“I'm not talking about the kids,” he said slowly. “I'm talking about you and me, Kya.”
Hot lava flowed down my spine and my core began to tingle. Memories of our kiss among the fireflies made my eyes fall to his lips; at least he would never know that I’d thought about him sexually.
“You're playing with me,” Archer spoke in a strangely pained voice.
“No,” I whispered. “I'm not.”
“Yes, you are, and I swear it, Kya, if you allow Finn or Marco into your bed, I’ll lose my shit.” His left hand closed around my shoulder and he shook me a little. “Do you hear me?”
“Archer, I…” Looking down, I licked my lips and thought of a way to explain my confused feelings to him. “Maybe if we didn't work together it would be different between us.”
He was silent for a while before he answered more softly: “Then I wish we didn’t work together.”
I had no reply to that.
“Did you know that I asked to be your protector when Magni had to leave?”
“No, but I figured you might, so I made sure Lord Khan knew that I didn't want you as my protector.”
My admission only upset him. “Why the hell not?” he demanded to know.
“Because it would only complicate our relationship.”
He cursed low. “We could've been lovers with no one looking over our shoulders.”
“Lovers? We can't even get through a day without arguing; how could you possibly think we could be lovers?” I asked, my eyes falling to his lips again, my chest lifting and rising in shallow intakes of air. How I wished things had been more simple and I could’ve slept with him to get it out of my system, but he was so angry – and despite my physical attraction to him, I had about one hundred internal alarm bells telling me that sex between us would be a bad idea.
Archer had to know that and yet he fearlessly leaned in to claim my mouth. It started as an angry and punishing kiss that made me push at his chest to get free. Only Archer wasn't in the mood to let me go.
“Archer.” I opened my mouth to tell him to stop, but he only deepened the kiss. Pent-up rage and indignation flowed through me, and a need to set him straight. I had my own emotions to deal with and my own unwanted desires to battle. But instead of pushing him away, my treacherous hands pulled him closer and in the darkness of the night, I kissed him back. It wasn't logical and it definitely wasn't smart, but I did it anyway, and not for one second did I worry about bacteria.
We stood like two hungry humans, feasting on what we had denied ourselves for weeks, my hands raking over his strong body and his hands exploring my breasts and buttocks, and finally finding their way to my hair. He pulled my neck back, planting kisses all the way from my collarbone to my ear, and whispered hoarsely: “You’re driving me crazy. I need you so fucking bad.”
“We shouldn’t be doing this,” I objected, a small part of my brain still working.
“Maybe not, but we are going to do it anyway.”
“We can’t just have sex!”
“Oh, I’m pretty sure we can and I know we both want to.”
“Yes, but what about…” I didn’t get to finish my sentence before he picked me up and started walking with me in his arms.
“Be quiet,” he ordered in a whisper.
“But the children?”
“They’re sleeping, and Marco and Shelly have the night shift.”
“But Finn; he’ll surely come to check up on me.”
