Big Dick Energy - Cindi Madsen Page 0,43
of the frothy, sour-sweet goodness.
“Sounds like I picked the perfect time to say hello,” a deep male voice said at my side, and I whipped toward the speaker, sure I was imagining things. Liquid hit the back of my throat and I gasped and then coughed, and some of my drink definitely hit Archer’s shoes, as well as splattered his jeans.
I snagged one of the napkins and dabbed at my watering eyes before cleaning up myself as quickly as I could.
“Hello, not Penny’s boy,” Cat said, and I kicked her underneath the table. I shoved the basket of fries and happy hour table tent aside, came up with two spare napkins, and leaned over to dab at Archer’s pants legs and shoes.
He crouched low, forearms propped on his knees, his nose nearly hitting mine. “Don’t worry about it. I clearly startled you.”
“You know me. I startle easily.”
“I’ve noticed.” He lifted a thumb, lightly biting it as he flashed me a grin, and holy shit. A leather cuff circled his wrist, scruff dusted his upper lip and jaw, and his vintage T-shirt gave off the impression he’d found it on the floor and tossed it on. His brown strands were looser, a shade lighter without the gel, and the entire look worked as well for him as clean-shaven and the tailored suits.
The blood rushed to my head, leaving me dizzy—yep, it was just a side effect of being upside down and nothing else—and I went to sit up.
The top of my head bumped the palm he’d placed on the underside of the table a second before impact. Damn it. Why couldn’t I function properly?
“Freaking alcohol,” I muttered, even though I’d been cursed with clumsiness in spades. “Wait. Why do we say stuff happens in spades? Does that mean, like, shovels-full? Because spades are kinda tiny.”
Amusement joined the bafflement on Archer’s features. Then he added his other hand to the side of my face and guided my head away from the table, until I was upright once again. Then he looked to my friends, one eyebrow lifting higher than the other in the most mesmerizing way.
Catalina stole more of my fries and shrugged. “Don’t ask me. Once in a while, she just waxes poetic like that.”
I lifted a finger, drawing everyone’s attention as I struggled to push the words from my sloggy brain to my mouth. “You mean… what’s the opposite of poetic?”
“Whatever you’re doing now,” Ellie said, and they all had a good laugh at my expense.
“Traitors, the lot of you.”
“That’s rich, coming from someone who called me a dragon,” Cat said with a smirk.
“Hello, I’m a dragon sympathizer. You might as well call me Khaleesi. Well, up until the shitshow that was the last season.”
I dared to glance at Archer, and my stomach completed a full somersault at the affectionate way he stared back at me. “What are you doing here?” I asked him, since my friends weren’t being of any help. “This is our bar.”
He leaned a hip against my chair, leaving me eye-level with the bulge behind his zipper. “You own this bar?”
“What? No. I mean—” My phone buzzed, and I dug it out of my pocket. “Excuse me for a second.”
The new text popped up in our Dolls with Balls group chat.
Catalina: talk about big dick energy. That’s some bulge!!!
I jerked down my phone so the guy at my side wouldn’t see, slamming my knuckles against the table in the process.
“Ouch,” I said, shaking out my fingers as if that’d help, and then Archer took hold of my hand. At the tender rub of his thumb across my knuckles, my breath lodged in my throat, and suddenly I couldn’t cross my legs tight enough.
I repeat: freaking alcohol.
“I chose this bar because it’s the closest place to where I’m staying with an open stage for people to come and play music.”
I unstuck my tongue from the roof of my mouth. Since that’d been difficult enough, it was okay to let Archer keep on holding my hand, right? “That’s one of the reasons we began coming here. We’ve heard a lot of great artists over the years. A few of them have gone on to record albums and go on tour.”
Archer nodded. “That’s what I heard, which is why I had to come check it out for myself.”
I supposed after our last conversation, I could extend an olive branch. I gestured toward the one open seat at the table. “Care to join us for a drink?”
“Are you sure?” Light