dry, so I licked them nervously, my eyes dancing across all three of my men. Holy shit, I'd struck the triple jackpot.
Archer seemed to catch the shift in my mood before anyone else, and his scowl deepened. "Kate, I won the fight. You're mine tonight, and I don't want to share."
I propped my free hand on my hip, giving him a healthy dose of sass with my answering glare. "Then you should have considered that before pissing me off, Archer. Now I'm calling the shots again, and I want—"
My declaration was cut off by the peal of sound from Archer's phone.
He didn't make any move to check it, just held my gaze, daring me to finish my sentence. But then it rang again immediately after stopping, and his brow furrowed.
"Check it," Steele said.
"No shit," Archer muttered, fishing in the pocket of his hoodie for his phone, then swiping his thumb over the screen to answer the call. He said nothing as he brought it to his ear, simply listening to whatever the other person needed to say so urgently.
Within seconds, his expression morphed to fury, and he shot out of his seat. "Switch me to video call," he snapped at whoever had called, then lowered his phone to peer at the screen. Unable to contain my curiosity, I crossed over to where he stood and looked over his arm at the video call.
Archer seemed to know exactly what he was looking at, his hand clutching the phone so hard I was amazed it didn't shatter in his grip. As it was, his whole body vibrated with fury. To me, though, it just looked like a huge bonfire.
A moment later, when whoever held the phone moved to a different location, I sucked in a gasp as I recognized the image. That was no bonfire, it was a house fire.
Our house. The one Archer and I had just spent a life-changing weekend at, fucking on every available surface. Before we'd left at the end of the weekend, he'd told me that it would forever be our sanctuary. That goddamn house meant more to me than I had even fully comprehended until that moment as I watched it burn to the ground.
"Mother fucker!" I screamed, throwing my champagne flute against the window and watching it rain down glittering shards of glass.
"Thank you for the call," Archer said to whoever was on the phone. "Any signs of the responsible party?"
"No, sir," the caller replied in a gruff voice. "Security feeds were looped; we only knew what had happened after being alerted by the attending fire department."
Security feeds looped, just like at the mansion, allowing my stalker to deliver gifts undetected. They were always looped or wiped or just plain angled the wrong way. How was my stalker doing this?
"We'll be there in just under two hours," Archer told the caller, who I guessed to be someone on his security team. "Don't let anyone leave the scene until we arrive. No one. Understood?"
"Got it, boss." The man ended the call, and Archer threw his phone down on the couch with a long exhale. Neither Kody nor Steele spoke, waiting for Archer to fill them in.
"Wisteria was set on fire," he eventually ground out, his teeth clenched hard. "Arson."
Both guys breathed curses, and I found I needed to swallow past a lump in my throat. Shit. It was just a house... right? Why was I getting so fucking upset about it?
"We need to get out there," Archer announced. "I want to personally interview anyone on the scene and check for messages. He is escalating, and sooner or later, he's going to slip up."
"And it's pretty common for arsonists to return to the scene to admire their handiwork," Steele agreed, nodding. "He could well be hiding in plain sight somewhere."
Kody stood up from the couch, all business. "I'll grab our bags and call the valet for the cars."
Steele was already on his phone texting someone while Kody hurried to grab our bags out of the bedrooms. I just stood there, frozen to the spot with the giant illuminated billboard of Archer and me at my back.
My mind wandered, lost in the storm of emotions caused by watching Archer's cottage, Wisteria, burn down. I only jerked free of that dark headspace when a pair of heavily tattooed, strongly muscled arms wrapped around me.
"I'm sorry, Kate," he whispered in a husky voice, pulling me tight into his chest. I looped my arms around his waist, holding onto him just