as hard as he held me, soaking up the comfort in Archer's embrace.
I let out a short, bitter laugh. "I don't know why you're apologizing to me," I told him with my cheek against his chest and no desire to move. "It was your house that got burned down. First he explodes Steele's favorite car, then he sets fire to your cottage? It's becoming an expensive and dangerous activity to be close to me."
"Fuck the house," he growled back. "This prick can destroy my entire estate, and you'll still be worth it. I'm only sorry because I knew you liked that house, and the look on your face when you realized it was gone damn near broke me."
I tipped my head back, peering up at him from the tight circle of his arms. Before I could get any words out, though, Kody called out that we were ready to go.
Archer kissed me quickly but meaningfully, then linked our fingers together as we hurried out of the presidential suite again. All four of us piled into the elevator, the mood somber, until Kody—typical Kody—broke the tension with a question already on the back of my mind.
"So..." he said into the tense silence. "We're calling a raincheck on tonight, right? 'Cause I have a feeling I know what MK was going to suggest and—" Archer whacked him around the head. "Ow, dude. Not cool."
I met Kody's eyes with a mischievous smile, though, and mouthed my answer at him.
Raincheck.
41
The drive back to Shadow Grove was tense and silent. I took the passenger seat of Archer's car, wanting to stay close to him, seeing as this attack was aimed at the two of us. He drove fast, way faster than I'd have normally been okay with. But the steady weight of his hand on my leg the whole way kept me grounded.
Steele and Kody in the other car kept pace with us the whole way, pulling into the crowded driveway of Wisteria just seconds after us.
The four of us climbed out, and Archer took the lead as a rough-looking, middle-aged guy with tattoos covering his throat approached us. They greeted each other like they were already acquainted, and I guessed this was the man from the video call.
I tuned them out, though, staring instead at the charred, smoking remains of the beautiful cottage. It’d been devastating to see it in flames on the video call, but seeing it in person as little more than a pile of ash and burnt out framework? Utterly heartbreaking.
Warm arms wrapped around me from behind, and I leaned back into Kody's solid form, soaking up his comforting presence.
"Are you okay, babe?" he murmured, kissing my cheek gently.
I heaved a sigh, nodding despite the sadness filling me. "Yeah, fine. It's just such a senseless act of destruction. We need to deal with this fucker sooner rather than later."
Kody rested his chin on my shoulder, staring at the mess with me as a fire crew doused the remains with water from their hoses.
"Maybe it was just a coincidence," he offered. "Faulty wiring or something."
"Unlikely," Steele replied, coming to stand beside us. "The first responders found several gas cans."
Neither Kody nor I had anything to say to that. What could we say? It was pretty obvious what had happened. My stalker had seen that global campaign for Copper Wolf Vodka and burned our love-nest down in retaliation. The question that scared me the most, though, was how he even found out about the cottage.
"How long do we need to be here?" I asked, feeling way too exposed all of a sudden—like I could feel a thousand eyes on me, watching my every move.
Archer and the tattooed guy were further away from us, talking to a uniformed firefighter and a police officer. From what I could see, there were just two firetrucks and approximately eight firefighters. Just one cop car sat behind the trucks, and only one other officer aside from the guy speaking to Archer.
"Not long," Kody assured me, his arms tightening around my waist. "Arch just wants to personally speak to all the attending parties. Maybe one of their faces will be familiar and give us a clue."
"Makes sense," I replied in a murmur. Still, I wanted nothing more than to go home.
"Come on, let's go wait in the car," Steele suggested. "Arch can handle this, but I think it's better if we all stick together right now."
I nodded, totally agreeing with that sentiment. Strength in numbers and all that. The