muscular shiver rippled down his back as my nails gouged red lines across his flesh, but still, he didn't shove me away. Quite the opposite. A small, frustrated groan left his lips a split second before his free hand clapped against my ass, lifting me, spinning me, and resettling me across his lap with one stocking-clad leg on either side of his hips and my pushed-up breasts close enough to his face that his beard brushed them.
"What the fuck are you—"
Boom. Hell froze over.
Or close enough. Archer's lips hit mine in a harsh, demanding kiss while his fingers tangled in my hair. My brain short-circuited, and for a second, I kissed him back. I'd lie about it later if anyone asked me, but I did. He had one hand in my hair, the strands so tightly wound around his fingers that I may as well have been a puppet under his control. His other hand was splayed across my lower back, but his touch was possessive and controlling, holding me tight against him as he kissed me senseless.
Not totally senseless, though.
With every scrap of willpower I possessed, I jerked my lips away from his, turning my face to the side as I fought to catch a breath. Everyone had to have seen that. Certainly, Nicky had; she had her fucking camera on us.
"I thought you didn't fuck unwilling chicks," I snarled in a quiet voice, keeping my face turned away from Nicky's camera for fear of what she might capture there. It was bad enough that my pussy was throbbing where I was crushed against Archer's hardness and my whole body was lit up like I'd stuck my tongue in an electrical socket.
Archer let out an amused sound and ran his tongue over his lips but didn’t release my hair. In fact, he used his grip there to turn my face enough that our gazes locked once more.
The corner of his mouth pulled up, and his cool blue eyes flashed with victory. "I don't."
I scowled. His implication was clear... that I was willing.
Motherfucker.
With a furious, frustrated growl, I wrenched myself out of his grip and wobbled as my heels hit the floor once more. "You're barking up the wrong fucking tree, husband," I hissed, reminding him—and me—of the honking big elephant in the room with us. "If you're looking for willing, then you'd be better off just fucking yourself. You've had plenty of practice with that lately, haven't you?"
His glare darkened, his amusement turning to a threatening scowl, but I'd run out of fucks to give. I'd also run right out of willpower and mental fortitude, and I badly didn't want to be one of those girls who lost all backbone the second her cunt got wet.
"Are we done?" I asked Nicky, spinning around and giving Archer my back. If he was wise, he'd use the cover to sort himself out. Otherwise this "ultra sexy" photo-shoot was about to turn into soft-core porn.
Nicky's brows shot up, her camera held in one hand as she hesitated. "Uh... not really..." she started to say, but quickly changed her mind. "Actually, come to think of it, I can work with what I've got."
I was halfway across the bar before she’d even finished talking. Kody was over near the main door talking to Jase, and when I stormed past him, he cut out of the conversation to follow me.
"What happened?" he asked in a worried voice as I shoved through the heavy doors and out into the frosty air outside.
"Seriously?" I demanded, whirling around to glare at him. The look on his face was pure confusion, though, and it only took me a second to realize he hadn't seen the kiss between Archer and me.
Kody's brow furrowed, and he shot a look back toward the warehouse bar we'd just left. "Do you need me to punch him again? I'm sure he deserves it."
I barked a sharp laugh and shook my head. My irritation flowed out with the crisp air I was inhaling. "Again? You've made a habit of punching him?"
Kody gave me a cocky grin, closing the gap between us. He draped his leather jacket over my trembling shoulders. "Baby girl. You shoulda seen the mess Steele and I left him in that week you took off to Aspen. Let's just say fight training stepped up a notch."
I grinned, letting all my anger and frustration at Archer fade away as Kody's hands slipped under his jacket and rested on my waist.