I watched in loved-up fascination as he went to the pantry and selected my sugary cereal from the shelf, then got me out the biggest bowl and filled it two thirds of the way. Then he topped it up with milk and placed it in front of me with a spoon.
Grinning, I pulled it closer to me. "How'd you know how I liked my cereal?" I murmured as he slid back onto his stool.
He just gave me a look in return as if to say, Don't underestimate me, Princess.
Anna's eyes crinkled as she smiled at the two of us, then she tucked her oven gloves back over the rail.
"Right," she said with her hands on her hips. "Two hours until dinner. I'm going to get some laundry done; you make sure the other two are awake, yes?" Archer and I both bobbed our heads in understanding. "Good."
She bustled off and left the two of us alone in the kitchen.
Less than a second after she was gone, Archer lifted me off my stool and sat me in his lap, then wrapped his arms around my waist.
I only let out a small grumble of protest, then dragged my cereal closer so I could keep eating while he snuggled me. It was stupid cute.
"Hey," Steele said with a yawn. He wandered into the kitchen still half asleep. "How long have you guys been up?"
"Um, ten minutes?" I guessed with a shrug before taking another mouthful of loops.
Archer kissed the side of my neck, behind my ear, then replied, "Six hours."
Steele wrinkled his nose at his friend in disgust. "Gross. You should sleep more, bro."
Archer huffed a laugh, his warm breath feathering my skin and making my shiver. "I was asleep, but then I got a call from my guy over at Rainybanks pathology. He's sending over the results from James's test today."
I startled then turned in his lap to stare wide-eyed. "What?"
"I haven't gotten them yet," he assured me, "but I figured I may as well get up and be productive until they came through. Except apparently James doesn't work Mondays, so he's not even here today."
I bit my lip, trying really hard not to get my hopes up. It was weird, wanting a virtual stranger to be my biological father rather than the man who’d raised me. But there it was. I wanted James to be my dad because anyone had to be better than Samuel Danvers.
"Well, I mean, it's probably negative anyway," I said in a forced-light tone of voice. "James said he ran a test himself, and it was negative. So I doubt that was tampered with. Right?"
Archer just shrugged. "You never know in Shadow Grove."
"I'll see if I can track him down," Steele offered. "We must have his home address on file somewhere. Or a phone number at least."
Archer nodded. "Steinwick said he'd find those details for us, but I figured we'd wait and see what the results say."
"Fair enough," Steele said with a yawn. "I was thinking maybe we’d head up to the shooting range tomorrow, if you guys are up for it." He made it sound like a group activity, but I knew he wanted to test my marksmanship again—something I was more than okay with. Like Steele had told me when he first started teaching me to shoot, the more I fired a gun, the more natural it would come. I wanted to get as good as he was... one day.
I nodded with enthusiasm, and Archer's arms tightened around me.
"Sounds good," he rumbled. "Anna wants us back here in two hours for a slow-roasted lamb shoulder."
Steele let out a drooling sound, throwing his head back in silent thanks to our cook, and I snickered a laugh.
"Alright, I'm going to go wake Kody up," I told them. "We can... I dunno. Run through the plan for Saturday again."
Saturday being our wedding day. Fucking hell... it was so soon. Even though it wasn't a real wedding, I was still getting all the nervous jitters and shit. It was also solidifying some things in my mind.
Despite the fact that it was a ruse to take out—hopefully—all of the active hitmen currently hunting my hide, it had made me realize that I was completely in love with all three of the guys.
Archer squeezed me again and kissed my neck before letting me slide out of his lap. Steele caught me by the waist as I passed him, kissed me thoroughly, then letting me go