“Are you okay?”
Heat flooded Elise before she managed to look toward the door. Sure, half naked with a mask, Archer was glorious. But wearing jeans and a gray T-shirt, he was to die for. She could still feel him between her thighs all day. Feel his spectacular kisses and the way they stole the thoughts from her mind. His woodsy scent was a smell she thought she’d never get out of her nose. But it was that smooth, low voice that brought her right back to the best sex of her life. Unimaginable sex. Mind-blowing sex. Sex she wanted again. And again. And again. And then maybe she’d even want it some more. “Yes, I’m okay,” she said, glad her voice stayed steady as she reached for some of the papers on the floor. “Is it a fluke you’re here, or did someone call you?”
“Zoey called Rhys,” Archer said, stepping into her office. “She was worried about you.”
Yeah, Elise was worried too. No one had ever broken into her office before. She began gathering up the papers. “I told Zoey not to worry.”
“Yeah, well, good friends worry,” he countered. “Not much you can do about that.” He dropped to one knee next to her, helping with the papers. “You weren’t here when this happened?”
“Thankfully, no,” she said, unable to meet his gaze, worried about what he’d see in hers if she did. “It must have happened last night.”
“You checked security cameras?”
She nodded, goose bumps racing across her arms at his nearness. God, all that heat and strength was so close to her. Too close. “It was the first thing I did when I saw this.” She forced herself to look at him, then immediately wished she hadn’t. Those penetrating eyes sucked her right in. “One guy broke in. Couldn’t make out his face, wore a black hoody.”
Archer’s gaze fell to the door handle, which was still intact. “How’d he get in?”
“Good ole picking the lock, I suspect.” She gave him a hard look. “Speaking of that, how did you get past Keith at the security desk?”
“Charm.” He smiled.
She snorted, shaking her head at him, and yet, some of the tightness in her chest began to fade away. “Keith obviously needs a reminder that cute men don’t get a free pass into the building.”
“Ah, don’t be too hard on him. I told him I was here to help you with the break-in and that we were friends.”
Friends sounded a whole lot different, rolling off his tongue today. Even she sensed some instability in her. Last night, she’d scratched an itch, expecting that itch to stay gone. But the desire hadn’t faded. If anything, it had grown.
Turning away, he helped her gather up the rest of the papers on the floor before he rose again. This time, his expression softened. “I’m sorry for this, Elise.”
She moved around her desk to reorganize everything. “Why are you apologizing? You don’t even know if it’s your case that caused this to happen.”
He gave a knowing look. “Do you have any other cases where someone would break into your office?”
“Not at the moment, but this could have been from an old one.” Her office was her second home, and the thought of someone touching things made her skin crawl. She picked up files on the floor beside her desk. Files that hadn’t been locked away in her cabinet, because they didn’t hold secrets.
When she reached for another file, Archer got there first, his hand brushing against hers. Her gaze met his before she could stop herself, and the desire in his stole the air from her lungs. She knew what that desire could do, and she felt the same hunger storm through her.
“We’re going to get to the bottom of this,” he said, holding her stare and taking her hand.
“We’re?” she repeated, hearing the breathiness in her voice.
“Yes, Elise. We. Non-negotiable.”
She blinked away from the way he captivated her so easily, and yet her breath was uneven. Zoey and Hazel always had her back, but this…this was new, and she felt a crack break through her armor. “Well, thank you for showing up to see if I was okay.”
“I’m likely the one who put you in this position,” he said. “No thank you required.”
She slowly pulled her hand away, even though it felt totally wrong to do that. “You didn’t put me in any position. Besides, I barely looked into Connie and Isaac last night, except to Google them. What would they even want to find here?”
“None of this makes sense,” he said. “Did you see the article this morning?”
“I didn’t, but Zoey called. Is Rhys furious?”
“Yes, as he should be. We need to get to the bottom of this.”
“We will.”
He gave a firm nod. “Let’s get you back in order first.”
Knowing there wasn’t much she could do now beyond that, she turned her focus to her messy office, but she couldn’t shake the warmth touching her at Archer’s help. Men came and went, never really caring much, but maybe she’d misjudged Archer’s haughtiness. Maybe his confidence came from being a good man, and he knew it.
With his help, they finished cleaning up the files, and in no time, she had her office put back together.
“You said you looked into Connie and Isaac last night?” Archer asked, setting the last file into the holder on her desk.
“Yeah, a little.”
“Did you do any digging that would warrant this?”
“No,” she said, but then she looked out at her office. “But if this is connected to Phoenix, I’d say I hit something someone didn’t want me to find.”
He nodded, taking a seat in her client chair. “Makes sense. What did you find out?”
“It’s all preliminary stuff, really,” she explained, sitting in her swivel chair, behind her desk. “Nothing anyone couldn’t find on the internet. Just who they are, what businesses they are tied to, income, that kind of stuff.”
“So, nothing that jumped out at you as a problem?”
She shook her head. “But…”
“What?”
She didn’t want to get ahead of herself, but her instincts weren’t usually wrong. “There is a connection between the two; did you know that?”
He cocked his head. “What kind of connection?”
“They used to date.”
Archer nodded. “Yes, I was aware, but when we vetted them, it was a nonissue. Connie is married to Isaac’s older brother, Elijah. Both had no problem attending the club if the other was there.”
At that, Elise froze. “Is Elijah a member too?”
“No,” Archer said. “But Connie indicated her husband did not mind her involvement with the club.”
“You didn’t think to look into that further?”
He frowned. “I’m not people’s babysitter. Connie said her husband enjoyed her when she came home from the club. Beyond that, she had no skeletons in her closet that would compromise Rhys or Phoenix. That’s all that mattered to me.”
“Well, just saying. Apparently, she does have some skeletons you don’t know about.”
“Apparently,” he grumbled in agreement. He sank deeper in the client chair, filling it out completely and stretching out his strong legs. “What are your thoughts on the photograph that was published?”