A slow smile filled her face. A hissing kitten would have looked friendlier. “Tell me.”
He frowned. “Tell you what?”
“Tell me why you’re asking me of all people to do this.”
Poking his tongue lightly into his cheek, he inhaled deeply. This woman would be the death of him. “Seriously, Elise, you’re going to make me say it?”
She gave a firm nod and a wicked grin. “Oh, hell yes, I’m going to make you say it.”
“Unbelievable,” he muttered, watching her closely. While he did need her help, he needed to level the playing field, so he rose and settled himself in front of her chair. Placing his hands on both armrests, he leaned down. She straightened at his nearness, and her breath hitched when he brought his face down to hers and said, “Elise, you’re the best PI out there, and I am desperately in need of your help.” He arched an eyebrow, feeling her rapid warm breaths brushing across his face, certain that was lust burning in the depths of her eyes. “Will that suffice?”
Not one to shy away from a game, she rose and slid up against him sensually. “Yes, Archer, that will do. Text me the details when you know what night I’ll be coming to the club.”
Hard and annoyed that she had the power to even control his damn cock, Archer didn’t dare step back. Neither did Elise. “You’ll start on this right away?” he asked.
“I’ve got a current case to wrap up tomorrow morning, but I can begin in the afternoon.”
Heat burned in the space between them, drawing him in. “Excellent.”
Her gaze swept over his lips before lifting to his eyes again. “We’ll talk soon, then.”
“We will.”
And like the vixen she was, her hand brushed against the front of his pants as she walked away. No doubt she’d felt every inch of his erection. An erection that didn’t seem to understand this woman was a complete pain in his ass.
Chapter 2
“Archer hired you?”
Standing in the galley kitchen of her loft on the southern edge of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Elise took in the surprise in her roommate and best friend’s blue eyes. “Yup, he sure did.” She had shared the loft with Hazel Rose since college, and no one knew Elise better. Hazel also knew her tense history with Archer. Even Elise was slightly rattled by his request. She and Archer had been frenemies from day one. She’d beaten him at his own game by breaking through his security, and he wasn’t happy about it. That fighting edge had stayed with them whenever they spent time together with Rhys and Zoey. There was this unspoken battle to see who would come out on top. Whether it be winning a bet, beating the other at game night, or eating the most chicken wings, the competitions were endless. But alongside that tension, something else had developed between them. Something hot and needy. And something Elise was having a hard time pushing away. At first, she thought she’d imagined the chemistry between Archer and her. But last night, with a single brush of her hand to confirm, she’d discovered he wanted her as much as she wanted him. And she didn’t know what to do with that information. Their thing was butting heads, not screwing.
She reached for her to-go coffee mug from the cupboard, taking a moment to enjoy the warmth from the bright sun shining in through the large windows before turning back to Hazel, who still stared, agape. Elise laughed. “You’re about to spill your coffee everywhere.”
“Shit!” Hazel rightened the coffeepot. She set it back in the coffee maker, then whirled back to Elise with sparkling eyes. “I take it he’s forgiven you for the magazine subscriptions, then?”
“There was nothing to forgive me for,” Elise shot back, grabbing the coffeepot and pouring some into her mug. “He’s the one who got his hacker to look through my life. I never went that far, even after he pulled that stunt with me. All I did was get Zoey into the club. It was never anything personal, never anything against Archer or Rhys. So what if he had to cancel a few magazine subscriptions—”
“Like ten,” Hazel cut in.
Elise rolled her eyes. “Fine, more than a few.”
“With each one pissing him off a little bit more.”
Elise chuckled and nudged Hazel’s shoulder. “Okay, yeah, it did, and maybe I didn’t mind getting under his skin.” She’d never admit it aloud, but while Archer certainly could rev her engine with all that alpha deliciousness and his seriously good looks, she secretly enjoyed getting past all his defenses. She got the feeling not many people could do that. “But I also didn’t take this job for him; I took it for Zoey and Rhys.” Because Zoey was the third one in their friendship trio, and Elise was as protective of her friends as she was of her life.
“I’m sure they’ll appreciate it too,” Hazel said as two bagels popped out of the toaster. Like she did every day, Hazel slathered the bread in cream cheese and handed one half to Elise. “Are you starting on the case today?”
Elise took a bite of the bagel, then kissed Hazel’s cheek. Hazel had always been the “mom” of the trio of friends. She’d been voted “first to get married” and “most likely to have children” in their high school yearbook. All she needed to find was her groom, but neither Elise nor Hazel were successful in that department. “Yup, I’m heading to the office now.”
“Stay safe,” Hazel called as Elise headed for the door.
“Always do.”
She was finished with her bagel by the time she got to the Prospect Park subway stop. It took roughly a half hour to get to Soho by subway. And another ten minutes of walking to arrive at her office in a shared space she rented for an obscene amount of money. Something she would never be able to do if Hazel didn’t split rent on the loft.
The security guard, Keith, greeted her with his warm, infectious smile from behind his desk. “Good morning, Miss Elise.”
“Morning. I saw the Mets lost last night,” Elise said, walking toward the elevators and hitting the button.
“Don’t even talk about it,” Keith bit off. “Didn’t happen.”
Elise laughed and entered the elevator when it chimed open. “Better stop betting on them; you’re going to lose all your money.” She hit the button for the fifth floor.
“You should be more loyal to our team,” he said with a smile. “You’re a terrible New Yorker.”
The doors began to close. “You know I hate baseball, Keith.”
He mimicked being stabbed in the heart just as the doors shut.
When the elevator doors opened on the fifth floor, Elise was still laughing to herself. She made it to the third office on the left and unlocked the door with ELISE FANNING - PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR written on the glass in gold lettering. Her office consisted of large bank windows lining the back wall, revealing a beautiful New York City skyline. Her wood-and-brass writing desk sat in front of a red-brick wall, with a filing cabinet on the right. In front of her desk were two client chairs. There wasn’t room for anything else, and she didn’t need more. It was primarily a place to meet clients.
Once seated, she set her now-empty to-go mug down and removed her laptop from her bag and powered it up. Then she moved to the filing cabinet that wasn’t of the normal variety. It was a gift from a friend. The very person she needed to call today. After using the fingerprint scanner, the cabinet open and she grabbed the burner cell.