I took him in as he stood there, looking so damned beautiful, and so damned insecure.

I laughed softly. "Hi." I sighed and walked in his house and turned to look at him when I heard his door close behind him.

Why are you laughing? he asked.

I shook my head and brought my hands up. Because I wish you could see yourself through my eyes. I wish you could read my mind so that you would know how much I want you, no one else. There could be three hundred men after me right now, and it wouldn't matter. Because none of them are you, Archer Hale. I dropped my hands for a second and then immediately brought them back up. None of them are the man I love. I shook my head slightly and then continued. And I was going to try to wait until maybe you were ready to say it, too, but... I can't. Because it literally wants to burst out of me all the time. And so it's okay if you don't love me, or if you're not sure if you do. But I'm sure. And I can't stand letting another minute go by where I don't tell you I love you, because I do. I. Love. You. I love you so much.

He stood frozen as I rambled, but at the start of my final five words, he moved across the space separating us so quickly that my breath caught in my throat and my hands fell. He grabbed me to him and pulled me against his body so tightly that I squeaked, a high-pitched sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob.

He picked me up and buried his face in my neck and as I wrapped my arms around him, he pulled me even tighter. I rested my head on his shoulder and breathed in his singular scent. We just stood like that for several minutes.

Finally, I pulled back and took his hand as I led him to the couch and we both sat down.

I'm sorry about what happened at the bar. Can I explain? He nodded, pursing his lips slightly and I went on. Jordan is just my friend, he always has been, never anything more. We grew up togetherI met him when we were twelve. I've been aware that he had a crush on me for a while, but I made it clear to him that I only had friendly feelings for him. I paused before continuing. He pushed the issue after my dad died and that was the straw that made me take off. I smiled slightly. So, I guess you could say that you actually have Jordan to thank for sending me your way. Archer smiled too, and looked down at his hands in his lap. When I began speaking again, he looked back up at my hands. Anyway, that's what you saw tonighthim working through the fact that we'll never be more than friends, and then us coming to a good place as far as that goes. That's all.

Archer nodded, ran his hand through his hair, and said. I'm sorrysometimes I feel like everything is over my head. It makes me feel... weak and angry, and not worthy of you. Not worthy of anything.

I grabbed his hands quickly and then let go. No. Don't feel that wayplease don't. God, give yourself a break. Look at everything you've accomplished already. Look at who you are despite everything you have going against you. I brought my hand up to his cheek and he shut his eyes and turned into it. "And did I mention that I love you?" I whispered. "And that I'm not in the habit of loving unworthy people?" I smiled a small smile at him.

His eyes opened and they roamed my face for several beats, his expression almost reverent, before he said, I'm in love with you too. He let out a breath. I am so desperately in love with you. His eyes widened as if the words that he had just "spoken" were almost a surprise. His lips parted and his hands asked me, Is it enough, Bree?

I let out a breath and smiled, allowing myself to take a minute to rejoice at the knowledge that the beautiful, sensitive, brave man in front of me loved me. After a second I said, It's a really good start. I shook my head slightly, looking down. The rest we'll figure out, okay? I took his hands in mine.

Vulnerability washed over his expression as he nodded at me, his face conveying his doubts. My heart squeezed. What's wrong, Archer?

After a few seconds, he leaned forward and took my face in his hands and kissed me tenderly on my mouth, his lips lingering there as he rested his forehead on mine and closed his eyes. He leaned back and said, I love you so much it hurts. And truly, he looked pained.

I smiled a small smile at him and brought one hand to his cheek, and he closed his eyes for a beat before I brought my hand away. It doesn't need to hurt.

He breathed out. It does though. It does because I'm afraid to love you. I'm afraid that you'll leave and that I'll go back to being alone again. Only it will be a hundred times worse because I'll know what I'm missing. I can't... He sucked in a shaky breath. I want to be able to love you more than I fear losing you, and I don't know how. Teach me, Bree. Please teach me. Don't let me destroy this. He looked at me beseechingly, pain etched into every feature on his face.

Oh God, Archer, I thought, my heart squeezing tightly in my chest. How do you teach a man who has lost everything, not to fear it happening again? How do you teach a person to trust in something none of us can guarantee? This beautiful man that I loved looked so broken, sitting before me expressing his love for me. Expressing his devotion. I wished with all my heart that that could be a happy thing for himbut I understood why it hurt.

Loving another person always means opening yourself up for hurt. I don't want to lose more than I already have either, but isn't it worth it? Isn't it worth giving it a chance? I asked.

He searched my eyes and nodded his head, but his own eyes told me that he wasn't convinced that he meant it. I took a deep breath. I would make it my job to make him believe. I would believe strongly enough for the both of us if I had to. I took him in my arms and then scooted over so that I could climb up on his lap and nuzzle him more closely. "I love you, I love you, I love you," I whispered, smiling, trying to make this moment a happy one.

He smiled back and put his lips against mine, mouthing, "I love you, too," against my mouth, as if he was breathing love into my body.

I kept breathing against him, and after a while, he started fidgeting slightly, adjusting me on his lap. My pulse rate quickened as my body reacted to his nearness, his smell, the feel of his big, hard body right up against mine, and specifically something hard and hot pressing into my hip.

I reached my hand down and rubbed the bulge at the front of his jeans and smiled against his neck. "Are you constantly hard?" I asked, my lips against his skin.

I felt him chuckle silently against my chest and smiled at the fact that the sadness and tension from a few minutes before seemed to dissolve as our bodies heated. I leaned back and looked at him, tenderness and desire shining in his eyes. He brought his hands up. Yes, when you're aroundit's why I'm always grimacing. He faked a pained expression.

I tilted my head. "I thought that was just your natural personality."

That, too.

I laughed and when I put more pressure on the grimace-causing bulge in question, he closed his eyes, his lips parting.

When he opened his eyes, he asked, Do you miss hearing the sounds I might make during sex if I had a voice? He watched my face as I thought about that.

I moved a piece of hair off his forehead and then shook my head slowly. No, I don't think about that. I don't rely on the sounds you might make to read you. I watch your expression and your eyes. I leaned in and brushed my lips against his mouth and then leaned back. I listen to your breathing and the way you dig your fingers into my hips right before you're about to come. There are so many ways to read you, Archer Hale. And I love every single one of them.

His eyes glittered at me before he moved forward suddenly, grabbing my face in his hands and laying me back down on the couch before coming down over me. I had a feeling the time for talking had just ended. Butterflies took up flight between my ribs and my belly clenched. I moaned, a deep, breathy sound that came up my throat, and let him take over, arching up into him, my core beginning to throb insistently. How was it that this man had just started having sex, and only with me, a couple weeks ago, and yet I trusted him with my body over anyone more experienced I'd been with before? Archer, overachiever that he was. I smiled into his mouth and he smiled back into mine, although he didn't lean back to ask me what exactly I was smiling about. I swept my tongue inside his mouth, the taste of him making me feel like I was going to combusthow could the inside of someone's mouth taste so delicious that it made you instantly dizzy with lust? It had been hours since I'd had a sip of beer, but I felt drunk on himdrunk with love, with lust, with something indescribable that I couldn't even name, and yet it owned me, body and soulsome kind of primal connection that must have been there before I existed, before he existed, before he or I ever breathed the same air, something written in the very stars.

He ground his erection down on my core, making me gasp and tear my mouth from his, groaning as I threw my head back, intense pleasure vibrating through my veins.

"Archer, Archer," I breathed, "there will never be anyone else for me." My words seemed to ignite him, his breathing coming out in sharp pants as he pulled my t-shirt up and popped my bra open in one movement, releasing my breasts to the cool air.

He sucked one nipple into his warm mouth as I moaned and wove my fingers into his hair, sparks of electricity shooting from my nipple down to my engorged clit. My hips surged upwards, bucking into his hardness, and he hissed in a breath and pulled back, looking down at me with his eyes at half-mast. More wetness trickled down to my core at the look on his face alone and my mouth dropped open. Intensity and lust were stark in his expression, but so was his love for me. I'd never seen anything like it. The power in that expression was so jaw-dropping, that I could only stare for several seconds as the blood continued to course south, making me desperate with want. I felt like my entire body was a live wireand so was my heart. It was almost too much.

Suddenly, Archer stood up and gestured for me to bring my arms up over my head. I did, and he pulled my t-shirt up and off and then moved to my jeans, unbuttoning them and bringing them down my legs. He took off my shoes and then pulled my jeans fully off, tossing those on the floor too. He stood over me for a few seconds, breathing hard, his jeans tented, his beautiful chest on display, and his eyes roaming my body. My own eyes widened and blood pulsated in my clit at the look of him alone. I couldn't help it, I reached my own hand between my legs and dipped a finger into my wet, needy opening. I moaned at the sensation. Archer's eyes flared as he watched my hand and then he was moving down over me, spinning me over so that my belly was now on the couch as I sucked in a surprised breath. I looked over my shoulder as he stripped his jeans off and came down on top of me again, just hovering over me so that I could feel his heat, but not his skin.

I looked back over my shoulder again and that intense look was still there. My brain was cloudy with lust, but I acknowledged that although I loved sweet, gentle Archer, I loved take-charge Archer too. Whatever had brought this side of him to life, I embraced it, and I wanted more. "Please," I said on a whispery breath and his eyes flew to mine, clearing marginally, almost as if he was coming out of a trance.

He took himself in his hand and rubbed his stiff cock down the crack of my ass, up, down, up, down until I was panting and pressing myself into the couch cushions.

He brought himself to my opening and pushed gently inside, slowly, inch by inch and I moaned out with relief. I couldn't open my legs because of the way he was pressing down on me and so the feel of him entering me was almost too much, too tight and his size too much for me to accommodate from that angle. But he stilled for a minute, letting my body adjust and when I breathed out, he started sliding in and out of me in slow, leisurely strokes.

I put my arms under the pillow my head was resting on and turned my face to the side. He leaned down further and took my lips in a searing kiss, licking and sucking my tongue to the rhythm that his cock was gliding in and out of my wetness. When he broke the kiss and leaned back up, I saw our reflection in the big window across from the couchanyone could have seen in, but of course, no one could on this fenced in, remote property, and so I didn't worry about that. I just watched our reflection, mesmerized by the sight and the feelings.

Archer had one knee on the couch on the other side of my legs, and one foot still on the floor, knee bent as he drove into me from behind. The sight of it was primal and the feel of it delicious as his big, hard cock pounded into me and my clit ground against the couch each time he moved down. It was as if he wanted to own me, possess me, merge our bodies into one being. I couldn't move, could only take what he was giving, trust him with my body and my heart. And I did. I trusted him with everything in me.

I turned my face into the pillow and bit down on it, not wanting to come yet, wanting this to go on and on and on. He loves me, my heart sang. And I love him, and he owns me, body and soul. I don't care about all the other stuff. All of it will work itself out. And in that moment I believed it with every fiber of my being.

Archer started moving faster, pounding into me harder, almost punishing, and I loved it, loved it so much that I couldn't stop the orgasm that gripped me suddenly, moving through my internal muscles with almost-agonizingly sweet slowness, spreading outward through my core, up to my belly and all the way down to my feet. I screamed into the pillow, burying my face into it as my body spasmed and convulsed in ecstasy.

Archer's thrusts sped up and grew jerky, his breathing growing louder, and I felt a small aftershock in my core at the knowledge that he was about to come.

He took three long strokes, exhaling loudly with each one as he pressed into me, his hands coming down on the couch on the side of my body as he held his own weight. I felt him grow even larger inside of me, stretching me, right before I felt the heat of his release and he collapsed on top of me, half on, half off so that the majority of his weight was on the edge of the couch.

We both just breathed for long minutes, getting our heart rates under control. Archer nuzzled his face into the back of my neck, kissing down my spine as far as his mouth could travel without him moving his body. I calmed under the feel of his warm mouth, closing my eyes and sighing contentedly. He ran his nose over my skin and then I felt his lips again as his mouth formed the words, I love you, I love you, I love you.

A little while later, after we had gone to bed, I woke up alone. I sat up groggily and looked around, but Archer was nowhere in sight. I got up and wrapped the sheet around my naked body and went in search of him. I found him sitting in a chair in his front room, wearing just his jeans, his golden skin glowing in the moonlight coming in the window, looking beautiful and broken, his elbows on his knees and one hand massaging the back of his neck as he looked down.

I went to him and kneeled down in front of him. "What's wrong?" I asked.

He looked at me and smiled a sweet smile, one that reminded me of the man who had come out with a newly-shaven face, looking at me so unsure. He brushed a piece of hair back off of my face and then said, Do you want kids, Bree?

My brows furrowed and my head came back slightly as I let out a small laugh. "Eventually, yes. Why do you ask that?"

Just wondering. I figured you did.

I was confused. "Do you not want kids, Archer? I don't..."

He shook his head. It's not a matter of that. It's just... how would I support a family? I couldn't. I can barely support myself out here. I have a little bit of money left from my parents' insurance policy, but most of it went to my medical bills. My uncle supported us out here on his disability money from the army and now, I have a small insurance policy that he leftit'll last me as long as I don't live to be a hundred and ten... but that's it. His eyes moved away from me, back out the window.

I sighed, my shoulders drooping. "Archer, you'd get a job, do something you like. You don't think people with disabilities of one kind or another have careers all the time? They do"

Do you want to hear about the first time I left this land on my own? he asked, cutting me off.

I studied his face and nodded my head yes, sadness suddenly gripping me and I wasn't even sure why.

My uncle passed away four years ago. He made all his own arrangements and was cremated. The medical examiner's crew came to take his body away and they brought his ashes back a week later. I didn't see another person for the next six months.

My uncle had a food stockpile down in the cellarpart of his crazy paranoiaand it kept me alive for that long. I started growing my hair, my beard... I didn't know exactly why at the time, but now I think it was another way to hide from the people I knew I'd eventually have to face. Crazy, right? His eyes found mine again.

I shook my head vigorously. "No, not crazy at all," I said softly.

He paused, looking at me and then went on. I held my breath. This was the first real time he had opened up to me on his own, without my probing.

The first time I left for the grocery store, it took me two hours to walk up that driveway, Bree, he said brokenly. Two hours.

"Oh, Archer," I breathed, tears coming to my eyes, my hands gripping his thighs, anchoring me to him. "You did it though, it was hard, but you did it."

He nodded. Yeah, I did it. People looked at me, whispered. I grabbed some bread and peanut butter and lived off of it for a week until I worked up the courage to go back out again. He huffed out a small breath, his face pained. I hadn't been off this land since I was seven years old, Bree.

He looked past me for a minute, obviously remembering. After a while though, it got better. I ignored people and they ignored meI just started blending in, I guess. If someone spoke to me, I looked the other way. It was fine after that. I took up projects around here and stayed busy. I was lonely, so damn lonely. He ran a hand through his hair, his expression tortured. But I tired myself out most days...

I felt the tears shimmering in my eyes, understanding even more deeply the bravery it had taken for Archer to even take one step off this land.

"Then you went out with Travis... and to see me at the diner," I said. "You did that, Archer. And it was incredibly courageous."

He sighed. Yeah, I did it. But it had been four years by that point. It took me four years to take another stepand I didn't even like it.

"You didn't like it with Travis because he was the wrong person, untrustworthy, but you liked it with me, right? It was okay, then?"

He looked down at me, his eyes filled with tenderness when he put one hand up on my cheek for a second and then brought it down. Yes, it's always okay when I'm with you.

I leaned into him. "I won't leave you, Archer," I whispered, blinking the tears out of my eyes as I looked up at him.

His eyes warmed even more as he gazed down at me. That's a big burden for someone, Bree. To feel like if you leave a person, their whole life is going to crumble to dust. That's what I've been out here thinking about. What a burden I might end up being to you, the pressure you'll feel just loving me.

I shook my head. "No," I said, but my heart hammered hollowly in my chest because I understood what he was saying, too. I didn't agree, and as far as I was concerned in that moment, there would be no reason on earth that I would ever leave him, but his insecurity hit me square in the gut because it made sense.

Archer reached down and tilted my head slightly, his eyes moving to the side of my neck where the hickey he had given me wasstill dark red and angry looking, I was sure. He cringed and let go of me and then brought his hands up. I don't know how to do any of this. You deserve better than the nothing I have to offer you. But it hurts even more to think of letting you go. He sighed, his eyes moving over my face. There are so many things I feel like I still need to figure out and so many things working against us. He brought one hand up and raked it through his hair, his face pained. My brain hurts when I think about it all.

"Then let's not think about it now," I said gently. "Let's take one day at a time and just figure it out as it comes, okay? It feels overwhelming now because you're thinking about it all at once. Let's just take this slowly."

He gazed down at me for several seconds and then nodded his head. I stood up and sat on his lap and hugged him close, burying my head in his neck. We sat that way for several more minutes and then he picked me up and carried me back to bed. As I drifted off to sleep in his arms, it occurred to me dreamily that I had thought saying we loved each other would make us strongerbut instead, for Archer, it just made the stakes higher.

CHAPTER 26.

Bree The next morning I got up early for work and Archer got up with me, kissing me at the door. He looked sleepy and sexy and I took a few more minutes than I should, lingering at his lips, just rubbing mine over his. I still needed to go home and shower and get my uniform. Hopefully Natalie had taken Phoebe out and fed her. When I leaned back away from Archer, I said, Natalie and Jordan are picking me up right after work, so I'll see you as soon as I get back, okay?

He nodded at me, his face going serious.

Hey, I joked, take this time to get some actual sleep. Think of it as a week long break from having to service my insatiable sexual needs constantly.

He grinned a sleepy grin and signed back, I love your insatiable sexual needs. Hurry back to me.

I laughed a small laugh and breathed out. I will. I love you, Archer.

I love you, Bree. He smiled a sweet smile at me and I lingered, not wanting to say goodbye. Finally, he smacked me playfully on the butt and said, Go. I laughed softly and waved at him as I walked up the driveway, blowing him kisses before I shut the gate behind me. He stood there in his jeans, no shirt on, his hands in his front pockets, a small smile on his face. God, I'd miss him.

It was a busy day at the diner which was good since the day passed quickly, and I didn't have too long to linger in my thoughts over how much I was going to miss Archerhell, how much I was going to miss the entire town. It had been such a short time, really, but already I felt like this was home. I missed my friends back in Ohio, but I knew that my life was here now.

Natalie and Jordan picked me up right at three o'clock, and I changed into jeans and a t-shirt in the bathroom and said quick goodbyes to Maggie and Norm. We hopped in my car, Jordan driving and Phoebe chuffing softly at me from her carrier, and got right on the road.

"What'd you guys do all day?" I asked, trying to distract myself from the ball of emotion that was already moving up my throat as we got on the highway and moved further away from Pelion.

"We walked along the lake for a little bit," Natalie said. "But it was so cold we didn't stay long. We drove across the lake to the town on the other side for lunch and checked out some of the shops. It was really nice, Bree. I can see why you like it here."

I nodded. "The summer was beautiful, but the fall is" My phone chimed, cutting me off. I frowned. Who could that be? Maybe Avery? The only other people who ever texted me were sitting in the car.

I picked my phone up and looked at the text from an unknown number. I frowned, clicking on it. It said: Is it too soon to start missing you? Archer My eyes widened and I pulled back from the phone, surprise taking over. I sucked in a breath. Archer? How in the world?

I looked up to the front passenger seat where Natalie was sitting. "Archer's texting me!" I said. "How is Archer texting me?"

Natalie just smiled a knowing smile. I gaped. "Oh my God! Did you get him a cell phone?"

Natalie shook her head, smiling and pointed next to her to Jordan in the driver's seat. He looked in the rearview mirror at me sheepishly.

"You got Archer a cell phone?" I whispered, tears springing into my eyes.

"Whoa, whoa. Don't get all emotional. It's just a cell phone. How else are you guys gonna communicate while you're gone? I'm surprised you didn't think of it yourself."

Tears were sliding down my cheeks now, and I choked out a little laugh, shaking my head. "You're... I can't..." I sputtered, looking back over at Natalie who was crying and laughing now, too, swiping the tears off of her cheeks.

"Isn't he?" she asked.

I nodded, a new flood of tears falling out of my eyes as I laughed and wiped them off my cheeks. We were a messboth of us laughing and crying.

I looked at Jordan in the rearview mirror, and he rubbed a fist into one eye, cringing slightly and saying, "Something in my eye there. Okay, stop all the blubbering. You two are embarrassing. And text him back already. He's waiting, I'm sure."