by Raine Thomas
Keith was still off-guard enough by her thoughtfulness that he said, “I’ll mention it to Lex.”
“Great,” she said with another smile.
He wondered what had brought all of this on. Had Nikki sensed he was having doubts about their relationship? Or was she just trying to make progress on their relationship in a normal way and he didn’t get it because he’d never been in one before?
There wasn’t time to dwell on it. Christopher rounded them all up and led the way to the after-party. Keith switched back to Void mode, knowing the fan interaction was about to kick into high gear.
Christopher had briefed them on the drive about some of the VIPs who would be attending that night’s party, including some key members of the press. Keith had made mental notes so he knew who not to piss off. Although most of the press would want to talk to Archer and Lily—thank God—the rest of the band had to be ready to field questions and give interviews, too.
The after-party location was a restaurant within the venue’s boxed seating section. The tantalizing scent of food greeted them as they walked in the doors. There would be no eating until after the media obligations were done, though.
Keith heard the crowd noise change as Archer entered the room. There wasn’t anything unusual about that. What differed now versus in years past was that Archer didn’t see a single person in that room until his gaze landed on Lily. The moment it did, his entire demeanor changed. It didn’t matter that he’d just seen her thirty minutes ago by their green room. He still looked like a dying man who’d just sighted his guardian angel. He made a beeline right for her, ignoring everyone else until he’d greeted her.
It was a reaction Keith just couldn’t relate to. Granted, Nikki was entering the event with him. Even if she hadn’t, he knew he wouldn’t have sought her out like Archer looked for Lily.
That type of thing was what had made Keith begin to question his relationship with Nikki. The love between Archer and Lily had made him realize that, at best, he was ambivalent towards Nikki. Trying the relationship thing had seemed like a good idea at the time. Nikki had been pursuing him for some time and it was certainly more convenient to have a willing and eager woman along on the tour than trying to navigate quickies with fans.
Neither of those were remotely romantic reasons for beginning a relationship, he supposed. But he wasn’t a romantic guy.
The more he saw Archer with Lily, the more it seemed more humane to part ways with Nikki now. She had said from the outset that she understood he was treating their time together on the tour as a trial run to see if the commitment thing worked for him. Lately, though, he had been getting the feeling she was more into him than the other way around. The gift for Lex was another sign leaning in that direction. That was hardly fair to Nikki.
Even as that thought ran through his mind, Nikki pulled him down and kissed him passionately. She never hesitated to take that kind of initiative.
He supposed if she was fine with how things were between them, he didn’t necessarily have to take any drastic action right that moment. Besides, he had made a promise to the band that he wouldn’t allow his relationship to affect anything about the tour.
He pushed it from his mind. The next hour was filled with fan interactions and interviews with the press. Unsurprisingly, most of the reporters wanted to discuss the House of Archer trailer. Keith stuck to the party line on it, pretending that the trailer hadn’t been the steaming pile of fabricated shit that it was. That seemed to be enough to satisfy the media, which he supposed was really all that mattered.
By the time the final interview wrapped up, he was ready to put the next edible substance he saw into his mouth and start chewing. He’d passed starving about thirty minutes ago.
He hadn’t even started scoping out food options before Nikki walked up to him with a plate of food and a Coke. This, he thought, was why he shouldn’t give up on their relationship yet. Sure, he didn’t have the connection with her that Archer had with Lily, but Archer and Lily had been best friends for years before they got romantic. They were just two different people.
Nikki led him over to one of the high round cocktail tables set up around the restaurant. They ate together off the plate of food. She seemed to have put everything from the buffet on there.
“You guys fucking killed it tonight,” she said around a bite of mashed potatoes.
He was too focused on eating to do more than nod. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw House of Archer cameras circling the surrounding tables in search of show content. They’d be highly disappointed if they tried to get anything out of him.
“I love getting the perspective from the crowd,” Nikki said. “They were at a fever pitch tonight.”
He listened with half an ear as she talked. Most of his focus was on deciding whether there was enough food on the plate or if he should go hunting for more.
A contagious laugh had him glancing over at a neighboring table. He saw Sydney standing there with Archer, Lily, Aria, and Xander. She was laughing at something Archer had said.
Keith gave her an instinctive scan. She was wearing another one of the vintage sundresses and thin cardigan combos she seemed to love. The knee-length dress with its full skirt was cream-colored and had large pink flowers on it. The matching cardigan was the same cream color and looked soft to the touch. He’d noticed that she always seemed to have on a sweater or hoodie even though it was summer. Her golden hair was secured in a tidy bun at the nape of her neck that inexplicably made him want to walk over to her and release it.
His thoughts turned again to their earlier conversation. He didn’t want to work with her. He’d been getting along just fine at his current reading level. He was too busy and too damn old to deal with sneaking in reading lessons while on tour.
What would she do if he refused her offer? Would she threaten to tell everyone? Why had she offered in the first place? It wasn’t like she’d get anything out of it.
Nikki followed his stare. “I see Little Miss Perfect is all coordinated again today,” she said with a derisive snort.
He shrugged and returned his attention to his food. Nikki had started calling Sydney Little Miss Perfect shortly after meeting her. The name sure seemed to fit, he mentally groused as he ate. Miss College Education looking down on other people because they weren’t as high-brow as she was.
Part of him knew he was being unfair, but she had hit a major nerve by exposing his deepest secret.
“Do you know what I overheard her say earlier?” Nikki asked over the music. When he shrugged again, she went on, “She said that she came on the tour in hopes of catching Archer’s eye.”
Keith bristled over that. He didn’t know why. Archer often drew the most attention from females. Hell, Keith preferred it that way. It shouldn’t matter that Sydney was just like most other women.
But something about Nikki’s revelation blackened his mood.
“She’s changed her mind now that he and Lily are together,” Nikki continued. “She doesn’t want to poach on her best friend, so now she has her sights set on you.”
His gaze flickered to Nikki. She nodded as if to confirm what she had said.
“Trust me,” she said. “Don’t be surprised if she does something you don’t expect to get your attention. It’s just a ploy to get into your pants.”
He tried to reconcile what Nikki had said with what he knew of the demure woman in the cardigan sweater and couldn’t quite do it. But Sydney had just approached him out of the blue about private reading lessons.
Was she really trying to put a move on him?
The remembered embarrassment she had made him feel by mentioning his poor reading skills had his temper rising. If Sydney Ward thought she could manipulate him into her bed by preying on his weakness, she was in for one hell of a disappointment.
Chapter Four
“I promise, Mom. Lily’s fine.”
Archer kept his voice low. It was day two in San Diego and the sun was just barely startin
g to lighten the hotel room. Like him, his mother was an early riser. He had called her before he even got out of bed that morning. Since she had been texting him for the past couple days, the call was past due.
Lily was still asleep beside him. He watched her as he worked on convincing his mother that Lily hadn’t been utterly destroyed by the House of Archer trailer.
“I just can’t believe how awfully they portrayed her,” his mother said. “How did she end up becoming such a focal point of the show?”
The question invoked a sharp stab of guilt. “It was my fault,” he admitted.
“Of course it was. Why?”
He almost smiled over his mother’s straightforward way of tossing him under the bus. “No one else was generating any interesting content. I think we were all too worried about preserving our reputations to give the show what it needed.” And in the process, they had allowed Lily’s reputation to get roasted at the stake. “You know Lily...the interesting content just seems to follow her. Then I had to go and fall in love with her. I suppose it was inevitable that she’d end up at the center of things.”
His mother sighed. “The poor dear. I sure hope it was worth it.”
“Actually, the response to the trailer has been really strong. The producers are—”
“You know that’s not what I mean,” his mother interrupted.
Archer looked again at Lily. Something shifted inside him. “I know,” he said quietly.
He appreciated his mother’s concern for Lily. The two of them had always gotten along well. He knew his mother was thrilled about their new relationship. She also seemed bound and determined to look out for Lily, even if it meant kicking Archer’s ass when it was needed.
He could live with that.
“Now you have to tell me why I had to find out that my only child is in love with his best friend by seeing it on Entertainment Tonight,” she said.
He winced. “Sorry about that. Everything has been happening really fast. I honestly don’t see that stopping anytime soon.”
“Well I imagine things have to be fast-paced to keep up with the recording and airing schedule they’ve set for the show. It seems highly unrealistic to me.”
Elizabeth Archer had spent her fair share of time in front of the cameras, though largely in print as a model. She still knew plenty about the television industry after years of helping to manage her young son’s acting career.
“Along those lines,” Archer said, “Lily had an idea to involve you and Dad in some of the show’s content.”
“Oh, really?”
He smiled over his mother’s obvious enthusiasm. “Yeah. You want us to come by when we’re in town anyway, so she thought this might make for a solid opportunity.”
“What does she have in mind?”
“She wants you to act far less thrilled over our relationship than you really are.”
There was a pause as his mother considered that. “I don’t like it.”
“Mom—”
“I don’t like it, but I can see why Lily would think it would garner more viewer interest. I suppose I could funnel my inner thespian for an hour or two.”
He smiled. “Thanks. I’m sure Lily will call you with her ideas.”
“I’d love to hear from her.”
The rest of the conversation dealt with his mother’s latest hobby attempt—gardening—and the fishing trip his father was planning with some of their Detroit relatives. When they hung up, it was with the promise that he would firm up plans for him and Lily to have dinner with them.
He set his phone on the nightstand and returned his attention to Lily. The conversation with his mother ran again through his mind. She had described some of the news stories she had seen involving Lily, many of which he hadn’t seen himself. Most of the stories had featured Lily as a conniving gold digger set on destroying Archer’s career.
He and Lily had both known that kind of press was likely in light of how the House of Archer premiere had painted her. While he might have expected it, he absolutely hated it.
Lily was nothing like that. In fact, she was the exact opposite. He couldn’t stand that their relationship was blighted in the public’s mind because of the show that he’d wanted so desperately.
Although Lily had told him multiple times she was fine with it because it drew attention to The Void, he was worried she would soon change her mind. He was sure that she would find all of the attention, whether it was positive or negative, too far outside of her comfort zone and tell him she couldn’t do it anymore. Her life had changed so drastically almost overnight. How would she feel in another couple weeks when the first House of Archer episode aired? Or when she couldn’t eat in a regular restaurant or leave her apartment without being approached by fans or the paparazzi?
Was either of them really ready for this?
“Stop thinking so loud,” Lily mumbled.
He smiled. “Hey...you’re up. Color me shocked.”
“It’s not as though you’re being subtle.”
“Sorry,” he said, brushing a kiss against her temple. “I didn’t want to risk talking to my mom in the living area and getting it on camera.”
She grunted in what he guessed was forgiveness. His hand slid under the sheet that covered them and glided from her hip up to her breast.
“Well, since we’re both awake and I don’t have to be at the gym for another thirty minutes...”
She didn’t even open her eyes as she slapped at his hand. “Forget about it,” she said grouchily. “I’m barely half-awake and I’ve got morning breath.”
“Why don’t I show you how much neither of those things matter?”
Since she was lying on her side facing away from him, he rolled so his front was pressed against her back. He moved her hair so he didn’t accidentally pull on it, conveniently exposing her tender neck and shoulder. Ignoring her ineffectual attempts to dislodge his hand from her breast, he lowered his head and began nuzzling the side of her neck.
It didn’t take long until she was tilting her head to give him better access and her protests became soft moans of pleasure. His body instantly reacted to the sound. He loved how she responded to him.
He spent time caressing her breasts, leisurely running his thumb over one nipple until her movements grew restless against him. Then he moved on to the other one. While his fingers worked their magic, his lips, tongue, and even his teeth trailed along the sensitive line of her pulse, sensually grazing her delicate jawline, her slender neck, and the curve of her shoulder.
The sounds she made grew more insistent. He was sure she felt how hard she was making him just by succumbing to his touch. He pressed himself against her thighs, rubbing slowly back and forth, getting closer and closer to his goal but denying them both until they were slick with perspiration.
When he couldn’t wait any longer, he lifted her leg and pulled it so her ankle was hooked around the back of his thigh, opening her to him completely. He watched from over her shoulder as his hand slid down along her soft skin to between her legs, seeking the evidence of her arousal.
Both of them groaned when he touched her and he felt just how hot and ready she was. He slipped a finger inside her. She tilted her head back into the crook of his neck and rocked her body against his hand. He felt her tighten towards release.
“Make yourself come,” he whispered roughly against her ear.
His thumb rubbed against her. Just once.
She made a desperate whimpering sound and bucked beneath his hand. He refused to assist her beyond that.
Unashamed, she started to move, raising and lowering her hips against his fingers. Her free hand grabbed his arm for support as her movements became more frantic. Every one of her lustful thrusts also stroked against him, driving him right to the brink himself.
He felt her orgasm against his fingers at the same instant she cried out. The sensation combined with the view he had was without question the hottest thing he’d ever experienced.
He
removed his hand and slowly entered her, taking his time joining their bodies so it wasn’t over with too quickly. Her body continued to pulse around him, making it hard to stop himself from plunging mindlessly into her so he could find his own release.
Lily leaned her head back against his chest as his arm slid beneath the leg he had lifted and exposed her to him even more. They both issued sounds of pleasure over the deep penetration that allowed him.
He started to move, using long, hard strokes that soon had her crying out and begging him for more. He didn’t immediately comply, keeping the pace torturous until her responses pushed him to increase it. She wasn’t shy about telling him how much she appreciated that.
When he couldn’t wait any longer, he reached down and stroked her again.
“God, yes,” she gasped. “Dane.”
It took just a few deft movements of his fingers and the right amount of pressure to send her over. His shout joined hers as he finally allowed the pleasure to overtake him.
He lay there for a while afterward, holding Lily until she fell back asleep. When the time came to head to the gym, he climbed out of bed and went into the bathroom to get ready, leaving Lily to sleep a while longer.
His mind shifted to the day ahead and what Lily had planned. She wanted the two of them to stage an argument in front of the House of Archer cameras to add to the question mark sitting at the end of their relationship in the public’s eye. It wouldn’t be a significant argument, she had said. Just something to keep the media and the public guessing.
While on the surface he didn’t object to the idea, he did have concerns.
First was that Lily wasn’t an actress. She had gotten more comfortable in front of the camera lately since she’d had no choice, and that helped. He had also given her some pointers in anticipation of some of the “scenes” she thought would help the show. They would start small to see how it came off on camera and then potentially develop more intense friction between them over time.
But at her core, Lily was a brutally honest person. He was worried her “performance” would come off false.
