"What the hell are you saying?" Avery snapped, digging her nails into his arm. Though he didn’t seem at all affected by it, she wasn’t ready to stop yet. She didn’t think she could handle the feel of his hard chest against her back so early in the morning.
Last night had been an ’once in a blue moon’ occurrence and till now, she still had no idea where the courage had originated from. But then, he had left her... Wait, speaking of last night, she now rembered she’d fallen asleep before he returned.
A sudden wave of displeasure washing over her, she snapped, "Take your hands off , Arch."
His hands were left her body. Imdiately. As if he sensed that if he had not obeyed her, she planned to grab a fistful of his silky raven hair and pull it out from his scalp. He might look handso as a bald man.
However, even though Archie let her go, it was not before he turned her around so she could be staring straight into his eyes, not allowing her sit up on her own.
Coming into contact with his annoyingly gorgeous face—bare of his glasses and with a blinding smile—in such close proximity, and so early in the morning, lted Avery’s annoyance for several seconds, giving Archie the chance to react to the scowl on her face.
"Damn," he chuckled. "Wanted to greet an angel good morning but looks like it’s the devil I woke up next to. Bad morning, is it?"
Avery’s eyes hardened into a glare.
"Where did you go?"
"The kitchen," Archie lied. "I needed to eat sothing." He thought that wouldn’t convince her so he added, "I stayed hungry throughout the day and didn’t think I would survive a minute longer at the ti."
Her eyes widened in disbelief. "You were thinking of food at a ti like that?! Why would you need to... Oh..." Trailing off, a flicker of realization crossed Avery’s face, and a small laugh escaped her lips. "Oh..." she repeated, "I had no idea you were one of those."
Happy that she understood him, Archie was about to quickly change the topic, but sothing about the mischievous twinkle in her eyes gave him a bad feeling.
"You had no idea I was one of ’those’? What’s those?" he asked.
Avery laughed again, sitting up properly this ti without him stopping her. She leaned against the headboard.
"You know what I’m trying to say." She giggled again. "I’m not going to sha you. Don’t try to force words into my mouth," she snapped weakly, her voice shaky with laughter.
Archie wanted to revel in this mont; at the sight in front of him. The rare sight of his wife smiling and giggling good naturedly for the first ti in three months, or rather, three years. At least she had smiled to her siblings and other people during the past three years; but the past few months had been hell for him.
When she smiled, it always seed forced. When she laughed, it sounded hollow. When she tried to tease and make jokes, it sounded rigid. But here she was, laughing with complete light-heartedness. He would have let this mont continue for as long as it would last, if his mind wasn’t telling him this laughter was at his own expense.
His wife had a very, very bad thought going through her mind right now.
"I’m not forcing words into your mouth, Ava. Tell what you an," he demanded, trying as hard as he could to keep his face straight. It wasn’t his fault that seeing her laugh made him want to laugh too.
On the other hand, Avery couldn’t keep the words in her anymore. She had finally found a blackmail material on Archibald Donovan. Well, not exactly blackmail material, but she was sure it could be compared to a blackmail material, as long as it was about soone with an image as her husband. From what she knew of him, he definitely wouldn’t want news like this to be broadcasted about him.
She leaned in and whispered, "Uhm... Promise not to feel sad when I tell you."
Archie blinked. Yeah, that was his confirmation that what she had in mind wasn’t in any way good. But he nodded anyway.
"Okay, let’s hear it."
Avery nodded. "The thing is... I didn’t know you were one of those guys who needed to ingest sothing before they could perform well in..." She trailed off, inching away from him on the bed. Heck, she was stupid. What if this man killed her here and now for knowing his secret?
"Perform well in?" Archie asked, reaching over to catch a hold on her hand before she could escape.
Avery avoided his gaze so he probed her, "I understand you don’t want to sha , Ava. But I still need to know, what am I performing in?" he asked, hoping desperately that she wasn’t talking about what he thought she was.
"Bed," Avery declared, and a rumble of laughter started in Archie’s chest.
"Wait," He blinked. "You think I’m of those n who have to..."
She nodded, completing the sentence with him, "Ingest drugs before they can perform in bed, to put it simply." Smiling slightly, she leaned forward and patted his clothed chest before adding, "It’s alright. You are not alone in this world. The only confusing thing for is why you would take that long for just a quick sniff and return. Your case is not... chronic, right?"
Archie scoffed, a devilish glint in his eyes.
"It is, Angel. It is chronic. Co here." He yanked her towards him until she fell backwards qon the bed, and climbed over her before she could react, straddling her. "I can show you just how bad it is. It’s so bad that it takes half an hour to get an erection."
Beneath him, the smile on Avery’s face had disappeared to be replaced by wariness and a hint of fear.
"That’s a lie," she murmured. She had felt his erection several tis in the past when there was literally nothing around to make him hard, so she was at least sure that wasn’t where his problem was. Maybe in the real act? Archie flicked her forehead and she had to snap out of her thoughts. "What are you doing, Archie? That... I was just stating an observation."
"Exactly," Archie said through gritted teeth. "I am just trying to prove your observation was correct. Anything for my wife."
"No—" the words were yanked out of Avery’s mouth, when he dipped down and covered her mouth with his, engaging her in a hard, reprimanding, kiss.
His fingers dug into the back of her hair, and hers fisted the sides of his t-shirt. It was all he could do not to crush her beneath him and drink from her lips now that he had her in this position, but he restrained himself, kissing her slowly, urging her mouth to move with his, with the sweep of his tongue along her upper lip.
Archie tasted her sweetness, sucking it into his bloodstream; tangled his fingers in her thick, wild locks; clamped his arm around her waist, holding her as close as he could in this position without crushing her. When she started to respond with timid caresses, he pulled away and trailed kisses down to her neck.
"To hell with half an hour, Ava," he said, his voice steely. "I won’t just make you co ten tis in ten minutes, I’ll get you pregnant within that ti period."
Avery’s mouth fell open. This... This wasn’t a joke. Archie’s eyes told her he was absolutely serious and if she didn’t do anything to save herself soon, she wasn’t getting out of this.
Of their own accord, her palms splayed across his chest and the words rushed out of her mouth, "Not now! I would be happy to test your claims just now with you, but please, not today when I have a eting to prepare for! I have to get there as early as possible and..." she trailed off, and the two maintained eye contact for the next few seconds before he suddenly climbed off her.
"Do you have an appointnt tomorrow?" he asked.
"No," Avery replied, shaking her head carefully. "There’s nothing on my calendar except school for the next two days."
"Cool," Archie murmured emotionlessly, rubbing his hand across his face. "We will be going on our date tonight and at the end of it... we can test my claims to see if I was just blabbering...or not."
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