Page 54 of Archer

“I hate this for you. Your career is becoming everything you’ve worked for, and some unnamed whackadoodle is wrecking it.”

I smiled at her use of a word Gram had loved.

I looked at Archer, who’d turned away to give me privacy but was still only a few feet out of reach. Ready to intervene if I needed him.

“I’m working on the music, and I’ll be back as soon as I can,” I said finally.

“The label is demanding answers by end of week, or they’re going to have to make some difficult decisions about your contract. Their words, not mine.”

Heat flared in my chest and cheeks. The muscles in my shoulders tightened, sharp and painful. “They’re threatening me?”

“It’s more like a sad reality,” Alexis said. “They have to keep the wheels turning, and you’ve pulled the brakes without an explanation.”

I took a steadying breath, then said the only thing I could, given my circumstances. “Tell them I’m still working through my grief, and I’ll call you back.”

I disconnected before she could argue and stared at the phone in my hand.

“Everything okay?” Archer asked.

“No.” I set the phone on the railing and explained my situation.

Archer listened carefully. “What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “You’ve given me hope for the first time since this began. We might really catch this guy and put an end to the harassment. Then I can go back to living a life I love. I want that very much, but I can’t go back now, when I know he’s here, and you’re here, and staying might mean ending this. And I can’t make the situation I’m in public, or who knows what will happen.”

Archer set his hand over mine on the railing. “You really love what you do.”

I smiled. “Yeah. The writing, the performing, all of it. Connecting with people through music is like magic to me.”

“What about the pressure and constant scrutiny?”

I shrugged. “It’s part of the job. Everything in the world that is good has a bad side too. We can’t have light without the darkness.” I wet my lips, realizing how much I missed my art and the life I’d built surrounded by it. “I can’t let this guy take that from me. I won’t.”

“Then, you won’t.” He spoke with such certainty that I almost believed him. “You’re more than your music, Harper. I have no doubt you’ll do and be everything you want in this world. I don’t think anyone can stop you.”

Warmth spread through me, and I moved my free hand to his chest. “Thank you.”

Archer’s dark eyes held mine, and my gaze dropped to his mouth.

The moment stretched, neither of us moving, until he raised his hands to cup my face. My eyes fluttered closed, and when I opened them, he was closer.

“Tell me to stop,” he said, voice raw with barely tamped emotion.

“Please don’t stop.”

His forehead touched mine, and his thumb traced my jaw.

Our breaths mingled, and heat radiated off his skin. Conflict flashed in his eyes.

I tilted up my face, just slightly.

Archer’s eyes darkened. His grip on me tightened.

Then he pulled back. “Excuse me.” He cleared his throat and moved away slowly before heading inside.

The loss of his physical contact hit so sharply, I had to bite back a sound of protest.

He’d done what he thought was the right thing to do, for me and for the situation. But something fundamental had shifted between us. Confessions were made, and I didn’t want things to go back to the way they were before.