His Cosplayer (Love Games) by Allyson Lindt

Author:Allyson Lindt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: friends to lovers, cosplay, failing business, comic book store, romantic comedy, one night stand, Artist romance
Publisher: Acelette Press
Published: 2017-02-05T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Archer smiled, and his chest lightened for the first time in days, when Tori’s car pulled up in front of the shop. She tugged a dry-cleaning­-bag-wrapped something out of her backseat and trudged up the walk. She hadn’t returned any of his messages, and she refused to answer the door when he showed up to apologize in person.

It took all his restraint not to run out, scoop her up, and kiss her, telling her how sorry he was. He wasn’t sure where the compulsion came from, but everything about it appealed to him. Feeling her warm body against his. Tasting her. Making her moan.

She pushed inside, and her icy stare obliterated his impulse. Her gait was stilted as she crossed the room and draped the costume on the counter. “For Mara.” She set a folded T-shirt next to it—one of his. “For you.”

“Thanks.” He poured as much warmth and sincerity into the single word as he could. “Can you hang out for a while?”

“No.”

“Are you coming back later?” He hated the desperation in his voice, but he needed her to hear it. To know he meant it.

“No.” Her phone buzzed and was in her hand in a flash. Her tone turned pleasant. “This is Tori.”

She reached the front door and spun on her heel, pacing toward the other side of the room again. She focused her gaze on the carpet for the most part. As she talked, she wore a virtual ditch in the middle of the floor. Her voice shifted from polite phone-voice, to abrupt, and then to the same clipped language she’d used with Archer. He’d heard her half of these conversations more times than he cared to count, but something was different about this one.

The pit in his chest grew, the more her mood soured, and every time he saw the tight lines on her face and her hard-set eyes, he beat back the desire to take the phone from her and tell off the person on the other end.

“Give me fifteen minutes.” Her voice sounded like a blade, cutting through the air-conditioning. She dropped the phone in its holster and finally met his gaze. Her lips moved, but no sound came out. Red rimmed her eyes. She shook her head and turned away, the door rattling behind her seconds later.

He clenched his fists into tight balls. He’d never wanted to find someone and rip them a new one more than he did right then. Whoever had been on the other end of the phone should suffer for whatever they put her through.

At the very least, he wanted to wrap her in his arms and hold her until she knew it was okay. He would’ve given anything to be able to erase those lines off her face and soothe her nerves.

She wasn’t talking to him, she wasn’t dealing with things at work as they deteriorated, and he was powerless to do anything about it. Or maybe he could do something, and if it put even a little smile on Tori’s face, he’d do it again and again.

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