Page 14 of A Texas Hero

“Italian?”

He didn’t answer. Zoey didn’t think Scott spoke Italian and almost said this out loud, but then she noticed Archer’s smoldering look—well, she would call it smoldering but others might call it intimidating. Threatening. Extremely serious. If he spoke to Scott with that body language, he’d probably pee his pants.

“Oh, I see,” she said. “That’s not necessary.”

“I’ll decide what’s necessary and what is not.”

It took everything in her not to stick out her tongue again. He made her feel five years old again as he led her to his car.

“Do I have to sit in the back seat again, or may I sit in the front with you like a normal person?”

“Sit in the front if you like,” Archer said, opening the door like an actual chauffeur.

She asked Archer to stop by the market on the way home so she could get a bag of fresh apples. Not surprisingly, he walked inside with her, two steps back like her shadow.

“Again, do you have to be so obvious?” she hissed in the produce section.

“What’s an acceptable amount of distance? Six feet?”

“Pretend you’re my friend, at least.” She held up an apple and smiled. “Do you think this looks juicy?”

He blinked. “How can I answer that question honestly?”

“With the truth.” She put the apple back. “Never mind. It’s better it be red than juicy.”

He picked up a basket of his own and stayed several steps behind her.

Zoey tried to remember what life had been like back when she’d lived at home and her family had a bodyguard. She didn’t remember this awkwardness. Their bodyguards had been friends, not like the Secret Service detail for the president. If she recalled, Alec had three adult children he’d put through school on his own after his wife left him. Harry had married an old friend of her mother’s. They were present at birthdays, anniversaries and vacations. She only now realized how odd this was, but she hadn’t had a normal childhood.

She and Archer wandered through the aisles, grabbing a few things here and there. She grabbed more pumpkin spice, stopping to admire the fall-themed display of cookies, cupcakes and candy.

In the checkout line, she saw Archer’s basket filled with cookies and doughnuts and bit her lower lip to keep from smiling. He looked like he ate ammo and grenades for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but he was just a regular human being with a sweet tooth. She could work with that.

Back at the house, he insisted on unloading all the groceries for her. It wasn’t much, but she’d purchased the ingredients for a couple of meals. She would hate to eat popcorn every night while she had company. Her mother, even after she could afford a live-in cook, always made dinner for the family.

“I’ll make a quick frittata for dinner,” Zoey said. “If that’s okay.”

“You don’t have to cook for me.”

“Well, we both have to eat, don’t we?” She eyed his bag of treats. “You don’t plan on subsisting on sweets, do you?”

“I’ll order myself some food.” Archer waved a palm dismissively. “You don’t need to feed me.”

“Excuse me?” She put her hand on her hip. “You don’t think I’m going to let you sit here and starve while I eat, do you? My mother would come down from heaven to slap me for being a terrible hostess. She used to cook for our family’s bodyguards, and I don’t mind doing the same.”

She gathered eggs, cheese, tomatoes, peppers and cilantro. This was her mother’s recipe.

“Sorry. Sometimes I forget that you’ve been in this situation before,” Archer said.

She nodded. “Yes, but we had those bodyguards because there were serious death threats against my father. Texans take their football very seriously.”

He cleared his throat. “I am sorry you have to go through this again. I apologize for my gender. There are too many men who do not understand the word ‘no.’ For that, I am very sorry.”

“Archer, you are not the representative for the male species,” Zoey said, taking out her cutting board. “Either way, I accept your apology on behalf of all mankind.”

When she opened a cabinet door to reach for a bowl to crack the eggs into, he grabbed it for her. “I’ve been thinking. Maybe I can make this easier on you.”

“How so?”