Page 90 of Forbidden to Fall

He grinned. Grinned like an annoying older brother proud of his shenanigans—as if I didn’t already have plenty of older brothers. It had become clear over the past few days that Archer had ideas in his head about James and me.

“Archer…”

“What?” he said with wide-eyed innocence.

“I know what you’re doing.”

“Do you? Sounds to me like you’re reading into things.” He shrugged. “Maybe it’s a personal problem that you shouldn’t bring into a professional place of work.”

James came up to us, his eyes on me.

Archer grabbed his shoulder. “James is here to help.”

“Do you know how to drive a team and a wagon?” I asked James skeptically.

His mouth opened wordlessly, the answer obvious.

“He’s a good man to have with you in a pinch,” Archer said. “Just look at this upper body strength.” He punched James’s chest. “All right, I’m going to get my group on their horses. Enjoy your ride—and remember this is a place of work, so no funny business.” He winked at me, then turned away.

I stared after him like I could telekinetically wring his neck. My feelings for James were enough to manage on their own; I didn’t need Archer riling them up—or pointing them out.

“Did you not know I was coming?” James asked.

“Not exactly.”

He searched my face. “If you’d rather I⁠—”

“No. I’m glad you’re here.”

There was a pause. “You sure?”

“Positive.”

150% positive.

My gaze snagged on Olivia and Tate in the parking lot. Liv Rawlins had been a year ahead of me in school, but she hadn’t been in Autumn Ridge for years. Tate was one of the Walker boys—Bennett’s brother—though he’d also been away from town for a while. Like most people besides me.

My brows went up as I watched them in the parking lot. Definitely dating, it seemed.

We greeted them and talked for a couple of minutes—Tate and James chatting, and Liv and me chatting—then turned to the wagon.

“You’ve got the whole thing to yourselves,” I said as they climbed into it.

Liv paused at the sight of the lone hay bale in the middle.

“You guys are really going all out for us,” Tate said.

“Sorry about that,” I said. “We’ll have a bunch more bales for the festival, but for now, that’s all we’ve got.”

“I’m just teasing,” he said as he took a seat. “This is great. Olivia likes it better this way.”

“And this is a full-service ride.” I grabbed a blanket and handed it to Tate. “There’s just the one of these too—hope that’s okay. The others are being washed.”

I winked at Liv only to realize James was reaching into the front where a couple of other blankets were stored.

I snatched his hand and gave a subtle shake of my head.

He gave me a funny look, the corner of his mouth lifting as he caught on.