“I thought it would add some tension.” Now Mateo’s gaze darted to Archer’s lips, then back up. “Then we go into the lift. We can remove the turn at the end to make up the four count.”

They were still nose to nose. “Um.” Archer breathed. “Yeah. Yes. Sure. Sounds good.”

Another pause. Mateo had not let go of his waist. Surely Mateo could hear his pounding heart.

“Good.” Mateo stepped away. The corner of his mouth twitched. “Let’s do that then.”

Then he was gone, leaving Archer’s body bereft and mind spinning.

“What game are we playing tonight?” Archer asked Caleb as they flopped onto the less lumpy of the two couches in the cabin.

“I’ll give you a hint,” Caleb said, shifting closer and sliding a finger under Archer’s waistband. “It was Archer”—he kissed Archer’s nose—“in the cabin”—he kissed his chin—“with the killer body.” He planted another kiss on his lips.

Archer laughed. “I haven’t a clue.”

Caleb grinned. “Promise you’ll be my partner tonight anyway?”

“Of course.”

“We are, in fact, playing The Simpsons Clue,” Dominik said, nudging his way past them and dropping the bright yellow box onto the coffee table before bouncing into the armchair.

“Simpsons Clue? How do you even have all these crazy games?” Archer asked as Ben and Beau took their spots on the floor next to them, and the others gathered around. Mateo wasn’t there, and neither were Gage and River.

“’Cause I’m awesome,” Dominik replied, opening the box and pulling out the character pieces. “I’m Homer–slash–Mr. Green.”

Seta rolled her eyes as she settled on the other couch with her drink. “I’d argue about why you get to choose your character first, but honestly, it’s not worth it.”

Dominik looked smug as he started handing out the detective notepads. “Glad you’re learning.”

The game proceeded pretty much as Archer remembered—first, three cards were hidden in an envelope that would reveal the murderer, location, and weapon. The rest of the cards were dealt out, then the players moved around the board and made suggestions when they had a whodunnit guess. The other players would prove them wrong by showing if they had one of those cards in their hand, so the guesser would cross those options off their notepad until, by process of elimination, someone had enough information to make an actual accusation.

It should take a while to rule out all the other suspects, so it was surprising when Dominik announced he wanted to make an official accusation very early in the game.

“What? Already?” Seta frowned. A player could only accuse once, and if they were wrong, they were out, so they had to be pretty sure.