Bound to Be His (The Archer Family Book 2) (8 page)

B
zzzz
. Bzzzz.

The muffled vibration hummed against her pillow, and Shay blinked awake only to have the light of her smartphone blind her.

Shit. What time was it?

She slid her thumb across the screen, all too aware of Matt's low, steady snores on the other side of her. The heat of his chest against her back. His hard erection pressed to her ass.

She closed her eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, and then smiled, because no matter how much panic and turmoil swirled in her stomach at the idea that she'd slept with him—a client, her best friend's brother—again, it was nothing compared to the joy she felt at realizing that he'd stayed. He hadn't slinked off in the middle of the night. He'd wanted to be here. With her.

Silently, she opened her eyes again and let them adjust to the light of her screen. Then she scanned the too-tiny script.

S
hay
,

J
ust wanted
to let you know, we're in final negotiations with the Matt Archer case. The reporters are like vultures over here, but I'll try to send word before they pluck the story.

L
ou
.

S
he glanced at the time
. Six a.m. Then, she read the message over again.

She knew it was nothing more than a formality. This way, if the news broke about Matt's move from the minors to the majors before she was notified, Lou would have something to fall back on. A classic case of CYOA: Cover Your Own Ass.

Still, her heart tightened at the idea of Matt finally making it.

Once he was in the majors again, he could have everything he ever wanted again. Everything except...

She rolled over and looked at him, studied the way he smiled vaguely up at the ceiling while he slept. He was cute this way, docile. And it was only fitting that even in his sleep, Matt Archer seemed to be laughing.

This was a good man. He was kind and gentle and fun. He deserved the best in life.

And most of all, he deserved to know the truth. No matter who it came from.

Slowly, she gripped his shoulder and then shook gently, once, twice, until he let out a long groan. "Why?"

"Get up, lazybones," she said.

"Lazybones?" He crooked his eyebrow, and already his bleary eyes began to fill with their usual mirth. "Seriously?"

"Well, do you have another word for you?"

"I do"—he gripped her waist—"but I'd rather show you how I'm feeling."

He pulled her against him until his rigid cock was flush against her stomach. Her core ached just at the feel of it, and though her mind clouded, she struggled to keep her composure.

"No, not that." Shay shook her head.

"Don't tell me you woke me up just because you changed your mind about last night. I've gotta tell you, I'm not as keen on cat and mouse games the second time around."

"It's not that either," she whispered, breathless. Not because she was turned on, though that certainly didn't help. She just couldn't seem to find her breath. Like every time she went to inhale, it simply came up short.

"Okay, then, shoot."

"I need to tell you something important."

"You're pregnant?" he asked.

"Don't be stupid."

"I'm pregnant?" He smiled, and she groaned.

"Matt, I need you to be serious. This isn't an easy thing."

His smile fell and he nodded, though thankfully he didn't bother to say anything else.

"I found out some information. Not all of it, but some," she said.

He didn't speak, only watched her, bemused.

"I found something out. It doesn’t matter how or anything. But it’s important. And it’s about, uh," She tried again for a breath that wouldn't come. "About your mom."

Matt looked like he was about to wince, but stopped midway and returned to his regular, immovable expression.

"She's here, Matt. Somewhere on the island. I guess she must have remarried and—"

"I'll stop you there," Matt said. "There's no need to get yourself all worked up over this."

"But... but it's huge. I mean, your mom—"

"I already knew," he said simply.

"You already..." If she thought she couldn't breathe before, now it was a struggle to even remember what breath was, what breathing felt like.

"Yeah. For a while now."

"But..."

"When you're a celebrity, people have a way of finding out how to contact you." He shrugged, almost like he was talking about the weather.

"H-how long?"

"Have I known about her?" He looked past her for a minute and then said, "Probably two years or so."

"Two years? Two years and you didn't tell Derrick or Andy?"

"Why would I?"

"Because she's your mother. Because they're your siblings."

"Yeah." He shrugged. "But after...well, let's just say I knew how they felt about seeing her. Telling them would not have helped anything."

"So, have you seen her?" Shay asked.

"Look, it's still early. Why don't you go back to sleep? I'm going to hit the gym, and maybe we can talk all this over tonight."

"But.." Her protest died on her tongue once she saw the look on his face. He hadn't been asking her a question, not really. So all she could do was nod and say, "Yeah, okay. Sounds good."

And just like that, he grabbed his pile of clothes from the floor and slunk from the room.

She watched him go, still struggling for words, but when the door clicked shut behind him, she lay back on her pillows, stared at the ceiling, and lost herself in her thoughts.

T
he gym was shit
.

Not only did half the machines not work, but it seemed like Matt couldn't get fired up enough to use any of the few he could use to their full potential. Instead, he kept thinking of Shay. Shay and the way she'd looked, all torn up inside about whether or not he knew about Sharon Archer. No, not Sharon Archer. Sharon Scott. A whole new shiny person.

Not for the first time, he wondered what it must have been like for her to pick up and reinvent herself. To decide to start all over again. Because, he supposed, the first try simply wasn't good enough.

He frowned, thinking again of Shay. Maybe that's what it had been like with her mother, too. Like every new marriage was a fresh start. The only difference was that Shay had been dragged along for the ride.

Hell if he knew which of them had had it worse, though.

Groaning, he dropped his weights and made his way to the locker room. After washing his face and getting his stuff together, he headed back to the rental car and tried to make a mental plan for his day. After all, there was no telling how Shay was going to act once she saw him again. She'd barely been able to hold it together the first time they'd slept together. Now that she had to keep it secret from Andy, she'd probably be bursting at the seams. Then add to that the thing with his mother …

An image flashed through his mind. Shay with her dark hair tousled, her dark eyes gleaming in the darkness. "Have you seen her?" she'd asked.

She'd looked so sincere, so concerned. The same way she had when they'd first talked about her after the trip to the party store. The same way she'd looked when she poured out her heart and soul to him about all her mother's marriages and re-marriages.

It had taken balls for her to be so honest with him. Didn't he owe her the same?

Sure, it wasn't some long-term love affair, but she was still his friend. She still cared.

He pulled into the villa's driveway, surprised to find that Andy and Logan's rental had already cleared out for the day, and then let himself into the little house.

Shay was sitting on the couch, reading some article in a magazine while sipping her coffee. On the glossy page in her hand, his own image smiled back up at him.

"So you're obsessed with me?" he asked. "You missed me so much you had to read about me while I was gone?"

"You caught me." She rolled her eyes, the faintest hint of a smile tinting her lips. "I just can't get enough."

"Who could blame you?"

"Nobody reading this." She lifted up the magazine. "This interview is incredible. The best you've ever done."

He shrugged. "I was just my normal charming self."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." She grinned.

At that grin, he faltered. There it was again, that sincerity. That affection.

And seeing it, he knew what he had to do.

"Hey, you wanna come with me on a little trip?" he asked, trying his best to sound nonchalant despite the sudden pounding of his heart.

"Sure. Where we going?"

"It's a surprise," he said, and to his surprise, she didn't bother asking any follow-up questions. Maybe the slight edge in his voice told her all she needed to know. Whatever the reason, he was grateful for it.

When they were in the car, he blasted his music, and she didn't touch the knob. He glanced at her, but when he saw her mouth moving, miming every word to the Aerosmith song, all he could do was smile. When the song wound to a close, he checked the time and then pulled into the parking lot of a tiny, tropical park.

Underneath a massive group of palm trees, there was a playset complete with swings and a slide, some bouncing horses, and a set of monkey bars. And there, on the monkey bars, was a little girl with dirty blonde hair, swinging back and forth while a woman with the same dark blonde mane cheered her on.

He cut the engine and then sat there, staring at the pair while Shay glanced from the woman to Matt and back again.

"You had an urge to hit the swing set?" she asked.

"That's my mother," he answered simply, and then tilted his head to the woman.

"That's …” Shay stared after her, and Matt took in every detail along with her.

He remembered the first time he'd seen her, too. Remembered how shocked he'd been at how normal she looked. She wasn't some drum-banging hippy or strung-out smoker. She wasn't thin, but she wasn't fat either. She wore a ponytail and tennis shoes. Jeans and a T-shirt.

In short, she looked like a mom. And now she was one. For real this time.

"And that's…?" Shay said, but he knew the end to the question.

"My half-sister." Matt nodded. "Yep, they call her Jay. Her name is Jacqueline."

"And you know all this because…."

"She asked me to meet them here once—when I was here on tour with the team. She had both the kids with her that day. There's a boy, too. His name is Nick."

Shay let the silence hang between them, so Matt went on. "I never ended up walking over to them, but I watched. Just for a little while. To see what she was like."

"Right," Shay whispered.

"So, when I didn't show, she wrote me another letter letting me know that they came here every Sunday afternoon and that she knew it would be hard, but she'd love to see me. That was that."

"That was that," Shay repeated.

The whole time he'd been speaking, she stared at the woman in front of them with no attempt at hiding the stare. Maybe she was shocked by how normal she was, too.

"The twins are nine now," he added. "They seem like good kids."

As he said it, the little girl dropped from the bars and ran toward her mother, her arms outstretched.

"I'm glad that they have this. I always…well, I always sort of wondered what it would be like. Having a mother." He watched as Jay enveloped her mother in a hug. "I'm not going to lie. Sometimes I see how nice Jay's clothes are or how well she's dressed and I get angry. I wish Andy had had that. A mother. Someone to look after her."

"And what about you?" Shay asked.

He shrugged. "I had my dad."

Shay was quiet, her mouth contorted strangely for a minute before her impassive expression returned.

Shit,
he thought.

"Sorry. I know..." he tried, but he didn't know how to finish.

"No, no, it's fine. It's not like my dad chose to die." She turned her gaze to him for the first time since they'd parked. "You know, they all mean well. Even all the stepfathers I've had. They all mean for things to work and to make a perfect little family. I think they just don't realize how hard that is."

"No, they don't realize a perfect family doesn't exist." Matt guffawed.

"I think yours is about as close as it gets."

A smile tugged on the corner of his lips. "I definitely got lucky. You know, my dad never said anything about her." He nodded toward the woman now leading her daughter toward the slide.

"No?"

"I think he didn't want to remind us of what we were missing. But I never felt like I was missing anything. Not really. He read to us at night, helped with our homework, coached us in sports." Matt shrugged. "When I made it to the majors, I never once wished my mom was there to see what I'd done. I was just glad my dad could see it."

"That's really optimistic of you," she said.

"Nope, that's just the way I feel."

"Then why didn't you tell Andy and Derrick when she contacted you?"

"Because the way I feel isn't the way they feel. See, we went on this big trip to Oregon once. Andy probably told you about it."

Shay nodded.

"Well, when that trip was over, that was the first time I saw her."

"You... but Andy said—"

"I never told them. We had a note that said she worked in this bakery, and we thought we'd gotten the information wrong, but we didn't. She was just going by a different name then. It was before she stopped trying to hide from us."

"Oh?"

He nodded. "I stopped back there before our flight on the last day and there she was. She'd dyed her hair black, but that only made her look like Derrick. It was impossible not to recognize her. I guess it was just harder for her to recognize me."

He thought back, remembering the rush that came over him in that first instant of recognition. Remembering her sad, lost eyes as she stocked muffins into the little display window. "I bought a muffin and left. She didn't recognize me."

"That must have been hard."

Matt frowned. "No, not really. It was a relief, really."