Bound to Be His (The Archer Family Book 2) Read online

  Bound to be His

  An Archer Family Novel

  Allison Gatta

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Epilogue

  Thanks so much for reading!

  Sneak Peek: Sworn to be His, the final novel in the Archer Family Series

  About the Author

  Also by Allison Gatta

  By AE Gatta

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  "It is now safe to turn on electronic devices and unfasten your seatbelts. Thank you for flying Hawaiian Airways, and aloha from Oahu," the cool female voice hummed over the intercom. In seat 9B, Shay Meyers breathed a sigh of relief.

  After six hours spent gently nudging off the sleep-cuddler beside her, she was overdue for a crack at some fresh air and freedom, and the fact that she'd also be in Hawaii with her best friend would make the respite that much sweeter.

  As the plane continued to glide into the gate, she pulled her cellphone from her fire-engine-red clutch and slid it out of airplane mode.

  Then it happened.

  The phone shook so many times and so violently that the woman snoozing beside her clutched Shay's bicep in her sleep and muttered something like, "No, Mommy. Make the earthquake stop."

  "We're here," Shay said back, but rather than jarring the woman awake, it only seemed to ease her momentary distress and send her back into another round of snores.

  "Good talk," Shay murmured, and then glanced down at the list of missed texts on her phone. A few were from clients—the sports publicity company she ran with her best friend had taken off in the past few months—and some were from Andy, too, wondering which gate to meet her at. But the rest...

  Shay's thumb hovered over one of the messages. Her stomach clenched as she tried to determine if she should read them now or wait. As soon as she opened the chat window, her mother would know that she'd read everything. And then there would be no avoiding her.

  No ignoring her.

  But then maybe it was better to just rip the Band-Aid off, handle whatever lunacy was waiting for her, and then start her vacation with a clean slate.

  Swallowing hard, she swiped her thumb across the screen, and a veritable slew of messages popped up in front of her. She scanned the first one quickly and then groaned.

  Hey, honey. Hope your flight goes well. Listen, I know it's a little early, or maybe a lot early, to be asking, but I was wondering if you might want to spend Christmas with me and Phillip this year? Of course, it doesn't have to be Christmas. It can be any time of year. It's just been so long since I saw you, and since you couldn't make it to the wedding—

  Shay closed her eyes and stuffed the phone back into her purse. Why did her mother insist on doing this to her? Making her into the bad guy? Either she played along with the delusion that husband number seven would still be around for Christmas, or she was the one person who had to say "let's play it by ear" and then allow the conversation to spiral into the fact that she didn't, in fact, plan on getting to know yet another stepfather before he inevitably hit the bricks.

  She could already hear her mother practically sobbing like a sixteen-year-old. "He's different, Shay. You don't understand. He's different."

  Yep, Shay never understood. At least, not according to her mother.

  Not that being right ever left her feeling satisfied.

  The only difference was that now she was old enough to choose not to be around to pick up the pieces.

  "Momma, Momma, the rabbits," the woman next to her muttered, and then snored so loudly that a few passengers turned around to glance at her. Luckily, that was when the aisle began to fill with passengers grabbing their luggage and making their way out of the plane.

  "Um, excuse me," Shay tried again, and then tapped the woman's hand.

  She started, sending a mess of red spirals bouncing in front of her heart-shaped face. "Oh, God. I didn't—" The woman gasped, her cheeks turning the same scarlet as her hair.

  "It's okay. Happens to the best of us," Shay said.

  The woman closed her eyes and shook her head. "I'm so sorry. I normally fly with my husband and he—"

  "Wrangles the rabbits for you?" Shay offered her a warm smile, and the woman grinned back.

  "Exactly. Ugh, I owe you one."

  "It's really okay." Shay shook her head and was saved from the woman's next apology when the line beside them began to move. "Looks like that's us."

  Quickly, she gathered her things and practically sprinted to the baggage claim, only stopping momentarily to text her gate number to Andy. In the brief moment that had taken, she'd spied a new message from her mother—this one undoubtedly asking why she hadn't bothered to respond to the message she'd clearly read.

  There was no time for that now, though. Not when she had a whole two weeks in Hawaii with her best friend, the last two weeks they'd have before Miss Andy Archer became Mrs. Andy Grant.

  Then there Andy was, waiting in front of the baggage claim in a casual green dress and jean jacket, her dishwater brown hair shoved into a sloppy ponytail.

  Shay rushed toward her, crushing the bride-to-be so hard against her that she nearly cut off her own breath in the process.

  "How is it?" Shay asked. "The house, I mean. Is it everything you could ever have wanted?"

  "Oh my God, you're going to die. It's incredible." Andy prodded the large purple bag beside her and then said, "I've already got your bag. Ready to go?"

  All the way from the airport to the main road, they chattered about the trip and the decorations in Andy's new summer home—the little Hawaiian getaway that had come as a bonus along with Andy's hunk of a husband-to-be.

  Then, out of the blue, Andy said, "So, how is your mom?"

  Shay rolled her eyes. "Did she text you?"

  "Only once." Andy shrugged. "She was worried."

  "No, she wasn't," Shay said. "She was manipulating."

  "What did she want this time?"

  "She and Phillip want me to come visit."

  "Ah." Andy nodded but didn't meet Shay's eyes.

  "What?"

  "Well, it might be nice. It'll have to wait until after my honeymoon, but it could be good to see her."

  "Listen, I love you, but you have no idea what you're talking about. And I really don't want to talk about her right now. I'll send her a message when I get to your place, but that's the last I'm hearing of it for one trip, okay?" Shay cocked an eyebrow.

  "Fine, fine. You got it."

  "I want to focus on what's important. We've got one whole weekend together before the boys get here, and I intend to make the most of it. Now, I have a couple of things already lined up—"

  "Right. About that." Andy turned onto a street speckled with little open-air villas. All of them looked out onto a private beach where thatched umbrellas and pretty flowered trees dotted the crisp white sand.

  "What?" Shay asked, but when they pulled into the driveway of a little blue house, she already knew what her friend was going to say.

  There, running across the sand, were two men in the midst of what looked like a heated Frisbee battle.

  The first was tall and muscular, with a mane of shaggy black hair and eyes to match. Logan Grant, Andy's husband-to-be.

  With him, Andy's male counterpart, complete with freckles and sandy, brownish-blond hair. Of course, instead of Andy's curv
y build, Matt was lean and toned, the perfect body for a professional athlete. And for a professional pain in the ass.

  "They're here," Shay said blankly.

  "Okay, okay. They showed up last night to surprise me. I didn't know anything about it. You have to believe me." Andy offered her a pleading smile, but before Shay could answer, she spotted Matt running toward the car, his Frisbee held aloft.

  "Aloha," he shouted, and then bent down to Shay's window and added, "Has anyone offered you a lei yet?"

  Andy rolled her eyes, and Shay looked from Matt to Andy and back again. "Where is..."—she frowned at Matt—"this staying?"

  "Um." Andy offered her another nervous smile and Shay's jaw dropped, but then Matt was opening the back door and lugging Shay's purple case from the seat.

  "Come on, lovely, I'll show you where you're staying." She watched him walk for a little bit, unable to do anything but blink after him, but then he called, "Are you coming or not?" and she scooted from the car.

  Andy followed one pace behind her, her eyebrows still knit together.

  "You promise you didn't know about this?" Shay hissed.

  "I swear," Andy said. "Logan thought it would be nice."

  "Right. That was... sweet of him." She said it For Andy's sake. From Logan’s perspective, Andy would be spending the two weeks before their wedding surrounded by the four people she loved most in the world—Shay, Logan, and her two brothers, Matt and Derrick.

  From Shay's perspective, however...

  "This is it." Matt chucked her case none too gently onto the bed. "Don't worry, if you need anything in the middle of the night, I'm right next door."

  "You're..." She blew out a breath.

  Andy let off a little nervous giggle. "Three bedrooms. Perfect, right?"

  "Perfect," Shay said.

  This was just what she needed. Not only was she hounded by her mother and dogged by her maid of honor responsibilities, but now she'd have Andy's scoundrel of a brother to manage, too. She could practically already hear him, teasing her about things going bump in the night and offering her cherry pie whenever they were in the kitchen together.

  Suddenly, two weeks sounded so much longer than it had before.

  "Okay, well, if you need me, you know where to find me." Matt strolled from the room, and when the door was safely closed behind him, Shay flopped onto the bed and stared up at her friend.

  "Well," she said after a pause. "I guess our plans have changed."

  "Yeah, I guess so." Andy scratched her head, her mouth quirking to the side.

  Shay sat up straight, panic suddenly seizing her heart. "What?"

  "What what?" Andy asked.

  "We've been friends for how many years and you think I don't know that look?" Shay asked.

  "Okay, okay. Well, I was going to wait to ask you this..."—Andy leaned back against the wall—"but, um, I sort of kind of need a favor from you."

  "How big a favor?"

  "Not colossal. But not, you know, tiny. A medium favor. A favor like—"

  "Will you just get on with it?" Shay cut in.

  "I was training my assistant before we left, but I don't think she's ready to handle all the high profile clients, so I'm wondering if you could handle the details while I'm on my honeymoon?"

  "So... you want me to cover Logan's case? The press coverage for the wedding?"

  "No, no, that's all handled. It's actually..." Andy's mouth quirked to the side again, and suddenly realization pooled in Shay's stomach like a noxious poison, dripping down and then spreading out to burn her insides.

  "No," she said. "Not him."

  "Come on. Matt isn't that bad. I'll ask him to be on his best behavior."

  "Rabid raccoons have better best behavior," Shay shot back.

  "Okay, okay, I know. But... please?" Andy batted her eyelashes. "As a wedding gift?"

  "What's in it for me?"

  "I'll go with you as your date to your mom's next wed-ding," Andy sing-songed.

  "And you pay for the gift," Shay said.

  "Deal."

  "Deal." But as soon as the word was out of her mouth, Shay knew she was going to regret it.

  * * *

  Stagnating improvement.

  The words burned through his mind, projected onto the table in front of him, spilled out of the mouths of the people around him instead of their actual words.

  Stagnating.

  It had been a damn year and the best his physical therapist could say was that?

  Matt blinked down at the steak in front of him and tried to clear his head, if only for his sister’s sake. She didn’t need to be burdened with his lack of improvement—especially not now, right before her wedding. Still, this would affect her company.

  He would be even more of a burden to her than he already was.

  And now she was giving away his case...

  He stabbed his steak, now doing his best to push away the memory of the conversation he’d heard through the villa’s thin walls. He was reading too much into things. Getting too turned around.

  His wrist would improve.

  It would just take time. So. Much. Time.

  “I think this is the quietest I’ve ever seen you,” Shay said, and he brought himself back to the present when he looked into her clear, green eyes. Damn, she was gorgeous.

  Shame she had such a giant stick up her ass, or she might be exactly what he needed to unwind...

  "I think we're all tired from our flights. The time difference alone," Andy piped in, and to emphasize her point, Andy let out a loud, fake yawn. "I could go to sleep right now."

  "I'm wide awake. I think I'm going to head into town and stop by a bar. Derrick invited me. Anybody want to come?" Matt raised his eyebrows at Shay.

  "I think we have plans." Logan grinned at Andy, and Matt's stomach flipped over in disgust. Wasn't it bad enough to have his friend banging his sister without him leering at her all the time, too?

  "Right. Well, how about you? Looking to unwind?" He held his hand out to Shay, and she looked from it to him. Her pert nose wrinkled.

  "Well, don't say I never offered you anything." He shrugged, picked up his dishes, and stowed them in the washer before heading for the door.

  After a quick goodbye, he was off, speeding into town just as quickly as he could go, the island music blaring from his speakers while the wind swept through his dark blond hair.

  This was going to be good. It was exactly what he needed. The chance to blow off steam with the one person (besides Andy) who knew him best in the world. His brother, Derrick.

  When he got to the address Derrick had sent him, he had to do a double take. Unlike the little cabana and open-air patio bars crowding the city, this place was in the middle of a metropolitan-looking strip mall. The large, black windows were impossible to see into and, if he had to guess by the sign, it looked like the place hadn't been open for a good fifteen years.

  Still, a little cardboard cutout in the window claimed the place was open, so Matt cautiously made his way inside.

  It was packed. All around him, island folks crowded around tables, chattering and laughing with each other. A barman was slinging drinks just as quickly as he could, his long black dreadlocks flying as he went. And at the very end of the bar was the familiar bulky frame of his older brother.

  For an instant, Matt was caught off guard by the way the years had changed Derrick. Or maybe the army had done the changing for him. Still, looking at him was almost like looking at their father again with his thick, dark hair and perpetual five o'clock shadow.

  Shaking his head, Matt grinned and yelled, "Derrick!"

  The other man looked up, beaming back, and then clasped his brother in a warm embrace.

  "It's been too long, little brother," Derrick said, and when they broke apart, he motioned for Matt to take a seat.

  "I know it." Matt slid onto the stool beside him and found a frosted mug of beer already awaiting him. "What the hell is this place?"

  "It's wher
e the locals go. Sort of like a Moose Lodge. Cheaper drinks. Better atmosphere." He shrugged. "I don't want to talk about this, though. I want to talk about you. And Andy, too. You're promising me this Logan guy is good enough for her?"

  “Cutting straight to the chase, huh?”

  Derrick nodded.

  "I promise. Logan’s perfect for her," Matt said.

  "And you don't hold him responsible for..." Derrick glanced at Matt's wrist, apparently unsure of how to end his sentence. It was fine, though. Matt had discussed the accident that collapsed his career enough to know how to respond to questions about it.

  "We've been over this," Matt said.

  "I know. It's just"—Derrick took a swig of his beer and then continued—"I just don't know how a guy can stamp on your pitching wrist like that, call it an accident, and have nobody blame him for it."

  "He didn't call it an accident. It was an accident," Matt said.

  "Right," Derrick said.

  "It was. I'm telling you." He took a deep breath and then said, "Besides, things are about to change."

  "That so?"

  "Yeah. I'm going to get back in the majors this year. I feel it," he lied, his stomach writhing with every word.

  Derrick raised his eyebrows. "Andy helped you out that much already?"

  "She's mostly helped against my will," he said, relieved that that, at least, was true. Despite his best efforts to force his sister to drop him as a client for her sports publicity firm, she'd been pressing her nose to the grindstone for months in an effort to get him back in the public eye and—with any luck—back on a major league bench.

  So far, results had been meager at best. Not that she ever let on that fact to him.

  "That's how she rolls." Derrick nodded. "I told her not to have the wedding here, you know. I said I'd come to San Diego, but no, Andy wasn't going to inconvenience me." Derrick rolled his eyes.

  “There’s got to be some way to stop her when she gets like this. I remember when we were kids Dad used to try to just give her some other pet project to take on. Remember when she tried to get him to date?”

  Matt laughed. “That was a disaster. But yeah, I remember.”