Bound to Be His (The Archer Family Book 2) by Allison Gatta Page A

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