Made to be His ( The Archer Family 1)

"I can see the appeal." She heard the smile in his voice, but she wouldn't turn to look at it. She'd given in enough as it was. If she looked at him, she'd have passed the point of no return.

"You said you were here to explain. Explain." There. That would show him. Gruff. To the point. Matter of fact.

"I love you."

Her mind went blank for a moment, and she turned to look at him without a second thought. He couldn't be serious. Breaking out the L word? After everything they'd been through?

She wanted to think it was a cheap ploy, a way of winning her back or getting her into his bed again. He didn't mean it.

No matter how sincere his blue eyes looked. No matter how much tension was in his stupid, square jaw.

She opened her mouth, then closed it again, not sure how to respond.

Luckily, he saved her from the effort.

"That shouldn't change your thoughts or your feelings. I just want you to know. I want you to understand how I feel, and if you decide to walk away, please know that it's okay with me. All that matters to me is you. It has been from the start of this thing, and I..." He stared into the empty rows of seats for a long moment, then finished, "I fucked up. I fucked up with Matt and with myself, but worst is the fact that I messed things up with you. I hope you can forgive me."

She opened her mouth again, but he held up a hand.

"Those things I said? I didn't mean them. I only said them to drive you away. I thought if I told you how I really felt that you would brush me off and try to convince me to stay. I knew that I cared for you enough to do whatever you asked and when I left, I told myself that I was doing the best thing I could do for you. That I'd hurt enough Archers in one lifetime already.

I know now that I was wrong. I was placing blame on things that weren't there and trying to get around a problem I haven't been man enough to face, but I'm moving on now. I'm getting better. And now I know that by trying to tell myself that I was helping you, I was only hurting us both."

He slid in closer and took her hand in his, stroking his thumb gently over her knuckles. Every urge to move away or to leave was gone, but her gut was still teetering on the edge between acceptance and something a little less forgiving. It would make her weak to let everything go at the drop of a hat, to crawl back to him after all of this just because he'd asked her to. She wasn't that kind of girl.

Even if her heart was melting when she looked at him. Even if all she wanted to do was lean closer and get another whiff of his spicy smell. It wasn't that easy. She couldn't let it be. At the end of the day, he'd still made her change. Maybe she hadn't seen that she was beautiful before, but she deserved someone who thought she was beautiful no matter what. If Logan had taught her anything, he'd taught her that.

"I don't know, Logan," she said.

"I was so wrong, Andy. You are the most beautiful, unique, wonderful woman I have ever met, and I want to spend every moment of every day making up for how I've hurt you. I know I can't make all of the pain subside now, but I did bring something with me that I think will help."

He released her hand and dug around in his jacket pocket for a minute before finally holding out a closed fist to her.

Slowly, his fingers opened to reveal a small, silver key.

"What's this?"

"It's the key to my beach house in Oahu. I kept thinking about our night here...before everything got all fucked up." He swallowed. “I don’t think there are sea lions in Hawaii, but I know Derrick is there and I was thinking…”

She stared at the key, then at Logan.

He'd been so sincere, so earnest in all of this.

And in looking at him, studying his strong features, something occurred to her. What he'd said hadn't mattered. None of it had, really. The things that mattered were the things he'd done, not the things he'd said.

He'd shown her that she was beautiful. He'd cared for her brother.

He'd cared for her. Thought of her in a way that nobody else had.

“You were thinking we’d go on vacation together?” She raised an eyebrow.

“If you’ll have me. But if not, the key is still yours. You can go, see your brother, and spend all the time you want on the beach. Everything is up to you.”

She took the key from his palm, then turned it between her fingers. “You know, I’m not sure Derrick will like you.”

“Of course he will. What’s not to like?”

“Well, for starters…” She grinned, but he cut her off.