Bound to Be His ( The Archer Family 2)

"Not me. I don't mix business and pleasure."

"Ah, so you admit that I pleasured you?"

She rolled her eyes and then stopped short, clutching at a stitch in her side. He halted alongside her.

"Look, I got the message. It never happened and you're not ready for it to happen again," Matt said, and then turning on his heel, he added, "Just know that I'm going to be here for when you are ready."

And just like that, he strode off toward the villa, never once bothering to look back at her while he went.

Chapter 6

For the rest of the week, Matt made good on his promise.

He acted like nothing had happened between them. Hell, if anything, he was nicer than he'd ever been before. And, apparently by coincidence, much less clothed than usual.

Every day, the whole group of them would head out to the beach, oftentimes with Andy and Shay lagging behind, their arms laden with binders full of work or wedding information. Then, they'd lay out their stuff, lie back, and take in the sun.

It should have been soothing, relaxing. Productive, even.

Instead, it was an exercise in torture.

No matter how hard Shay tried to focus on work, Matt's low rumble of a laugh would distract her from across the way. He and Logan would be playing Frisbee or surfing on the waves, and she'd catch herself staring at him. Or worse, licking her lips as she watched the beads of water glistening against his broad, hard chest. Thank God Andy was so busy with the wedding, otherwise Shay would have had some serious explaining to do.

And if Matt noticed? He sure as hell didn't let on to it.

He treated her like she was just some woman now. Just some friend of his sister's. He didn't ask her questions about whether or not she'd gotten "leied" yet while she was on the island, or any other lewd questions poised to set her off. He was civil. Decent.

Which, of course, made things that much worse.

She never realized how she'd grown to kind of sort of like his teasing, his constant attention. And without it?

She didn't know what to do. Where to go.

So, when the night of the bachelorette party finally rolled around, Shay thanked God for the opportunity to get out of the house, out of her head, and most of all, out of view of Matt Archer.

Shay ushered an uncomfortable Andy through the crowd of half-dressed men, and tried to ignore the hoots and hollers coming from the crowd of older ladies they'd brought along with them. Nearly every woman who'd been invited to the wedding decided to tag along for the bachelorette party, and while Shay was happy to have plenty of help urging Andy to act a fool, she was starting to worry that Aunt Frieda and her cronies might just snag all the hot guys before Andy got the chance.

Still, Shay sat her in the very center of the catwalk and waited while the lights lowered and a new guy strutted onto the stage to the tune of "Dude Looks Like a Lady."

"This is a... confusing choice of song," Andy grumbled while the dude, who had hair down to his shoulders and did, indeed, look like a lady, began to grind his ass against the pole.

"I'm sure it'll get better." Shay plucked two drinks from the tray of a nearby waiter and dropped the payment in their stead, and then watched as Andy gaped at the gyrating man in front of her.

"What's the big shock? Logan doesn't do this at home?" Shay giggled.

"Can you imagine?" Andy shook her head. "You know, his fraternity had one of those bachelor auctions once and he and Matt both threatened to do something like this."

Shay felt her smile flicker, but she did her best to hold it in place. Matt. Why could she not get away from that guy? Talking about him. Thinking about him.

And what exactly he'd look like if he got up there and showed the world what he was working with.

"You're kidding." Shay forced her grin a little more.

"Nope. Logan chickened out, but you know Matt." Andy rolled her eyes. "He got up there in a cop uniform and made more money than all of the guys combined."

Shay had no doubt of that. Matt in his baseball uniform was one thing. But him in a police uniform? She could just picture his muscles rippling under the black dress shirt, the badge pinned to his broad chest, and the handcuffs... God, what he could probably do with those handcuffs.

"He's a hoot," Shay said, and then wanted to thun