Stealing Home (13 page)

“When you find something you love and that works, why switch it up?”

“See? You get it. Everyone else says it’s boring, but knowing what you love isn’t boring. It’s a sign of maturity and not being afraid to commit. All of those people who are always into trying new things are the ones I don’t get. It’s like holding a sign that says ‘I don’t know what I like or what I want because I don’t know who I am.’” When I finally came up for air, I realized I’d just given him an earful at the crack of dawn. “Sorry.”

He waved it off, looking amused. “Personal soapbox?”

“Something like that,” I muttered, relieved when our coffees showed up.

The hostess’s hands were still shaking, which was dangerous when she was holding two cups of coffee balanced on saucers, so I took each cup from her and set it down. She threw me a relieved look before dropping the sugar caddy and milk ramekin between us and dashing back to the kitchen.

“You’re a thoughtful person,” Archer said, taking the sugar packet I held out for him.

“I just didn’t want to have to worry about treating heat blisters on your body in addition to what I already have to treat.”

Archer chuckled as he stirred the sugar into his coffee. “So tell me about Allie Eden pre athletic trainer extraordinaire.” He must have noticed the flash of panic that hit my face. “Not the exhaustive biography, just the Cliff’s Notes. For now, at least.”

Fixing my coffee, I stalled. How did one sum up their life in a few sentences? “I don’t know, I grew up in a small town in Indiana, got my undergrad from Michigan State, and my graduate degree from UCLA. That’s about it.”

Luke tilted his head, mild amusement settling on his face. “Your family?”

“Oh,” I swallowed, taking a drink of coffee. “My dad and mom still live back in Indiana. They got divorced when I was little, so I was shuffled around from house to house. I go home every once in a while, maybe at Thanksgiving or Christmas to visit.”

“Do they ever come visit you at your home?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Flying to California is like flying to Mongolia to them. And the apartment I have back in California is not what I’d call ‘my home.’ It’s more of a dwelling than anything.”

He clasped his hands together, watching me. “Siblings?”

Another head shake. “Only child.”

“That must have been lonely.”

“It wasn’t so much that. It was more feeling like I never had anywhere to call home, you know? I never felt like I had a place where I just knew it was home.” I shrugged, trying to play it off, but really, I’d never felt like I had a home my whole life. I went from being a child passed from house to house, to a student changing from dorm to dorm, to a woman moving from apartment to apartment.

He watched me for a minute. Just as it looked as though he were about to say something, his phone rang in his pocket.

“Sorry, I thought I’d turned it off,” he said, pulling it out to check the screen.

It wasn’t like I was trying to look, but I didn’t miss the name flashing on it—Alexis. I got back to making my coffee, feeling ridiculous for the tinge of jealousy settling into my stomach as I accepted that Luke Archer had had other women in his life before me.

“It’s my sister,” he said.

And just when I thought I couldn’t feel any more ridiculous . . .

“Go ahead and take it,” I said.

“You sure? This is a date—our first date—and what kind of date am I if I answer my phone on it?”

“The kind of guy who’s a good big brother.” I pointed my spoon at the phone buzzing in his hand. “Take it.”

“Thanks,” he said quickly before answering it. “Morning, sunshine . . . wait, it’s three a.m. there—what are you doing up?” His smile dimmed instantly. “Hey, Alex, it’s okay. Just take a breath. What is it?”

Maybe I should have pretended to look out the window or pull my own phone out to check emails, but since he hadn’t stood and walked away to have some privacy, I figured he didn’t mind if I overheard him.

Whatever his sister was saying made his jaw set.

“I never liked that guy to begin with. I didn’t like the way he looked at you. I didn’t like the way he’d leave you waiting to pick you up. I didn’t like the way he treated you period.”

Luke must have been cut off because he looked like he was all set to keep going. Instead, he shifted on the bench, his hand gripping his phone tightly enough it looked capable of crushing it.

“He did what?” Luke’s palm pounded the table, making our cups rattle. He mouthed a quick
sorry
at me. “I want his number, Alex. Give me his number, because I’m going to call him and have a little chat about ways to treat a girl and ways not to treat a girl. And then I’m going to tell him what I’m going to do to him for hurting my little sister—”

I had to purse my lips to keep from smiling because it was clear just how pissed off Luke was, but watching this grown man about to pummel some kid for hurting his little sister was possibly the sweetest thing I’d ever witnessed.

“Fine, fine. You’re right, I’ll relax. This way I can come up with a plan that will inflict maximum pain for minimum jail time.” Whatever his sister fired back made Luke chuckle. “Yeah, well, it’s like what I told you all. No one messes with my sisters, and if they do, they better make their peace with god.”

Luke took a drink of his coffee while his sister talked. I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but she was saying a lot.

“What can I do? Name it. Anything.” He was quiet for a moment, but it sounded like she was too. His fingers snapped. “I know. How about if all of you girls fly out to my game next weekend in San Diego? We’ll hit the beach, down as much ice cream as we can eat, and I’ll take you all shopping.”

There wasn’t silence on the other end anymore. There was squealing. From what sounded like multiple voices. Luke had to pull the phone back from his ear a ways.

“Let Anne know about the plan, and I’ll work out the details with her.” He paused until the shrieking had dialed down a few notches. “And don’t forget, kiddo, no guy is worth giving up your dreams. If you learn nothing else from me, remember that. Don’t let anyone take your dreams from you.” His eyes met mine—there was something purposeful in them. “What am I doing? I’m on a date.” Luke shrugged. “Yes, at five o’clock in the morning. Is there some dating rulebook I’m not aware of?”

Whatever his sister said made him roll his eyes. “No, not with anyone you know.”

Pause.

“Yes, with someone I like. Someone who’s sitting right across the table from me, hearing every word of this phone call.”

Another pause.

“Because you called. When have I ever
not
answered when one of you have called?” It sounded like he was getting an earful for a minute, then he sighed. “Yes, I promise to try not to mess this up—” He must have been interrupted. “Alexis . . .” His jaw set. “Thank you for the sisterly advice. Now if you don’t have any other boys who need a beating . . .”

I didn’t miss what she said.
Not at present. I love you.

“I love you too. Tell your sisters I love them and I’ll check in with them after school.” Ending the call, he slid the silencer on before stuffing his phone back in his pocket. “Sorry about that. Great way to kick off a first date, right?”

“I didn’t mind a bit. Boy problems?”

Luke exhaled. “Always. It’s kind of the norm when I have three little sisters in their teens.”

I wrapped my hands around my coffee cup, debating my next question. Just because I didn’t know all things Luke Archer didn’t mean I hadn’t heard some things. “You’re their guardian now?”

If he felt conflicted about what my question was alluding to, he didn’t express it. “Guardian, mother, father, big brother, pretty much all of it.” He stared into his coffee cup, contemplation creeping into his expression. “Anne has been our saving grace though. She’s an old friend of the family, but now she’s kind of like a live-in nanny. However, if I call her that in front of the girls, they give me ‘the look.’”

“The look?”

“You know, The Look.” He waited for me to process that. “The one the female species has created to turn specimens of the male species into piles of ash. The Look.”

“Oh yes, that one,” I said, playing along.

Archer grinned, spinning his coffee cup in his hands. “Anyway, Anne takes care of everything when I’m on the road during the season, and I do my best to fit in visits during home games and occasionally fly them all out to an away game.”

“And take them shopping and out for junk food. The hardships.”

He chuckled a couple of notes before his expression became serious. “You know what happened to my parents?”

Inhaling slowly, I nodded. “Only what I read in the papers a few years ago.”

I might not have known much about Luke Archer’s life before a week ago, but I did know about his parents being carjacked and murdered on their way home from celebrating their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. The whole nation knew that story as that had happened right when Archer’s career was taking off. The media ate it up, printing headlines about The Slayed Parents of Luke Archer. Sensationalizing the whole tragedy by highlighting facts of that night that should have been respected and left alone. Details about how Mr. Archer had shielded his wife with his body while an entire magazine had been emptied into them. Or how their wedding bands had been ripped off their dead bodies. Or how their hands were found tangled together, even in death.

The media had bled that story dry, and I’d guessed it was part of the reason Archer had seemed as closed off as he had. At least as he had at first, because now he didn’t seem closed off at all.

Luke continued to stare into his coffee like he was seeing something in it no one else could see. “The girls were only ten, twelve, and fourteen at the time. We had family they could have gone to, but it would have meant relocating from Oceanside, and I wanted to keep as much normalcy in their lives as possible. I wanted them to stay at the same school, with the same friends, in the same activities, you know?” His forehead creased deeper for a moment, then his whole face cleared. Like he’d just come from the dark into the light.

Lifting his cup, he took a drink of his coffee. “I applied for guardianship, and we’ve done our best to put the pieces back together. That’s part of the reason my career is so important to me. I’m responsible for three human beings, and I want them to have any door they want open to them. I want them to be able to go to the best school in the country if they want to. I want them to be able to major in something that will pay them peanuts if it makes them happy. I want them to have a totally over-the-top wedding if that’s what makes them happy.” Almost looking vulnerable, he looked at me. I wasn’t used to seeing vulnerability on him—it was a look I doubted more than a few people were used to seeing on him. “I just want to take care of them the way our parents would have.”

My eyes were stinging from fighting tears. When I’d gotten up this morning and agreed to breakfast with Luke Archer, I hadn’t known he was going to open up like this.

Luke Archer was so much more than a player setting batting records. So much more than a skilled lover. So much more.

“You really are amazing,” I said.

Archer twisted his hat back around and leaned across the table a little. His expression was playful. “Well, I know that, but would you mind passing that on to this girl I’m really into? I’m not sure she’s aware of that yet. She kind of busts my balls. When she’s not icing them.”

That made me laugh. “I think she knows.”

“Good, and while you’ve got her on the line, would you mind asking her how I’m doing on our first date? I just spent the majority of it on the phone with a heartbroken sister and bringing up my dark past. I think I’m bombing it.”

Archer’s hand was resting on the table and I didn’t realize I’d reached for it until our fingers were tying together. “She says it’s the best first date she’s ever been on.”

THE SHOCK WAS back in San Diego, and everyone was excited to be playing in front of a home group of fans. We’d all gotten in late last night, and Archer had headed back to his apartment to meet his sisters, who had gotten into the city earlier and were waiting for him, while I went home to my empty apartment. Homecomings like this reminded me why I loved being on the road so much—it made me forget about just how alone I was.

It wasn’t possible for me to go to his place with his sisters there. It wouldn’t have been possible even if they weren’t. While he was in Shock territory, cameras followed him everywhere short of the public restroom, and it wouldn’t take long for people to figure out that the petite blonde he was with was the same one in her first year as an athletic trainer on the team he played for. We’d be safer in other cities, not that safe was any way of putting it.

After spending a fitful night as a human cyclone in my bed, I decided to head to Shock Stadium a couple hours early for lack of anything else to occupy my time.

Opening the door to my apartment, I found a box on the stoop, wrapped in the Shock’s royal blue and white, along with a card with my name on it tucked under the bow. Kneeling, I opened the card: