The Sweetheart Rules by Shirley Jump Read Free Book Online

together and their conversation flowing, as natural as two rivers in the woods. No one would ever guess they’d only met a few months ago. Diana helped Olivia arrange the dishes on the table, then headed inside while Olivia stayed outside to work on the flower beds lining the western wall of the house.
    Her brows knitted in concentration and her shoulders tensed as she slipped her hand between the tender annuals and tugged out budding weeds. Luke’s heart melted a little. His Olivia, who cared deeply about everything in her life, even the flowers struggling to grow in the Florida heat.
    She straightened and cocked her head to one side, grinning at him. “Hey, sexy, you better stop staring at my butt and get back to cooking before you burn something.”
    Luke laughed. “How’d you know I was staring at your butt?”
    “When are you
not
staring at my butt?”
    He feigned deep thought. “When I’m staring at your amazing breasts.” He wiggled his brows and gave her a leer.
    She shook her head, laughing. “Dinner now, loverboy. Breasts later.”
    “Is that a promise?”
    “It’s a date.” She blew him a kiss, then went back to the flower beds—with a little extra sass in her movements that Luke took a second to appreciate before returning to the grill.
    Luke lifted the lid, grabbed the tongs and turned the chicken over, then dropped the heat a little more. If Mike didn’t show up soon, they’d be eating petrified poultry. It wasn’t like Mike to be even a split second late. Maybe his friend had decided against coming after all.
    Luke was reaching for his cell when he saw Mike walking down the driveway, trailed by two little girls with the pissed off expressions of reluctant army conscripts.
    “Sorry I’m late,” Mike said. His face bore the strain of battle, one that clearly hadn’t ended well or easily.
    Luke bit back a laugh. “No problem. A little trouble mustering the troops today?”
    Mike rolled his eyes and waited until the girls peeled away from Mike and headed for the dogs, who had stopped running circles in the yard and were now resting on the shady grass by Olivia. “It would have been easier to stage an invasion of Russia.”
    Luke chuckled, reached into the cooler at his feet, and handed Mike a Coors. “I think you need this.”
    Mike accepted the beer with a grateful smile. “I need a part-time job is what I need. I finally resorted to
paying
them to come today. Between the toys I’ve bought, the pizzas I’ve ordered, and the chore bribing, not to mention the curse jar—”
    “Curse jar?”
    “Don’t ask. If I start explaining where that
brilliant
idea came from, I’m going to be broke by the end of the day.”
    The normally unflappable Mike, who had ridden through wild storms and life-or-death medical crises with calm strength, had been undone by a couple of winsome little girls in sundresses and flip-flops. Luke gave his friend a wry grin. “And what is the going rate for being seen in public with your father?”
    “Ten dollars.” Mike took a swig of the beer.
    “That’s not too—”
    “Ten. Per kid. Per hour.”
    Luke let out a low whistle. “For that much,
I’d
pretend to be your kid.”
    “You might have to. I have a feeling these two are staging a mutiny behind my back. Revolt against authority and all that.”
    “You, my friend, are the poster child for authority figures.” Luke had known Mike a long time, and if there was one man in the unit who stuck to the rules like glue, it was Mike Stark. He thrived on the detail-oriented life of the military. Being a stickler for an orderly, scheduled life was a great attribute in the Coast Guard; not so much with kids. Even childless Luke knew that, but he could see Mike had yet to accept the fact that his life off-base was bound to be chaotic. “I take it you aren’t having much luck keeping the peasants in line, Napoleon?”
    Mike snorted. “Remember that time we had to extract four fishermen during a