The Sweetheart Rules by Shirley Jump Read Free Book Online Page A

hurricane?”
    Luke nodded. “One of them panicked and tried to jump out of the helo. We had to restrain him just to get the other three on board. And avoid ditching into thirty-foot seas.”
    “That was a cakewalk compared to taking care of kids.” Mike leaned against the house and watched the girls, who had settled on the grass by the dogs. “Take my advice and stick to dogs.”
    Luke figured this wasn’t the time to tell Mike that he couldn’t wait to have a kid—heck, a half-dozen of them—with Olivia once they were married. “Your daughters are beautiful.”
    “So are Venus fly traps and sharks.” Mike chuckled. “Okay, yes, they are beautiful. But they hate me and blame me for their mother taking off, and the general miserableness of their lives.”
    “And?”
    “And what?”
    “Are they right?” Luke knew Mike well, and that meant he knew Mike’s faults. A true type A soldier. Strong, determined, focused. The kind of man you could depend on when the stakes were high and the chances of success as slim as a piece of paper. He did his job, and did it well, but kept his heart guarded and closed. Maybe it was a side effect of being in the military, because Luke used to be the same way; or maybe it was just that the two of them were cut from the same relationship-averse cloth.
    Mike leaned against the house and let his gaze travel over the girls, clinging together like two saplings in a storm, while Olivia tried to strike up a conversation about the dogs. “Yeah. They are. I screwed up as a dad, if you can even call me one, given how little time I spent with the kids. Now I’m trying like hell to straighten it out. But I only have a few weeks, and then they’re back at Jasmine’s. I’ll be back at Air Station Kodiak for God knows how long, and when I see the girls again, it’ll be like starting from scratch.” He took another sip of the beer and sighed. “I don’t think I’m cut out for this parenting thing.”
    “You could always transfer down here. Move closer to the girls. And your mom.”
    Mike scowled. “She doesn’t care if I live here or in Timbuktu. As for the girls, they’re counting down the days until they go back to their mother.”
    “And how’s that make you feel?”
    “Hey, if I want a Dr. Phil session, I’ll pay a shrink to hand me some scratchy tissues and lecture me about sharing my feelings. So do me a favor and—”
    Diana had exited the house, a pile of plates and napkins in her hands. Mike stopped mid-sentence and watched her cross to the table. Luke knew that look. He’d probably worn it himself the day he met Olivia.
    Any fool could see Mike was still hooked on the pretty veterinarian he had met while on leave last winter. Luke didn’t know the details of their relationship; only that Mike had seemed happier during the weeks they had dated than he’d ever been in the years Luke had known him. Then one day, Mike just up and left, before his leave was up, and returned to the base. He’d talked to Luke several times since then, and e-mailed regularly, but never once asked Luke how Diana was doing, as if Mike had forgotten her the minute he got on the plane—or wanted to pretend he had.
    Given the way Mike was staring at Diana right now, with that hungry hound dog look in his eyes, he hadn’t forgotten her. At all.
    Luke cleared his throat. “Gee, Mike, is there any particular reason you came back to Rescue Bay? As opposed to staying in Georgia with the girls? Or going to, I don’t know, Disney World?”
    Mike shrugged as if he weren’t still staring at Diana, and his body language weren’t screaming,
Wish I was over there instead of here
.
    “You had an empty house,” Mike said, with an air of indifference. “I needed a place to stay.”
    “Uh-huh. You know, there are these things called hotels. Available for temporary stays.”
    “Is that your way of telling me you don’t want me staying next door?” Mike fiddled with his beer, pretending he wasn’t