The Sweetheart Rules (14 page)

Well, Sean had never been around long enough to discuss dinner options, never mind puberty.

Mike wasn’t going to be around for long, either. What was with her and picking men who had all the sticking power of wet tape?

“He seems to listen to me,” Mike said. “Let me talk to him.”

Diana worried her bottom lip. “I should be the one talking to him. That’s my job.”

Mike got to his feet and put a hand on her shoulder. “Just because it’s your job doesn’t mean you always have to do all the work alone. Even a superhero needs a little help once in a while.”

The tender words made tears well in her eyes; tears she cursed because they showed the very weaknesses she tried to keep hidden. She had to be strong—she was doing all the work of two parents, plus running a thriving practice and trying to continue her mother’s legacy. There was no room in those expectations for her to waver. But oh how she wanted to just rely on someone else for a while, to let another carry part of the burdens. She gave Mike a watery smile. “That’s not fair, you know, calling me a superhero.”

“All single moms are superheroes. Didn’t you know that?” He grinned, then gestured toward the bag of pastries. “Have some muffins and coffee and enjoy the day. I’ll go talk to Jackson.”

Before she could protest, Mike was gone, and Diana was left on the lanai, while the birds chirped and the sun’s muted rays danced a golden wash across the lanai’s floor. The pool filter gurgled softly, and geckos chased each other up and down the panels of the screen. It was relaxing and peaceful, and after a moment, Diana sat back in the chair, closed her eyes—

And fell asleep.

Angelic.

Mike stood back and watched Diana sleep. A slight smile played on her lips and her hair flowed loose around her shoulders, soft and tempting, whispering slightly in the breeze from the ceiling fan. Her chest rose and fell in a slow, even wave of slumber. He’d always thought she had a kind of classic beauty—like Grace Kelly, with defined features, light blond hair and a wide, easy smile—but when she slept, she had the look of an angel.

Damn. He was getting soft, or sentimental, or something. Since when had he ever looked at a woman and thought she looked like an angel?

He was falling for her all over again. Back in January, he’d tumbled hard and fast into a relationship with Diana, and it had taken the better part of the last six months for him to stop thinking about her every five seconds. Now he was back in Rescue Bay and finding every possible excuse to be around her. Those old feelings had roared back to life, stronger, deeper.

And that was a problem. A big one.

She stirred, then turned her head, and blinked awake. “Oh gosh, I fell asleep. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. You probably needed the nap.”

She sat up, brushed the hair away from her face, and took a sip of coffee, then made a face because the brew had gone cold. “Where’s Jackson?”

“We talked for a little bit, then he went to a friend’s house. Uh”—Mike searched his memory banks—“Eric’s, he said.”

Relief glowed in her features. “Eric’s a good kid.”

Mike didn’t know Diana or Jackson very well, but he knew worry when he saw it. She had that look a lot of boaters had just before the rescue swimmer dropped into the water. Their eyes would be round and dark with terror, as the ocean snarled and whipped around them, like an angry mistress out for blood. Then, as the swimmer arrived with salvation, their eyes would fill with relief that help had arrived before the dark, frigid, murky water won the battle.

Diana was worried about her son, that much was clear. Maybe she was just overprotective. Or overly sensitive to normal teenage attitude and rebellion. Or maybe Jackson had given her reason to worry. Whichever it was, Mike didn’t ask, because asking meant getting involved.

If he stepped in now, he’d be like a swimmer without a waiting helo, a helper who could only ease the boater’s fear, because in the end, he’d have to leave the drowning man in the ocean. It would be a temporary salve, not a long-term solution. Besides, he had been a terrible father thus far to his own kids. What made him think he could be any better with someone else’s child?

“So, the renovations,” he began. “We need to do a priority list so that the most important things get done first, and the less important, cosmetic things, move to the end of the list.”

“The kennels for sure. We need those repaired first,” she said. “There are also a couple of private rooms for people to interact with their chosen pet, and it’d be handy to have more of those available during big events like we just had.”

He tugged a piece of paper out of his pocket and wrote down her comments. “Anything else?”

“The storage room needs a new door. And the back door doesn’t lock right. We have it propped shut for now.” She put a finger to her lip as she thought.

And he lost his entire train of thought. Watching her lips move against that finger derailed his thoughts from the renovations—the whole reason he was here, after all, was for the meeting they’d had planned for today—and straight down a single path.

They were alone.

In her house.

A short hallway trip from her bedroom.

A route he remembered well from January.

Very, very well. Damn.

His brain kept running images of that night, of the way the moon had kissed Diana’s skin and washed it with a silky glow, of how she felt against him, perfect, warm, right, of how for a little while, he had forgotten the whole world outside of Diana’s bed.

“Mike? Did you hear what I just said?”

“Yes.” He let out a low curse. “No.”

She laughed, a merry, light sound that filled the darkness in his chest. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“That I know I came over here to talk about the repairs to the shelter,” he said, the words barreling from his Man Brain to his mouth faster than he could think about whether any of this was a good idea, “but the only damned thing I can think about is taking you back to that bed and making love to you again. And taking a nice, long, sweet time doing so.”

“Mike, I… I can’t… uh…” Her green eyes widened. She opened her mouth, closed it again, then that tempting flush filled her cheeks, and peeked above the V-neck of her shirt. Her dogs snoozed in the corner, unaware of the tension in the small screened area, a tension that had existed between Mike and Diana from day one and had never dissipated.

He’d been fooling himself to think he had forgotten her. That he’d gotten over that night, over her. If anything, he craved her more now than he had then, because he knew how amazing she was, how incredible one night could be.

He approached her chair, and hauled her to her feet. Her hands were delicate, warm in his, but his Man Brain could only think about how it had felt when she’d wrapped her hand around his cock.

Oh, hell. Why did he keep fighting this attraction to Diana? He wasn’t going to forget her, wasn’t going to get her out of his system, not for a good long while. “I can’t do this, either.”

“You can’t?”

He shook his head. “I can’t pretend that we’re here talking about building repairs and puppy dogs or hell, the damned weather, when all I really want”—he let go of her hands and settled his palms on her hourglass waist—“is you.”

“We can change the subject.” She flashed him a flirty grin. “To something boring like the space program—”

“Sorry, makes me think of the way you looked, lying in your bed, naked, with only the light of the moon on your skin.” The heat of her body curled toward him, beckoning, welcoming.

“—or, uh, planting a fall garden—”

“Makes me remember how sexy and beautiful you looked at Luke’s barbecue when you were standing by the flowers.” His hands shifted over her tight, pert ass, then back up to her waist before going higher still, to the valley beneath her breasts. His fingers outlined those two perfect shapes, his thumbs resting against the nipples. They stiffened at his touch, and everything in him went rock-hard in response.

“Or…” her face flushed a deeper red and the smiled widened, “well, I really can’t think of any other boring topics right now. I’m feeling a little… uh… distracted.”

“Me too.” His gaze dropped to her chest, the rise, the fall of those magnificent breasts. “God, Diana, I want you,” he said again, knowing the words were crappy words that didn’t begin to capture the raging river of desire deep inside him. But if he searched for another phrase, if he tried to find words that could match what he was feeling, he knew he would be opening a door that he had kept shut for a long, long time.

She raised her hands to his chest, closed her eyes for a second, and when she opened them again, he saw the dark stirrings of desire reflected in those green depths. “Oh, Mike, I want you, too.”

That was all the invitation he needed. As Mike lowered his head to hers and captured Diana’s mouth with his own, he told himself this was just sex, nothing more, an answer to a need, but deep down inside a little voice whispered that making love to Diana was taking him down a path of no return.

 • • • 

If there was one thing Mike could do, and do well, it was deliver on a promise.

He kissed her sweet and slow this time, tangling his fingers in her hair, dancing his thumbs along the sensitive edges of her jaw. She sighed into him and thought she could stay here forever.

When he finally pulled back, he met her gaze with a question in his blue eyes. She nodded, and Mike scooped her into his arms and carried her out of the lanai, down the hall and into her bedroom.

The blinds were closed, but the sun peeked around the white panels and cast the room in a dim light. There was no letting the cover of night hide the cellulite and extra weight most all moms carried around their middles. With other guys, Diana had felt self-conscious, worried about every bump and ripple. But when Mike looked at her, she felt beautiful.

That was what kept overriding her objections. The way he looked at her, with such intention, as if the only thing on his mind right now was her, as if she mesmerized and captivated him.

As if she were the only woman in the world.

He kicked off his shoes, then lay beside her on the bed. “I want to see you.” His fingers lingered along the hem of her shirt. “I was in too much of a rush the last time and I have regretted that for a long, long time.”

“Why?”

“Because you are a woman who deserves to be savored.”

When he said things like that, he made her feel like the queen of sex. She raised her arms over her head and gave him a flirty smile. “Then savor me, Mike.”

He lifted the hem of her shirt, inch by inch. The breeze from the ceiling fan chased a delicious shiver across her belly. Mike leaned down and followed the same route with his mouth, nipping, kissing, licking. She arched against him, tangled her fingers in his hair. He pushed her shirt over her head, then kissed a trail from her belly to the lacy edge of her bra. She arched, wanting, wanting, wanting his hot mouth on her nipples, on her, in everything.

Mike peeled back one lacy cup and whispered a breath across the bare skin of her breast. “Perfect,” he whispered. Then just as she was about to tell him to skip the talking, he took her nipple in his mouth and five flat seconds later, an orgasm rushed through her like the tide on a stormy day.

Then she came back to earth and reality rushed to fill the spaces in her brain. She was in bed. With Mike Stark.

Jumping his bones. And worse, letting her heart get caught in the moment.

The last time she got swept away by Mike’s touch, she had whispered that she loved him. Insane, risky—two things Diana tried never to be. Leaping before looking had gotten her nowhere but nursing a broken heart in a cold, empty bed. No more. She was done making foolish choices when it came to men.

When he shifted to kiss her mouth, she put her hands on his chest. “This is a mistake.”

He drew back. “Mistake? But I thought you just—”

“That’s not what I’m talking about. This”—she drew an invisible line between them—“is a mistake that we keep making. We’re old enough to not be ruled by our hormones.”

“Is that all you think this is? Me getting my rocks off?”

“Are you telling me it’s more?”

He held her gaze for a long time. Her breath held in that space where hope resided, then Mike shook his head and rolled off her to sit on the edge of the bed. “No, it’s not.”

But he wouldn’t look at her when he said the words. He just put on his shoes and left. Diana waited until she heard the click of the door before she let her heart break again.

The cabinet in the kitchen whispered its
one sip
song, but Diana curled under the blankets instead and fashioned a shoulder to cry on from a cold, lifeless pillow.

Greta put on her walking shoes and a big floppy hat and set out from Golden Years a little before four. By the time she had stopped at the corner grocery and bought some fresh-baked cupcakes, then made her way to the animal shelter and vet’s office, it was close to five. They’d be missing her for dinner service at Golden Years, but she didn’t give a fig about that. Tonight was barbecued chipped beef. Might as well be serving them Mighty Dog in a can.

She circled around to the back half of the building and headed inside the animal shelter. Even at the end of the day, the entire place was neat and clean, and smelled partly of dog, partly of disinfectant. The lobby was painted bright cheery hues of yellow, offset nicely by the white tile and pristine white countertops.

Olivia was working on filling out some paperwork when Greta entered the air-conditioned building. Olivia looked up and smiled wide. “Grandma! What a nice surprise to see you! Wait.” Her gaze narrowed. “Don’t tell me you walked all the way down here in this heat.”

“I have been living in Florida all my life, and I still remember the days before God invented air conditioning. The heat hasn’t killed me yet, and it won’t kill me today.” Greta nodded, then gestured toward the refrigerator behind the front desk. “Though if you have an ice-cold bottle of something or other, I wouldn’t turn it down.”

Olivia laughed and snagged a bottle out of the refrigerator, then handed it to Greta. “Water okay?”

“Beer is better. But water will do.” Greta grinned, then sank into one of the white plastic chairs to take off the cap and swallow several big gulps of water. Lord, this heat was getting to her. Either that or her age, both of which seemed to rise a little more each day. Nothing a little time in the shade and some cupcakes wouldn’t fix. Besides, she had too many things on her personal agenda to have time for feeling ill. “How are things going with the wedding plans?” she asked Olivia.

“Honestly, I’ve been so busy, I haven’t had time to do much more than make a list of all the things I
should
be doing.” Olivia laughed. “What I need is a bossy grandma to get me to make some decisions. Know anyone like that?”

Greta grinned and put a hand on her heart. “Why, no, I don’t. Though I do know a kind and loving grandma who would love to spend a day with her future granddaughter, picking out linens and table service.”

“Actually, Luke and I were thinking of something much more low-key. A barbecue in the backyard or a ceremony on the beach with our closest friends. Neither one of us is much for the fancy black-tie, sit-down dinner kind of thing.”

“That sounds perfect.” Greta liked Olivia more and more each day. Such a sweet young thing, and as unpretentious as a butterfly. Now to get her sister on board and expand this happy little family. “Maybe Diana could come with us. I’m sure she could use a day away from the barking and meowing.”

Olivia’s face pinched. She glanced at the wall separating the shelter from the veterinarian’s office. “I don’t know. She’s been pretty busy lately. The last couple weeks, I’ve only seen her in passing.”

“Too busy dating that young man living in Luke’s house?”

Olivia laughed. “Grandma, you are the most obvious matchmaker I have ever known.”

“Me? I’m not obvious at all.” Greta waved a hand in dismissal. “You should have met my mother. When I was seventeen and, oh, the horror, still unattached, she practically took out billboards advertising my availability.”

Olivia laughed. “Is that how you met Edward?”

Greta’s heart softened at the thought of her late husband. Momma was gone, too, for more than thirty years, and Daddy had passed fifteen years ago this summer. Too many people gone, too fast. That was the part of getting old that she liked the least. The aches and pains she could deal with, but the ache of losing a loved one… there was no medication for that kind of pain. Still, she had her memories, and some of those were the kind that warmed the depths of her heart. “My mother was friends with Edward’s mother. They worked at the same bakery, which is what I blame for my sweet tooth. My mother was always bringing home one sweet confection after another. And one day she brought home Edward.”

“What was he like?”

Greta smiled and thought back to the dark-haired boy who had stolen her heart. “Shy as a preacher’s daughter, but funny as all hell once you got to know him and he opened up. With a few well-timed words, that man could tease a laugh out of Ebenezer Scrooge. He didn’t talk much when I first met him, and so I talked enough to fill in all the gaps. I don’t know if I bored him into dating me or if he thought maybe taking me to dinner and stuffing my face with lasagna would get me to quit droning on and on. Once I quit talking, he started, and didn’t stop for nearly sixty-three years.”

“Did you like him when you first met him?”

“Lord, no. I thought he was an idiot.” She pshawed. “He wore mismatched clothes, spent half his day with his nose in a book, and was so pasty white, I was convinced he’d been raised in a cave.”

“But you went out with him again.”

“No, that was my mother’s doing. Edward asked me to dinner and I said no. Twice. Then my mother said,
Let’s go to the store for a few things, and oh, by the way, let’s get a bite to eat first
, and next thing I know, I’m sitting in a booth with Edward at La Cucina and my mother is hightailing it back home.”

Olivia laughed. “Oh my. I think someone I know and love did the same thing to Luke and me, only with a faked hip injury and a couple of sub sandwiches.”

Greta raised her gaze to the ceiling and affected an innocent tone. “I have no idea who or what you are talking about.”

“Uh-huh. I think we all know who the master matchmaker is.” Olivia leaned forward and gave Greta a tender smile. “I’m darned grateful for it, too. I never would have ended up with Luke without a little nudge from you.”

“I’m glad, too, sweetie. Very glad.” How nice it was going to be to have a granddaughter, and then, nine or ten months later, hopefully the first of many great-grandbabies. Greta could hardly wait to spoil them with drum sets and water pistols. And kisses.

The door opened, and Diana popped her head into the office. She had her blond hair back in a bouncy ponytail, the perfect addition to her quirky dog-themed T-shirt and skinny jeans. She looked as comfortable and welcoming as a fresh bouquet of flowers. A lot like Olivia did. No wonder Greta liked her so much. “Hey, Liv. Hi, Greta,” Diana said. “Just wanted to say good-bye before I left for the day.”

Greta scrambled off her chair and caught Diana’s hand before she could escape. “Stay for a while. Have some girl time. I brought cupcakes.”

“Cupcakes?” Diana paused. “Oh, Greta, you are speaking the magic words. Especially after the last few days I’ve had.” She ducked inside, then shut the door. “Maybe I should lock it so we don’t have to share with anyone else.”

Greta retook her seat. Goodness, she had gotten up too fast. She was feeling a tad light-headed. She sipped some more water, then realized she had finished the bottle. Before she could ask for a refill, Olivia was there with another.

“Are you sure you’re feeling okay?” Olivia hovered over her with that worried look in her eyes and face.

How Greta hated that look. Hated feeling weak or old, or anything in that category. She had things to do, by golly, and no time to be laid up. That was the trouble with Doc Harper. Silly man was always telling her to slow down, enjoy retirement. Didn’t he understand? Greta didn’t enjoy sitting around, waiting for Death to snatch her up. She enjoyed getting out and about and meddling with the world. It did her heart good to point—okay, sometimes shove—those she loved in the direction of what they needed most. So she brushed off her ailments and put on a happy face. “I’m fine. Just a little too much time in the heat today. That’s all.”

“Maybe I should drive you back to Golden Years,” Olivia said. Her eyes still held that wrinkle of concern.

“Lord, no, don’t do that, not until after six. They’re serving barbecued beef chips. If I get back before dinner service ends, they’ll make me choke down a few.” She patted the box from the store bakery. “Which is another reason why I brought cupcakes.”

“Cupcakes are not dinner food, Grandma,” Olivia chided.

“They sure are in my book.” Diana took one out of the container. “They have eggs and flour and vegetable oil. That’s practically three food groups.”

Olivia laughed. “I do like your take on science, sis.”

“Data certified by the USAFE, too,” Diana said with a little chuckle.

“USAFE?” Olivia asked. “What’s that?”

Diana’s face sobered, the humor gone in a flash. “Nothing. Just a joke someone else told me. It… it doesn’t matter now.”

Greta would bet dollars to doughnuts that
someone
was a six-foot-something hunk of handsome. And he’d done something lately to take a little of the spring out of Diana’s step. That wasn’t good, not at all. Greta wanted happy people in her life, not heartbroken ones.

“By the way, Greta, I heard Harold adopted a dog at the shelter event,” Olivia said. “He took a shining to one of the terriers and brought him home that day.”

Speaking of unhappy, heartbreaking people. “For goodness’ sake, Olivia, do not mention that man’s name when I am trying to eat. It gives me an ulcer.”

Diana swiped a scoop of vanilla buttercream frosting off the top of a white cupcake and popped it in her mouth. “I don’t know what you have against him. He’s a wonderful man. One of our top volunteers here for years. Those animals were like his own children.”

“Probably because no one wanted to make real ones with him. Talk about women’s suffer-age.” Greta shivered.

Diana peeled off the paper wrapping on the cupcake and broke off a bite of cake. “Actually, he told me once that he and his late wife tried several times to have kids, but she lost them all. After a while, Harold and she decided it was less painful to stop trying and just have pets instead. Then she died a few years ago, and he’s been alone ever since. Soon as he saw that dog, his face lit up and he was like a renewed man. That little dog took a shining to him, too. I think they’re both going to be very happy.”

Greta had never thought she’d feel sympathy for Harold Twohig, but she did, and for once it didn’t rankle in her gut. She and Edward had only had the one child, their namesake son, who in turn had only had one child, Luke, before his wife died. Any child was a blessing, and she thanked her lucky stars she’d been blessed with her family. Poor Harold and his wife, losing all those babies. The sympathy tempered her usual sarcasm for a moment. “That’s a terrible thing for anyone to endure. No wonder he spent so much time volunteering.”

“He’s not as bad as you think.” Diana grinned. “He’s actually a very nice man.”

“People keep saying that, and it’s hard not to think they’re deluded.” Greta grinned, then shifted gears back to her purpose for being here. She didn’t want to think about Harold and his new dog, or his tragic life. Next thing she knew, she’d be bringing
him
cupcakes. Lord help her if she ever did that. “You know, there’s more than one man in this town who isn’t as bad as you might think.”

Olivia rolled her eyes.
“Grandma.”

“What? I’m just making suggestions.”

Olivia leaned toward her sister and lowered her voice. “Don’t let her fool you. She’s talking about Mike. She thinks you should fall in love with him, and she’s hoping all the sugar in the cupcakes will translate into sweet thoughts about him. She did it to me before, with cookies.”

Greta didn’t need to point out that all her machinations had resulted in an engagement ring on Olivia’s finger and a blissfully happy grandson. The cookies and sub sandwiches had worked their magic, as had a little—okay, a lot—of nudging from Greta, Pauline, and Esther.

“Sugar is a necessary food group. I wish that retirement prison would realize that and stop trying to force green leafy things down my throat.” Greta grabbed a cupcake and took a bite, to illustrate her point. She was still feeling a little weak and tired, and alternated cupcake bites with some ice water. Maybe she was a tad under the weather, that was all. Overwhelmed by the summer heat. Nothing some more good news couldn’t fix, and at her age, she didn’t have months and months to wait for the good news to come. Thus, the nudging. She turned toward Diana. “So… have you fallen in love with Mike yet?”

Okay, so that wasn’t a nudge. More like a full-body blow. Whoops.

“That’s the whole problem,” Diana said with a sigh. “And one I don’t know how to fix.”

“What do you mean?” Olivia asked. “I thought you guys were getting along. Working on the renovations together and all that.”

“It’s nothing, nothing.” Diana crumpled up her wrapper, got to her feet, and tossed it in the trash. “I should go. I need to make dinner and make sure Jackson—”

Olivia put a hand on her arm. “And quit avoiding the hard subjects. That’s the best part about having a family, Diana. You have people to talk to and rely on when things get tough.”

Diana’s face curved into a bittersweet smile. “I appreciate it, I really do. Maybe another day. For now, this will do the job.” She widened the smile, plucked a second cupcake up and headed out the door.