Page 34 of Operation K-9 Brothers
“Mark, Dad found you a good job.You need—”
“Yeah, yeah.I heard it all already from Mom and Dad.I need to grow up, keep a job, take care of myself, and not mooch off you and them.”He picked up his spoon and clanged it around in the empty oatmeal bowl.“I can do that here.”
“You didn’t when you lived here before.”He’d bounced from one job to the next because he was bored, or they didn’t treat him right, or just pick a reason.He’d used them all.Her brother was a good-looking man, almost pretty.His hair was darker than hers, and he was a head taller.Girls loved him, and he flirted shamelessly, but he didn’t have the attention span for a serious relationship.
It was time to stop catering to him.“I’ll give you two weeks to find a job and a place of your own.”He’d lived with her off and on, and he was far from the ideal roommate.He was a slob, he figured if she was already going to make her own dinner, she might as well make enough for him, and she’d sat up too many nights waiting for him to come home so she’d know he made it back safely.She wasn’t going to do it again.Besides, with Mark here, she and Jack would have no privacy, and that wasn’t going to work for her.“Since the clock is ticking, you should start on that job search.”
“I thought I’d catch up with my friends today.”
“Mark...”She huffed a breath.“Fine.Do whatever you want, but two weeks from today your butt is on the street, job or no job.I mean it.”And that was all she had to say about it.She was done with taking care of him.
After he left, she took the dogs for a long walk.She’d expected to hear from Jack by now since she had Dakota.When she got back to the house, knowing Jack would be by at some point to pick up his dog, she changed into a yellow sundress.She needed to work in her studio today, but that required ratty clothes, and she wanted to look nice when she saw him.
While she waited to hear from Jack, she glanced at the clock.Her best friend should be up by now.She’d met Rachel Denning in third grade when she’d overheard Tiffney Carlyle making fun of Rachel’s hair.Nichole had pushed Tiffney, Tiffney had pushed back, and the two of them had ended up in the principal’s office.It was Nichole’s one and only physical fight—thankfully—but she and Rachel had ended up best friends, the friendship lasting through high school, college, and adulthood.
“Rach, when are you going to get your skinny butt back home?”she said when Rachel answered her phone.Her friend was in LA, working a stunt double job for a famous actress.
“Nic!I was thinking about you this morning, so I knew you were going to call.”
“Stop it,” Nichole said, and they both laughed because it was something Nichole often said to her.Rachel sometimes knew things, which was just weird and freaked Nichole out while at the same time she thought it was cool.
“Who is he?”
Nichole blinked.“Who is who?”
“The man you want to talk to me about.”
“I swear, you should bottle that magic shit you do.You’d make a fortune.”
Rachel laughed.“If I really had magic, believe me, I would, but nothing magic about it.I just know you.”
“God, I miss you.”No one got her like Rachel did.
“Miss you, too, babe.Talk to me.What’s his name?”
Nichole told her everything about Jack, about Lane pulling another of his stupid stunts—Rachel hated Lane—and about Mark showing up.
“Let’s slide back to Jack,” Rachel said.“First tell me what he looks like so I can imagine him.”
“He’s tall, blond, blue-eyed, and is seriously ripped.He’s a SEAL, and—”
“An honest-to-God freaking SEAL?”
“Yeah.Crazy, huh?But, Rach, he’s the sweetest man I’ve ever met.”
“A keeper?”
“I wish, but he’ll be returning to his team as soon as his shoulder’s healed.I don’t see this being a long-term thing, so I’m just going to have fun with him while it lasts.”Even though he’d hinted that there couldmaybebe something more than that, and as much as she wanted to believe he wouldn’t forget about her after he left, she just couldn’t.Call it protecting her heart, because...out of sight, out of mind, and all that.
“Uh-oh.I know you.You’re going to fall for him, and then he’s going to break your heart when he leaves.”
“Nope.I’m going into this with my eyes wide open.So, what about you?Meet any hot actors yet?”
“Lots.This town is crawling with hotties, but I avoid them like the plague.Talk about broken hearts, they leave them in their wake.I have had a few dates with a cameraman on the set.Nothing serious, but who knows?I really like him and wouldn’t mind if it turned into something.”
“No!If you fall in love with him, you’ll never come home.Text me a picture of him.”
“Same.Send me one of your sexy SEAL.”
