Break the Rules (The Flanagan Sisters Book 1) (12 page)

Jack
tapped her hand and pointed. To the left and below them was an eel, sticking
its head out of its home, having a look around. Bridget wished she had an
underwater camera to capture the moment but she wouldn’t truly be able to do
the scene any justice. Something like this had to be experienced. A photo
couldn’t record the cool of the water surrounding her, the rasp and bubble as
she breathed in and out, the gentle pull of the current.

She
followed Jack around the wreck, stopping to explore further when something
caught her eye. It truly was another world.

After
about half an hour, Bridget motioned to Jack. Her oxygen was getting low. It
was time for them to head back to the surface. Slowly they swam up, pausing for
their safety stop before resurfacing not far from the boat.

Bridget
took her mouthpiece out. “That was incredible.”

Jack
nodded. “That eel has made itself a comfortable home.”

They
swam the remaining few yards to the boat and were helped on board. Bridget
breathed out a sigh of relief as she took off the tank and felt about a million
times lighter.

“Lunch
is ready,” the dive master said. “Before you eat, you might want to swap out
your tank ready for your next dive.”

“You’re
really comfortable under there,” Jack said over lunch. “I’ve dived with people
who have been diving for years who weren’t so relaxed.”

She
smiled. “It’s easy. I was told the more relaxed I am the less oxygen I’ll use,
and I want to stay down for as long as possible.”

“That’s
great. Some people never truly relax. They’re too busy checking gauges, or
looking for sharks.”

Sharks.
Why had that never crossed her mind?

“I
shouldn’t have mentioned the S word, should I?”

She
shook her head. “What’s the likelihood of seeing a shark?”

The
dive master heard her. “We see one every two or three outings,” he said. “
Haven’t had any attack
though. They generally mind their own
business.”

OK.
So the likelihood was pretty low. The consequences might be high though. She’d
do a bit of research about shark attacks when she returned home, but right now
Bridget wasn’t going to let it bother her. She wasn’t worried enough to stay on
the boat and miss her next dive.

* * *

They
had one more dive before returning to shore. On the ride home, Jack pulled
Bridget into his arms and she sat with her back to his chest, secure and warm.
She sighed.

“What
do you want to do tomorrow?” he asked quietly.

“Carly’s
picking me up. We go to Mama’s for lunch every other week.”

She
was almost tempted to invite him, see her Mama’s reaction to her bringing a boy
home. But she needed the space from him, the time to think more.

“What
about tonight?”

She hadn’t
thought that far ahead. She had no desire to go out – her body had that lovely
fatigue from spending a day swimming. But she did want to spend it with Jack.

She
yawned. “Maybe there’s a game on. We could order pizza.”

“Sounds good to me.”
His breath was warm against her ear and sent shivery loveliness through
her.

This
was only supposed to be a
casual
relationship, a bit
of fun, but she was drawn to him. She
wanted
to spend more time with
him.

But
she had to keep reminding herself – it would never work.

Chapter 12

Jack woke Sunday morning and stretched
luxuriously. Last night had been really great. On their way back from the
harbor, they’d picked up pizza and then watched the football game. It was
casual and fun. Then they’d gone to bed and there’d been steamy fun. He turned
and gathered Bridget into his arms. She snuggled into him.

“What
time is it?”

He
reached over and grabbed his phone. “Nine.”

“Ugh.
We’d better get up. Carly will be here in an hour.” She brushed a kiss against
his cheek and then rolled out of bed. She slipped on her robe and his
disappointment was swift as the fabric covered her naked body.

He
got to his feet, grabbing some shorts.
“Shower?”
There
still might be time for a little bit of action before Carly arrived.

“Yeah,
let me put the coffee on first.”

Jack
headed for the shower and turned on the spray. His muscles were a little sore
from their day of diving yesterday. It had been a couple of months since his last
dive and there were certain parts of his body that didn’t get much work
normally.

Bridget
entered the bathroom. “Coffee’s on.”

He
opened the curtain as she stripped off her robe and his body immediately
reacted.

Her
grin was slow and wicked. “No time for that now, big boy. My sister is always
on time and I need to tidy the house before she arrives.”

He
gathered her into his arms. “I can help. That should give us plenty of time.”
He kissed her, slightly smug when she responded with a moan.

“Maybe if we’re quick.”

* * *

They
were quick, coming together in an explosion of passion and lust. When they were
finished, they were definitely running a little late. They both threw on some
clothes and Bridget towel-dried her hair while Jack made them both
coffee
.

Bridget
grabbed her drink and checked the time. “She’ll be here in fifteen minutes.”

Jack
was looking forward to meeting Bridget’s older sister. She’d seemed nice when
he’d spoken to her on the phone in Brenham, but now Bridget was a little
agitated.

“What
else needs to be tidied?”

“It’s
fine.” She checked her watch. “You almost finished your coffee?”

The
realization hit him hard. She didn’t want him to meet Carly. She wanted him
gone. It was why she was checking the time yet again in a three-minute period. He
tried to keep his voice casual.
“Yeah.”
He drained his
cup and went to wash it.

“I’ll
do that. You’ve got a lot of houses to visit today.”

Confused,
he grabbed his bag from her bedroom and gave her a kiss at the door. Was she
embarrassed of him? Did she want to keep their relationship a secret from her
family as well? Jack didn’t know what to make of it. Yesterday their
relationship seemed perfect and Bridget was relaxed and normal, and now
suddenly she was uptight and closed off.

Was
she worried what her sister would say about her dating her boss? Did Carly know
about Lionel? That could explain why Bridget was in such a rush to get him out
of her house. But it didn’t stop the hurt.

He
backed out of her driveway and gave a wave. Maybe the weekend thing suited her
fine, and anything more – like him meeting her family – was too much of a
commitment. He pushed aside his disappointment. He wasn’t going to worry. He’d
ask her about it if it happened again.

Jack
made a quick stop at Hal’s place to grab the list of houses he’d shortlisted.
If Bridget was acting so weird about him meeting Carly, there was no way she’d
agree with his idea to move in with her. He needed to find somewhere else to
stay. The situation at Hal’s was getting uncomfortable, but luckily Tanya and
Hal had gone away for the weekend to celebrate their engagement.

Hopefully
he’d find somewhere else to live today.

* * *

By
the end of the day Jack had had enough. The house hunting had been a complete
waste of time. Nothing grabbed him and he couldn’t block out the voice in his
head that kept asking
,
would Bridget like it as well?

He
did
not
want to explore why he was thinking those things. He’d known her
less than a month, why would she care about the house he bought?

But
if they did make it work, he wanted something she would like as well.

Jack
was sitting on the back deck, sipping a beer when Hal and Tanya arrived home
from their weekend away.

“Jack?”
Hal called.

“Out back.”
He stood and wandered inside to make sure his brother had heard. He’d made the
mistake of not checking once before and had gone into the kitchen ten minutes
later to catch Hal and Tanya in a compromising position.

Both
Hal and Tanya had huge grins on their faces and they were holding hands. What
now?

“We’re
married,” they said in unison.

Jack’s
mouth dropped open. They had to be kidding. Tanya flashed her hand at him and
there were two rings now on her left hand.

“We
were staying in this cute little bed and breakfast and the owner was a wedding
officiant. I said to Hal, why wait? We could get married right away and avoid
all the fuss and expense of a wedding. I got the license last week after we got
engaged and the owner had nothing else booked.”

“Congratulations.”
Jack forced himself forward and hugged Tanya, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
“Welcome to the family.” He had no idea why they were in such a rush, why they
couldn’t wait. He turned to his brother and slapped him on the back. “Have you
told Mom and Dad?”

“Not
yet. We’re going to do that now.”

Jack
knew his father wouldn’t care, but he wasn’t sure how his mother was going to
react. Her youngest son getting married without her knowing was likely to upset
her. But neither Hal nor Tanya would have considered that.

“I’ll
talk to her when you do and ask to move in with her.” Jack wasn’t sticking
around now they were married.

Tanya
grabbed his hand. “Don’t feel like you have to move out because of this.”

He
smiled. “It’s no problem. You two deserve to have the house to yourself.”
Besides he was pretty sure her concern was only a token.

She
beamed at him.

“Have
you told Bridget you’re moving out?” Jack asked. “Is she going to be able to
afford to live on her own?”

The
surprise and then guilt that crossed her face told him Tanya hadn’t even
considered her best friend. He managed to stop himself from frowning. Tanya was
a genuinely nice person, but she didn’t think much further past what she
wanted.

“I’ll
keep paying the rent until the lease agreement is up,” she said.

“What
about water and other utilities?”

She hesitated.
“But I won’t be living there.”

And
yet the consumption would stay about the same, and Tanya knew it.

“I’ll
go start packing.” Jack was annoyed and he didn’t want to ruin their good mood
by saying something he shouldn’t.

Moving
in with Bridget would be the perfect solution now Tanya had left her in a
lurch, but he hated the thought she might feel forced into accepting it.

He
wanted her to
want
to spend time with him as much as he wanted to spend
time with her.

* * *

Bridget’s
cell rang as she was saying goodbye to Carly. She answered the phone as she
waved her sister off.

“Bridge,
it’s me. I’ve got amazing news.”

She
smiled at Tanya’s excited tone and unlocked the front door to the house. What
was it this time? “Well tell me.”

“Hal and
I got married.”

Her
steps faltered and she sunk down on her bed. “You got married?” she repeated,
hoping her ears were playing tricks on her.

“Yeah.”
She giggled. “There wasn’t any point in waiting, or having a big fancy wedding.
We’ll have a party and invite everyone in a couple of weeks, but weddings are
so hard to organize and we didn’t want to wait.”

Bridget
shook her head. She knew Tanya was impulsive. This should not surprise her in
the least.

But
it did.

And
it also worried her. How was she going to afford this place on her own? They
were already living in a house that was more expensive than Bridget would have
liked because Tanya had fallen in love with it and had insisted on taking this
one. Her budget wouldn’t stretch to paying all of the rent and all of the
bills.

“Don’t
you need a marriage license?”

“I
got one last week.” She grinned. “I’ll still pay my share of the rent,” Tanya
said. “I don’t want to leave you out of pocket. But you’ll be fine. You always
manage.”

Bridget
tamped down her anger. This was her best friend’s day – a time for celebration
not accusations. Tanya had always been like this – spontaneous and
short-sighted. “I’d better advertise for a roommate tomorrow,” she said.
“Congratulations, Mrs. Gibbs.”

Tanya
squealed and Bridget winced, holding the phone away from her ear. “Thanks so
much! I knew you’d understand.”

Bridget
shook her head. “When are you going to move in?”

“I
don’t know.
Probably not until next weekend.
I need to
pack my things.”

Jack
was going to love living with the love birds.
Unless he had
somewhere else to go.
“What’s Jack going to do?”

“He’s
going to move in with his mom.”

Of course.
That made sense.

Tanya
gasped. “He could move in with you instead,” she said. “He could have my room
and you could split the bills.”

“No.”
Bridget’s response was instantaneous. She didn’t need the complication.

“Why not?
It makes perfect sense,” Tanya said. “You’re seeing each other and you need
someone to help pay the bills.”

Bridget
frowned. Tanya was never this practical. Not unless it suited her own needs.
And this did, perfectly. She shook her head. “No, Tanya. Don’t even mention it
to him. We’ve only
just
started dating.”

“Come
on, Bridge. It’s a great solution.”

She didn’t
care. “Promise me, Tanya. Promise you won’t say anything to him.”

Her
friend gave a deep sigh.
“All right.
I’d better
go,
we need to tell our parents. I’ll talk to you later.”

Bridget
hung up and then wandered into the kitchen. She needed to crunch some numbers.
When she was finished she sat back with a sigh. Even with Tanya paying half the
rent, the rest of the bills were too much for her
on her own
.
She was still paying off the loan on her truck and doing the diving lessons had
wiped out most of her savings.

There
was no way around
it,
she was going to have to find
another roommate. She couldn’t remember anyone at work mentioning they
needed a place to stay. Opening up an internet browser, she searched for a
forum where people were looking for a roommate.
Though she
didn’t want to invite a stranger to live with her.

Carly
would always give her a loan but Bridget wasn’t going to ask her. Too many
people took advantage of Carly that way. Just because she had money, didn’t
mean she should have to bail everyone out when they had problems. Bridget would
solve this
on her own
.

Tanya’s
suggestion flicked through her thoughts. She sighed. Jack moving in made the
most sense. And even worse, the idea appealed to her.

She
enjoyed being with Jack, whether it was talking about safety at work, or
chatting about the Texans’ chance this year. She could picture sharing the
house with him. But Bridget was far more practical than Tanya. She didn’t leap
into adventures without thinking them through. She considered everything.

But
it
was
practical. Tanya was moving in with Hal, Jack was moving out, and
Bridget needed a new roommate. It was win-win any way she looked at it.

But
what would people at work say when they found out? And they would find out, she
was sure of it. If she and Jack were sharing a house, it wouldn’t be a
weekend-only affair any more.

That
made the whole deal too complicated.

* * *

Jack
looked up at the knock on his bedroom door.

“Got
a minute?” Hal asked, poking his head around.

“Sure.”
He was almost finished packing because he hadn’t unpacked much of his stuff in
the first place. Staying with Hal was always only meant to be a temporary
thing. He could move in with his mother tomorrow.

“Tanya
feels kind of bad about you moving out and about leaving Bridget without a
roommate.”

Jack
didn’t care about himself, but he was annoyed about her lack of consideration
for Bridget. “I’ll be fine. Mom’s already clearing a room.”