RULES OF LOVE (A Navy SEALs Romance) by Bella Grant Page A

favor.”
    “And that would be what?”
    “Open your front gate so I can get in.” Jackie hung up the phone as Eddie chuckled.
    When she reached the front entry, she pushed a call button, opening the front gate for her friend. Eddie walked out the front door just in time to see Jackie and Gareth’s blue Mustang pull up the drive, the latter being Jackie’s fiancé. The passenger door flew open and Jackie stepped out, rushing to give Eddie a hug.
    “Good to see you haven’t killed yourself with that cane yet… or anyone else, for that matter,” Jackie teased, pulling away from Eddie.
    Eddie shrugged and muttered something about it never being too late as she eyed her friend. Jackie looked almost the same as the last time she’d seen her five months ago. Her skin was chocolate-brown and her eyes still overflowed with sweetness, but her hair was longer, curlier, and with red-blonde highlights in it.
    “What, may I ask, did you do to your lovely hair?” Eddie asked, making a face at the chunk she picked up. “You did this to yourself, didn’t you?”
    “Oh, shut up. He likes it, and that’s all that matters,” she said, motioning towards the six-foot-plus man who got out of the driver’s side.
    Gareth walked around the front of the car and picked Eddie up in a bear hug. “Nice to see you’re still alive,” she said.
    Gareth set her down and let out his booming laugh. He popped open the trunk to get their luggage. “There’ve been a few close calls with all this damn wedding shit going on.” He grabbed two duffels and walked towards the house, yelling back over his shoulder, “Where am I supposed to put these?”
    “The first door to the left on the second floor. Fixed up a guest room just for the two of you.”
    Jackie linked arms with Eddie, and they strode into the house. “So, where’s this new macho G.I. Joe of yours?”
    “Upstairs fixing that roof that keeps leaking.”
    Jackie’s eyebrows shot up and her jaw about dropped when Eddie added that he had washed the dishes the other night. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and yelled up, “Gareth! Why can’t you fix our roof and wash our dishes, huh?”
    Gareth came down the stairs, pretending to think seriously. “Well, our roof isn’t leaking last time I checked, and neither of us are ever home to have dirty dishes. That answer your question?” Gareth leaned in and kissed Jackie, wrapping her up in a hug.
    Eddie strolled into the kitchen. “You two make me sick.”
    Jackie came up behind her, whispering in her ear. “Get a call from Reinhart?”
    “Yeah. Not good, either. I’ll tell you later.”
    Hammering echoed through the house as Beau continued with the repairs. “How long has that poor man been up there?” Jackie asked curiously, leaning against the counter.
    “Not too long, but let him keep working. Keeps him from invading my thoughts. Why don’t we go out back and talk? Gareth, make yourself at home.”
    Gareth, also part of their cover team and here as backup with his fiancé, saluted Eddie before raiding the fridge for a beer and some leftover pasta while Jackie and Eddie walked towards the garden paths.
    They chatted about normal things, the things two best friends should talk about before the topic of their current mission finally came up after Jackie finished describing her last mission—tailing a possible arms dealer moving into southern Europe.
    “We were in Rome the whole time, but the man’s in custody. Team moved in late last night and seized him and his store. Damn guy had rocket launchers, for God’s sake. I was just happy we were able to get out here so fast to help you out, amongst other things.”
    “We really can ignore my birthday. I’m okay with that. There’s a bit going on here that we need to take care of.”
    Jackie eyed her. “If I told Beau it was your birthday, do you really think he wouldn’t let you have one night of fun?”
    “Except we can’t have fun because we have to protect