Coast Guard Sweetheart Read Online Free Page A

angle.
    â€œI’d—I’d be honored, sir. It’s my two days off.”
    Honey’s father studied him. Sawyer remained still under his gristly-browed scrutiny, ready to take whatever blow Seth dealt him. Something Sawyer had learned from his no-good drunken excuse for a father.
    The older man blew a breath out between his lips. “Braeden’s right,” he declared in that gravelly smoker voice of his. “You’re not the same brash boy who left here three years ago.”
    Oh, how Sawyer prayed he wasn’t.
    Sawyer trained his eyes on the inlet that meandered past the barrier islands until emptying into the Atlantic. A cormorant dive-bombed for fish in the marina. With the wind picking up, seagulls wheeled aloft in graceful figure eights.
    â€œI know what you did for my daughter.”
    His gaze swung to Honey’s father. “ For your daughter, sir? Don’t you mean to your daughter?”
    â€œThe sacrifice you made.” The waterman scrubbed his hand over his stubbly jawline. “Reckon you believed you were doing her a favor. Saving her future heartache. Didn’t turn out that way, though. That’s why I put a word into Braeden’s ear. Why I asked, if possible, you receive a temporary posting to settle things once and for all.”
    â€œYou were the one?” Sawyer jammed his hands in his pockets. “I figured you’d be the one meeting me at the Bridge with a shotgun.”
    The old man grinned. “Don’t think that idea didn’t cross my mind three years ago.”
    Sawyer inserted his finger between his neck and his collar. And tugged. Despite the bracing sea breeze keeping the marina flags aflutter, the air had grown a bit too close for comfort.
    â€œYou’ve got your current chief, Braeden Scott, to thank for saving your life once upon a spring night.”
    â€œChief’s been a good friend. Better than I deserved. The brother I always wished I had.”
    Tenacious about staying in touch the past three years wherever Sawyer found himself assigned. Three long years when all he could do was lick his wounds and work hard to make his CG mentor proud.
    â€œBraeden also told me about your past, son.”
    Sawyer reddened. “He shouldn’t have done that, sir. I—I—” He dropped his eyes to the gray-weathered planks unable to face Seth Duer.
    The old man heaved a sigh. “I understand better than you could ever know.”
    He darted a glance at the waterman’s face as a faraway look crossed Seth Duer’s stern countenance. “I’m not the kind of man Honey deserved. Wouldn’t have been a welcome addition to the Duer clan like Braeden.”
    Seth gave him a faint smile. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that or Honey if I were you.”
    He opened his palms. “I promise you, Mr. Duer, I’ll stay far away from Honey till my permanent reassignment comes through. Braeden—I mean Chief Scott—promised if I’d give it through Labor Day, he’d arrange a transfer.”
    â€œWell, here’s the thing, son.” Seth removed his Nandua Warriors ball cap and resettled it upon his head. “Honey ain’t that sweetly naive girly-girl you remember. In fact, she’s become a highly driven, successful entrepreneur with more sharp edges than a barracuda.”
    Sawyer clamped his lips together.
    â€œThe Martha Stewart wannabe has become the Hostess with the Mostest on our fair Eastern Shore.” Seth ground his teeth. “She’s about to drive us crazy with her doilies and tea cakes and dressed-to-impress agenda. She’s about driven me out of house and home.”
    Seth drew his brows together in a frown. “Not to mention every man within a Shore-wide radius, including the ever-faithful Charlie Pruitt—”
    Bracing himself, Sawyer squared his jaw.
    â€œâ€”Driven us stark raving insane with her prickly, self-imposed