Claiming Her SEAL (ASSIGNMENT: Caribbean Nights Book 1) by Kat Cantrell Read Free Book Online Page A

easily as he’d slid into the dark pants that passed as his dress-up clothes.
    The loud music made it hard to hear, but it didn’t matter. Her gaze lit up like a neon sign, and he had no doubt she’d understood him perfectly.
    She laughed throatily. “Oh, you have it all wrong. I’m in exactly the right place. I’m Jasmine.”
    She extended a hand full of blood-red nails an inch long, which would draw as much pain as they did pleasure against his back as they dug in. All at once, he couldn’t imagine anyone’s hands on him but Emma’s. And that pushed his mood past a place where he could be civil to another woman.
    “My mistake,” he said smoothly. “I thought you were… someone else. My blind date. She must be running late. Sorry to have bothered you.”
    What was wrong with him? This woman couldn’t have advertised her availability more clearly with a billboard in Times Square. And he was not going to take her up on it.
    “Lucky girl.” Jasmine’s diamond-hard expression glittered with cynicism. She’d heard it all before and then some. “If she doesn’t show, I’ll be by the bar.”
    She turned back to her friends without further comment, cutting him off almost rudely. Which made him feel worse. She’d been looking for something, and he’d disappointed her. But they were all looking for something. At least he had the capacity to give a jaded, no-questions-asked woman like Jasmine—which was assuredly not even her real name—what she wanted. They’d be nothing more than two people offering nothing except fake names and using each other to get a few moments of blessed relief from the bite of reality.
    She didn’t need anyone to protect her from a guy like Dex. She could take care of herself.
    And he’d turned it down. Someone should kick him in the head.
    Maybe he was just out of practice. When was the last time he’d gone trolling for a woman with Jace and Miles? Two months? Three? He couldn’t even remember.
    A couple of familiar faces swam out of the crowd. Dex grinned as the two men caught sight of him, heads bobbing above the crowd with answering grins.
    “Look what the cat dragged in.” Dex shook hands in turn with the two guys he’d first met in Coronado, California a million years ago when they’d gone through BUD/S training together. They’d crossed paths again in the Middle East, though they’d been on different SEAL teams.
    Mick Frasier jerked his head at the crowd behind him. “Saw Custer and Lynch a minute ago. Figured you were hanging around looking to pick up their castoffs.”
    Dex chuckled good-naturedly at Mick’s reference to Jace and Miles. They both had a reputation for being smooth dogs. “Yeah, that’s why I’m following them around, hoping they’ll throw me some crumbs. What are you doing down here?”
    Mick got that look on his face, one Dex knew far too well. The one that said there was a story but he wasn’t in the mood to share it.
    “I’m out of the teams now.” Mick took a deep breath and forced a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Heading to Miralinda first thing tomorrow to do a thing for Will Parry. Told Finn I was off to the Caribbean, and the next thing I know this jerk is dragging me here.”
    Dex didn’t push the topic. It wasn’t the time or place, and it wasn’t in any of their natures to jabber about deep stuff anyway.
    Finn Callahan, who was running a K-9 training business in the Keys, picked up on the need to loosen everyone up and got in a good round of ribbing. Dex gave back as good as he’d gotten. It was family bonding, SEAL-style. They’d all known each other a long time, and the Caribbean was a small place, especially when you were American and former military.
    “You want to tell us more about this mysterious trip to Miralinda?” Finn asked.
    Mick shook his head. “It’s not that mysterious. At least not deliberately. Turns out, Will’s inherited some property there. An abandoned sugar plantation. We’re gonna turn it