SEAL for Her Protection (SEALs of Coronado Book 1) by Paige Tyler Read Free Book Online

and getting paid chicken feed for risking their lives while being expected to ignore the mountains of cash and drugs they came into contact with on a daily basis.”
    Of course, police and military here in the States got paid chicken feed too, at least when compared to movie stars and athletes raking in crazy amounts of cash for jobs not anywhere nearly as dangerous or important.
    “In the end, the police got an increase in pay and Bolivia went back to its version of normal. Since then, I’ve been in the regular rotation for overseas assignments. The worse the locale, the more likely they are to send me. It’s gotten to the point where people have started asking for me by name, so I guess if the question is whether I was able to get noticed, the answer would be yes.”
    He regarded her thoughtfully. “Have you run into trouble overseas before? Like you did in Nigeria.”
    “Thankfully, no. And let’s hope that was a one-time thing,” she added, picking up her glass of white wine.
    He lifted his beer in a toast as their waiter set their dinner in front of them. “Amen to that.”
    The white seabass they’d both ordered not only looked delicious but smelled heavenly, too. Hayley picked up her fork and cut off a piece of the delicate fish, savoring the flavor of ancho chili and oranges.
    “Are you a native California girl?” Chasen asked as he put his fork down and reached for his beer.
    “Born and raised,” she told him. “My parents still live in Santa Barbara.”
    “What brought you down to San Diego?”
    Hayley looked up from her plate before answering and completely forgot what she was going to say. It wasn’t her fault. Watching him eat was very distracting. It made her think about all the other things he could do with his mouth, most of which would get them arrested if he demonstrated them in a public place.
    Heat pooled between her thighs and she squeezed her legs together under the table.
    What was the question again? Oh, right.
    “The Daily News came to a job fair when I was in college and invited me to intern there the summer between my junior and senior year,” she said. “I loved everything about working there so when they offered me a position, I jumped at it.” She laughed. “It’s kind of funny, really. I went to UC Santa Barbara for communications assuming I always wanted to be in front of a camera on some news program, but after taking my first journalism class, I realized how much I loved the investigative side of the job. I changed majors the very next day.”
    “While you’re obviously an exceptional journalist, I think you would have made a great news anchor, too.” He flashed her a grin. “I know I’d watch you.”
    Hayley wasn’t prone to blushing, but the compliment warmed her all the way to the tips of her toes. Why did she have a sudden image of her sitting at an anchor desk completely naked while Chasen stood in front of her and watched her recite the daily traffic report?
    She took a hasty sip of wine to hide her blush, getting seriously turned on at the idea of being naked in front of this man. “What about you? Are you originally from California?”
    “Nah. I’m from the East Coast,” he said. “Princeton, New Jersey.”
    Huh. She wouldn’t have pegged him as a Jersey Shore kind of guy. He didn’t even have an accent that she could tell.
    She set down her glass and took another bite of fish. “Okay, so how does a guy from Princeton end up in the Navy? Did you always want to be a SEAL?”
    His mouth curved into a wry smile. “Not even close. I was on track to become a big deal lawyer like my father. Got into Princeton University and everything.”
    “Princeton? Okay, I didn’t see that one coming. What happened?”
    “9/11 happened.” Chasen stared down at his plate. “My best friend’s brother worked in one of the towers. Keith was hanging out in my dorm room when we saw it on the news. Like everyone else, we didn’t even know what the hell had happened at