Free SEAL for Her Protection (SEALs of Coronado Book 1) by Paige Tyler Page B

we figured it’s the only way you’re ever going to impress her.”
    Chasen spun around and aimed a slap at the back of the other guy’s head, but Nash was too fast for him, dancing away and heading for the far side of the deck.
    Hayley couldn’t help laughing. These guys really were like brothers.
    When they finally all sat down to eat, the conversation drifted from movies to food and then football as the guys discussed how much longer they thought the Chargers would be staying in San Diego. But it wasn’t long before the guys were telling their Navy SEAL stories again. Yes, they stayed away from anything remotely sounding like mission details, but the list of countries they described were like a road map of every war-torn country in the world to Hayley.
    While Poppy was clearly enthralled by the stories, Hayley noticed neither Holden’s nor Dean’s girlfriends looked like they shared the other woman’s enthusiasm for the life the two men had chosen. If she came back to a cookout like this in a year from now, would either girlfriend be there? Heck, if she came back in a month, they might be gone.
    Hayley looked at Chasen to find him regarding her with an unreadable expression on his handsome face that made her wonder if he was thinking the same thing about her.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Five
     
    “ Y OU SURE YOU don’t mind stopping by my place so I can change before we go out?” Chasen asked as he pulled into the parking lot of his apartment complex.
    Beside him, Hayley shook her head. “No, of course not.”
    She wouldn’t have minded if Chasen wanted to stay all hot and sweaty from his football game either, but for some reason he was of the opinion the smell would bother people trying to have dinner at the restaurant he was planning to take her. She supposed that was possible, though unlikely. He smelled like a slice of heaven to her.
    She made the best of his decision though, liking the idea of seeing where he lived. But upon walking into his apartment twenty minutes after leaving Kurt and Melissa’s, she realized she’d never really appreciated the concept of minimalism until that moment. If they hadn’t spent a couple of hours making out in the park last night, one look at his apartment would have convinced her Chasen was a monk. The place was beyond spartan.
    There was a small flat screen TV set on an entertainment center in front of a basic, utilitarian couch. Well, the TV wasn’t really that small, maybe fifty inches. But for most guys she knew, that was tiny. Brad had like a sixty-inch monster hung on the wall of his living room with a surround sound system that could blow the neighbors three apartments over off their bed. Chasen didn’t even have an external speaker hooked up, just a plain vanilla DVD player.
    He must have seen the direction her eyes had taken because he shrugged. “I’m not home enough to bother spending a bunch of money on electronics. I also have the cheapest cable package they offer. Why pay for something you’re never going to get a chance to look at?”
    Hayley couldn’t disagree with his thinking, but decided any time spent hanging out might need to be done at her place. At least she had a few premium channels.
    “I’m going to grab a quick shower,” he said. “I’ll only be a few minutes, but feel free to look around all you want.”
    Chasen slipped into the bathroom, leaving Hayley alone in the one-bedroom apartment with a small mini kitchen off to the side of the living room. There wasn’t a lot in the way of furniture besides the couch, entertainment center, and kitchen table. But Chasen had a lot of eye-catching photos mounted on the walls.
    She walked over to look at them, admiring the amazing landscapes and captivating ocean views. There were a lot of shots of ships and exotic ports, but most of the frames were full of photos of Chasen and the guys on his Team. Some people seeing this empty apartment might say he had very few possessions, but