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CHAPTER FOURTEEN
YOU HONESTLY DON’T mind if Andrew and I take the job?” Owen asked, reaching across the table to grab another handful of Doritos. “I thought for sure you wouldn’t want us to even talk to Shaw after you turned him down.”
Kyla added a few more chips to her own plate, setting them beside the cheeseburger Chasen had grilled for the housewarming party he and Hayley were hosting. Chasen and Hayley had recently purchased a three-bedroom ranch-style home in one of the suburbs.
“I’m completely cool with you guys taking a job with the CIA.” She smiled. “Who do you think gave him your resumés? He sure as hell didn’t get them off LinkedIn.”
Owen and Andrew beamed at that, their eyes filled with excitement as they talked about becoming the greatest team of American spies ever, racing around in expensive cars, carrying exploding ink pens, fighting off all the women who wanted them. Kyla bit her tongue to keep from laughing and pointing out Shaw was much more likely to hide them in the sub-basement of a very nondescript data mining facility where they’d spend endless hours doing boring analyst work. In fact, she was sure that’s what her friends would be doing because that was part of the deal she’d made with Shaw after turning down the job he’d offered and suggesting Owen and Andrew instead, providing they worked together and were never allowed within a hundred miles of anything dangerous.
Not that she’d ever tell her friends any of that, of course. Her goal was to help them get a job where they could use the hacker abilities they’d picked up over the years while part of The People, as well as the engineering skills they possessed. The job Shaw was hiring them for would do that, while also giving them a little bit of excitement.
“Have you told Wes that you turned down the CIA yet?” Owen asked.
“Not yet,” she said. “I want to surprise him.”
Actually, that wasn’t quite true. Wes had been so busy at work that she hadn’t found the right time to tell him she hadn’t taken the job at the CIA. An announcement like that needed room to breathe. And some sort of celebration.
They’d called Shaw that day at the harbor a week ago right before the entire contingent of San Diego city and county law enforcement had arrived and lost their collective mind. Shaw—along with a whole bunch of other agents—had shown up fifteen minutes later and gotten the situation under control with a story they’d concocted about a runaway research drone. While it didn’t come close to explaining all the dead bodies and the machines guns, or Kaplan’s arrest, it’d been enough to get the local cops to back off. It probably helped that the CIA was more than happy to throw the National Security label around more than a few times.
As soon as Shaw realized Kyla had hacked into the Imperial Beach Facility and tracked Wes down to Guatemala, then subsequently ferreted out Kaplan’s identity and plans on top of shutting down the Navstar network, the CIA agent had begun wooing her again, offering an even bigger paycheck than before, not to mention buying her a new Prius.
Kyla had to admit there was a part of her that was kind of thrilled the CIA thought so highly of her, but the job they were offering simply wasn’t her thing. Besides the fact she didn’t trust the people who’d let her father die for them without even bothering to look into it, the job would take her out of the country a majority of the time and leaving San Diego wasn’t something she wanted to do. She had everything she needed in this little corner of the world, thank you very much.
On the other side of the umbrella-covered picnic table, Owen and Andrew were practicing how they’d say their names while introducing themselves to the international jet set crowd. It would have been funny if it wasn’t so sad. She was pretty sure the CIA would never let them handle anything more dangerous than a pencil.
Kyla recognized Wes’s chuckle even before he stepped out the back door of Chasen and Hayley’s home and onto the big wooden deck overlooking the backyard. Noah was with him, though walking a bit gingerly. He’d reinjured his knee on the rooftop and was now wearing a rigid leg brace. The doctors told him if he didn’t stay off it, he was looking at reconstructive surgery, so he’d been behaving himself.
The moment Wes caught sight of Kyla, he flashed her a smile that made her melt.
It was official. She loved him.
“Sorry I’m late,” Wes said as he sat down beside her and gave her a kiss.
“Was there a problem at work?” she asked.
Even though it was Saturday, Wes had to stop by the base and take care of some stuff, which is why she’d gotten a ride over to the party with Owen and Andrew. Wes had been as open with her as he could when it came to work stuff, but she’d accepted there’d always be things he couldn’t tell her. She’d done her best to stop prying, deciding if things were going to work between them, she would have to come to grips with him being a SEAL.
“Not really,” he said, reaching over to steal a Dorito from her plate. “The whole facility is still a mess. They’re still in the process of ripping out the entire IT infrastructure so they can replace it. It didn’t help that the NSA came in a few days ago to search the place for bugs and found hundreds of recording devices just like you said they would. No one wants to talk about who was on the other end, but I think it’s obvious it was the Russians since that would explain how Chapman was able to set up those ambushes so easily.”
Kyla nodded. When she’d talked to Shaw about how she’d hacked into the Imperial Beach Facility, she’d explained all the back doors and other weaknesses in the system. She’d also passed along her other suspicions that Nesbitt had gotten tons of spies into the facility during its construction. Shaw had been the one to pass the information along to the Navy, so her name wouldn’t come up.
“Is this going to help rebuild your relationship with SOG?” she asked.
Unfortunately, that part of the CIA was still pissed Wes and his Teammates had gone after Chapman and Kaplan without bothering to alert them first. While they were happy Chapman was almost certainly dead, they would have been happier if the man’s body had been found. It also didn’t help that no one seemed to know where Chapman had hidden the rest of his drones. Everyone was nervous at the thought of them still out there somewhere.
Wes shrugged. “It’s a work in progress. They agree that my Team in particular shouldn’t be held responsible for the leaks, but at the same time, they don’t exactly trust anyone in the SEALs right now. Especially after finding out that our entire facility had been compromised right under our noses.”
Kyla could understand that. None of that had reached the media yet and hopefully never would, but SEAL Team 5 didn’t look good in the eyes of the CIA right now. It would take time to rebuild their reputation and get SOG to trust them again.
“So, Owen and Andrew are going to be working with you at the CIA, huh?” Wes said casually as he reached for a cheeseburger from the stack on the table and topped it with lettuce and sliced tomatoes. “They must be thrilled.”
Kyla glanced over to see that her two friends were now talking about what kind of “missions” they might be involved in and weren’t paying any attention to them.
She gave Wes a smile. “They’re thrilled to be sure, but they’re a little bummed I won’t be working with them.”
Wes stopped messing with his burger to look at her in surprise. “What does that mean?”
“I’m not taking the job Shaw offered,” she said. “I’ll admit it was tempting, but it wasn’t right for me…for us.”
The tension that had surrounded him ever since he heard the CIA was recruiting her disappeared. He still looked a little confused, though.
“So, you’re going to take one of the tech jobs instead?” he asked hesitantly. “With Google or Tesla or someone?”
Kyla shook her head. “Nope. I’m not taking any of those jobs, either. I’m staying in San Diego. I’m going to be working right on Coronado for Navy Intelligence.”
Wes did a double take. “Seriously?”
She leaned in a little closer. “Seriously. San Diego is where you are, so why would I want to leave?”
Kyla would have said more, but then Wes’s mouth was on hers and he was kissing her hard. When he finally pulled back, she was actually out of breath.
“When did you decide all this?” he asked. “I was sure you were going to tell me any day now that you were leaving.”
“Did you want me to leave?” she asked, sure she already knew the answer, but needing to hear him say it out loud.
“Of course not.” He pushed her hair back from her face with gentle fingers. “I never want to be without you. If you haven’t figured it out, I’m in love with you. I have been for a long time.”
She wasn’t sure if she wanted to laugh or scream. “If you’re in love with me and didn’t want me to leave, why didn’t you ever tell me?”
“I wanted to.” He gave her a sheepish look. “But when I thought for sure you were set on leaving, telling you how I felt seemed wrong. I didn’t want you to think I was blackmailing you to stay here with me.”
Now it was Kyla’s turn to stare. “I’m not sure if I should smack you for being stupid or kiss you for being so sweet.”
Wes chuckled. “I vote for the kiss.”
Laughing, she did just that, leaning in even closer and pulling him in for a long kiss. “Oh, and in case you haven’t figured it out, I love you, too.”
“So,” he grinned, “I’m guessing the position at the Navy comes with a Top Secret clearance, huh? Not that I can still tell you much about what I’m doing anyway—need to know and all that stuff—but it’s good to know if I slip up and say the wrong something, it won’t create a threat to national security.”
Kyla already knew her clearance wouldn’t give her much access to his world, but she had to believe he would always be safe or she’d drive herself crazy with worry. And if that didn’t work, she still had the computers in her dad’s Bat Cave to help her keep an eye on Wes whenever he went on a mission.
“What are you thinking about?” Wes asked, his blue eyes curious.
Kyla considered telling him she possessed the ability to find him anywhere in the world if she wanted to, but instead, she kissed him again. He was a SEAL. He went on missions to dangerous places. She could overlook the bad that came with his job to have the good that came with loving and being loved by the most wonderful man ever.
“I was just thinking about how lucky I am to have you in my life,” she said.
He smiled and kissed her back. “I’m the lucky one.”
* * * * *
I hope you enjoyed Wes and Kyla’s story!
Noah Bradley is the next SEAL to fall in love with the romance author he’s been asked to protect!
Here’s a sneak peek of Bodyguard SEAL, Book Eight in the SEALs of Coronado Series!
IF THERE WAS one thing Peyton hated more than being behind on her word count, it was missing her morning yoga workout. Thanks to that moron who broke in last night, she’d be lucky if she could slip in a few downward dog poses between chapters today.
But right now, she couldn’t do either until she ate something. Sighing, she glanced down at the plate piled high with sandwiches and made a face. Maybe she’d gone a little overboard. Then again, she thought as she caught sight of Noah walking across the lawn toward the house, he is a big, muscular guy.
Thinking about the hotness that was Noah made her head spin a little. While she’d seen plenty of photos of Laurissa’s older brother, meeting him in person had been an eye opener. She probably shouldn’t be thinking this way about her best friend’s brother, but damn, the man was completely droolworthy.
Peyton guessed he was a few years older than she was, making him somewhere in his mid to late twenties. Tall and broad shouldered, he had thick, dark hair, eyes the color of her favorite chocolate bar, and a chiseled jaw with the perfect amount of stubble. And from the way that dark blue T-shirt molded to his chest, it was impossible to miss how well he was built. If someone asked her to find a poster boy for male perfection, it would definitely be Noah Bradley.
Even his name was perfect. Like one she’d use for a hero in her books. Strong and silent, attractive and sexy, a little mysterious, and more than a little dangerous.
Peyton snapped out of her silly thoughts at the sound of footsteps behind her. She turned to see the aforementioned hunk walking into the kitchen, regarding her with those beautiful dark eyes of his. Her gaze drifted to his jean-clad legs, remembering what Laurissa had said about her brother injuring his knee. He wasn’t limping that she could tell. In fact, she wouldn’t have been able to pick out which leg was causing him trouble if her life depended on it.
Realizing she was staring, she self-consciously reached up to tuck her hair behind her ear. “Sandwiches are made, if you’re ready to eat. I have water, coconut-almond milk, and iced tea.”
“Iced tea is fine, thanks,” he said.
Picking up the plate of sandwiches, he brought it over to the kitchen table while Peyton got the drinks.
“Sorry I don’t have anything other than tuna sandwiches to offer, but the cabinets start getting a little bare as I get near a deadline for a book,” Peyton said as she set the glasses on the table.
Noah was already standing beside the chair closest to the wall waiting for her, so she took the one opposite him. Something told her that a dangerous man like him always liked to sit with his back to the wall so he’d be able to scope out the rest of the room for inbound trouble.
She almost laughed at that. Man, she really needed to get a life outside the books she wrote.
“Tuna’s fine. Remember what I said about not turning down food,” he said, flashing her a grin as he reached for one of the sandwiches and transferred it to his plate. Damn, he had a nice smile. “I take it you don’t leave the house too much as you get closer to crunch time?”
She nodded, helping herself to a sandwich. “It doesn’t seem to matter how fast I write when I start a book, I always have to rush to finish it. Going grocery shopping is the first thing to go in that situation.”
“You could always order online and have it delivered, you know?” he pointed out.
“I could,” she admitted. “And when I’m desperate, that’s what I do. But at a certain point, I get so far behind that I don’t even want to waste time filling out the order. And forget about putting the stuff away once it gets here.”
He chuckled, taking a bite of his sandwich. “I can picture it now—bags of food sitting in the middle of the kitchen for days while you come in every once in a while to dig out a box of Pop Tarts.”
She laughed. “That’s about the way it works. Except it’s not Pop Tarts, it’s Honey Nut Cheerios. I think I’m addicted to the stuff.”
He took another bite, chewing thoughtfully. “So, you haven’t left the house in a while, except for last night. Who knew you were going out?”
The sudden nature of the question caught her off guard. One second they were laughing and talking about Pop Tarts and Cheerios, the next he’d gone all intense on her.
“Laurissa is the only one who knew. She showed up and dragged me out to see a movie and grab dinner. You don’t suspect your own sister was involved in the break-in, do you?”
“Definitely not, but you have to admit it’s convenient as hell that your house gets broken into the one night you decide to go out, right? It means the thief was either incredibly lucky you were out or he was watching the place for a while and made his move the moment you left.”
The coincidence hadn’t been lost on Peyton. She and Laurissa had talked about it while the cops had poked around. They’d come up with dozens of convoluted and outlandish theories. Peyton was a writer. But Noah had cut through all their wild speculation in seconds with his bleak—and rather creepy—assessment of the situation. The idea that someone had been outside her house day and night watching her every move made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end.
“Which one do you think it is?”
She wasn’t sure which she’d rather have him confirm. The first meant she was lucky to be alive, the second meant she had a determined stalker.
“I have no idea,” Noah said with a casual shrug before taking another bite of his sandwich. “If we’re lucky and the guy never comes back, that means we have our answer.”
Peyton sipped her iced tea. “You keep referring to the person who broke in as a he. Is that based on any kind of evidence, or simply plain old sexism?”
Noah snorted, reaching for another sandwich. “Good point. Consider me properly chastised. I’ll endeavor to be more inclusive when I’m talking about the thief.”
“Don’t worry about it. I figured it was a guy, too,” she said. “I was merely hoping you knew something the cops didn’t tell me.”
“I wish I did,” he admitted.
As they ate, Noah asked her to walk him through the events of last night’s break-in one more time. That wasn’t too difficult since she’d already gone over it at least twenty times for the police and then Em.
“What’s up with saving your book to an external hard drive?” Noah asked, licking some avocado mayonnaise off his thumb in a way she shouldn’t have found intriguing, but did for some reason. “Hasn’t your publisher ever heard of the Cloud?”
Peyton laughed. “I asked them the same question. Unfortunately, they’re sort of old school that way. When the third book in the series took off and became an international bestseller, they got worried someone would hack the Cloud and find the book or that someone on the inside would pluck it off and sell it to the highest bidder. I’m lucky. If they had their way, I’d be locked in an underground bunker somewhere writing this thing on a manual typewriter. The hard drive was the compromise.”
“International bestseller, huh? I guess I can understand the paranoia.” A frown marred his otherwise perfect features. “How many people know you carry the drive around with you all the time?”
“Not many. Em and Laurissa, of course, and a few people at my publisher.”
“That’s good,” Noah murmured. “If there really is someone determined to get their hands on your book and he discovers you carry it with you every time you go out, he’s more likely to come after you instead of trying to break in to your house again.”
She shuddered. “Then let’s hope they never learn about the hard drive.”
Noah picked up his glass, regarding her over the top of it. “Laurissa told me that you guys went to San Diego State together. Did you go to college for creative writing or something like that?”
“Not exactly,” she said. “I’ve always loved books and reading since I was a kid. I wrote stuff all through middle and high school, but nothing serious. Just goofing around, you know? I went to SD State to get an undergraduate degree in English and my master’s in education. I figured it would be a natural fit for me.”
“And it wasn’t?”
She laughed again. It was easy to do that with him, she realized, which was kind of crazy. It usually took her forever to get comfortable with a guy, but with Noah, it was like she didn’t even have to try. “Actually, it was. I taught for a couple of years. Teaching is a ton of work for sure—don’t ever let anyone tell you differently—but I enjoyed it.”
“Okay, so how does one go from being a hard-working English teacher to an international best seller?”
“The normal way, I guess. By pure accident.” She smiled as she thought about how many times she’d told this story at book signings and conferences. It was something everyone wanted to know. “During summer breaks I wrote stuff for one of the big fan fiction sites. It wasn’t meant to be anything more than a fun way to relieve a little stress. But then Em sent me an email saying she liked my voice and wanted to know if I had any original material. I sent her what I had and about a year later, the first book in my young adult series hit the stands. It kind of exploded from there.”
He seemed to consider that for a moment before answering. “I’m probably going to shock you by admitting I actually do know what fan fiction is, but even then, it sounds like an amazing ride.”
She laughed, imagining the big Navy SEAL leaning over his iPhone reading Harry Potter fan fic. “Amazing is a good word for it. One minute, I’m barely covering the rent on my apartment, and the next, I’m resigning from my teaching position so I can write full time. I might have loved teaching, but I couldn’t pass up the chance to chase a dream.”
“Did you grow up in the San Diego area?” he asked, changing direction with his question. “Since you went to State, I’m assuming you did.”
“Nope. I grew up in San Francisco.” She shrugged. “And while I love it there, there was no way I could pass up a chance to go to someplace warm enough where you can actually swim in the water. And once I got used to the weather, there was no way I was moving back.”
Noah let out another chuckle. “I get that. I went swimming in the San Francisco Bay once during a training exercise and definitely didn’t enjoy it.”
They talked for a bit longer about what it was like growing up in warm, sunny San Diego versus the frequently sunny, but not-so-warm San Francisco. Before long, Noah had polished off the rest of the sandwiches, and she realized she’d spent a lot longer on lunch than she’d planned.
She glanced at her watch. “Crap. I need to write.”
“Yeah, of course,” he said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to keep you from your book. If you could give me a quick tour of the house first…?”
Peyton opened her mouth to tell him it wasn’t like that and that she didn’t mind spending time with him, but then remembered Noah was there to protect her, not hang out with her. He wanted to get on with his job.
“Sure,” she said, quickly getting to her feet and feeling a little silly she’d been gabbing away with the guy hired to be her bodyguard. Like he didn’t have anything better to do. “You’ve already seen most of the downstairs, so it won’t take long.”
As Peyton headed for the stairs, she was extremely aware of Noah walking behind her, and she suddenly found herself wondering if he was checking out her butt. Reminding herself that they weren’t in one of her books, she hurried up the rest of the steps, quickly pointing out the guest room, workout room, the home office where she did her writing, and a spare bathroom.
“My bedroom is the one at the end of the hall,” she added.
“Does your boyfriend stay over often?” he asked, his dark gaze surveying her bedroom, eyes lingering for a moment on the king-sized bed with its soft blue paisley-print blanket before turning to look toward the en suite bathroom beyond.
Thank goodness Noah wasn’t looking her way or he would have seen her standing there gaping like a carp.
“What?” she finally managed to squeak, hoping it would give her a little more time to gather her thoughts.
“Your boyfriend?” He swung his gaze back to her. “I assume he spends the night occasionally and need to know when so I can make myself scarce.”
Blushing, she slowly shook her head. In truth, her dating life was nonexistent. But it wasn’t her fault. She’d gone out with guys in college and had been in a relationship for a while after graduating, but nothing had come of it. Dating had taken a backseat once her writing career took off. Hell, she hadn’t even been out with a guy since sometime during the middle of book two in her series. Or had it been the beginning of book three? It was hard to remember. She liked to blame her lack of social life on her writing schedule, but honestly, she hadn’t met anyone who sparked enough of an interest to bother. But maybe that was changing.
“You don’t have to worry about that,” she said. “I’m sort of between boyfriends at the moment, so no guys will be hanging around.”
“Except me,” he murmured.
Peyton was sure she saw a flicker of something in his chocolate-brown eyes, though before she could be sure, he stepped past her into the hallway.
“Yup, just you,” she said, only realizing how sad that sounded once it was out.
When he didn’t respond, she decided he probably hadn’t heard her anyway, which was fortunate.
“So, this bodyguard thing,” she said, catching up with him in the hallway. “How does it work? Do you follow me around all the time, or will you be somewhere in hiding, ready to come running when I scream for help?”
He gave her a smile. “Less of the first and more of the second.”
She refused to touch the innuendo with a ten-foot pole. “So, I simply go about my business like normal, writing and stuff?”
“Yup. You do whatever you usually do, go wherever you usually go, and I’ll stay in the background. You won’t even know I’m here.”
Um, right.
Peyton seriously doubted she’d forget a man like Noah was hanging out in her house. He was sort of hard to miss, even when he wasn’t in the same room.
She cleared her throat, motioning toward her home office. “Okay then. I’m going to hang out up here and get some writing done. Feel free to grab something else to eat or drink if you want. I’ll be up here…just writing.”
Noah smiled again, then turned and headed downstairs. Peyton watched him disappear down the steps. How the hell was she ever going to get any writing done when her hunky bodyguard had taken up residence in her head?
Bodyguard SEAL
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Want more hunky Navy SEALs?
Check out the other books in the SEALs of Coronado Series!
SEAL for Her Protection
Strong Silent SEAL
Texas SEAL
Undercover SEAL
SEAL with a Past
SEAL to the Rescue
SEAL on a Mission
http://paigetylertheauthor.com/books/#coronado
For more Military Heroes check out my SWAT, STAT, and X-OPS Series!
SWAT: Special Wolf Alpha Team
Hungry Like the Wolf
Wolf Trouble
In the Company of Wolves
To Love a Wolf
Wolf Unleashed
Wolf Hunt
Wolf Hunger
Wolf Rising
Wolf Rebel
Wolf Untamed
http://paigetylertheauthor.com/books/#wolf
STAT: Special Threat Assessment Team
Wolf Under Fire
https://paigetylertheauthor.com/books/#stat
X-OPS
Her Perfect Mate
Her Lone Wolf
Her Wild Hero
Her Fierce Warrior
Her Rogue Alpha
Her True Match
Her Dark Half
Exposed
http://paigetylertheauthor.com/books/#ops
ABOUT PAIGE
Paige Tyler is a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author of sexy, romantic suspense and paranormal romance. She and her very own military hero (also known as her husband) live on the beautiful Florida coast with their adorable fur baby (also known as their dog). Paige graduated with a degree in education, but decided to pursue her passion and write books about hunky alpha males and the kick-butt heroines who fall in love with them.
She is represented by Courtney Miller-Callihan.
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