Read Claiming Her SEAL (ASSIGNMENT: Caribbean Nights Book 1) for Free Online Page B

the reef for day job duties.
    Evan shrugged and went back to his coffee. He’d said his piece, and he was done.
    Throwing his own coffee in a to-go mug, Dex mainlined as much caffeine as he could get down his throat while yanking on cargo shorts and a T-shirt that might be presentable if you squinted, then followed Evan to Charlie’s bungalow across the dirt path.
    Charlie lived with Jace in one of the largest bungalows in the tiny village, which doubled as their office space, while Jack and Miles bunked together in the smaller bungalow two down. Mary and Tyna, two maids at the resort, shared the one in between, and they were great girls. They never complained about being in the midst of so much testosterone, nor did they give the off-islanders any grief about their American nationality. Some of the villagers didn’t like outsiders, but when presented with six ex-SEALs in a united front, rarely did anyone grumble to their faces.
    Suited Dex fine. He had no interest in “fitting in,” and usually he appreciated the wide berth the natives gave him. Sometimes Tyna and Mary baked cookies and shared them with their neighbors. That was okay, especially when they slipped in extra chocolate chips with a wink at Dex because they knew he worshiped at the altar of chocolate. The ladies didn’t expect anything in return, and that made them awesome neighbors in his mind.
    Miles was already sitting at the table in the common area off the kitchenette, engaged in an animated one-sided conversation with Jace, who looked as if he’d pulled an all-nighter with a particularly hot companion. The other man’s jaw was buried in his palm as if it was the only thing holding his head upright, and lines of fatigue crinkled his eyes.
    “She that good?” Dex commented unnecessarily as he fell into the next chair.
    While Dex stayed far away from guests—with one very painful exception in a white bikini—Jace had no problem fraternizing with the chicks who fawned over him like he was a member of a boy band. Their resident party boy traded on his former SEAL status shamelessly too, which was another thing Dex didn’t understand; military service was a deeply personal experience, and trotting it out in order to score was borderline sacrilegious.
    “Totally worth it.” Jace half grinned as he peered at Dex through his fingers and sighed lustily. “Yoga instructor from L.A.”
    The guys ribbed Jace about it, promising to make his life hell for the foreseeable future because that’s what friends did, until Charlie cleared his throat.
    Time to get down to business. They talked about a few financial hiccups until Dex’s eyes glazed over. But he forced himself to pay attention because this was his business too.
    Dex had far more than simple hopes pinned on the success of this venture. He was all in because he could not go back to the States. People might like to think they respected veterans, but they all had stars in their eyes about what it took to keep Americans free. Dex got tired of watching people morph into righteous zealots when he was stupid enough to mention that he was a highly decorated sniper. So he’d stopped mentioning it.
    And then he stopped telling people much of anything. There were only so many times you could hear that killing people in the name of war wasn’t the answer before you started to question why you’d thought it was. Dex’s life in the Caribbean was exactly what he wanted: anonymous, easy, and guilt-free.
    Charlie wrapped it up with, “It’s party time.”
    His standard line. That meant the meeting was over and it was time to go to work.
    The chorus of groans made Charlie grin. He was a stern taskmaster, but he kept them all on the straight and narrow, which was a role Dex would not relish. He didn’t mind being given orders as long as he respected the guy giving them, and Charlie was one of the few who’d earned that right from Dex.
    Miles and Jace jostled Dex as they came up alongside him on the way to the