Read Second Chance SEAL: A Bad Boy Military Romance for Free Online

long has it been?”
    “Two weeks,” I said, laughing.
    “God, really? Feels like forever.”
    “I know, right.”
    “Hi, Tony,” she said.
    “Hey, beautiful girl. Lovely house.” Tony kissed her on the cheek.
    “Come in, you two,” she said. She ushered us inside.
    The place was a lovely little cape cod. Lauren had amazing taste, and so the whole place was this chic nautical theme, all reclaimed wood and boats and brass. She had a nice little spread for the guests, plus lots of beer. Tony disappeared almost immediately, drink in hand, and I let him go. I didn’t need him to hang around me all day.
    “Come on,” Lauren said. “Wait until you see the back yard.”
    “How’s it feel to own a house?”
    “Weird,” she said. “It’s a lot of responsibility. And stress.”
    I laughed. “I bet.”
    “There’s so much that can go wrong. Houses are like basically silent killers.”
    I laughed again as she led me out through the kitchen and back into the yard.
    Lots of people were milling about, and I didn’t recognize most of them. Lauren and Greg were both very outgoing people, so they made a ton of friends easily. I worked too hard to make a lot of friends, so I didn’t know most of the people there that afternoon.
    The back yard was beautiful, spacious and gorgeous. They had a little deck, and Greg was there near the grill, talking to some tall guy that had his back turned to me.
    “Greg,” Lauren said. “Pipes is here.”
    “Piper!” Greg turned to me. “Good to see you.”
    That was when his tall friend turned toward me, and I felt like time stopped.
    Gates smiled at me. I remembered that smile, that handsome as hell smile. It was just as cocky and confident as I remembered, but there was something else to him. There was a new scar along his chin and a heaviness to his eyes, like he was tired or something. In that instant, I suddenly knew that he was the same man that I remembered, but he had seen some things that had changed him. I didn’t know how I knew that, but it was there n his face.
    “Hey, Piper,” Gates said.
    “Piper, you remember Gates,” Greg said. “You two met at the wedding.”
    “I remember,” I said. “Hi, Gates.”
    He smirked at me, and I didn’t know what else to say. I wanted to ask him if he got my letters and why he disappeared. I wanted to know how long he’d been home and why he never looked me up. I had a million questions.
    But in the end, he was just a one-night stand. He owed me nothing.
    “Well,” Lauren said. “Let’s continue the tour?”
    “Sure,” I mumbled.
    “It’s good to see you again, Pipes,” Gates said to me.
    “You too.”
    Lauren quickly moved the two of us away.
    “Did you see how he was looking at you?” Lauren whispered, laughing. “Oh my god. It was like he wanted to throw you down and ravish you right there.”
    “Yeah,” I said weakly, confused and surprised.
    “Imagine if Tony saw that. He’d flip.”
    “Probably.” Then I blinked. “Where is Tony, anyway?”
    “Who knows?” Lauren steered me back inside.
    As we headed into the kitchen, Tony came up to us. He had a serious look on his face.
    “Listen, babe,” he said. “I gotta go.”
    “What?” I asked. “We literally just got here.”
    “I know. I know. It’s just, it’s business. I gotta go.”
    “The club?”
    “Yeah, my job. It’s really important.”
    “You drove here.”
    “I know. I gotta go, though.”
    “I can drive you back,” Lauren said. “Or there’s the train. You don’t have to leave.”
    I frowned at Tony. “Are you sure?”
    “I’m sorry, babe. It’s an emergency.”
    “Okay,” I said, sighing. “Go. I’ll get back on my own.”
    “You sure? I can drop you off back home.”
    “No, I’m sure.”
    “You’re the best, babe. Sorry.” He kissed me on the cheek and then quickly walked out of the room.
    “Does he do that a lot?” Lauren asked me.
    “Yeah,” I said. “His business is stressful. It’s a tough job, you