Strong Silent SEAL (SEALs of Coronado Book 2) (7 page)

Too soon? Heck, she was ready to go on another date right now.

“I’d love to,” she said.

He leaned in for another kiss. “I’ll pick you up at noon.”

Felicia leaned back against the door and watched Logan walk to his SUV. Sunday couldn’t come fast enough.

Chapter Six

T
HE COUPLE HOSTING the party—the SEAL from the warehouse named Chasen and his girlfriend Hayley—lived in a cute apartment complex about thirty minutes from Felicia’s condo. She was excited to meet Logan’s teammates even though she was still a little confused about how the whole promotion thing worked in the Navy.

“Explain to me again why the guy who’s getting promoted has to pay for his own party,” she said when Logan came around to open the passenger door for her. “It seems kind of backward.”

Logan chuckled as they walked hand-in-hand down the sidewalk in front of the building. “It’s a very old military tradition. The person getting promoted is expected to spend the difference between his old rank and his new rank on the party as a way of sharing his good fortune with his Teammates, typically, in the form of free food and alcohol.”

Felicia shook her head, still not understanding. “It must be a guy thing.”

He stopped to pull her in for a kiss. “Did I tell you that you look beautiful?”

She wore another sleeveless dress, this one in a colorful boho print. “Yes, but I don’t mind if you want to tell me again.” She took in his cargo shorts and dark blue T-shirt with a smile. “You look pretty darn good yourself.”

Instead of heading for the entrance of the building, Logan led her around the back of the complex to the grassy common area set up with chairs, picnic tables, and grills. From the looks of all the people there, the party was already in full swing.

Logan placed the bean and cheese dip she’d made on the table with the rest of the food then introduced her to everyone. Felicia recognized Nash and Dalton from the warehouse, but there were at least a dozen more SEALs. She tried to commit all their names to memory, but after a while they got lost in the sea of buff Navy hunks. If she wasn’t so stuck on Logan already, Felicia would have been in serious danger of stepping on her bottom lip and tripping herself.

“Are all these guys on SEAL Team 5?” she asked Logan.

He nodded. “Chasen, Nash, Dalton, Holden, Wes, Dean, and Kurt are the only ones in my platoon though.” When she looked at him confusion, he added, “SEAL Team 5 is made up of eight smaller groups called platoons, and there are sixteen guys in each platoon.”

Okay, she seriously needed a handbook to keep track of all this. She was a little surprised at how many of the guys were at the party solo, though. But besides Dalton, who was with a California surfer girl named Summer, and Kurt and his wife Melissa, none of the others seemed to have significant others.

“Chasen told me what happened with you and your sister,” Hayley said when Logan introduced her. “I’m glad you two are okay.”

Felicia smiled. “Thanks to Logan.” She glanced at him. “If it weren’t for him and the other guys, Stef and I probably wouldn’t be here right now.”

Hayley waved her hand. “They’re paid to be heroic. I’m more impressed with you, Felicia. You seriously shoved a gun in Logan’s back and took him hostage? Now, that’s what I call epic.”

“More like desperate,” Felicia said.

“Well, I want to hear all about it,” Hayley said. “Come sit down.”

So she and Logan sat at one of the picnic tables with Hayley, Chasen, Kurt, and Melissa, and told the other two couples the whole story. While they all agreed with Logan and Hayley about Felicia being incredibly brave, Felicia was more awestruck with how Hayley and Chasen had met. Between the Boko Haram capturing Hayley and threatening her with execution, and a rescue in the pitch black of night, it sounded like something out of a movie.

“How did you guys meet?” Felicia asked Melissa and Kurt when Hayley and Chasen had finished.

Melissa glanced at her husband, her dark eyes dancing. “He balanced a ball on his nose to impress me.”

Beside Felicia, Logan did a double take.

“Wait. What?” he said.

“How come we never heard about it?” Chasen asked, looking equally stunned.

Kurt scowled. “Because it’s need-to-know, and you don’t need to know.”

His answer didn’t stop Logan and Chasen from badgering him for more details. Finally, Kurt muttered something about a SEAL named Wes manning the grill.

“I’d better check on the kid before he burns the burgers,” he said.

Logan and Chasen exchanged looks, something unspoken passing between them. A moment later, they both announced they’d be right back then followed Kurt, clearly determined to get their friend to spill the beans.

“Did Kurt really balance a ball on his nose?” Hayley asked Melissa after the guys took off.

Melissa nodded. “He came to my classroom for career day, and my first-graders insisted if he were a real seal, he could balance a ball on his nose. So he did.”

Felicia laughed, trying to picture the dark-haired SEAL doing something so cute to impress his future wife.

“It took me a while to realize it, but I fell in love with him right then,” Melissa added.

Felicia sipped her iced tea. “When did you and Kurt get married?”

“Nineteen ninety-four.” Melissa regarded her thoughtfully. “Being with a SEAL isn’t always easy, not with the kind of job they do. But if you fall in love with one, it’s worth it.”

Beside Felicia, Hayley nodded. “What Logan, Chasen, and the other guys did the other day in the warehouse is typical everyday stuff for a SEAL.”

Felicia had thought she knew what SEALs did for a living, but she discovered her knowledge base was dreadfully inadequate. According to Hayley and Melissa, SEALs were in every craphole around the world at that moment. It didn’t take a genius to figure out this was the other women’s way of giving her a heads-up in case this thing between her and Logan turned into something more. She could appreciate that.

Logan, Chasen, and Kurt came back a little while later, though whether they’d gotten Kurt to talk was anyone’s guess. Melissa and Kurt’s fourteen-year-old daughter Madison and sixteen-year-old twin boys Kayden and Ashton showed up a few minutes later. Dark-haired like their parents, Madison had Kurt’s blue eyes while Kayden’s and Ashton’s were brown like Melissa’s.

“Did you tell everyone yet?” Madison asked her parents excitedly.

“Not yet.” Melissa smiled her husband. “Do you want to do the honors?”

Kurt grinned back then looked around at the rest of them. “I’m retiring.”

“No way!”

A chorus of incredulity followed that exclamation. Felicia glanced over her shoulder to see Nash, Dalton, and the other SEALs gathered around the table.

Kurt slipped his arm around Melissa, his grin broadening. “You better believe it. I already filed my paperwork. Six months then I’m going ashore.”

Nash looked dumbfounded. “How are we going to function without you here to keep us straight?”

Kurt jerked his head at Chasen. “That’s what he’s for now. Retiring means Mack won’t be forced to move Chasen to another platoon.”

His words seemed to mollify all the guys, including Logan.

“So what are you going to do with yourself?” Chasen asked.

Kurt glanced at his wife. “I’m taking a contractor instructor position at BUD/s.”

Logan must have realized from the look on Felicia’s face she didn’t know what the acronym stood for because he leaned close.

“Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL training,” he explained. “It’s basically six months of hell.”

That didn’t sound fun at all, and yet Logan grinned as he sat back.

“Speaking of BUD/s,” Nash said. “How’s Sam doing?”

Logan put his mouth to Felicia’s ear again. “Sam is Kurt and Melissa’s son.”

On the other side of the table, Melissa’s dark eyes clouded with worry, but Kurt looked every inch the proud father.

“Kicking butt and taking names like I knew he would,” Kurt said.

“Do you think HQ is going to put Sam on SEAL Team 5?” Dalton asked.

Kurt shook his head. “I doubt it.”

“Well, I hope they do. In fact, I’ve been pestering Mack about it ever since Sam started training,” Melissa said. “I’m not thrilled he wanted to be a SEAL since it’s one more guy I’m going have to worry about now along with the rest of you, but I’d feel a lot better if he’s at Coronado so I can keep an eye on him.”

“Don’t you mean mother him?” Madison teased with a grin.

Melissa shook her head. “Keeping an eye on him isn’t mothering him.”

“Yeah, it kind of is,” Madison pointed out. “They call it being a hover mom.”

Kurt chuckled.

Melissa ignored him. “I do not hover. I simply want to be able to warn him off women who are only interested in him because he’s a SEAL.”

Madison laughed. “Mom, I’m pretty sure Sam doesn’t need you protecting his virtue from a bunch of frog hogs.”

Felicia looked at Logan. “Frog hog?” she whispered.

“SEAL groupies,” he whispered back.

There were so many women who chased after SEALs, there was a name for them? Although from looking at the guys here today, she could believe it. She didn’t know why, but for some strange reason, she suddenly felt very possessive of Logan.

Across from Felicia, Melissa’s eyes widened. “Where did you hear that expression, daughter?”

Madison grinned and looked pointedly at Kurt, who suddenly decided he needed to go check on Wes and the burgers—again.

Felicia laughed along with everyone else. She couldn’t remember having so much fun at a party. While the guys might like to rag on each other, not to mention play damn hard to win a game of touch football for bragging rights, it was obvious SEAL Team 5 was one big family, and she couldn’t help but feel a little honored to be included in it.

* * * * *

“It’s called center mass, baby!” Petty Officer Trent Wagner crowed in his Texas drawl as he pointed downrange at the target he’d fired at with his HK MP5N submachine gun. “Every round in the ten circle of the chest.”

Logan snorted. He and his guys were at the shooting range to get in a little target practice with another platoon from SEAL Team 5. As it always did whenever they got together, it had turned into a competition. And right now, the other seven guys from Trent’s platoon hooted and hollered at shooting that looked damn hard to outdo.

Well, he’d never been the type to shy away from a challenge.

“Don’t get cocky, kid,” Logan said as he walked up to the line with his M4A1 assault rifle. “Let me show you how it’s really done.”

Trent regarded the shortened version of the tried and true M16 rifle used by the US military in one form or another since the Vietnam War, his hazel eyes full of amusement. “With that old thing? You sure you don’t want to give up now and avoid the embarrassment?”

Trent’s platoon broke into another round of chuckles. Logan ignored them. Trent was trying to get in his head. But it would take somebody a lot better at psychological operations than SEAL Team 5’s resident cowboy to do that.

Logan leveled his gaze at Trent. “Watch and learn, Cowboy.”

Taking a deep breath, he let it out then jacked the rifle up to his shoulder in one smooth, well-practiced move. A moment later, he squeezed the trigger, putting each of the thirty rounds in the M4’s magazine through the man-shaped target’s head. Not the fifteen-meter target Trent had been shooting at, but the twenty-five-meter target.

He flashed Trent a grin. “Now, that’s center of mass, baby.”

Trent shook his head with a laugh. “Nice shooting, dude.”

Several hundred rounds later, Trent’s platoon took off along with a good portion of Logan’s to bring the weapons back, leaving him, Trent, Chasen, Nash, Dalton, and Holden to clean up the range.

“Chasen, did I read this morning’s paper right about the Nesbitt case going to trial?” Dalton asked from the other side of the range as they brought in the targets. “I thought you said that asshole was going to take a plea deal?”

Chasen’s girlfriend Hayley was at the center of the prosecutor’s case against the dirty former city councilman William Nesbitt. If anyone knew the latest on the case, it was Chasen.

“The DA expected some type of plea by now, but Nesbitt seems content to take this to trial,” Chasen said. “The DA is worried Nesbitt’s got something up his sleeve, but he isn’t sure what Nesbitt’s angle is.”

Logan frowned. “But they caught him with the damn murder weapon. We might know he didn’t actually pull the trigger himself, but having a murder weapon in your possession should count for something, right?”

Chasen shrugged. “You’d think so.”

“Okay, someone want to fill me in here?” Trent asked. “I mean, I heard rumors some of you guys were involved in Nesbitt getting arrested, but this sounds like you know more than the cops do.”

Logan saw Chasen hesitate. Not because he didn’t trust Trent, but because this crap with Nesbitt was way outside the usual mission parameters. Telling Trent essentially made him an accessory after the fact.

“Whatever you tell me, I won’t say anything,” Trent added as he brought in the last of the targets.

Chasen leaned back against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest. “You already know the basic stuff in the news, right? Nesbitt is a crooked politician who got caught in a complex kickback scheme revolving around the new SEAL construction project at Imperial Beach. He got paid money under the table from the prime contractor, Jack Yates, in exchange for arranging the assassination of a city inspector who was about to name Yates as the responsible party behind a highway collapse that killed some people.”

“Yeah, I heard all that.” Trent said. “Didn’t the prime contractor turn states evidence or something on Nesbitt?”

“Uh-huh. But the DA is worried it won’t be enough. No one’s thrilled with taking one criminal’s word over another. The real damning evidence against Nesbitt is the murder weapon the police recovered. Ballistics has ID’d it as the weapon that killed the city inspector.”

Trent frowned. “I still don’t see where you guys fit into this whole thing.”