Hot SEAL, Independence Day

by Elle James

  Hot SEAL, Independence Day

  SEALs In Paradise

  Elle James

  Twisted Page Inc

  Contents

  Hot SEAL, Independence Day

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Epilogue

  Dear Reader

  HOT SEAL, SALTY DOG

  Chapter 1

  About the Author

  Afterword

  Also by Elle James

  Hot SEAL, Independence Day

  SEALs in Paradise

  A SEALs in Paradise / Brotherhood Protectors

  Crossover Novel

  New York Times & USA Today

  Bestselling Author

  ELLE JAMES

  Copyright © 2021 by Elle James

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  © date Twisted Page Inc. All rights reserved.

  Ebook ISBN-13: 978-1-62695-359-8

  Print ISBN-13: 978-1-62695-360-4

  Dedicated to my mother and father who helped shape me into the person I am today. I miss you.

  Elle James

  Author’s Note

  Enjoy other books in the SEALs in Paradise Series

  Holiday Edition

  Hot SEAL, Heart Breaker by Cat Johnson

  Hot SEAL, Charmed by Parker Kincade

  Hot SEAL, April’s Fool by Becca Jameson

  Hot SEAL, In His Memory by Delilah Devlin

  Hot SEAL, A Forever Dad by Maryann Jordan

  Hot SEAL, Independence Day by Elle James

  Hot SEAL, Sweet & Spicy by Cynthia D’Alba

  Hot SEAL, Midnight Magic by Teresa Reasor

  Hot SEAL, Sinful Harvest by Parker Kincade

  Hot SEAL, Silent Knight by Kris Michaels

  Visit ellejames.com for titles and release dates

  For hot cowboys, visit her alter ego Myla Jackson at mylajackson.com

  and join Elle James's Newsletter at

  https://ellejames.com/contact/

  Chapter 1

  “Hey, Mars, have you met Alicia’s friend Sabrina?” Heartbreaker called out from across the room.

  Jack Marsten, otherwise known as Mars to his teammates, cringed. He had purposely avoided Alicia’s friend since they’d arrived at Wolf’s place for one of his experimental dinner menus. Jack shook his head and braced himself for the inevitable introduction to yet another female his teammates felt obligated to shove his direction.

  Since Heartbreaker, Joker and Zig had all found women to settle down with, they were certain Jack would remain the cranky, secluded bastard he’d always been unless they found him a woman who could accept him as he was…a grumpy loner who preferred to be by himself than to marry a woman who wouldn’t last one week of him being deployed.

  As far as Jack was concerned, Navy SEALs had no business getting married. More often than not, their wives got lonely, fooled around and ultimately divorced their military spouses. Jack should know. He’d learned his lesson even before he’d completed BUD/S training. The woman he’d married straight out of high school had dumped him while he’d been going through some of the most grueling training he’d ever had the honor of surviving. She’d filed for divorce during Hell Week.

  Jack could have chosen to ring the bell and give up his dream of becoming a Navy SEAL to chase after the woman, but he’d decided he’d come that far, he’d be damned if he gave up. If Kylie had given up on him while he’d been in training, she sure as hell wouldn’t have lasted through a fourteen-month deployment. He’d cut his losses and decided he wasn’t going to commit to a long-term relationship as long as he remained on active duty as a Navy SEAL.

  Heartbreaker had succumbed to the insanity of love with Alicia. And she was all right for a female. However, ever since, she and Brian had made it their mission to matchmake for the single members of SEAL Team 7.

  When Jack only waved a hand from a distance, Alicia grabbed her friend’s arm and marched her across the large gourmet kitchen inside Wolf’s house to present her latest offering.

  If Jack hadn’t been as hungry as he was, he’d have said hello, turned around and left, but the aromas coming from Wolf’s oven and stovetop had Jack salivating. He’d eat, make some lame excuse, like he’d left the water running in his bathtub, and leave right after dinner.

  “Mars, this is my friend, Sabrina.” Alicia turned to Sabrina. “Sabrina, Mars. You two talk.” She shrugged. “Or not. Oh, dear Lord, I’m becoming my mother.” Alicia abandoned Sabrina with Jack.

  Jack swallowed an annoyed groan and frowned at the retreating Alicia. “What did she mean by she’s becoming her mother?”

  Sabrina laughed. “Her mother was forever matchmaking, trying to find the perfect man for Alicia. She swore she’d never do that to anyone else.” Sabrina raised her eyebrows. “I take it you’re not interested in being matched?”

  Jack’s mouth twisted. “Not really. I’m here for Wolf’s cooking.”

  “Then I won’t bother you.” She held out her hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  He shook her hand, glad she’d let him off the hook so easily. They parted, moving in opposite directions.

  Jack took a seat on a stool at the kitchen bar, his stomach growling. He wasn’t sure he’d make it much longer before he got hangry. “Hey, Wolf, what’s for supper?”

  All the other men of their team groaned.

  “We’re eating a few of my favorites tonight.” Wolf grinned as he stirred something in a pan on the gas stove. “You can start with the appetizers.” Setting down his long spoon, he removed foil from a tray, laid the platter of food on the counter and pointed to the first item. “Those are crostini with an onion marmalade, Taleggio cheese and wood-fired roasted pork belly. Or you can have the bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with whipped Feta.” He went back to stirring the food in the pan.

  “Sounds good,” Jack reached for the marmalade pork belly thing and popped one in his mouth.

  “Oh, he’s not done telling you what all you’re in for tonight,” Gage Fontenot said with his south Louisiana, Cajun accent. “I swear it’s a ten-course meal, and I don’t know what half of it really is.”

  Chris “Zig” Bykowski snorted. “None of us know what it is, but you can be damned sure it’ll taste good.” He tipped his head toward Wolf. “Go on. Tell him the rest.”

  Wolf nodded toward the pan he was working over. “Right now, I’m making seared scallops in hazelnut butter with mascarpone. For the main course, we’re having pork chops with a cherry port reduction, potatoes au gratin and roasted Brussels sprouts.” He leaned his head toward two rows of six ceramic bowls. “In those ramekins, I’ll prepare a lemon souffle with raspberry crème anglaise for dessert.”

  Jack grabbed one of the bacon-wrapped things and stuffed it into his mouth. He wasn’t sure what he was eating, but it was amazing. “I’m almost sorry I asked.”

  “I know, right?” Ted “Bear” Black, the team lead, reached over Jack’s shoulder for one of the pork belly appetizers. “When Wolf’s cooking, you learn not to ask, just eat and enjoy.”

  “Whatever happened to grilling hamburgers in the backyard?” Zig aske
d. “At least, then, you know what you’re getting.”

  Cash “Inferno” Mancini popped one of the bacon-wrapped dates in his mouth and moaned. “Those are better than sex.”

  “Exactly.” One corner of Wolf’s mouth quirked upward. “Cooking is like artwork, and food can take on every color of the palette to provide an explosion of flavors in your mouth. Why settle for hamburgers, when you can have so much more?”

  “You haven’t had one of my hamburgers,” Gage said. “You start with ground, fresh alligator, add a healthy portion of Cajun spices and bacon.”

  “You’ll get an explosion, all right,” Joker said. “And someone will need to bring the extinguisher to put the fire out in your mouth. I’ve had one of your burgers.” He shook his head. “Just how much cayenne pepper did you use in that seasoning?”

  Gage shrugged. “The right amount.”

  “We’ll have to plan a Cajun dinner,” Wolf said.

  “We could do a crawfish and crab boil, if we can get some shipped in.”

  “Our luck, we’d order it to be shipped and be deployed about the time it’s due to arrive,” Inferno said. “It’s been a day or two since our last mission.”

  “Don’t jinx me,” Jack said. “I’ll be on vacation next week.”

  “That’s right.” Bear clapped a hand on Jack’s shoulder. “Going up to Montana to fish?”

  Jack nodded. “I am. Looking forward to some peace and quiet after spending too much time with you boneheads.”

  “That’s bone frogs,” Joker corrected.

  “You say potato,” Jack said with a shrug, “I say boneheads.”

  “Isn’t Hank Patterson putting you up on his ranch?” Heartbreaker asked. “I hear he’s got a sweet setup there with his agency, the Brotherhood Protectors.”

  Bear frowned. “You’re not going up to interview with him, are you?”

  Jack shook his head.

  “Interview?” Zig slid the platter of appetizers in his direction. “You’re not getting ready to jump ship, are you?”

  Jack pulled the platter of appetizers back toward him. “I’m not going up to Montana to interview for a job. I have one already with this motley crew.”

  “Then why go all the way to Montana to fish?” Andi Westall, Zig’s woman asked. “You can do some great deep-sea fishing off the coast of Coronado.”

  “I’m going fly fishing,” Jack said. “It’s different. I don’t need a boat. I can go out by myself, and I won’t have anyone talking to me while I’m trying to fish.”

  “Hank’s not going with you?”

  Jack shook his head. “He’s loaning me a lake cabin he owns back in the Crazy Mountains. The only time I’ll see him is the day I get there and the day before I leave.”

  “Hank’s a good guy,” Bear said. “We served together in Afghanistan. Saved my ass when we were overrun by Taliban.”

  Jack nodded. “I served with him when I was a pretty green SEAL, fresh out of BUD/S. He showed me the ropes and took me under his wing. The Navy lost a good one when he left the SEALs.”

  “Yes, we did,” Bear said. “Tell him I said hello. What time are you flying out?”

  “I’m not. I’m driving,” Jack said. “I leave early tomorrow morning.”

  Inferno’s eyes widened. “Seriously? Isn’t that at least a two-day drive?”

  Jack lifted a shoulder. “Yeah. I plan on stopping in Vegas.”

  “I thought you didn’t like people,” Zig said.

  “I don’t,” Jack said. “But I like poker.”

  “You might as well gamble while you can. Once you get married, that will all end,” Heartbreaker said.

  Alicia jabbed him in the side with her elbow. “How do you know? Not all women tell their husbands they can’t gamble anymore.”

  Heartbreaker grabbed his chest. “No, but I’m betting you would.”

  Zig grinned. “Do we hear wedding bells in your future?”

  Heartbreaker and Alicia answered as one, “No!”

  “Really?” Gage cocked an eyebrow. “You two argue like a married couple.

  Alicia frowned. “No, we don’t.”

  Joker laughed. “I can see the two of you. In Vegas. Tying the knot at one of those wedding chapels with Elvis officiating.”

  Zig raised a hand. “I’d go.”

  “Me, too,” Inferno seconded.

  “Forget it,” Alicia said. “We’re not ready for that kind of commitment.”

  Heartbreaker nodded. “What she said.”

  “Who is?” Jack muttered.

  “Are you guys done flapping your jaws and ready to eat?” After scraping the scallops out of the pan onto a dozen dinner plates, Wolf pulled the pork chops, potatoes and Brussels sprouts from the oven and laid them on the plates beside the scallops, arranging them as beautifully as they smelled.

  Jack was full-on drooling by the time all the plates were full.

  “If everyone would come grab a plate, we can gather at the table,” Wolf said.

  He didn’t have to tell them twice.

  In a manner mimicking lines in a chow hall, the men and women queued up, took their plates and carried them to the extra-long table made of two-by-six pine planks.

  Somehow, Alicia managed to seat Sabrina beside Jack.

  Sabrina gave Jack a twisted smile. “Don’t worry. I’m just here for the food.

  Jack nodded, grateful the woman wasn’t trying to flirt with him. He hated when women came on to him. Despite the grumpy look he wore when he was in public, they still came up to him and started conversations.

  “Wolf, did you make this table?” Brian asked as he set his plate down and held Alicia’s chair for her.

  “No. I have a friend who likes to build furniture. I supplied the wood, gave him the dimensions and he came up with this amazing piece.” Wolf took the seat at the end of the table, and then popped up for some forgotten item. “Don’t wait on me,” he said. “Eat.” He hurried back to the kitchen island, grabbed a basket of freshly baked dinner rolls and brought them back to the table.

  Jack had already dug into the scallops. They were as delicious as they looked. The pork chop was nothing like any other pork chop he’d ever experienced. It was so tender, it came apart in his mouth. The potatoes au gratin were light and creamy and the cheese perfectly balanced. Every bite of the meal was world-class.

  Which was why he still sat there. Otherwise, he would have left at the first sign of matchmaking. Or he would have left before dessert, if he didn’t like lemons so much.

  The lemon souffle melted in his mouth and completed the entire meal. Jack sat back, patted his flat abs and sighed. “I don’t know how you do it, Wolf, but you should open your own restaurant. That was amazing.”

  “No, he should have his own cooking show,” Joker said. “Only he should cook without a shirt. Can’t you see it? The Shirtless Chef Cooking Show. All the ladies would watch.”

  “I’d watch,” Alicia said.

  Brian frowned.

  “What?” Alicia gave him an innocent rise of her eyebrows. “I want to learn how to cook like that. And it wouldn’t hurt to see some gorgeous muscles in the process.”

  “Me, too,” Sabrina said, her cheeks flushing pink.

  “I’d watch,” April, Joker’s woman, said. “I want to know how to make those scallops taste so amazing.” She shrugged. “And, like Alicia said, gorgeous muscles are always appreciated.”

  “I’d pay to sit in the audience,” Andi said. “As long as I got to eat what he cooked. Wow, Wolf. Just wow.”

  “Well,” Jack glanced at his watch. “It’s getting late, and I’m going to be up and out at O-dark-thirty tomorrow morning…”

  “And Mars makes his move for the great disappearing act,” Inferno said.

  “I can’t believe you’re driving instead of flying to Montana.” Bear shook his head. “You’re wasting a couple days on the road that you could be fishing.”

  “I’m making a stop in Vegas to play some poker. Then I’ll head
for Montana.” He stood, stretched and grinned. “Meanwhile, you losers will be going to work.”

  “For your sake, I hope we don’t get called up,” Bear said. “Are you taking a satellite phone? I hear they get really lousy cellphone reception in the Crazy Mountains where Hank Patterson lives.”

  Jack shook his head. “No satellite phone. If you need to get a hold of me, you’ll have to call Hank. He’ll know where to find me.” His eyes narrowed. “And it better be for a damn good reason. I’ve been planning this vacation for months. I even bought a new fly fishing rod and taught myself how to tie fly fishing knots.” He lifted his chin. “I’m going fishing where I can be alone with nothing but the sound of the water running in the stream.”

  “And the bears crashing through the brush,” Joker said with a grin. “I hear they can run up to thirty-five miles per hour. You taking your running shoes?”

  “I’m trading in my running shoes for hip waders,” Jack said. “The bears will have to fight me for the fish I catch.”

  Zig frowned. “You might want to take some bear spray to keep them at bay. Some bears are smart enough to know that, where there’s a fisherman, there might be an easy meal of fish.”

  “I’m taking bear spray, bug spray, my rifle, handgun and anything else I might need. Nothing is going to get in the way of me and this vacation. After back-to-back deployments, I need this down time with no one around jabbering in my ear.” He shot a glance at Joker.

  Joker held up his hands. “Don’t worry. I have no desire to swat mosquitoes and play with bears. You can have your vacation. I’ll stay here with April and enjoy the amenities of Coronado.” He pulled April close and nuzzled her neck.