SEAL'd Perfection The Complete Collection: A Navy SEAL Romance Read Online Free Page A

stack I was saving by only having one move. Not that it mattered much. I hadn’t had to worry about money since my reality show had taken off the year before. If anything, I had more than I knew what to do with. My business manager was always chasing me down with new ideas for investments and ventures, but I constantly turned him away, choosing to squirrel it all away in my own accounts and handpicked investments. I’d never been one to take advice from anyone, and although I paid him to handle my money and advise me, there were certain things I knew I was meant to figure out on my own.
    I sank into the stiff leather chair, shifting around as though I could break it in to feel like the one I’d left back in Chicago. I gave up on the chair, and began flicking through the desktop calendar, my jaw set as I considered the long list of shit I had to do. In addition to getting the rest of the shop set up, I needed to find and train a new assistant—my last one had been unwilling to locate to, in her words, BFE—and go through a rigorous inspection prior to opening day. Not to mention the radio interviews I had to squeeze in at random, thanks to the studio that produced the show.
    As much as I’d tried to get out of it, the second season of my reality show was set to begin production in a few weeks, and everything had to be perfect by then. On the outside, I was rough and tumble. A tattoo artist, biker, Navy SEAL with ink covertly covering the majority of my body. But inside—I was a machine that thrived on order and control. When I’d signed the lease, I knew it’d be a tight deadline to work with, but with a lot of muscle and a few sleepless nights, it was more than possible to get everything ready by the time the camera crew came knocking.
    “I’m so fucked,” I grunted, flipping the calendar shut so I didn’t have to look at the shit I had to take care of in writing anymore. I scrubbed my hands down my face, and when I opened my eyes again, I found myself staring straight into Kat’s eyes across the street. She was out front, sitting on the curb, her phone in her hands, and as soon as our eyes met, she dropped her gaze, and seconds later—just as I’d been ready to head for the door to go out and meet her—she jumped up and scurried back inside the diner.
    Her haunting green eyes stayed with me long after she’d left. At the diner that morning, she’d been so standoffish and brash, with an edge that told me there were more layers to her story. She was beautiful—stunning, actually—but there was an obvious sadness clinging to her that left me burning to find out what it was all about...
    I fucked around a bit, straightening up things the movers had left and every now and then, I’d glance over at the diner wanting to catch a glimpse of her, but I didn’t see her again for the rest of the day—or night.

Chapter Four — Kat
    By the end of my shift, more details had flooded in about the new tattoo shop and the mysterious stranger who had leased it. Groups of regulars came in for lunch, all abuzz, gossiping amongst themselves…
    “—some reality TV star!” Carol, a middle aged woman exclaimed, to her two gal-pals, Henrietta, and Maria. The three women came in for a late lunch, nearly every day after they went out for a jog together.
    I stopped at their table, filling water glasses that were barely touched, in time to hear Maria reply, “I heard that too! I looked him up, looks like he has a show all about how to apply those tattoos. Can you imagine? A whole show about that ?”
    The other two ladies gave disapproving clucks under their breath. “Such a shame too…” Henrietta said, craning her neck to look out the window, as though she might catch a glimpse of the mystery man in question. “Without all that hideous ink, he’d be quite a handsome man…”
    All three burst into giggles, and then, just as I was backing away, Henriette grasped my hand. “What do you think dear?”
    My cheeks warmed