Falling for a SEAL (SEALs of Coronado #14)

Chapter 1

Chapter one

San Diego, California

“Do you think I made a mistake asking Darwin to come to my sister’s wedding before we’ve even gone on a real date?

” Katrina Weber asked, glancing at her best friend and fellow nanny, Talia Holland, sitting beside her on the bench.

They’d taken their seven-year-old charges––Beverly McDaniels and Maria Rybak––to the park, and the girls were currently playing on the swings in front of them.

“He didn’t turn you down, so I’m not sure why you’re worrying,” Talia said with a laugh before cautioning the two girls not to swing so high, pushing her long dark hair behind her ear as she turned back to Katrina.

“Besides, aren’t you the woman who kept giving me advice about being bold and going after what I wanted when it came to being with Lennox? ”

“That’s different,” Katrina said, remembering a few months ago when she’d encouraged Talia to go after her own Navy SEAL.

“When I gave you that advice, it was because you and Lennox had already been seeing each other and it was clear to everyone there was something between the two of you. The same can’t be said about Darwin and me.

I’m still stunned he agreed to go to a wedding where he doesn’t know anyone there besides me. ”

Katrina had already been Beverly’s nanny for a few years when Maria’s family had moved into the San Diego area and hired Talia.

Since then, Talia had become her best friend and confidant.

And right now, Katrina needed her help because she was seriously doubting her impulsive decision to ask a guy she barely knew to accompany her to a huge family event.

Especially since this was their first date.

“Darwin agreed to go to the wedding with you because you’re amazing,” Talia said, looking at her again. “And because he’s into you.”

“Yeah? Then why hadn’t he asked me out already?” Katrina asked in exasperation.

Talia shrugged. “Maybe he’s afraid you don’t want to get involved with a SEAL. Or maybe he has no idea you’re as interested in him as he is in you. Men can be clueless about stuff sometimes.”

She wasn’t wrong about that.

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing I decided to ask him to this wedding. Though it probably would have been better to start with a dinner and a movie instead of a week-long destination wedding.”

“Maybe.” Her friend laughed, leaning over to nudge Katrina’s shoulder with her own. “But where’s the fun in that? Besides, I think spending this week together will be a great way for the two of you to get to know each other better.”

Katrina sighed. “I hope you’re right.”

She’d been crushing on Darwin Sutton from the moment she’d met him.

But Navy SEALs were used to women falling all over themselves around them, which she suspected made some of the guys players.

She wasn’t saying she thought Darwin was a player, of course.

But it’d be just her luck that he was only interested in getting her into bed.

But if that was true, would he have agreed to spend the week at her sister’s destination wedding?

“I’m just worried he’ll regret coming with me when he meets my family,” she added. “They can be a bit much.”

Talia snorted. “Darwin is a SEAL. I doubt your family could scare him off, no matter how annoying they might be.”

“You’ve never met them,” Katrina muttered.

Talia glanced at the girls still playing on the swings. “You don’t talk about your family very much.”

Katrina shrugged. “I had a falling out with my father when I was in college because I refused to get involved in the family business. Instead of following in my brother’s and sister’s footsteps, I dropped out of college and became a nanny, much to my parents’ dismay.”

While she got along okay with her mother––most of the time––her relationship with her father and brother was strained at best. They both felt like she turned her back on them, which was ridiculous because she hadn’t.

She’d always been close to her sister, though.

So, when she’d asked Katrina to be in her wedding party, there was no way she could refuse.

Even if it meant being uncomfortable most of the time while she was there.

“Family business?” Talia repeated, her eyes wide. “You mean like the mob?”

Katrina almost laughed at the way Talia lowered her voice when she said the word. “No! My family owns a wine estate and luxury resort in Escondido. That’s where the wedding is being held.”

Talia’s brow furrowed. “I know what a winery is, but I’ve never heard of a wine estate.”

“It’s a fancy way of saying the vineyard and the winery are on the same property.”

“Oh, that’s cool. So, is the resort on the same property, too?”

Katrina nodded. “Yeah.”

“A wine estate and resort don’t sound so bad. Why didn’t you want to be involved in it?”

“Honestly? If it were just the wine estate and resort, I’d probably be working there right now,” Katrina said. “But unfortunately, my father is also involved in a lot of sketchy financial schemes, usually with the kind of people I’d never want to associate with.”

Her friend did a double-take. “Sketchy as in illegal?”

“I’m not sure.” Katrina made a face. “Maybe. It seems like the only thing that matters to my father is how much money someone has–or how much money they can make him. I don’t even know when or how he got that way. My grandparents certainly weren’t like that.”

Talia sighed. “Does Darwin know?”

“That my father might be a criminal on the side? No.” Katrina gave her a sheepish look. “I was so surprised he agreed to come to the wedding, I forgot to mention that particular detail. Not that I would have told him anyway.”

“Yeah, I guess I see your point. I’m not surprised he agreed to go with you, though. I am kind of surprised he was able to take so much time off work on such short notice, however. Lennox said he and Darwin are involved in some kind of training this week.”

Lennox Thompson was Talia’s Navy SEAL boyfriend and Teammates with Darwin in the same platoon.

“Darwin mentioned that, but he got approval to take leave as long as it didn’t conflict with work. He’s pretty sure he’ll only have to miss a few hours here and there during the week.”

At least, she hoped so. But that was part of what came with dating a SEAL.

“When are you heading up to Escondido?” Talia asked.

“Tomorrow sometime.” Katrina watched as Beverly and Maria swung back and forth in time with each other, giggling the whole time. They were adorable. “It depends on when Darwin gets back from wherever he and the other guys are, doing whatever they’re doing. He couldn’t tell me very much about it.”

That secrecy was the other part that came with dating a SEAL. She still wasn’t sure how Talia had gotten used to that.

“Before you ask, I don’t know anything more about it than you do,” Talia said.

“Unfortunately, that’s how these things go.

They get a phone call and have to leave.

You won’t know where he’s going, when he’ll get back, or what he’s doing.

If you want to be with Darwin, that’s something you’re going to have to get used to. ”

Katrina watched the girls play on the swings as she considered Talia’s words.

If she wanted to be with Darwin? That was kind of putting the cart before the horse, wasn’t it?

She was definitely attracted to him, but they hadn’t even gone on a date yet.

How was she supposed to know if it was something worth getting used to?

For all she knew, the two of them might have absolutely zero chemistry together.

But then a soft voice in the back of her head told her to stop being so silly.

There was a reason she’d been attracted to him in the first place, and there was a reason she’d asked him to be her plus-one at the wedding.

There was something special about Darwin.

She simply had to trust her instincts until she discovered exactly how special.

And as Talia had pointed out, she had been the one who suggested her friend go for what she wanted. Maybe it was time she took her own suggestion.