Chapter 4
T he following morning, Hayes found himself staring at his front door with a tray of fresh coffee, a bag of breakfast sandwiches, and a hefty dose of confusion milling about his brain.
He hated being lied to by anyone, but especially by the woman sharing his bed.
It didn’t matter that he and Chloe weren’t in a serious relationship, because he didn’t do those.
He never allowed himself to get too close…
too attached. The second his heart swelled with something more than a passing thought, he was out that door.
If that made him an asshole, he proudly wore the badge.
He pinched the top of the bag between his thumb and forefinger as he carefully balanced the drink tray while he punched in the code to unlock his door.
There was no denying he liked Chloe. Pursuing her had rattled his carefully crafted life partly because she’d made it difficult for him to shrug his shoulders and walk away, like he’d done a million times before.
She also had him tearing down large walls he wasn’t aware he’d built—and with his own team.
Sure, he’d kept women and his family at arm’s length, but he hadn’t been aware he’d been doing that with Keaton, Fletcher, and Dawson until a few months ago when he’d found himself discussing his twin and his past love life.
His twin wasn’t a problem, and his brothers-in-arms knew about Max.
They might not have known some of the details surrounding his death, but they knew about Hayes’s family and all the craziness that went with that.
However, he hadn’t been prepared to unload the two women who had changed how he viewed his future.
He’d never spoken of them before. They’d been tucked away in a vault in the corner of his brain, whispering to him about the lies, secrets, and traps women set for men.
No matter how hard he tried to seal that box and shut off those voices, he couldn’t.
He believed what happened with those two young women had controlled his future.
He’d let them sabotage his relationship with Betsy.
However, he wasn’t so sure about why he’d done that now.
He wasn’t sure of anything except that Chloe wasn’t like those women.
Chloe wasn’t like anyone else he’d ever met before, and he wanted to give whatever had been brewing a real shot to develop—and that utterly terrified him.
He hip-checked the door, nearly dropping the hot coffee as he entered his rental.
He was the only man on the team who hadn’t bought a place.
Dawson owned Harvey’s Cabins and now the Bed and Breakfast, which his soon-to-be wife ran.
Fletcher had moved into his family’s old place…
right next to the Marina, which pissed off Baily, but where else was that man supposed to go?
That house had been in his family for three generations, and even though Fletcher had once thought he wanted nothing to do with the town that had helped raise him, he’d never been able to let go of the hold the community had over him—and that wasn’t a bad thing.
Keaton had bought a little house on the main drag by the marina, but that had recently burned down. It didn’t matter, though, since he’d moved into his fiancée’s, and they would live there. All Keaton had to do was rebuild on the lot near the marina and sell.
Hayes toyed with the idea he’d buy it, but then he’d get cold feet. Hayes had never owned anything other than a vehicle, and that was fitting because it meant Hayes could drive away anytime he wanted, something a few women had told him on more than one occasion.
“Good morning.” Chloe glanced over her shoulder, swiveling in the stool at the counter in the U-shaped kitchen. She cracked a slight smile. It was sweet, and it reminded him that he had a heart, and it beat in the center of his chest, pumping blood through his body.
“Sorry, this place was such a mess,” he said.
“You always say that, and it’s always the cleanest place ever.” She laughed. “Of course, you’re a minimalist, and this place is scantly decorated and barely has anything in it.”
“Dawson used to joke he was a minimalist, but then he and Audra would come into my place and call him a hoarder.” Hayes’s rental was located down the street from Dawson’s B&B, and Hayes could see the Everglades, but he wasn’t on the water, which was something he wanted.
He considered living on a boat, but Baily currently didn’t have a slip available with power, and he’d started to get used to the space.
This house had three bedrooms, though one was so small that he couldn’t put a bed in it.
It had one bathroom, a family room, and a kitchen.
It wasn’t very big, at about twelve hundred square feet, but it was all he needed.
If he wasn’t at the fire station, working every shift he could, he was taking out airboat tours at Everglades Overwatch.
He loved both jobs. They were both so different.
One was running into danger, while the other required him to be charming.
Both served the good people of Calusa Cove.
He hadn’t taken much from his childhood, but his family, church, and community all believed in the importance of service.
It was a fundamental part of their lives, and it had been ingrained in Hayes from birth.
It was the one part of his past that he had latched onto that felt right.
“I brought sustenance.” It took exactly ten strides to close the gap, and there wasn’t anything in his way because all the family room had was one couch, two end tables, a single ottoman, and a large screen television.
He set the food and coffee on the counter, grinned, and soaked in the beautiful woman.
Most men had a type, like Dawson. He was all about redheads with spicy attitudes.
Keaton had always been drawn to girls who had unexpected layers and were a walking contradiction, much like Trinity.
He preferred fancy women, but who liked the great outdoors.
He also tended to go for women with long blonde hair.
And Fletcher, well, that man didn’t date much, and there was only one woman for him—Baily.
But Hayes didn’t have a type. He’d dated all kinds.
Short, tall, skinny, plus-size, blonde, brunette, but he did stay away from redheads.
Not because he didn’t find them attractive, but because it made Dawson ornery.
He did like the women he dated to be intellectual, though.
He enjoyed having deep, meaningful conversations.
Even though he never lasted with a lady, it wasn’t just about sex.
Chloe had pulled her long, dark hair back into a ponytail at the nape of her neck.
Unlike other girls he knew, it was always low, never high on top of her head, and he liked that.
It was different, stylish, and sophisticated.
She never wore much make-up, and this morning, she wore none.
She wore a white T-shirt and black gym shorts.
“I was about to make eggs, but you have absolutely no food. How do you live like this?”
He shrugged. “I eat at the station when I’m working, or Audra feeds me, or I get takeout.”
“You’re pathetic.” Chloe dug into the bag and opened her sandwich. “Did you see the morning news?”
Hayes nodded. “Stacey’s a pain in Dawson’s ass.
” He ran his fingers through his hair, not sure what to make of how easily they fell back into banter and everyday conversation.
“I spoke with him on my way home, and he was impressed with how Buddy managed her questions. Unfortunately, a murder in Calusa Cove for someone like Stacey is a ticket to national news, and she’ll do whatever it takes to get noticed, including tossing her own mother under the bus.
” Unfortunately, Hayes understood that all too well since he’d taken Stacey out a few times.
That had been a mistake, and thankfully, it hadn’t lasted more than a few dates.
“I’ve seen her kind before, and it’s nothing new.
” Chloe palmed her coffee, staring into the rich liquid.
“Buddy will ignore her unless she does something stupid. I spoke with him a little bit ago, and he’s having breakfast with Dawson and the detective from State—Lester.
I believe they’re going to form a task force. ”
“It’s got to be hard for you not to be in the thick of things.”
“The task force will make it easier for Buddy to use me…quietly, especially since he trusts all the people involved. That doesn’t happen in some places.”
“I guess that’s good.” Hayes leaned against the kitchen sink and studied her body language and expressions.
When Hayes had first met the team, he’d felt like a fish out of water.
All the other guys were smarter and had skill sets that Hayes didn’t possess.
He’d followed them into SEAL training, not because he’d thought he was born to be a Navy SEAL, or because that had been some big dream of his.
No, he’d done it because the men he’d enjoyed the most in life—who had become his family by choice—had decided to, and where they went, he went.
Keaton and Fletcher had been the tech, communications, and intelligence personnel on the team.
They’d been the ones who’d fiddled with gadgets and sorted through the information that came to the team before, during, and even after the mission.
They’d been the ones that the higher-ups had gone to when they’d wanted a different perspective.
Dawson had been the team leader and the logical thinker.
He was the one who had grounded the team and kept them on the right path.
He’d considered the rules, and while he’d always understood that rules could be broken, he was the man who’d kept them straddling the right line, ensuring they’d never pushed too hard—or too far.