SEAL for Her Protection (SEALs of Coronado Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

Chasen and that sinfully sexy smile of his.
    She replayed their brief but flirty conversation in her head over and over, surprised by how much the mere thought of his deep voice calmed her. It wasn’t long before she felt herself drift off to sleep, something she hadn’t been able to do so easily in weeks.
    * * * * *
    “Are you sure this is the right house?” Brad asked as he snapped photos of the Mediterranean-style villa in the beautiful and very affluent La Jolla.
    Hayley shaded her sunglass-covered eyes with her hand and peered up at the two-story stucco house with its fancy arched windows. The wrought iron gate had been open when they arrived and there were no other cars in the driveway. Though there could be a car in the garage. Or three or four of them, given how large the garage was.
    “I’m sure,” she said.
    Though how Coastal Commissioner Alan Peat could afford it was up for debate. Thanks to The People , Peat was currently under investigation for allegedly taking bribes to make sure building permits went to certain individuals. Between the information The People had dumped on the Web and what the city investigators had already found, Peat was in deep doo-doo. He was probably looking at jail time.
    Hayley and Brad had spent the past two days talking to various sources about The People and all the state and city officials who’d recently found themselves on the group’s radar, including Nesbitt and Peat. She’d gotten a lot of juicy tidbits and already had a good article in the works, but Todd wanted some comments from those officials who’d been caught. Political confessions always sold a lot of papers.
    That was why she and Brad were standing outside Peat’s home—hoping to get him to agree to a personal interview. And if it turned out the man had some information on who these hacktivists might be—so much the better. Regardless of what her editor wanted, Hayley still thought the real story here was these Internet snoops. After two days of digging into all the corrupt officials they’d uncovered, Hayley was ready to admit The People were seriously good at what they did. As in NSA-surveillance kind of good.
    But right now, they were focused on the story Todd wanted, and that meant talking to Alan Peat.
    Hayley and Brad stepped up to the door and rang the bell then waited. Beside her, Brad took a few more pics then looked down at the display screen on his camera, scrunching his nose as he flipped through the photos he’d taken. Hayley smiled as she pressed the doorbell again. Jillian was right. He did do that. And it was cute as heck.
    “I can’t believe people didn’t know this guy Peat was crooked,” Brad remarked. “This home must be worth four million. There’s no way in hell a local commissioner could afford a place like this. Not unless he’s independently wealthy.”
    “He’s not,” a man’s voice said from behind them.
    Hayley turned to see an elderly man wearing a golf shirt, plaid shorts, and a baseball cap sizing up her and Brad with shrewd eyes.
    “You that reporter I’ve been seeing on TV lately?” he asked.
    She nodded and offered her hand. “Hayley Garner. And this is my photographer, Brad Oliver. We’re looking for Mr. Peat. Do you know if he’s home?”
    “I know for a fact he isn’t,” the man said. “The fink took off like a bat out of hell in the middle of the night a few days back. Based on the size of his suitcase, I’m guessing he ran off to Mexico.”
    Hayley exchanged looks with Brad. So much for getting any confessions out of Mr. Peat. But, then again, nothing screamed I’m guilty like a one-way vacation to Mexico. She was ready to bag it and head back to the car, but then the neighbor started talking again.
    “It’s no wonder all that stuff came out about Peat taking bribes,” the man continued. “I knew he was a crook the first time I met him. Living a life way beyond his means, he was. You can’t run around like a clown trying to keep a bunch of