By
NY Times & USA Today Bestselling Author
Elle James

If you want something done right,
pick the best man for the job

As the best man, Navy SEAL “Rooster” Jacob Fowler is only responsible for two things—the bachelor party and getting the groom to the wedding on time. Enlisting the help of the wedding planner, the groom’s little sister, he has a hell of a bachelor party planned. While trying unsuccessfully to keep his hands off the wedding planner, he’s orchestrated a party complete with a stripper popping out of a cake. What could possibly go wrong?

What can go wrong will,
at the worst possible moment

Casey Wesson needs her brother’s wedding to go off without a hitch. She’s promised the bride, the groom and a potential client that she’s an expert and can manage a wedding beautifully. Her brother is counting on her, his bride trusts her, and her business depends on this wedding going off without a hitch.

When the hot chick didn’t show up to jump out of the cake, Casey has no choice but to fill in. Wearing a disguise and lots of makeup, she pretends to be the stripper. It’s that or the bachelor party is a bust, the first failure in her perfectly planned wedding weekend. One thing leads to another and she ends up in bed with the best man, waking up to a missing groom the day before the wedding.

On a mission to locate the groom, the best man and the wedding planner discover a plot to stop the wedding and a love they never expected.

NOTE:
** BACHELOR PARTY ** is part of the Brotherhood Protectors Series. It is also in the “SEALs in Paradise” connected series. Each book can be read as a stand-alone. They do not have cliffhanger endings and do not have to be read in any particular order.

It’s Hawk and Kalea’s wedding starting with the bachelor party. Casey, Kalea’s best friend is a wedding planner and has thought of everything to make things run smoothly from beginning to end. She even comes up with the perfect fix for when the stripper hired to jump out of the cake calls in sick. A wig and heavy make-up should do the trick. Plenty of fun and laughter as the cake proves to be flawed and she falls out of it onto Jacob.

Even though he’s figured out who the ‘stripper’ is Jacob couldn’t deny his duty to the bride as Hawk tries to leave the party alone.

This is a favorite scene.

She ran after Jacob and caught his arm. “Did I offend you?” He looked down briefly.

“No, but the groom is leaving. I’m his designated driver.”

Her eyes rounded. “Of course. Go.” Then she frowned. “Wait. How much have you had to drink?”

“One beer,” he said, still moving and picking up speed.

She shook her head and ran faster, the heels making it more difficult. “I’ll drive.”

“No way,” Jacob said over his shoulder.

“I was paid to make sure the groom got back to his hotel safely,” she said. “Give me a minute to get dressed, and I’ll drive you two in my vehicle.”

“I haven’t had enough to impair my driving.”

She met his gaze, her eyes narrowing. “I’m driving.” Casey hurried ahead to catch up with Hawk as he waved down a taxi pulling up to the curb.

“Hawk,” Casey called out. “Wait. I’ll drive you to the hotel.”

With his hand on the open door of the taxi, Hawk paused and glanced over his shoulder, his brow furrowing when he saw her running toward him.

Casey leaned into the open passenger window window of the cab and handed the driver one of the twenties she’d plucked from her G-string. “I’ve got this. Go get a burger.”

The taxi driver grinned, his gaze going straight to her cleavage. “I might just stay for the show.”

She gave him one of her eat-shit-and-die glares and jerked her thumb.
“Get going.”

Hawk backed away a step, swaying slightly. “I might have had a few too many, but I’m not too drunk to know that I’m not getting into any vehicle with you. I promised Kalea I wouldn’t touch the stripper. I’m keeping that promise.”

“Glad to hear it. She’ll be impressed.” Casey pulled her key fob out of her bra and clicked the unlock button on her SUV. “I’m driving. You can sit in the back seat. If you’re worried Kalea will find out, you can tell her I’m going to the hotel with this guy.” She tilted her head toward Jacob.

“Is that so?” Hawk’s lips spread into a wide grin, and he clapped a hand onto Jacob’s shoulder. “Good for you, man. I didn’t think you were going to let me out of your sight long enough to enjoy the evening.”

“And I’m not going to let you out of my sight until you’re tucked into your own bed in your hotel room,” Jacob said.

Thankfully, he didn’t deny Casey’s claim that he was taking her back to his hotel room. “I’m driving,” she said. “My SUV is over there.”

“I have my own vehicle.”

“Play it safe. Even if you haven’t had much to drink, I’d rather you didn’t end up in jail when you have a wedding to attend on Saturday.” She drew in a breath and let it out. “Casey tasked me with making sure the groom and groomsmen got back to the hotel to sleep off whatever mischief they might have gotten into. Please, let me do my job.” Again, she tried batting her lashes, a skill she’d never quite mastered. Something big and wispy fell into her eye, making her blink uncontrollably.

Jacob reached out and plucked the offensive item from her cheek. He lifted her hand and laid one of her fake eyelashes in her palm. “You can drive after you remove the other one.”

She stared down at her lash, her cheeks burning. Then with a quick movement, she ripped the other lash off, wincing when the glue held on a little longer than she expected. “There,” she said and lifted her chin toward Jacob.

“That’s better.” He nodded toward the SUV. “Lead the way. And oh,” he held out the shorts she’d flung at him, “you might want to put this on. If we are pulled over, we wouldn’t want our driver charged with indecent exposure.”

She grabbed the shorts and covered her naked butt with them, pinching the Velcro into place. “Now, can we go?”

Jacob glanced at Hawk. “You all right with letting Candy drive?”

“As long as she’s better at driving than she is at dancing,” Hawk said, a slow smile spreading across his face. “No offense.”

“None taken,” Casey said.

“Follow me.”

“Gladly,” Hawk said.

Jacob frowned.

“What?” Hawk held up his hand. “Kalea said I couldn’t touch. She didn’t say anything about looking.”

Casey shook her head and marched as best she could in the platform heels to her SUV. She removed the shoes before climbing in behind the steering wheel. No use risking a wreck because she wasn’t wearing the proper foot gear. Thankfully, she’d stored all her clothes in the trunk and wouldn’t have to return to the bar to get anything. She was afraid that if she left the two men alone, they’d leave without her. She wanted to make absolutely sure the groom made it to his hotel room okay before she let him out of her sight. Her promise to the bride, her best friend, hinged on her making this wedding perfect.

Her business depended on it. Nothing like a little pressure to make her night more complicated. She resisted the urge to pluck the string out of her butt crack and slid into the driver’s seat of the SUV.

Jacob held the door for the groom to drop into the back seat. Then he shut the door and climbed into the passenger seat beside Casey.

She would rather have had him sit with the groom in the back seat. Already, she’d been too close to this man too often that evening. Every time they touched, she felt tingly, like an electric current was coursing through her veins. The more distance between them, the better she could concentrate on what needed to be done to pull off this short-fused wedding.

Yes, distance between her and Jacob was what she needed.

As soon as she saw Hawk to his door, she’d skedaddle back to her own apartment and get a restful night’s sleep. Thankfully, all the preparations were scheduled or done. All she had left to do was a rehearsal and to make sure the bride and groom arrived at the church on time.

She had this wedding in the bag.

What could go wrong?
James, Elle. Hot SEAL, Bachelor Party: A Brotherhood Protectors Crossover Novel (SEALs in Paradise) (pp. 38-43). Twisted Page Inc LLC. Kindle Edition.

Apparently no one ever told Casey to never ask the question “What could go wrong?” and go wrong it does. Starting with a missing groom the morning after the bachelor party.

With Hank Patterson showing up to attend the wedding, the investigation gets into full swing. With Jacob and Casey following some leads. One thing they didn’t do right away was tell Kalea. She isn’t going to be pleased.

Crazy is an understatement as Hank assembles a team to go after Hawk.

Laughter, fun, tears, action and heat as Casey and Jacob search for clues and find love in the process.

I know I’m going to love all the books in this Hot SEAL set.

5 Contented Purrs for Elle!

Elle James

Award-winning author Elle James grew up as an air force military brat. She received her work ethic from her rock-solid father, her creative streak from her artistic mother and inspiration from her writing partner and sister, Delilah Devlin.

As a former member of the army reserves and a current member of the air force reserves, she’s traveled across the United States and to Germany, managed a full-time job, and raised three wonderful children. She and her husband have even tried their hands at ranching exotic birds (ostriches, emus and rheas) in the Texas hill country. Ask her, and she’ll tell you what it’s like to go toe-to-toe with an angry three-hundred-and-fifty-pound bird and live to tell about it!

Her adventures in the army and air force reserves, and the wild antics of her life on a small ranch in Texas give her fodder for mystery, suspense and humor in her writing. Elle writes gothic, paranormal mystery for the Harlequin Intrigue line and paranormal romantic comedy for Dorchester Publishing. A former manager of computer programming and project management professionals, Elle is happy she now has the opportunity to pursue her writing full time.