Code Name: Nina's Choice (Warrior's Challenge) (24 page)

“I don’t,” Mace
spouted. “I don’t want a line of boys at the door after my little girl.”

Gabbs giggled and fell
back on the couch.

A knock on the door
brought
Gabbs to her feet. “I’ll get it.”

“Don’t forget your
bag, Gabbs,” Nina reminded her. She bent over and landed one on his lips and
they both made it last a little longer. A quick sweep of his tongue elicited a
little moan from her. Maybe he could convince
Marg to
keep Gabbs all night. After all, once Nina said yes to his proposal, they
should have a little “them” time.

“Mommy, it’s the man
from the Seaport place.”

Huh?

Nina almost leaped
away from him. “Ah.” Her eyes shot down to him and then at the door. “
What?”

“And he’s got a
puppy,” Gabbs screeched.

Mace rose to his feet
and turned to see who was at the door and bringing puppies. A guy with
jet-black hair and broad shoulders stood in the small entryway. He knelt down
in front of Gabbs.
“For you,
sweethea
rt.
Your mom told me you wanted a dog. I
thought maybe you could take care of her.”

“Mooooom,
c
an I?” Gabbs gushed.

Nina stood frozen to
the spot. Mace swung a look at her and she
paled,
her lips in a tight line.

“Mom, can I?” Gabbs
asked again, but when N
ina didn’t answer, she turned
her attention to the guy. “I forget your name?”

“Well,” the guy
cleared his throat, and said slowly, “My name is Wade, and I’m a friend of your
mom’s, but I’m also someone special to you.”

“You are?” Gabbs
tilted her head whil
e squeezing the squirming puppy
in her arms.

He scratched the
little fluff ball in Gabbs’ arms behind the ear. “Yes, Gabriella. I’m your
father.”

Chapter Fifteen

Slowly, Mace pivoted
as if someone had nailed his foot to the floor. He looked at Nina, but her eyes
were riveted on Gabbs’ father.
What the hell?

“Wade, you really
should have called before coming over,” she said, rounding the couch and
walking to the doo
r.

“Uh.”
His smile wilted and he glanced at
Gabbs. “Sorry, I guess I just wanted it to be a surprise.
These too.”
He presented a bouquet of roses from
behind his back.

Mace couldn’t feel the
ground beneath him, probably because it had just been ripped out
from under him. Nina had lied to him?

The guy finally
noticed him. “You must be Mace.” Wade strolled toward him. “Lieutenant Wade
Cayson. Sorry I don’t know your last name. Nina just told me your first name
when we had lunch.”

Had lunch? He did what
any go
od SEAL would do: slapped an expression that
revealed nothing on his face, but the anger simmering below sea level was
rising fast. “Petty Officer Mace Callahan, Navy SEALs,” he said. This guy was a
lieutenant. Nina had mentioned he was Navy. If Gabbs didn
’t know who he was, Nina had been hiding him from both of
them.

“You look amazing,
Nina,” Cayson said with a steaming gaze up her legs to the top of her head. “I
hope I’m not interrupting.”

Nina had regained her
color, and now her cheeks flushed. “We were
just
leaving. I—”

“Mom, can I take Lexi
to Kelsey’s?”

“Lexi?”
Nina echoed.

“Yeah, that’s gonna be
her name.” Gabbs smiled up at Wade. “Thank you.” Her brow wrinkled a little,
and she quickly looked at her mom.

Nina swallowed and
blinked. “Yes, well, I thin
k we better leave her
here. We’ll find a place to put her, so she doesn’t run all over the house.
I’ll find a blanket and we can put her in the laundry room.”

“Look Mace, I got a
new puppy.”

He knelt down and
Gabbs brought the dog to him. “She’s cute, Gabb
s.”

“What kind of dog is
it?”

“Looks like a…”

“Long-haired German
Shepherd,” Wade cut in. “She’ll protect you when she gets older. You’ll have to
train her and feed her, but she’ll be your best friend.”

“I will. I promise.”
Gabbs petted her gently. “Will y
ou help me train her,
Mace?”

“Sure,
Gabbs.”
He glanced at Cayson, who was sizing him up.

“SEALs are out of the
country a lot. When’s your next deployment?”

Well, fuck you too, asshole. You’re not
obvious at all.
“Just finished.
I’ll be here for a while.”

“
Don’t you transfer between here and Virginia?”

“Hey,
hey.”
Kayla stepped through the doorway with Ghost behind
her,
and Adam in his arms. “Thought we’d come pick up…Gabbs.
Oh… hello.”

Wade stood up.
“Hello again.
Sorry, I didn’t get your name last
time.”

M
ace shot a look at Ghost, and his expression turned severe.
A small light flickered to life. Had he known? Is this why he acted so weird at
lunch?

“Admiral Austen, I
didn’t realize… is this your wife?” Wade asked.

“Kayla
Banks, soon to be Kayla Austen.”

“Congratulations, sir.
Ma’am.”

“Look what I got,
Uncle Thane!” Gabbs ran over to them.

Ghost hunched down.
“A puppy.”

“Her name’s Lexi.”

Ghost gave her a grin,
and kissed her on the cheek. “And who gave you that?” As he said it, his gaze
targeted Cayson, a
nd it wasn’t friendly.

“My
dad.”

A Halon couldn’t have
sucked the air from the room any quicker than her innocent answer, but Mace
knew it was probably only his heart that shriveled to dust.

“Gabbs, come on, let’s
put Lexi in the laundry room,” Nina said,
reappearing.

“Thane, I’ll take
Adam,” Kayla said, bundling their son into her arms.

“Listen, I think I’ll
give you guys some time to talk,” Mace said. He needed to get the hell outta
here and get a grip.

“Mace!”
Kayla caught up with him in the
driveway, bl
ocking his access to the car door. “Nina
was going to tell you tonight. He just popped up the other day.”

“Looks like Cayson
wants
to jump right in and be a dad. The way
he stares at Nina, I’d say he wants to jump into her bed again too.”

“Nina doesn’t wan
t that. Obviously Cayson threw in a surprise attack showing
up like this. After the shock, Nina is going to be spitting nails at him, but
she won’t make a fuss with Gabbs around.”

“Why didn’t she tell
me? When did he show up?”

“Three days ago. We
were at t
he Seaport Village.” Adam woke up and
started to cry, loudly.

“And he’s already
taken her out to lunch?” His anger needed a place to vent.

“Mace, wait,” Nina
called from the doorway. Kayla pulled back and headed for the house.

A slow, deep pain
began to ea
t away at him. He couldn’t look at her
without showing it. “I’ll call ya,” he said.

“You’re just going to
walk away from me and Gabbs?”

“With her father
bringing puppies, I’m sure she’ll love him soon enough. You have a family
reunion to get back to, Nina.
”

Nina sucked in a sharp
breath, and backed away with a world of hurt in her eyes.

Before he walked away,
maybe for good, he said, “He doesn’t just want to know his daughter. He wants
the mother too.” He rammed his hands in his pockets, and his fingers bum
ped into the velvet box. He’d forgotten all about the
reason he’d asked her to dinner. Nothing could have prepared him for the night
to end this way. “Bye, Nina.”

He jumped in his car,
and drove along the Strand toward the Mexican border. Several beaches l
ined the slip of land that ended up at the northern end of
Mexico. Right now he considered driving through it until he reached the other
end, but instead he turned off and parked in a deserted lot. Lights crossed his
rear view mirror, and the Admiral’s car
came to a
stop beside his.

Ghost threw open the
door and knocked on his window. “Get out,” he commanded.

For once Mace thought
about telling him to fuck the hell off. The door flew open. “I know you’re not
deaf, SEAL. Get out and walk with me.”

“Don’t you
have a dinner with Timmins?”

“Not when one of my
men has a shitload of doubt floating above his head like a cumulus cloud.”

Mace unbuckled and got
out. He slammed the door and leaned against the car.

“Nice move on the
asshole’s part bringing a puppy.”

Mace stared at the
ground, trying to determine what he’d do in the guys’ shoes. “He’s Gabbs’
father. I can’t blame him for wanting to make a good first impression or
wanting to know her.”

“Maybe,” Ghost said
sternly, “but this doesn’t change anything, Mace
.
You’re in love with Nina. Her ring is in your pocket. Why did you not follow
through?”

“Because, sir. It’s up
to her.”

“To
do what?
Ya think she’s going to dump you because some Navy lieutenant in her past trips
back into her life? That’s not the Nina I
know.”

He finally turned his
eyes to see Ghost wore a concerned expression.

“How the hell do you
think I felt when Lapierre showed up? He and Kayla had been lovers for years.”

Mace jerked his head
with surprise. “They were? I mean it was obvious he loved K
ayla but…”

“Yeah.
They’ve known each other for twenty
years, but for the last ten they’d been best friends with benefits.” Ghost
paused. “Don’t look at me that way, Adam is mine. Kayla didn’t share his bed
after we met, but it didn’t feel very good, even t
hough
I knew that. Nina had a week-long affair and got pregnant. Cayson shipped out,
and she chose not to chase him. That means she wasn’t interested.”

“The right thing would
be to let them have their time together. Maybe if he’d known, they’d have three
k
ids by now.”

“You’re a United
States SEAL. Maybe’s don’t exist in our repertoire. Action gets us through the
mission. Do not let up. Don’t make it easy for Cayson to walk in and take Nina
from you. He has a right to be in Gabbs’ life, but that’s it.”

Mace
unbuttoned his shirt and walked around to the trunk. He dug
through a bag, pulling out a T-shirt and a pair of shorts.

Ghost chuckled.

“What’s so funny?”

“The day I found Kayla
at the ranch and told her the truth about Zara, she told me we’d never be toget
her again. I ran all night. I swam miles after that, and
passed out on the shore of the lake. I’m telling you now, when you wake up, the
pain won’t be gone and neither will the uncertainty.”

Mace took off his
pants and slipped into his shorts.
“Maybe
not,
but I have to do something or I’m going to lose
it.”

“That something is
getting back in your car, walking into Nina’s house like you own the place, and
showing the lieutenant she is yours.”

“But she isn’t.” Mace
looked out toward the darkness. The waves ro
lled up
the beach with a gentle swell. He jumped the cement wall separating the parking
lot from the sand. The Admiral kept pace.

“The women who are
worth our attention are never easy, Petty Officer Callahan.” Ghost gripped his
shoulder, stopping him as th
ey stepped onto wet sand.
“Our lives as SEALs are not easy on them. Nina was by your side in Germany
after only a few days of knowing you. A woman who just wants to say she’s
fucked a SEAL would not do that. We’ve both had our fair share. You know the diff
erence. Nina held her ground even when you told her to hit
the road. She was waiting for you when you came home. Every rejection you threw
at her
,
she pelted aside with resilience. Nina
Samson is not a quitter.”

He bristled with
Ghost’s unsaid accusations.
“Are you saying I am?”

“I’m saying you’re
acting like you’ve already lost her, and wallowing in something that hasn’t
come to pass. She hasn’t chosen Cayson over you, but you just walked out on her
and left her wide open.” Ghost released him and stepped b
ack. “I turned my back on Kayla for a few hours and I
almost lost her. Seven months pregnant with my son, and she had to save herself
evading a serial killer and thrashing through a forest because I let doubt
cloud what I knew was truth. To the end of my d
ays I
will love Kayla, and she loves me. If you ring out now, Mace, how can you
expect Nina to ever believe you won’t do it again in the future?”

He heard the sea
instead of the roaring in his ears. Anger had been pushed aside with his
admiral’s wisdom, bu
t he didn’t know what his next
move should be. As a sniper he was trained in patience. He could sit for days
waiting for his target. It took a powerful inner strength to do that.

A chorus of “O Canada”
erupted from Ghost’s pocket. He shook his head and chu
ckled.
“She cracked the damn code on my phone again, and put that anthem on there.” He
punched a button. “Sweetheart, I’m on my way. He’s fine, Kayla. No, you don’t
need to talk to him. He’s already gotten an earful from me. Are you still at
Nina’s?” He no
dded. “I’ll tell him.”