Code Name: Nina's Choice (Warrior's Challenge) (27 page)

“The problem is I
hardly know him. That sounds awful, but it’s the truth.”

“It’s not awful,” Marg
jumped in. “You were brave to raise Gabbs on your own.”

“But I wasn’t. I had m
y parents and Kayla. It’s right now the brave part has to
kick in. Kayla has Adam and the Admiral, and they’ll be moving to Hawaii with
you guys soon. It’s just going to be me.”

“No,” Lieutenant Cobbs
interjected. “It’s Mace and you, not to mention the res
t of the squad’s family. They’re not going anywhere.”

“Mace is going to pass
his physicals, and then he’ll be gone all the time.” She didn’t know why she
was spilling her fears to them. She should just keep her mouth shut.

“That I understand,”
Marg said, s
haring a look with her husband. “But that
doesn’t last forever. Mace will eventually find a position that will keep him
home. It might be a hard grind for a while, but it’s worth it,” she said, still
locked in a look with Lieutenant Cobbs.

“You two need to
get a room,” Nina said, and they both laughed.

* * * *

Wade parked the car in
the driveway. “Keys, Mom.”

“I’m coming,” Nina
said
,
unbuckling her seatbelt and wishing
like hell Mace’s car was parked in the driveway.

Wade’s hand covered
hers. “Can we talk
for a second?”

“Sure.” She handed
Gabbs the keys. “Go wash that cotton candy off your face, little girl.”

Nina pushed her back
to the door and faced Wade, clasping her hands together. They both watched
Gabbs unlock the front door and go in, leaving it ya
wning
open of course. There was something about closing doors and cabinets that Nina
just couldn’t get through to that kid. She sighed.

“I’m not the bad guy,
Nina.”

“I know that, but you
have to stop coming on to me.”

“Didn’t anything I say
make sense to y
ou?” Wade’s expression saddened. “I
grew up never knowing my own father. My mom wasn’t the greatest either. You, on
the other hand, are amazing, and I don’t want to be a sperm donor or a monthly
check.”

“I don’t want any
money from you, Wade. If that’s wha
t it’s all about,
don’t sweat it. Gabbs and I will always be fine. If I need money, I have my
parents.”

“They must be pretty
well off.”

“They are. Dad worked
for it, but they’re comfortable.”

“He’s a neurosurgeon.
He’s got to be more than comfortable.”

“Da
d’s
family were
farmers in the days when cattle still
made you wealthy. He was born into money, but he wanted to be his own man, and
he did it.”

“I’m never going to be
rich, Nina, but that isn’t the issue here. You are.”

Ach, when is he going to give it up
?
“Are you interested in getting me into bed or getting to
know your daughter?”

Wade had a way of
looking at a woman that made her delirious. A heavy five o’clock shadow planed
his cheeks and jaw. His eyes carried a sensual message promising an experienced
hand that knew how to touch a woman. He’d hooked her good
once, and that wild, needy gaze landed on her now. “I want both of you. I came
undone when you were in my arms. I remember what it I felt like being inside
you.”

Nina swallowed
thickly. She did too
, but so what? The arm rest on
the door bit into her back, but she sure as shit didn’t expect it to open. She
yelped, falling backwards. Strong arms caught her. Using her feet, she
scrambled to find ground.
Mace had her around the waist, set her straight a
nd then leaned in
to
the car. “Have a nice time?” he asked, but the underlining
growl in his question wasn’t hard to miss.

“Perfect day, Petty
Officer Callahan,” Wade said. “I’ll call you, Nina.”

Mace slammed the door,
and Wade backed out quickly
,
leaving them face to face. “A little warning would have helped,” she chided,
her heartbeat coming down.

“Why, so I wouldn’t
have caught you necking with him in the car?”

“Aw, crap.
As if I need this.”
She stomped up the driveway with Mace
on her heels.

Ma
ce grabbed her arm and spun her around. “He came on to you
all day, didn’t he?”

Nina pinned her hands
to her hips and kicked at the broken cement under her feet.
“A little.”

“Let me guess. He
wants you to be a family.
Just the
three of you.”

She didn’t
agree or deny, which gave Mace his answer.

“Listen, Nina.” Mace
put his finger under her chin and raised her head so she’d look into his eyes.
“You’re not going to like what I have to say.”

Her brow wrinkled.
“Such as?”

“Gabbs needs a father
who’s around,
someone who can play hockey with her
when she comes home from school, and help her with math.” Mace shook his head.
“I’m not her father by blood, and I won’t—” He paused, his expression looking
pained. “I won’t be around. I passed my physicals today.”

“Wh
at?” she nearly screeched. “You didn’t tell me it was
today.”

“I didn’t want to say
anything in case I failed. I’m back on combat duty as of tomorrow.”

She didn’t know what
to think, except she was scared all over again. She wasn’t as tough as people
thoug
ht she was.
Especially now.
“The rest of the squad is on call out
right now. That means you are too.” She was going to cry, and she couldn’t hold
it back. “I’m proud of you, Mace. You worked so hard to come back from your
injuries.”

He swept his fingers
ag
ainst her cheek,
then
stepped away. “You kept pushing me, and
when I foundered, you didn’t hesitate to remind me that I could do it. You
helped me do the right thing.
Kept
me on track.
I can’t do any less for you.”

Mace ran his hand
through his hair and ga
zed into her eyes. Suddenly
she was afraid of what was coming next. “Don’t you
dare.
” She choked on a sob. “Mace Callahan
don’t you dare tell me that you’re going to walk because it’s the right thing.”
A gush of tears poured down her cheeks.

“Nina, you and
Wade didn’t have irreconcilable differences. You parted
ways because of circumstance.”

Nina shook her head
vigorously, and bit down on a huge sob. “Mace, I am not going to jump into
Wade’s bed just because you think that Gabbs should have her father livin
g under the same roof. Time has moved on. We adjust. If
Wade wants to be part of her life, then he can be, but I’ve moved on.” She
whimpered the last part, sounding pathetic.

“I will be away a lot.
It isn’t fair to Gabbs or to you to keep you waiting all t
he time when there’s someone who can be here, and who has a
right to be here.”

Nina wrapped her arms
around herself, because Mace wasn’t going to do it. “You’re—giving up again,”
she stuttered. “Fine, do what you need to do, SEAL. I’m not going to beg. I j
ust wish I hadn’t fallen for all your crap about—”

Warm, strong hands
grasped her upper arms. “None,” he emphasized the word, “None of it was crap. I
love you, and I love Gabbs, but I can obviously see things more clearly than
you can. And sometimes the ri
ght thing is the hardest
thing to do. You need time to see this clearly and decide who you want. What’s
best for both you and
Gabbs.
I’m not walking away because I want to.
I’m walking away because it’s the only way you can be sure.”

Anger and the hole Mac
e just ripped in her heart put her mouth into full
throttle.
“You bastard.
I’ll save you the wait time. You can go
into the field with a clear conscience, but I’m not going in a lineup next to
Sheila when you feel like you need a hot fuck.”

Mace’s entire b
ody stiffened, his eyes filled with anger. “And I’m not
going to spend the rest of my life wondering if you’ll be in his arms while I’m
gone. You had something for each other once. We both deserve to know if it’s
still there.”

“You’re full of it.
You saw h
ow much work Gabbs is and what it means to
be hooked up with me and now you’re abandoning ship. I’m not throwing you a
life preserver or giving you an excuse.” The rest of her tirade choked in her
throat. She shook her head, fighting to keep her tears at b
ay. “Don’t come back.” She couldn’t face this a second
time; he wouldn’t walk away from her twice. She turned sharply, even though her
legs shook with weakness. A hand with a steel grip wrenched her to a stop, spun
her around and one very daunting SEAL gla
red into her
eyes.

“I love you,” he
growled, and pinned her arms to her side, kissing her with more passion, more
hunger than she’d ever known. She fought to wrap her arms around his neck and
stop him from leaving. The strength in her legs morphed to rubbe
r and she almost collapsed when he let her go. “We’re
addicted to each other, Nina, but that doesn’t make it right.”

Mace left her and she
stumbled without his support. Reaching the house, she leaned against it to hold
herself up and banged the back of her
head against
the wall to center
herself
, to stop her tears. This was just fear
clutching and clawing at her heart.

“Mommy, what’s wrong?”
Gabbs looked worriedly at her with big eyes.

Nina fell to her
haunches, hiding her face in her hands, and sobbed her
heart out while her daughter clung to her neck.
Life
sucked.
After a couple minutes she rubbed her tears away, lifted Gabbs into her arms
and went inside. She plopped her down on the couch, resting her hands on her
little girl’s gangly legs. “Mace and I had a disagreement.” A one-sided
fight
as far as she was conce
rned.

“Are you mad at Mace?”
she asked.

“No, this isn’t his
fault. He loves you and me. He just…” She took a second to stop herself from
crying again. “He just thinks that we need some time to get to know your dad,
so he won’t be coming over for a while.”
Nina’s heart
grew cold. She stared at the ceiling to get a fix on things.

“Is he jealous of my
dad?”

Her little girl was
too smart for eight-years-old.
“No,
not jealous.
He just thinks he’d be in the way of you and your dad
getting to know each other.”

Gab
bs wrapped her little fingers around Nina’s hand. “Do you
love my dad?”

Kids! How did they
always manage to ask the toughest questions? “I like your dad.”

“But you love Mace,
right?”

Nina bit her lip and
nodded. “You don’t have anything to worry about, Gab
bs.”

“Is Dad going to live
with us?”

Nina raised her eyes
to her daughter and swallowed thickly. “Would you like that?”

Gabbs shrugged. “He
seems nice, but I thought Mace was going to live with us.”

“I thought so too, but
sometimes things don’t work out
the way we think they
will. So it’s you and me. Maybe we should start fixing this place up, starting
with your room.”

“Can my room be blue?
Mace’s favorite color is blue, and I want stars on the ceiling that glow when
you turn the lights off.”

Gabbs crawle
d into her lap, and she held her daughter close. “We’ll
find some stars, sweetie. In fact, why don’t we go look for some now?”