Code Name: Nina's Choice (Warrior's Challenge) (29 page)

Gabriella’s biological
father had a problem with cards. From what he had garnered in the last two
days, Lieutenant Cayson might even have some serious debt looming with guys who
broke a leg or two to get the money back. That alone was reason enough to
keep Gabriella away from him until Cayson figured out his
shit and flew right. Tony knew what his buddy and Nina needed, and it was about
the biggest sacrifice he could give.

He banged on the door.

Mace pulled it open
with a fast thrust. “Not now, man!”

“
Yes, now,” he growled back, and pushed his way in. “Hiya,
Ninja Grasshopper.”

“Don’t call me that,”
Nina groused back. She leaned against the counter, her arms crossed and a scowl
securely anchored.

“Dropped
by to say hi.”

Gabbs rushed in
to
the room, curious.

She stopped and looked
up at him, a head full of red curls rolling off her shoulders. He knelt down
and eyed her, raising a brow and a small smile. “You must be Nina’s daughter.”

“I’m Gabriella,” she
said, peering at him and sizing him
up like he was
the bad guy. Everyone in the house was tense, and he needed to break the dam
before things were said and regretted, and he could see the air was headed in
that direction.

“Think I’ll call ya
squirt.”

Gabbs’ head quirked
and her brow
furrowed. “I’m not a squirt.”

“You look kinda
squirtish to me.” Not a good sign when her eyes narrowed slightly. She marched
over to him and kicked him. In the shins!

“Gabriella Maria
Samson.” Nina yanked her daughter back.
“Manners, little girl.
Apologize
to
Tony.”

“He called me squirt,
Mommy.”

“Tony was being
friendly, it’s not an insult.”

“Hey kid, I wasn’t
insulting you!”

“You
sure?”
Gabbs drawled, eyeing him up even more.

She had her mother’s
fiery perspective on life. “Positive.” He looked up to see a
silent, but frustrated Mace adding nothing to the convo.
“Tell ya what. I admit I was kinda hovering at the door and I just happen to be
ready for duty.”

Nina’s gaze flicked to
Mace.

“Babysitting,” Tony
clarified. “You guys are going out.”

“Oh, I don’t kn
ow about that, Tony.”

Nina shook her head,
and for the first time he saw the committed mother instead of the fiery vixen.
The vixen always had an effect on his loins, but the mother made his heart
ache.

“Go, get outta here.”
He grabbed Mace’s shoulder and
hooked an arm through
Nina’s arm and yarded them to the door. “See ya later. Squirt and I will be
fine.”

* * * *

Mace drove to the most
southern beach on the Strand near the Mexican border. Being November the beach
stretched on without a single soul in s
ight. Only a
horizontal sliver of sun grappled to hang onto the horizon by the time Mace
parked the car. The air between him and Nina hung heavy with thought, but
little said. She wouldn’t look at him, her head turned, gazing out the
passenger window. He s
wallowed and wanted to reach
for her hands clutched together in her lap. An invisible barrier surrounded her
and he wanted to punch through it, and see her eyes spark with fire at him.

He turned off the car
and said, “Why don’t we take a walk?”

She opened
the door without a word. The wind caught her red curls and
he was jealous that it could caress her, but he couldn’t. Nina swung her legs
over the half wall and slipped her sandals off to walk in the sand. Her
toenails were painted a pale pink and his heart
became heavy thinking Cayson had surely made headway with him out of the way.
He reminded himself he wasn’t here to mend bridges, but to tell Nina what Tony
had learned about Wade.

Without walking far,
Nina turned to him. “Why did you ask me here, Mace?”

He stepped into her
comfort zone. She wavered, but didn’t step back. “There’s something you need to
know.”

Nina kept her
expression blank and waiting.

“Tony found something
out about Wade.” He deliberated for a second. “I guess he saw a couple guys
talking
with Wade the other day.”

Nina shrugged loosely.

He stalled. “Maybe
Tony should tell you this, not me.”

“Then I’ll ask Tony.”
She turned for the car.

God, she was all
bottled up and protecting herself. He needed her to hear what he had to say.
“Wade might
be in some trouble.”

Nina stopped and
swiveled. “What kind of trouble?”

“These guys that were
talking to Wade weren’t just saying hello. Tony got the feeling they were bad
business so he did a little recon.”

Nina blinked and
pulled the hair from her face.
“Such as?”

“Such as…talking with
some of the men Wade served with on his last posting. He didn’t come back with
favorable results.”

“Tony is your friend,”
she said dully.

“He’s yours too, and
he cares about you—like I do.”

A muscle twitched in
her jaw and
she nodded quickly. “It’s always nice to
have friends,” she quipped.

“Nina.” He stepped
toward her and she stepped away. He wasn’t here to fight with her. “Tony found
out Wade might have a problem with gambling. If you put two and two together,
it may mea
n Wade has let an addiction go too far. He
might owe money to someone.”

Nina spurted out a
sarcastic laugh. “I don’t think so, Mace. He bought a place on the island.
That’s not cheap. His car is not cheap. He is overly generous with gifts for
Gabbs. When I
asked him, he told me he invested his
savings and got a good return.” She shook her head. “I don’t get it. You dump
me and now you’re trying to throw a bad light on Wade.”

“That’s not what I’m
doing. Baby, I—”

“Don’t call me that,”
her voice choked off an
d she crossed her arms
tightly.

“I’m telling you this
so you’ll keep your eyes open. I’m worried about Gabbs. I don’t want to see her
hurt.”

Nina’s arms flared
out. “Too late, Mace,” she shouted at him, her anger sparking.
“Too late!
She’s already hurt. Yo
u hurt her.”

He dropped his gaze to
the sand. “That was not what I meant to do. You know that.”

“Yeah, I know that.
You just meant to hurt me, but we’re a package deal.”

“Whether or not Cayson
has a problem, Gabbs has had a chance to bond with Wade. Every
kid needs to know where they came from. Wade wants to be
her father.”

Nina’s hand flipped to
her waist. “Well, he is that. He’s over every night after work. He plays with
her.
Puts her to bed sometimes.
He’s even picking her up from school
now when I can’t
. So, yes, she has her father in her
life,” she said tightly.

The words nearly
spilled from him. Asking Nina what Wade meant to her was a loaded question.
Playing Russian roulette with a revolver and six cartridges in the cylinder
only had one result. They
stared at each other, not
with the heat they’d once had sitting on a beach, but with a thick wall of
emotion buffering them. God, he loved her. His heart ached so badly he could
taste the bitterness in his throat. “Nina—”

“Take me home,” she
said quietly.

He didn’t want to take
her home. The last three weeks had been the worst of his life. Not even lying
in the Berlin hospital shot to pieces hurt this badly. “How come you don’t run
with us anymore?” A stupid
question,
and he knew the answer.

“Can’t.
I have
to get
Gabbs ready for school in the morning.” She toed the sand.

“We can run later.”

She shook her head. “I
run when I get a chance. It’s not that important.”

“Nina, if it’s because
of me, I’ll break off. I get enough exercise working with the recruits.
The guys miss you. I think you gave ’em a run for their
money, and being a bunch of macho dudes they stroked a little harder.” A grin
slipped across Nina’s lips and his entire body heated, but her smile faded
quickly and so did his warmth.

“I’m not really
part of you guys anymore. I’m just some chick who works in
Base Command.”

Mace closed the
distance between them and swept his hand down her arm. It surprised him when
she didn’t step away. “That’s not true, Nina.” She lowered her head and nodded.
“Hey.” He
raised her chin and could see her eyes
watering. “You will always be part of us.” He didn’t add “part of him.” He
should have, but he wouldn’t throw hooks into her loyalties and try to drag her
away from Wade. “Humor me, let’s go get a beer. If nothing el
se, Tony’s learning about the real reasons behind birth
control.”

Nina chirped out a
laugh, and swiped at her eyes. “Sure.”

The house was dark as
Mace shoved Nina’s key in the door. He hesitated before turning the doorknob.

“What’s wrong?” Nina
asked.

He c
leared his throat and gave her a churlish smile. “This
could be bad.”

“What do you mean?”
She looked alarmed and reached for the knob, but he pushed it open first. They
entered, but didn’t get far.
Yup, it was bad.

Gabbs’ toys were
strewn across the living
room floor. Blankets and
chairs, erected as a fort had been destroyed in a full-out attack by child,
warrior and dog. They stepped over and around the debris on the floor and
stalled. Flour, sugar, bowls and utensils with drying batter covered the counter
. It was the makings of a couple sloppy cooks or a raccoon
had run wild in the kitchen leaving a trail of disaster in its wake.

They scanned the rest
of the house in silent awe, but stopped when they hit the couch. A pie plate
with leftover nacho crumbs an
d a few bits of cheese
clinging to the rim sat beside a plate with one cookie left. The TV was on, but
the DVD had ended. Tony lay on the couch with Gabbs cuddled on one side and
Lexi on the other. They were both snoring, their bellies round and happy, inc
luding the dog’s. Candy wrappers and a mostly empty bowl of
popcorn seeds swimming in butter sat on the floor near Tony’s dangling hand.

Nina chuckled, pulled
out her phone and took a picture. “Guess we should be happy the place didn’t
catch on fire.” She
carefully lifted Gabbs into her
arms and took her to bed. When Mace gave Tony a nudge with his knee, Lexi gave
a sharp bark. He jerked up, looking around.
“Where?”

“Relax, man, Nina just
put her to bed.”

Tony pushed a hand
through his hair with a sleepy, c
ockeyed look. “She’s
a cool kid.” Lexi jumped on his lap, did two turns and flopped down with her
chin on his arm. For one of the noblest breeds on the planet, German Shepherds
looked so ridiculous as puppies with one ear up and crooked over, and the secon
d at half-mast.

Mace chortled. “Yes,
she is.”

“Sorry about the mess.
I’ll clean it up.”

“No problem,” he said,
sitting down beside Tony. “As long as you both don’t die of a junk food
overdose, things look in hand.”

“Yeah, went a little
crazy on the cookies
. That was her idea, by the way.”

“No shit.”

Nina came back in the
living room, and aimed straight for the couch. She leaned over and kissed Tony
on the cheek. The guy actually blushed.