Code Name: Nina's Choice (Warrior's Challenge) (6 page)

The phone interrupted
his imminent swoop in a friendly takeover of her mouth. Nina jumped up and
answered it.

“Yes, he’s home. Oh
yeah, Sheila,
right, I remember.” Nina’s fingernails
tapped on the counter impatiently.

Sheila,
uh-oh.
Not good. He scrambled to his feet, but when he looked up she had her hand out
in the universal “stop where you are” signal.

“Yes, I’m staying
here.”
A pause.
“No, he
hasn’t
moved. Why do you ask?” Nina’s shoulders went straight as a board. The green in
her eyes sparked with anger. “It’s for you,” she said holding out the phone.

“Uh, yeah, okay.” He
cleared his throat as he took the phone. Nina’s arms were crossed tight
ly against her chest. Even standing there butt naked and
obviously angry she frazzled his brain cells. “Hello.”

“Hey, gorgeous, how
are you?”

“Sheila,
hello.
Your tour’s over?”

“Yeah, I was thinking
we could hook up tonight.”

Sheila was one of his
go-to
girls. He’d struck most of them off strength
when Nina walked into Base Command. Sheila had shipped out seven months ago.
Calling him after returning stateside meant a few no-strings attached nights
between the sheets.

Nina swiped the towel
from the floor
and promptly left the kitchen.

“I had a run-in with a
few bad guys, Sheila.
Took me out
of commission.”

“I heard. That’s why
I’m calling. I met Nina in the galley a couple weeks ago when I got back. She
told me what happened to you. I wanted to come by. I
just
wanted to see you and have a drink. I also need your opinion on something.
Life-changing stuff, you know. In between, well…great sex, you were always so
easy to talk to. I could use that right now.”

“Uh,
sure.
I mean let’s grab lunch or something next
week. To
talk,” he added hurriedly.

“Tomorrow?” she asked
with a sweet plead attached.

“That
important?”

“Kinda is.”

“I’ll be finished my
physio around noon. Tinman and I can meet you at Breakers.”

“I don’t really want
an audience, Mace. I get that you an
d Nina have
something going on. I just want to talk.”

He cranked a look over
his shoulder. Nina hadn’t surfaced. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Bye,
sweetie.”
Sheila hung up.

He hoped that was just
a friendly goodbye. When he stopped in the doorway of his bedro
om, Nina was fully dressed and furiously straightening up
the room. She’d taken it over while he threw a sheet on the couch at night.
He’d hoped after today that would change. Nina swept through the space like a
tornado, straightening, tucking and re-strai
ghtening.
“Look at me.” Stubborn Nina was full speed ahead. Did she really think that he
would meet up with a woman with her in his life? “She’s a friend, Nina.”

“Sure.” The tight
response was tossed over her shoulder as she attacked the small closet.

“Fri
ends, Nina. That’s it.”

“You don’t need to
explain.”

“If I don’t, you’re
going to be painting the place next.” He couldn’t keep the grin from sprouting.
It quickly vanished when she whirled around and glared at him. “Baby, I don’t
deserve that look.”

“I
need to go grocery shopping,” she said trying to whistle
past him, but he grabbed her around the waist halting her progress.

“Nina, she wants a
shoulder. That’s all she’ll get from me. I trust you. Do you trust me?”

Nina searched his
eyes, biting down on w
ords she wanted to spill. “She
drilled me to find out when you were coming home from Germany. I’ve been
fielding lots of calls since you’ve been gone, Mace.” Nina illustrated with her
fingers.
“Jacie, Connie, two
Susans, Tammy, a Karen and a Sadie.”
Her ex
pression
went stone cold. “You’re a busy guy with lots of ready and waiting nursemaids.
I didn’t write their numbers down; I trust you have them all.”

His redhead’s temper
torqued. “I do, but I don’t need them anymore, and I’ve never asked any of them
to c
ome home with me. Nina, we both have a past, but
it’s you I want in my future. Are we going to make one?” He took a chance
leaning closer and brushing her lips with a gentle kiss. “I don’t want to sleep
on the couch anymore. It’s going to drive me nuts, bu
t
I want you in my arms at night.”

She looked uneasily at
him. “I’m a mother, Mace. Gabbs is my one and only mission. With everything
going on here and her so far away—” She put a little distance between them. “As
soon as the Shark is caught I’m a full-tim
e mom
again, and I’ll be bringing Gabbs to San Diego. School, sports, sleepovers,
trying to find someone to care for her when I’m at work, and juggle a single
mom’s life, it’s a handful.”

He nodded
understanding. When they were together they lost sight of
their priorities. His was getting back on combat duty. Hers
was creating a home for Gabbs. He hadn’t even thought of the ramifications when
life returned to normal. Maybe they
should
slow things down. “We’ll work it out,
Nina, but one thing won’t change.”
Twisting a curl of
red hair around his finger, he watched it unravel, waiting for her to let go of
the breath she’d taken, but hadn’t released. “No matter how you fit me in your
life, it’s only you, not Sadie or Karen. Nina has my full attention.” She didn
’t move. “Do you copy, over?”

“Good copy,” she
breathed.

Pinning her against
the wall, he kissed the pulse beating in her neck. With small nips he made his
way to her ear. “You’re so beautiful when you’re tense with need.” Her eyes
closed, and he gently bi
t the edge of her jaw. “Your
pleasure is my one and only mission right now.” Her nipples hardened and peaked
against her T-shirt. His hand slid under her shirt, and his pulse deepened with
the feel of her skin. Grasping her hand, he led her into the bedroo
m, depositing her near the bed. He slowly sat down in the
leather chair. “Undress,” he ordered in a low voice, and leaned back. “On the
bed, and you’re going to do exactly what I tell you.” Heat wavered between them
as he watched his sultry drink of water
and her
incredible
body kneel
, her legs spread just enough to make
his temperature rise to boiling. She had the greatest pair of thighs in the
world. Sleek.
Toned.
They were meant to be spread, and her
body cherished.
“How do you want me
to touch you, baby
?
Show me.”

A heavy knock landed
on the front door, and his head dropped back in frustration, smacking the wall.
“We’re not home,” he growled.

Nina shimmied off the
bed and quickly dressed. “Yes, we are. It could be about Kayla.”

He followed her into
the l
iving room, waiting by the kitchen table. Every
time he looked at it from this point forward he’d grin. Nina answered the door.
Martin Davis, Team Three, the SEAL on duty stood with a serious scowl on his
features.

“Spill it, Davis,” he
said, but he knew
what was coming.

“Thought
you’d want to know.
They’ve just found another body.”

“Where?”
Nina said gripping the door.

“Garbage bin, east
side of the Grinder.”

Mace held his breath
and he could see Nina’s body tense. “Is it…?” Oh fuck, please God, no! “Is i
t Kayla?” he asked because Nina had gone stiff as marble.

“Don’t know,” Davis
said, shaking his head.

Nina blinked and
turned to look at him. “Let’s go.”

“Okay.”

The pain in his leg
forgotten, the three of them walked to the Grinder. The scene was easy to
find because it swarmed with people. They cut through the
crowd. None of them had spoken a word on the way over. Lieutenant Manchester,
the lead NCIS investigator for the Blood Shark killings, saw them and
intercepted.

His brow was pressed
into hard lines.
“It’s not her,” he said, answering
their unspoken question.

Nina actually bent
over releasing a deep breath. Mace corralled her in his arms.
“Who then?”

“Lieutenant
Manchester,” another man in the NCIS division they’d all gotten to know called
out. A few
people moved aside and the body became
visible. Mace’s blood ran cold. He’d seen the pictures of the other slaughtered
women. Nina hadn’t.

“Oh, my God,” she
said, her hand covering her mouth.

“Two women have gone
missing in the last week. This is Casey Tod
d, a
Marine.”

“Casey Todd,” Mace
choked on her name. Nina squeezed his waist.

“Did you know her?”
Nina asked.

“Yeah,” he said, his
eyes wandering to the slaughtered remains lying on the pavement.

Lieutenant Manchester
surveyed him like he did everyone with
a reserved
look that tipped more on the side of suspicion. Even though he knew the team,
until the Shark was caught, anyone could be guilty.

“I—” The other women
who’d been murdered were strangers to him. There was no connection, until now.
“I knew her.”
Casey was a beautiful young woman. She
had the brightest smile, and an image of it settled in his mind. Her deep brown
hair spread across a pillow and big beautiful brown eyes looking up at him.
They’d laughed a lot, and loved a lot, but she’d wanted a rin
g, and at twenty-three, still wet behind the ears as a
SEAL, marriage wasn’t on the radar.

“When was the last
time you saw her?” Manchester queried.

He shook his head.
“I’ve been gone since February. I don’t know, uh, maybe last summer?”

“Were you friends
or more than that?” Manchester asked.

He stalled. Nina
squeezed him again. “
It’s
okay, Mace,” she said quietly.

“More
than that.”
They’d hooked up once early last year. By that time she wasn’t looking for a
ring anymore, she’d just wanted to have a good ti
me,
and they had.

Manchester evaluated
his answer and nodded. “Her boyfriend is over there,” he said twisting.

It was easy to
identify him. The guy stood within a circle of Marines who all had a hand on
him. He wept, his hands gripping his friends’ arms to
steady
himself
.

“He’d just asked her
to marry him.” Manchester’s scowl deepened.
“Shame.”

Manchester’s sympathy
was as cold as he was, but Mace imagined it came from many years of dealing
with death. It was hard to keep your empathy intact.

Someone called
Manchester again and he waved. “There’s still nothing on
Kayla. I’ll let you know if there is.”

“Sir, if you don’t
mind, I’d like to come see you tomorrow. I want to look through Kayla’s
things,” Nina asked.

“Why?”

“I want to check
something. Can I come
in the afternoon?”

Manchester pulled out
his phone and tapped something into it. “One o’clock, I’ll be in my office.” He
wandered into the melee of men hovering around the body.

Nina pulled on Mace’s
arm, but he couldn’t take his eyes off Casey.
Blood.
Dea
th.
It was a staple in a warrior’s life on
the battlefield, but not here. Not with someone like Casey, who deserved a
long, happy life. He swallowed a dry lump and twined his fingers with Nina’s.
Her warmth seeped into him, and a flag of determination flip
ped up, waving in his conscience. His gaze veered to the
grief-stricken Marine, who no doubt thought if one of them would be taken, it
would be him. How fucking awful to fall in love and have it ripped away like
this.