Code Name: Nina's Choice (Warrior's Challenge) (23 page)

“I don’t want to sound
like your father. You’ve got one already, but it’s—marriage, and Nin
a has—responsibilities,” Ghost stated firmly. He took a
long draw off his beer and stretched for the menu.

Unanticipated anger
made him speak without thinking. “Gabbs is not a
duty,
she’s a brilliant, spirited little girl. I might not be
wealthy like you,
but I can support them both.
Where’s the fucking memo that says I can’t be happy too?”

Ghost’s jaw clenched
as he dropped the menu to the table. “There isn’t one, Petty Officer Callahan,
but marriage is a commitment.”

He fired back. “You
don’t think I know
that? I’m not twenty-years-old,
sir.” Mace swept the box up and shoved it in his pocket.

The squad’s heads
ponged back and forth, but they kept the mute button on instead of intervening.

“You start workups in
early December and then deployment follows tha
t.
You’re going to ask her to marry you and then leave her? Is that wise?”

The aura around Ghost
shifted. He’d asked the questions, but Mace knew he didn’t want a response.
He’d worked with Ghost long enough to know when the conversation was over. The
othe
r guys looked just as confused, but they jumped
into shop talk, leaving Mace to wonder what he had missed.

* * * *

Pushing the patio
doors open Nina shouted, “Kayla!” Her eyes glanced across the elegant, but
manly interior of Ghost’s home. Since he’d proposed, Kayla had been living with
him. Ghost had gone to crazy ends to make the house kid-friendly. Kayla would
roll
her eyes and point out Adam couldn’t even turn
over yet, but that didn’t stop Ghost from covering every outlet and removing
breakables to above the three-foot water mark.

Kayla strolled down
the hall. “Just put him down.” She stopped. “Whoo, what’s wrong?
The air around you is blue.”

“Very
fucking funny.
You’ll never guess who just showed up at work. I just took the rest of the
afternoon off.”

“I’ll put on a full
pot of coffee. Sit.”

“I need alcohol,” Nina
spit back.

“You get coffee. Now
sit.”

“I can’t.” Ni
na rounded the kitchen island while Kayla watched with a
wrinkled brow. She lapped it six times before stopping for a breath. “I’m dying
here.” Fingernails tapped the granite top in quick succession. “You’re supposed
to ask ‘what’s wrong?’”

Kayla walked to
the quaint mahogany kitchen table and pulled out the
chair.
“All right.
What’s wrong?”

“As if you didn’t
know,” she shouted and threw up her hands.

A quick, uncomfortable
smile appeared on Kayla’s face. “Mugs are in that cupboard behind you, so are
the fi
lters and coffee,” she said, sitting down.

Nina grabbed two mugs
and snagged the milk from the fridge.

“Did you tell him
Gabbs is his daughter?”

“No, he knew that
already. I just confirmed it.” She buried her face in her hands. “Why the hell
doesn’t he
have a wife and six kids?”

Kayla cleared her
throat and Nina peeked through her hands at her. “Is the problem that he wants
to know Gabbs or is it because he wants to know you? As I remember you had a
serious heart palpation as you described it. Is it stil
l there, and now you’re fretting about hurting Mace?”

She shook her head.
“I’m worried about Gabbs. This is going to be confusing.”

“Nina.” She added milk
to both mugs. “You know as well as I that kids are versatile. They haven’t had
enough life experience
to do anything other than
sense your vibes. If she sees you are okay with this, she’ll be okay with this.
Did you tell him about Mace?”

“Yes, but I don’t
think he’s really taking me seriously. He’s just remembering a week of hot sex,
but he was serious ab
out wanting to know Gabbs.” Nina
sighed loudly. “This doesn’t impact my and Mace’s relationship, but it will
impact Mace and Gabbs’, maybe.”

“Good to hear you say
that,” Ghost commented and settled in an empty chair. “I’ll have one of those,
sweetheart.”

“
What are you doing home early?” Kayla asked.

As Ghost opened his
mouth, Nina said, “Do you ever have a loud footstep? You’re a fucking monster,
why the hell doesn’t anyone hear you coming?”

Now that Ghost was
off-duty, the decorum could be dropped and she
could
take all her frustrations out on him. He was a man, after all.

He ignored her while
Kayla settled a mug in front of him, and Ghost took the opportunity to clutch
her in his arms. The kiss that should have been saved for private went on and
on
like
a
rechargeable
battery.

“Seriously, I’m having
a crisis here and you guys are making out.”

Both Kayla and Ghost
laughed, but it succeeded in cutting the epic kiss short. Ghost didn’t want to
let his fiancée go and pulled her onto his lap. “Nina, it’s not a c
risis.” Ghost said, reassuring her. “
There’s
lots of blended families out there.
Gabbs will love having Wade in her life.”

“Mace is…” She
stalled, realizing Mace had been relegated to stepdad, not Gabbs’ one and only
dad. Maybe that’s what was upsetting he
r.

“Mace will adjust,”
Kayla added.

“You two are
freaks,
you do know that, right?” Nina shoved
her chair back. “I mean you’re not supposed to know what everyone is thinking.
And you both do it. It’s weird.”

Kayla grinned and
Ghost wasn’t going to let such
close quarters go
unattended. He kissed her cheek. “How’s our son?”

“Fed and sleeping.”

“Maybe that’s because
he’s up half the night?”

“He is?” Kayla sat up.
“What the…?”

“Sweetheart, you’re
tired, you’re not hearing him cry.”

“I should hear my
son.” She l
ooked instantly worried.

Ghost shook his head
at her. “I need coffee or a nap.”

“Nap.”
Kayla stood up.

“Put me to bed,
sweetheart.”

“Thane, I think
there’s something a little more—”

Instead of arguing he
grasped Kayla’s hand and pulled her behind him. “She
’ll
be right back, Nina.”

Gawd.
Nina rolled her eyes.

A couple minutes later
Kayla was back and she was wearing her benign face. “Oh, no you don’t. He
didn’t want to be put to bed. He wanted to tell you something.” She pinned a
glare on her friend.

“I
obviously trained you too well.”

“Tell me. Kayla, I
swear I’ll go Ninja nuts on you if you don’t.”

“When are you going to
tell Mace?”

“Tonight.
I know this is going to bother him. I
just don’t know how much.”

“Ah, okay well…he’ll,
you’ll,” she corrected,
“adjust. I think, um, you
should get it off your shoulders right away. Then enjoy your night together.”

Had she just been
sidestepped? She wasn’t sure. “I guess so. We haven’t had any real private time
since Gabbs got here.”

Kayla bent over and
hugged her.
“You’ll work it out together. Mace has a
good head and a big heart. I’ll get us that coffee.”

Nina worried her
thumbnail.
He doesn’t have a choice. None of us has
a choice, except Mace.
She gnawed harder. He could choose to walk away from them.
Nobody in
his family was divorced. Some of his
siblings had been married for many years. Her parents had been married for
thirty. Why was this bothering her so much? Ghost was right. There were lots
and lots of blended families and it worked.

“Stop that,” Kayla
grow
led, filling her cup.

“Oh, shut up, Cruella Deville.
You two make me sick.”

Kayla laughed and
chucked a napkin at her. “I thought the same thing about you and Mace. No
baggage. No hidden skeletons.
Young.
You’ve got it all.”

“No baggage?” She
grunted. “It
just showed up.
All hundred and eighty pounds of it.”

* * * *

Mace paced around his
apartment for thirty minutes. He fingered the ring box in his pocket, heart on
his sleeve, and
a sheen
of sweat on his brow. Tony looked up
from the game and gave him a c
urled brow.

“You look a little
nervous there, bud.”

“Sure, make a joke.
One day you’ll be in my boots and you’re getting it back tenfold.”

“Doubt it.”

Mace stopped in front
of the TV and Tony leaned to see around him. “You trying to tell me you’re
never ge
tting married?”

“Doing
just fine, buddy.
Me, Tadpole and Ed are having a good time, while you’re
headed for wedded bliss with Ninja Grasshopper and helping squirt with her
homework.”

“I’m going. Don’t
leave a mess in my sink, asshole.”

“Good luck.” Tony wa
ved and gave him a salute.

Five minutes later he
rolled to a stop in Nina’s driveway. He drove because he’d planned to take Nina
to a restaurant in San Diego proper.

“Mace!”
Gabbs met him at the door.

“Hi,
Little Red.”
She gave him a kiss and he carried he
r into the
living room.

“Mom’s still getting
pretty for you.”

He smiled and plunked
her feet on the sofa. “You want to take anything with you to Cobbs’ place?” She
pointed behind him and he saw a little knapsack leaning against the wall.

“A SEAL is always
prepared,” she said with a decisive nod of her head.

He broke out laughing.
“Yes, they are.”

“How come
there’s no SEAL girls
?” Gabbs asked, crawling onto his lap
and slinging a small arm around his neck.

“Ah, well—”

“Because the U.S. Navy
is filled with
chauvinistic bastards,” Nina said,
strolling into the room.

Holy heaven and hell
rolled into one woman. His heart nearly leaped out of his chest. Nina’s legs
went on forever before they hit the short green, body-hugging dress. How could
it be, even though
he’d seen her naked so many times,
that his dick went stiff every single time his eyes landed on this woman? She’d
stacked her hair on top of her head, and wisps curled around her cheeks. She
was the only woman for him, and suddenly he couldn’t get to the
restaurant fast enough. That ring was coming out the second
they were seated. He’d sweated over how to ask her. Should he wait? Have it
brought out as the fourth course? Now he knew the answer.

With three inch heels,
which just added
more sexy
to her statu
re,
he was a total soul slave to this woman, and he was going to make sure she kept
those on tonight, but the rest was coming off with a slow, sensual touch. By
the time his finger circled her favorite
place,
she’d be coming hard and panting his
name.

“Mom
my, you’re so pretty!” Gabbs said, staring up at her
mother. “I hope I grow up to look like you.”