Code Name: Ghost (A Warrior's Challenge 1) (9 page)

The muscles in his arms tensed. “She’s
not.”

“Yes, she does. I caught her doing it three
nights ago, and I’ve been walking her to the bus every night.”

“I know that.”

Holy shit!
The Commander had been
following her?
“Sir, um—”

“Mace, I don’t want you fraternizing with my
Ka…with my staff. Do you understand?”

Technically, Kayla and he did fall under the
Commander’s command, but Captain Redding was her direct reporting
officer. With him being a SEAL, and she working in another
department, they weren’t breaking any rules. “Sir, again with all
due respect, why do you care?”

The Commander had leniency, but an order was
a different matter. “Because it’s not appropriate.”

Appropriate! What the fuck was going on
here?
“She doesn’t know anyone here, sir.”

“I’m sure she’ll make friends.”

“I never see her talking to anyone else. She
comes, she works, she leaves.”

The Commander glared at him, working his
cheek at the same time. “I’m sure you have plenty of other women to
keep you company, Mace. Ms. Banks has enough on her plate right
now. She doesn’t need you chasing her skirt.”

“Commander, she’s from another country.”

“Obviously.”

“She doesn’t have a family. I’m just trying
to be a friend.” Okay, so maybe he wanted more than that and knew
it was unlikely, but hell… “She’s got you glaring at her all the
time like you hate her and want her to leave.”

His scowl disintegrated. “Did she say
that?”

He crossed his arms over his chest.
“Maybe.”

The Commander’s head swiveled toward the ops
room, and his brows flexed with concern. “That’s not my
intent.”

“Maybe not, sir, but that’s how it’s coming
across.”

“I’ll talk to her.”

“She’s not concerned. She says she’s
survived far worse than you.”

A rare grin cracked the Commander’s
expression. “Did she now?”

“We’re deploying in a few days, and Kayla
doesn’t seem to take the threat of the Blood Shark seriously.”

The Commander sighed, palming the edge of
the desk. “I know that, too, but I’m not sure why.”

“She’s right in the Shark’s zone.”

“I agree, she’s exactly what he’s
hunting.”

His frustration stalled. “You mean
brunette.” A thought stirred in the back of his mind, but he
disregarded it instantly.

“That—yes, but her age and...” He cleared
his throat. “Ms. Banks is an intelligent woman. She’ll take
precautions.”

“Hasn’t so far, sir, that’s why I’m
worried.” He watched the Commander, his expression unreadable.

“She hasn’t mentioned anything to you, has
she?”

“About what, sir?”

The Commander gave a small shrug. “About her
life before coming here.”

“Why, is there something wrong?”

Folding his hands together and with a quick
narrowing of his eyes, he said, “She’s…” He cleared his throat
again, “different than the other women I’ve seen come in here. Her
work is exemplary.”

“I’m not suggesting how to command, sir, but
maybe you should tell her that.”

“Red will give her an evaluation like
everyone else, Mace.”

Typical Commander Austen, he didn’t
compliment. You only knew when you screwed up, and in short order,
otherwise you could take it for granted you were doing a descent
job. He’d explained that to Kayla as well.

“Getting back to the point of this
conversation, you don’t have to be concerned about her safety,” the
Commander said, gazing through the window in her direction.

The Commander continually strategized. If
he’d been watching her already, then he probably had a plan to keep
her safe. He might not like her working in Base Command, but he
wasn’t a heartless bastard either. “Sir?”

“Hmm, yes, Mace?” jerking his attention back
to him. “Right—you can stand down. Nothing is going to happen to
Snow White. I’ll have security escort her.”

Why did he feel like he was trying to play
chess against the master? “I don’t mind escorting her.”

“Not necessary,” the Commander said sharply
and rose from his desk.

This made no sense at all. “Are you giving
me a direct order to stay away from her?” He shook his head. “I
don’t get it.”

The Commander shot a warning look at him.
“Do I have to?”

Mace chewed on his lip, and mustered a hefty
set of balls. “I don’t think you can, sir. What we do in private
isn’t the Navy’s business.”
He was fuckin’ dead
. “To be
honest, she’s beautiful and she’s nice. Can you blame me?”

The Commander’s body stiffened and he took a
deep breath. Strolling around his desk, he sat down, and lowered a
look on him like a sailing ship lowers a boom. His lips twitched.
“I suppose not.”

He took that as—what? He wasn’t sure.

“Ms. Banks is a—charming woman.”

A flicker in the Commander’s tightened jaw
signified he was still pissed. They both looked through the window
into the ops room as the rest of the team filtered out. “What
little I know of her, and she doesn’t share much, I really like—a
lot.”

“I can see that,” the Commander responded
with a disapproving tone.

One of the guys knocked on the door,
probably Tony. He wanted to stop by Breakers tonight and throw back
a few.

The Commander’s head bobbed. “Your wingman
needs you. I’d suggest you find some young thing at the bar to keep
you occupied.”

How the fuck did he do that? It was like he
could read minds, and he did it all the time. “Yeah, team’s hitting
Breakers.”

“Do that.”

“I’ll be back at eleven to pick up Kayla.”
He didn’t give a shit what the Commander wanted, although he
couldn’t figure out why he was so against them spending time
together.

“She’s my responsibility. You can focus on
other things. Now get the hell outta here, and stop panting at her
ankles. You haven’t got a hope in hell. You’re dismissed, Petty
Officer Callahan.”

“Ms. Banks, this is a fine neighborhood with
schools—”

“I don’t have children,” she said, crossing
her arms and getting the distinct feeling her choice of realtors
was a poor one. With dark eyes and his hair overly coiffed, he
looked too slick for her liking. Taking him up on his offer to show
her some good bargains in real estate seemed like a good idea at
the time. The expensive gold nugget rings on his fingers said he
was either a crook or very good at his job. She was leaning toward
crook.

“The area has some great parks and—”

“I kind of wanted something on the
oceanfront. Maybe La Jolla,” she added. “I take the bus to work so
it has to be close to a bus line.” She wasn’t quite sure where they
were, but quite a few miles to the west by the looks of it.
Surrounded by desolate beach and sparsely inhabited hillside, it
just didn’t feel right.

“There are so many bus lines in San Diego
you could throw a rock and hit one,” he stated, waving his hand
through the air.

“Mr. Summers, maybe I should—”

“This is a very good area for singles as
well,” he said.

If they didn’t stop interrupting each
other’s sentences, they weren’t going to get anywhere. “I think
maybe I should do a little more homework, then I can give you
exactly the area I’m looking for.” They stood on a seawall winding
its way along the shore. The waves rolled up the sand with a
peaceful crawl, and the sun beat down on them, but something just
wasn’t right.

“Real estate is pretty hot right now, Ms.
Banks. You might like something I show you, but within a day it’ll
be…” His eyes widened, and he took a disconcerted step
backwards.

“Is something wrong?”

“I doubt that’s the case.” There was a pause
and then the deep voice continued with a dangerous edge. “Chester,
is it?”

She recognized the voice immediately and
swung around. The Commander towered above her, his upper body
glistening with sweat. The pecs on the man bulged and rolled into
sexy rolls of rock-hard abs. His hands rested on his hips just
above his jogging pants, appearing relaxed. So why the hell did she
feel waves of power radiating from him like a nuclear reactor had
gone off? “Ah, Commander Austen, hello.”

“Ms. Banks.” His cool blue eyes burned with
agitation as he looked over her head at Mr. Summers. The realtor
backed up another step closer to his car with the big splashy logo
that touted,
Chester Summers a realtor you can rely on
, and
his face plastering most of the door.

“I thought I would show Ms. Banks some real
estate options, since she’s new to the area.”

“Then why aren’t you?” he asked sharply.
“She works on Coronado, what are doing in Oceanside? She takes the
bus.”

“Yes, sir,” Summers said, uncomfortably “I
just thought,” He paused. “Are you her—are you a friend? She hadn’t
really indicated what it was she wanted, so I just went ahead and
showed her some good opportuni—”

“I think—” the Commander began, putting up
his hand for Summers to shut down his slimy excuses, and gazed into
her eyes. “You should use a friend of mine. He’s a good realtor.
He’ll show you what you want to see.”

She nodded. “Thank you for the offer,
Commander.”

“Did you drive here or did Chester bring
you?” he asked.

“Ah, well—he did.”

His chin shot up and he gave Summers another
cool glance. “I’ll take you home. Thanks for your
time—Chester.”

Walk away with a slimy realtor and get
inundated with a guilt trip about how much time he’d spent with her
thus far, showing her everything except what she wanted to see, or
go with the Commander. Yeah, that choice took all of a second.
Follow the panty-melting Adonis, tough one.

“Not the wisest choice of realtors,” the
Commander noted as he steered her in the direction of a parking lot
a couple hundred feet away.

“I know. I’d pretty much decided to deep-six
him after today.” Sand rolled on for miles, but few people were
enjoying it. “Do you live around here, sir?” she asked, keeping her
eyes front instead of savoring his toned shape. Ogling one of her
bosses was not professional, but the man was architecturally
perfect in every biological sense.

“I have a place on Coronado. It’s really too
big for me, but I like the area and it has what I need when I’m
home.” He glanced along his molded shoulder at her. “You’ll have to
excuse the uniform. I was out for a jog.”

She shook her head and kept her eyes on the
scenery. The California hills grew like brown mounds from the rocky
ground. Green foliage sprouted here and there where someone had
taken the time to use their green thumb and a lot of water. Houses
dotted the hillside and palm trees instead of tall Cedar trees like
she was used to, sprung from backyards. What was he doing so far
away from the base? There were miles of beach closer than this if
he lived in one of the developments on the island. “This seems like
a nice area, although a little quiet.”

“I don’t think you’d be comfortable here.”
He stopped at a silver-green Aston Martin. Obviously, commanders
made more money than she thought. Popping the trunk, he grabbed a
towel and dried himself off. Seeing men sweat didn’t do a thing for
her, at least until now, watching the cloth glide over his tanned,
taut skin. She glanced away, but not before seeing the fine hair
that drew a line from his sexy navel to below his waistline. A
naughty pulse stabbed between her thighs.
Merde
. She hadn’t
felt that part of her take a gasping breath for a long time.

Pulling a shirt over his head, it nestled
against him like a second skin. It would take her a while to forget
what lay under the fabric. He had to be in his thirties like her. A
SEAL required strength and agility, and every ripped rolling muscle
on his body confirmed it. A couch potato would never last a day as
a SEAL.

The Commander glanced at his watch and
crossed his arms on the roof of the car. “It’s almost dinner time,”
he said.

“You can drop me off at a bus stop or point
me in the right direction.” A couple with their arms entwined
caught her attention. Young and obviously in love, she watched
them. Noting the Commander’s silence, she looked over the car at
him.

He offered a half-smile, “I’m taking you
home at least.”

She deliberated for a second, and then
opened the door. They drove the highway running along the ocean,
and she settled back in the comfortable seat to watch the sun begin
its afternoon arc. The traffic wasn’t very heavy and the Commander
kept a light foot on the accelerator.

He cleared his throat and looked over at
her. “There must be a lot of waterfront property where you come
from?”

Tucking her elbow on the top of the door and
propping her head in her palm, she said, “Not unless you want to
live in a tent by a tree, otherwise the price is a little
prohibitive.”

“What Chester the sleazebag said, isn’t
exactly true. Real estate is in a slump right now. You’re probably
going to get a great deal with some patience.”

“I hope so. Patience I have. Things are a
little different here than in Canada, but I’ve been approved for a
mortgage, and I think I can get what I want. I can’t wait to wake
up in the morning and have coffee on my balcony, looking out over
the ocean.” Just the thought brought a huge smile to her lips.

“I can see that,” he said, changing lanes
and overtaking a slow poke ahead of them.

She hadn’t learned her way around yet, but a
large green sign and a small strip mall cued her to the fact they’d
just roared past her street. “Um, I think you just missed my
turnoff.”

Another grin crossed his lips. That was two
in the span of thirty minutes. Now she wished he’d go back to his
steely expression, because the smile made him look like a totally
different man. A very sexy, warm-hearted one—double shit!