Code Name: Nina's Choice (Warrior's Challenge) (17 page)

“Pitiful,
Smithers.”
Mace called out his time. “Do your best, babe,” he said, grazing his fingers
along her backside.

Nina cocked a brow.
“Hope he likes small nuts from this day forward. Maybe that should be his team
name.” She took the rope
from Mace.

His shoulders shook
with laughter and his Hollywood smile tightened his jaw. “Small Nuts it is.”

Nina took in a
steadying breath as she always did before a Tae Kwon Do match.
Her goal, the other end of the pool.
She stepped back and then swung on the
rope with a graceful sweep, turning upside down and reaching for the net.

Speed
and pacing.
Speed and pacing.
Tadpole, who excelled on the course,
repeated it over and over again to her. Her body’s momentum helped he
r reach the ropes, grabbing hold and swinging for the next.
She dropped into the water when she gripped the final one. Her least favorite
thing was the rope ladder, but there was nowhere to go but up. The rings were
easy and she let her body flow with the
lines she
clutched and stepped into each ring, handing off the rope behind her.

The burning in her
arms was the worst. She reached the final ring, and the men below started to
cheer for her.
She
shimmied with quick movements like an inchworm on a willow br
anch.
Ten feet,
five feet.
Her arms and thighs burned with strain. The rope rubbed
coarsely against her palms until she reached the end. She dropped her legs and
let go, relishing the free-fall.

By the time she broke
the surface Mace was there as well as t
he other men.
The instructors were clapping. Mace pulled her from the water with just the
strength in his arms. She breathed out and grinned at Smithers.

“Ms. Samson’s time is
an entire minute under yours, Smithers. Correction,” he said, lifting his
finger
in the air.
“Small Nuts.”
The guys roared with laughter.
“Smithers, you have anything to say to my girl?”

Smithers’ lips moved
like he was chewing grass. “Well done, ma’am.” He nodded at her in respect.

Mace glanced down at
the clipboard in his hand. “Not
sure what you men are
laughing at. She trumped all your times.”

The recruits
’
eyes widened a little and they became thoughtful.

“Never underestimate,”
Mace said
,
turning a contemplative stare on the
recruits. “Never, ever believe that a woman is not capab
le. On deployment you will see things that will sit in your gut and
poison it for the rest of your life. A woman can put you next to a tombstone if
you underestimate her fortitude. You have thirty minutes for lunch.
Dismissed.”

Tony wandered over and
wrapp
ed an arm around her waist. “Way to go, Ninja
girl.”

She nodded.
“Thanks to you guys.
Guess I better go home and get some dry
clothes.”

“We’ll run it, babe.
We can grab something there.” He slipped a hand across her shoulders and pulled
her away from Tony.

Nina stopped, and
turned. “Aren’t you coming?” she asked Tony.

He blushed and glanced
away. “Nah, I’ll get something at the galley, not going to interfere with some
noontime delight.”

“Tony, you’re
blushing,” Nina said laughing. Tony really was a sweethea
rt. Like the other SEALs he was all badass most of the
time, but he had a soft side too.

“Am not,” he spouted
and straightened his shoulders.

“Yeah, man. You are,”
Mace said and laughed.

“Petty Officer
Callahan!” Tinman and Mace turned sharply with the
gruff
call out.

“Great!” Mace
muttered. “Yes, sir,” he answered as Lieutenant Ingram reached them.

“Callahan, grab some
grub and meet me in my office. We’re having a working lunch. I want to discuss
the Phase Two class with you.” The lieutenants’ gaze scan
ned all of them before falling back to Mace.

“Yes,
sir.”

“Fifteen minutes,” he
instructed,
then
marched away.

“What’s up?” Tinman
asked.

“Don’t know,” he said
shaking his head, “but he told me yesterday he doesn’t think we’re working the
class hard enough
, keeping up standards. My guess is
I’m getting a pep talk on not being enough of an asshole from the man in
charge.”

“Something like him?”
Tony said. “The guy’s barely above butt crack when it comes to rank, but he
acts like Admiral of the West Coast chai
n. Better get
the lead out. I’ll grab some lunch with ya.”

“Raincheck,
babe?”
Mace swept in and brushed her mouth with a quick kiss.

“You bet, hotstuff,
see you for dinner.”

When Tony broke ranks
and made a move to follow Mace to the galley, Nina pinched h
is waistband. When he looked at her
,
she whispered, “I need to talk to you.
I’ll make lunch.
Let’s go.”

He questioned her with
a stare and then said, “I forgot, I got to head to admin. I’ll see ya later,
Mace.”

Mace waved before
setting into a jog toward
the galley.

Nina let them into the
apartment. Tony seemed tense and dogged behind her. He quickly put distance
between them by flopping down on the couch and grabbing the TV remote. “I’ll
change and be right back.”

Before turning on the
TV he said, “What’s
this about, Nina?”

“Be right back.”

She found some dry
clothes and rushed back into the kitchen. Building a couple sandwiches, she put
together her thoughts at the same time. This wasn’t going to be an easy sell.
As she set down their lunch on the table
,
she said, “
It’s
ready, T-man.”

He wandered over and
slid out the chair slowly, but kept a wary eye on her. “You going to tell me
what’s going on?” he asked, taking a seat, but not digging into his sandwich.
He leaned back and folded his arms as he waited
for
an explanation.

She fingered a slice
of cheese and lost her appetite. Giving him a determined stare, she said, “I
want you to make love to me.”

Tony’s expression
caved like an old brick building in an earthquake. “What?”

She unscrewed the top
off a sod
a and pushed it toward him. “You heard me. I
need your help, Tony.”

A gust of air
whooshed
from his mouth as he shook his head.
“This is a joke, right?”

“No. I’m sure Mace
told you he still has a barrier,” she paused, “in the bedroom.”

“And what he’s doing
isn’t enough?” His brows arched. “There’s other ways—”

“We have tried
everything.”

“Buy some movies.”

She gave him a
disgusted look.
“Really?
Never thought of that.”
She tossed back a gulp of water to
clear her dry throat, but nothing would help her poun
ding
pulse. “Mace has to get over this issue. It’s all in his head. Nothing has
worked so far. He needs a challenge and I need you to come on to me.”

“And burn our
friendship to the ground?
No way.”

She vaulted from her
chair and dragged it over to Tinman,
sitting knee to
knee. Covering his hands with hers
,
she said, “It has to be you. Anyone else and it won’t work. He’ll get angry
instead of rising to the challenge.”

T-man remained still,
except for the slow shake of his head. “Believe me, when it comes to you, he’ll
be angry no matter
who
it is.”

“Mace told me how you
attacked every hurdle together. When one of you falls behind the other pushes
harder. I want to push
Mace to the point that he
crashes through the obstacle in his mind. He has to believe it, he’ll respond
to it like a challenge.”

Tinman spit out a
laugh and surged out of his chair. “I’d do anything for that guy. I’d give him
anything. My life, my blood, m
y money, but I won’t
give up our friendship, and this would annihilate it. He wouldn’t believe it
anyway.”

Nina got up into his
face. “You can make him believe it.”

“No,” he barked. “I
can’t. Not with you.”

“Why
not?
Tell me why not?” She grabbed his wris
t when he tried
to put distance between them.

The room became very
silent. Tony’s body
tensed,
his stare frightening in its intensity.
Tony gripped her shoulders gently and pushed her into the chair. “It’s real
simple. Mace loves you. Have patience, things
will
happen.”

“We have been patient,
but Mace is driving himself crazy over this. I don’t care that he can’t get an
erection, but he does, and it’s making it worse. I don’t need sex. I need him.”

Tony knelt in front of
her. “I can’t believe I’m talking ab
out this with
you.”

She searched his face,
but all she saw was the warrior façade. “He’d do it for you. He’d do anything
for you.”

“I know that, but this
is different. This will have repercussions. Ones I’m not willing to risk.”

“If I’m willing to
risk it,
you can muster up the balls as well.”

“You’re crazy. You
want me to touch you in front of my best friend? He’s going to go out of his
fucking mind. If I don’t get killed
,
it’ll be a miracle, but he’d never forgive me. There has got to be another
way.”

Nin
a sensed a wee crack in his resolve.
Time to bring out the Jaws of Life.
“Do you love us?”

Tony’s face warped to
angry. “That’s the problem. I do love you.”

She opened her mouth
and then snapped it shut, looking deeper into his eyes. “What?” she said meekl
y.

“Nothing.”
He dropped his hands and backed away.

“Tony?”

He picked up the
sandwich and took a bite, nodding. “It’s good.” He wandered away, and stopped
by the window, staring out over the base.

“You mean like a
sister, right?”

He was silent standing
in
the beam of light that pierced the glass and laid
a sharp path along the old linoleum. “Yeah,” he said gruffly. “Like a sister.”
He took another bite and chewed slowly. She stepped up to him, and gripped his
arm. Tony swallowed and slowly turned to look at
her.
“No, not like a sister, and that’s why I can’t do this.”

Her heart swelled for
her friend. If Tony actually had feelings for her she couldn’t ask him to do
this, but she was out of options. “Tony, you mean the world to me. You’re the
last person I wo
uld have considered a friend, but you
are.” He nodded solemnly and stared at the floor.
 
“I didn’t know.”

“You weren’t supposed
to,” he shot back. “I want to help Mace too, but—ah, shit.” He sighed heavily.

“Hey.” She clutched
his hand and brought it to he
r chest. “It was a
stupid idea anyway.”