Code Name: Nina's Choice (Warrior's Challenge) by Natasza Waters Page A

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