Code Name_War 0f Stones

by Natasza Waters

  It had taken a bit of thoughtful sleuthing and polishing the grey matter for her to come up with a theory after her dad’s comment this afternoon about Adam figuring things out. Talking with him just now pretty much sealed the deal.

  She grinned. The question was whether Kels loved Adam as much as he obviously loved her.

  * * * *

  Austen BBQ launch in three…two…one!

  “Hey, hey!” Uncle Mace called out from the side gate. “Look who we picked up at the airport.”

  “Gabs! Oh my God.” Sloane and Kels ran toward their friend and met in a three-way embrace.

  Patrick Callahan, Gabs’ brother, walked across the patio with a gleaming, white smile. “What about me? Don’t I get some lovin’ too?”

  He wrapped his muscled arms around them all and they laughed.

  “How did you get time off, Patrick?” Sloane asked, backing away from the group hug.

  Adam appeared and he and Patrick bumped fists. “Gabs and I met at the Victoria airport and we flew from there. I wasn’t going to miss the annual BBQ.”

  “Those Canadians are going to rub off on you, if you stay too long.” Adam teased.

  Patrick’s Hollywood good looks, just like his father Mace, eclipsed into a smile. “Probably.” He turned and grinned at a beautiful young woman who stood with his parents, Aunt Nina and Uncle Mace. “Come and meet the gang, honey.” He waved her over. “Posse, I’d like you to meet, Ashley—my fiancé.”

  Sloane’s hands cupped her mouth. Holy shit. Patrick was never coming home if he was engaged to a Canadian. Ashley, a petite, dark-haired girl with beautiful blue eyes approached them wearing a friendly smile. Everyone took turns introducing themselves.

  “Ashley is a registered nurse at Victoria General.”

  Patrick had followed in his grandfather’s footsteps as a neurology specialist, currently working his way through his internship. Because his mom, Nina, was Canadian, both Gabs and Patrick had dual-citizenship, just like Sloane and Adam.

  Adam winked at Ashley. “Let’s get you guys set up with something to drink.”

  Gabs, Kels and Sloane remained in a huddle.

  “Patrick’s getting married. I never thought that would happen,” Kels said.

  Gabs flipped a swath of red hair across her shoulder and grinned. “Yeah, me neither, but even my brother, the slut, fell hard. How the hell are you gals?”

  They herded Gabs to a clutch of chairs and sat down for a minute.

  “There’s more work to be done, but let’s have a drink,” Kels suggested. “I’ll be back in a second.”

  “I’m in for hard labor. What do you need?” Gabs asked.

  “Need you to update us on your adventures in the Great White North.” Sloane sat on the end of a lounger.

  “I love living on Vancouver Island. I’m close to my grandparents and I don’t mind not frying my ass off in the heat during the summer. Man, it’s hot here.”

  Sloane laughed. “You’ll acclimatize.”

  Kels returned with pear ciders and handed each girl a frosty, chilled bottle.

  Gabs accepted the bottle. “How’s the family lawyer these days?”

  They tipped their bottles together, then drank. Parched, the cider slid down Sloane’s throat, relieving the dryness.

  “Business is good. No end to crime in the near future,” Kels answered. “What about you, Gabs? Don’t think I ever expected you to become a vet. I thought you would enlist like Uncle Mace and Aunt Nina.”

  Gabs chuckled. “Mom would have killed me if I’d enlisted. These days, I’m too busy. Mom probably told you I opened my own veterinary clinic. Long hours, but I love it. Thanks to my grandparents, I have great clientele who adore their animals, sometimes more than their own kids.”

  “And what about your love life, Gabs? Anyone special hanging around looking for more than doggy treats?” Sloane asked.

  Gabs laughed. “Kinda learned my lesson after my louse of a husband cheated on me. Guess I’m a little more careful now, but I’ve been casually seeing another vet. He has his own practice in Langford.”

  Sloane finished her cider in record time and settled the bottle on the smooth tiles that surrounded the pool. “You’re never coming back here, are you?”

  Gabs shrugged. “This will always be my childhood home, but I love Canada. Love the people. Other than not seeing Mom and Dad more often, I really don’t have a good reason to come back. And I can hop on a plane anytime I want.” She smiled. “What about you, Sloane? Mom said you caved and joined the Navy.”

  “For now. I like working at Coronado.”

  “I bet,” Gabs said, smiling. “Plenty of hot guys for a young woman to drool over.”

  Kels snorted. “She’s anti-Navy when it comes to that.”

  Sloane paused for a second, then said, “You going to tell her?”

  Kels shifted uncomfortably in her chair.

  Piquing Gabs’ interest, she asked, “As in?”

  Sloane didn’t want to steal Kels thunder, but she was taking too long to answer. More guests filtered through the side gate, coming in family packs and groups of single male SEALs. The show Thunder Down Under had nothing on these guys. They strolled in wearing swim trunks or board shorts and a t-shirt tossed over bronzed shoulders. Some brought girlfriends, but the younger ones came solo. Although Sloane told herself she wasn’t checking every face for one in particular, that would be a lie.

  When Kels started to answer, it brought Sloane’s attention back to their convo. “You met Morgan last Christmas, remember?”

  Gabs nodded. “Yeah, nice guy. He’s a musician, right?”

  Kels’ gaze strayed to a pack of SEALs over by the SEAL Cave. Adam was one of them. “I—uh—he asked me to marry him.”

  Gabs refrained from voicing a quick congratulations.

  Gripping the neck of her cider bottle, Kels’ knuckles turned white. “I stayed at Mom’s last night, but Morgan and I talked this morning on the phone. He said he has a gig in L.A., so he can’t come to the party.”

  Sloane’s instincts alarmed. “Morgan lives here in San Diego. He could drop by in the afternoon, if he wanted to.”

  A flit of a smile crossed Kels’ face. “Guess he could, but I told him not worry about it.”

  Sloane and Gabs shared a glance. “We better get up before one of our mothers catch us slacking off,” Sloane suggested.

  Gabs laughed. “Yeah, nothing like being bawled out as an adult in front of several”—her brows rose—“extremely hot guys. Huh, maybe I should move back here.”

  Kels collected their bottles and headed toward the large recycle bin sitting under the eve of the SEAL Cave. Adam’s buddies had moved off but he remained, seeing Kels coming his way.

  “Something I should know about?” Gabs asked watching Kels approach Adam.

  Sloane lifted a shoulder. “I’m not sure. She’ll tell us when she’s ready. Let’s go find out what our orders are.”

  * * * *

  Adam leaned against the SEAL Cave with his arms crossed. Kelsey wasn’t on stage relinquishing the final piece of clothing in a striptease, but her body reacted that way under his watchful eye as she crossed the lawn. She put her courtroom expression in place and intended to keep it there.

  Within reaching distance, Adam plucked the bottles from her hand and tipped the lid of the bin open with one finger, tossing the empties inside.

  “Thanks.”

  They’d avoided each other last night and this morning as much as possible. At least, she avoided him after his childish prank of dumping her in the pool.

  “When’s the asshole coming?” he finally asked.

  Instead of answering, she opted for silence and turned to walk away.

  “Giving me the silent treatment isn’t going to erase that night,” he stated harshly.

  She nearly jumped back in his direction. “Shut up, Adam. Not so friggin’ loud.”

  “You’re too damn afraid of other people’s opinions.”

 
; “We were drunk.” She swallowed thickly. “We were—younger.” Kels wanted to stick her head and heart in the sand forever on the subject.

  Adam’s large shoulders rose with a caustic chuckle. The summer sun shining down on his hair made her fingers itch to touch the thick, blond mop. Worse—a golden sheen of sweat covered his broad, tanned chest. Women rated him as a fifteen out of ten. She’d heard the stories in senior year about the up and coming Adam Austen, quarterback and most popular guy.

  Adam swiped a soda can from the lawn and tossed it into the bin. “You’re hyperventilating over the fact that you’re five years older than me. Maybe that mattered when I was thirteen, but that night a year ago, you didn’t mind at all.”

  Unlike Adam, she had a sense of verbal etiquette that wouldn’t allow her to blurt out the word mistake!

  At all costs, Kelsey avoided the San Diego hangouts popular with military guys. But the women in her office had wanted to celebrate an intern’s success at passing the bar. Breakers, the famed Coronado club, was suggested. She’d tried to change their minds, but the jury of excited women voted in favor of letting down their hair. Gyrating bodies, loud music and servers bringing drinks almost clear with liquor, packed a punch.

  Someone had tapped her on the shoulder halfway through the night and she turned to find Adam staring at her. She hadn’t seen him in four years. Standing in front of her was a man, not the young, cocky teenager she remembered before leaving for law school back east. He’d just graduated from SEAL Qualification Training. They’d drank. They’d laughed. And then—somehow, someway—they had both ended up in a cab and in her condo.

  Alcohol had stolen her good sense, but not enough to dull the desire. That night, they undressed each other as if preparing for a long overdue celebration of sex. Neither she nor Adam showed embarrassment, nor did they stop the torrent of wild, unrestrained lust. She couldn’t describe it any other way except they’d fucked each other’s brains out.

  Twice.

  She knew better. Although young, she remembered her mother’s tears when Dad died. Her mom never shared her grief with the outside world, but at night she’d cry. It broke Kelsey’s heart.

  A vow to never fall in love with a warrior set itself in stone. Adam loved his role as a protector. He’d been fearless as a boy. Reckless as a teenager. Now, he stared death in the face like the US Navy expected of him.

  That night a year ago, she’d woken at four in the morning and snuck away from her own condo. She texted him once. Don’t tell anyone. Not even Sloane. He didn’t answer, nor was he at her place when she returned after one in the afternoon.

  He didn’t leave a note. Adam had vanished, except for the hint of his aftershave that lingered in her bedsheets and the memories of six incredible hours going round and round in her head in an endless loop.

  She threw herself into her cases at work, trying to forget Adam’s touch. Foolish. She couldn’t forget him, the Austen family would always be close to hers. But what she did next was the stupidest thing she could have done, and that was to replace Adam’s residual effect which refused to go away by allowing Morgan into her life. She did like Morgan, but love was such a big word.

  She stood there, trapped in the high beams of Adam’s gaze, unable to feel the cool grass under her toes or rein her chaotic heartbeat.

  Adam removed the four feet between them. “Don’t marry him, Kels.” He shook his head. “Don’t.”

  Her heart turned like a turbo prop coming to life. “I’m supposed to become an old maid while you fuck your way through every young woman you come across? Screw you, Adam.”

  He grinned, despite the anger churning in his eyes. “Maybe in the courtroom you show no mercy, but when it comes to what you want—you’re gutless.”

  Her heart flinched, his words striking their mark. “I’m not one of those women who mistakenly glorifies life with a warrior. It’s hard as hell. I don’t need that.”

  Adam removed every inch separating them. “You might not need it, but you want me as much as I want you. I might make do with other women, but no one measures up, Kels. Not before. Not after. Morgan isn’t right for you.” He tilted his head a sliver closer, too close, so their mouths were only an inch apart. “Do you really want to live a lie for the rest of your life? I can see in your eyes, you don’t love him.”

  Putting distance between them, she said, “You’re so full of yourself, it’s pathetic.”

  “No. There’s a difference between being confident versus self-centered. If you hadn’t run away that morning, maybe you would have seen that in the light of day.”

  Too absorbed with each other, neither saw Adam’s father. “Unless you want to gather more interest, I’d say you need to finish your conversation in the cave,” he said, interrupting their stalemate.

  Adam didn’t move, but she stepped quickly backward and glanced around. “The conversation is over.”

  “Young lady, I vowed to watch over you for the rest of my life. I haven’t stopped breathing yet, so get your asses in the shack,” Uncle Thane ordered.

  Adam positioned himself in front of her. “Dad. Stop. I know you mean well, but this is between us.”

  Kels had never seen Adam stand up to his father like this. No one stood up to him, except Aunt Kayla and Sloane.

  Kels remembered her real father and tried desperately to hang onto the memory, but Uncle Thane had been there for all her important milestones. She didn’t want him to think she was ungrateful. She loved him and couldn’t ask for a better man to step into her father’s shoes. He’d be there to walk her down the aisle. He’d be there to see her first born. Thane Austen would always be there.

  A tight ball grew in her throat. But her father wouldn’t. He wouldn’t because he’d been a Navy SEAL and he’d died saving their country.

  “There’s nothing between us, Adam. Nothing to say.” Tears welled in her eyes.

  Adam’s brow crushed. “Kels, please. Don’t cry.” He took a step back and raised his hands as if giving her space. “I know what you’re scared of, and I can’t change that. I’m a SEAL.”

  His request went unanswered as her buried emotions rained down her cheeks. “Yes, you are.”

  She cleared her throat. Before squeaking out her next words, Uncle Thane intervened.

  “Would you just humor your old man for five minutes?” He held open the shack door. It wasn’t an order. It was a plea.

  Adam scrubbed his jaw. “There’s nothing more to be said, is there, Kels?”

  She shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut to stop the waterfall. Within a heartbeat, strong arms enveloped her, and she burrowed her face in Adam’s sun-bronzed chest. Suddenly, twenty years evaporated in an instant. Adam had always come to her rescue, even though she was older than him. He’d always had the soul of a hero. “I’m sorry.”

  “Shh.” He lifted her face. “Regardless of anything else, go with your heart. I never told you I love you, Kels, because I thought you always knew.” He smiled down at her, then kissed her forehead.

  For a fleeting moment, his embrace warmed her every cell. She released the need to be strong all the time, whether in front of her peers or for her mother. In Adam’s arms she could relax, but as quickly as it came, the feeling departed when Adam jogged away from her.

  “Kelsey?”

  “Please, Uncle Thane. Adam’s right. You can’t help this time.”

  Uncle Thane closed the door and offered a sympathetic smile. “What’s meant to be, will be. Adam learned an important lesson while he fought his way through training, and it was cemented on his first mission. It’s not something most people are trained to do.”

  “What’s that?” she said, swiping the remaining tears from her eyes.

  “To ignore fear. No matter what’s between you and your goal, fear can steal the legs of success. In your case, happiness. Your father knew this better than all of us. He faced his worst fear when he met your mother.”

  “What?” she said, sniffling. “What do
you mean?”

  Uncle Thane meandered to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Didn’t your mom ever tell you what happened when she first met your dad?”

  “You mean about that guy, Bruce Pepperhill?”

  “Him!” Uncle Thane laughed. “No, sweetheart. That guy didn’t have a hope in hell. No, I’m talking about your dad, and how he thought he was never good enough for your mom.”

  “What?” She gaped at her uncle. “Why would he think that?”

  Uncle Thane backtracked and, once again, opened the door to the SEAL Cave. “If I tell you, it might change everything. You brave enough for that?”

  Kels didn’t think twice and swiftly entered the domain where only Navy SEALs dared to tread. The door clacked shut behind her.

  She could be brave.

  Chapter Seven

  Cleaning. Chatting. Repeat.

  Sloane worked up a sweat and finally stopped for a breather at three in the afternoon. Looking from her elevated position in her parents’ kitchen into the backyard crowded with guests, she smiled. A gazillion kids played in the pool. The loungers looked like a crossword puzzle connected around the tiled pool deck. Success! And no sign of one very alpha lieutenant.

  “Looks like you could use one of these.”

  Again—Sloane’s premature assumption bit her in the ass with the familiar rumble of his low voice.

  A glass coated in droplets of moisture and filled with ice water appeared in front of her. She took a deep breath and released it while accepting the glass. A part of her had hoped he wouldn’t show his face.

  “Hi, Lieutenant Stone. Nice to see you could come.”

  She could make polite conversation. Prove she wasn’t a twelve-year-old—maybe. “Patch things up with your girlfriend?"

  Sloane grew a set of balls and turned slowly. Damon-fucking-Stone. Her heart hammered an uneven tempo with him so close. His gaze warmed when she stared into his eyes. He didn’t come topless like most of the SEALs. Instead, he wore a pale blue cotton shirt and a pair of jeans. Probably a sign he wasn’t sticking around for long.

  “I don’t have a girlfriend.”

  “Uh-huh. Well,”—she put five feet between them by paddling a quick retreat from the smell of his aftershave and the enticing angles of his square jaw—“enjoy yourself. There’s plenty of food and anything you want to drink.”