Code Name: Luminous (30 page)

A Warrior’s Challenge Book Five

Code Name: Forever and Ever

Excerpt

July 2
^nd
, 1992

“Margaret Celeste, where are you going with that bag of
clothes?”

Marg turned to see her mother fuming on the other side of
the ballroom-sized entryway of their mansion.
“To the
Veteran’s Service Center, Mother.”

“Those clothes are worth thousands of dollars,” Claire
Stines
declared.

“
Laurene
will certainly never wear
my hand-me-downs and someone can put them to good use. Women who leave the
service need clothes for job interviews.”

Her mother marched across the entry, grilling her with an
angry stare. “Then they can buy their own.”

Heat stroked up Marg’s neck. “If they don’t have a job, they
can’t buy clothes, Mother. You and Father
support
causes all the time. Is there a difference?”

Her mother huffed. “There is! We don’t support war or those
who participate in it. You’re nineteen years old and easily influenced. I was dead
against your school allowing the military to lecture the students with false
propaganda about fighting for this country. We are not at war. This family
supports organizations with worthy causes. War is not one of them.” Claire’s
gaze fell to the bag and she gripped a dress that had slipped from the opening.
“This is your debutante ball gown,” she said with a shrill pitch. “What’s it
doing in here?”

“I’m not going, Mother. I told you that.”

Claire’s eye narrowed in anger. “Ungrateful! Do you have any
idea how many months it took for me to get you accepted? Only the best are
included in L.A.’s premiere ball. Your father expects you there, and so do I.
You—will—go.”

Marg thought for the umpteenth time that she must have been
adopted. She reached into the bag, snagged the dress and thrust it at her
mother. “The rest I’m giving to the center,” she announced, and walked out the
front door. Her mother could throw a fit if she wanted, but that wouldn’t stop
her.

After tossing the bag onto the passenger seat of her car,
she took a deep breath and gazed at the elegant landscaped grounds of her home.
She’d known nothing other than her Beverly Hills surroundings. Mansions lined
the hills and vied for spectacular gardens and well-heeled parties. She hated
the falseness of it all, even though she’d been raised in its claws.

“Marg,”
Laurene
called, running
across the stamped paved driveway to catch her.

“Don’t start,” she said, knowing her mother had sent
Laurene
to talk to her. She loved her sisters but they did
her mother’s bidding with just a shrewd look.
Laurene
was the closest in age to her, being only a year younger.

“You’re pissing Mom off again,”
Laurene
said, giving her a pleading look to give in to their mother’s open hatred
against anything military.

“She’s going to be even more pissed when she finds out I’m
moving.”

“What?”
Laurene’s
big brown eyes
rounded.
“Oh, my God.”
Her hands covered her cheeks.
“You got the modeling contract, didn’t you?”

Marg smiled at her. “I did, and I’m moving to San Diego.”

“San Diego? Why there, of all places? It’s a Navy town. You
know what they’ll say.”

“Because it’s two hours farther than Mom or Dad will drive.”

“They are going to freak out.”

“Dad’s withering contempt is because of Grandfather,
Laurene
. Men die in war. They die to protect us but Dad
can’t see past his heart, and it’s riddled with grief even after all these
years.”

“You sound like an enlistment poster, Marg. Dad has a point.
He lost his father in the Vietnam War. Of course he hates anything military. He
was only eight years old.”

Their grandmother had married a wealthy man from L.A. after
their grandfather died. She’d had one more son but she never stopped loving
Petty Officer Braden
Stines
. He had enlisted in the
Navy and was killed in the last year of the war. Marg, nor her sisters, ever
met him but reminders of him sat on her father’s bookshelves in his private
office at home.

Marg slid into the white convertible her parents had given
her for graduation. She remembered feeling like she’d accepted a deal from the
devil when her father handed her the keys. “You’ll look beautiful driving this,
darling,” he’d said. “Driving the right car attracts the right men.”

He’d been wrong. Her status, her address and her car
attracted nothing but the sons of wealthy families. Most of them were pompous
assholes
who
were looking for trophy wives without a
brain. She was born with a good one, and she intended on using it. That, and
the long legs and attractive features God had bestowed on her.

“Can I come and visit you in San Diego?”
Laurene
begged.

Laurene
loved her life of pretty
things and being surrounded by wealthy friends. She didn’t mind their father
bringing home the next “future husband du jour.” Marg was sick of it, and it
made her feel like a side of beef for sale to the highest bidder.

“You’re my sister,
Laurene
. You
can come any time you want.”

“When are you going to tell Mom and Dad?”

“Tonight.”
Pulling out an envelope
from her bag, she turned it in her fingers. “I’m mailing the contract back
today.”

Laurene
closed the driver’s door
and bent over, kissing her cheek. “You’re going to be famous. I know it.”

Marg smiled. “I don’t really care about famous, but I do
need a job, and this pays pretty good. I can’t live here under their roof and
their rules anymore. Every time Dad brings one of his
wanna-bes
home from the studio to ogle us like well-groomed chattel, it makes my skin
crawl.” Her eyes gazed up toward the mansion, its brilliant front pillars and
rounded façade a glorious tribute to her father’s success in Hollywood. “Maybe
I’m delusional,
Laurene
, but I want to marry a man
who loves me and respects me. Whether he has money or not doesn’t matter, but
I’ll never find him in the hills of Hollywood. There’s a big, undiscovered
world out there. I have to leave the protection and façade L.A. offers. I want
to prove I can live on my own. San Diego will be a good start.”

* *
* *

The music in the nightclub thumped with a deafening beat.
People yelled at each other just to make out every second word. Bodies ground
together and crushed Marg against the bar. The L.A. scene wasn’t very different
than this favored San Diego hangout. The only difference was the guys and gals
weren’t wearing thousand-dollar outfits.

Tonight was her first night off from a stringent modeling
schedule. The hours were long, but she had this weekend all to herself. She
gazed over the crowd. There were a lot of short haircuts on the men and since
she was in a heavily populated Navy town, she guessed they were sailors. Her
parents would shudder at the thought, which made her smile even more.

“A man can’t resist a smile like that,” a low timbre said
next to her ear.

She turned. Being six feet, she was surprised to have to
raise her gaze, but it walked up the hulk of muscled chest bulging against a
white cotton shirt until it reached tropical blue eyes, making her legs weaken.

“Hi.”

 
He wasn’t just
good-looking, he was a fucking god. Her heart turned a triple somersault
staring into his face. A wicked little smile graced his full lips and his
angular jaw made her heart leave skid marks in her chest. His short blond hair
and rugged features left her unable to stop gaping.

He leaned over and brushed her ear with his lips. “Thane
Austen,
and I am most definitely going to buy you a drink.”

She breathed out a shallow gasp of air as the sexy rumble
coursed through her. Thane only leaned back far enough to look into her eyes.
The heat in his was her undoing. Whether this man wanted forever or not, she
knew they were going to be in each other’s arms before the night was over, and
the drum of her pulse told her it couldn’t happen fast enough. Her eyes locked
with his and she smiled.

His jaw careened into a tight angle. “Aww man, you are
beautiful,” Thane said. “Where did you come from?”

She leaned toward him and said, “It’s where I’m going, not
where I’m from
that counts
.
How
about you?”

“Short term, I hope it’s making you a satisfied woman.
Long term, wherever the Navy sends me.”

“So you are a sailor.”

He gave her grin.
“A SEAL, not a sailor.
There’s a difference.”

“There is?” She’d read an article in the newspaper once
about SEALs. They were a special fighting force the Navy used on dangerous
assignments.

“My swim buddy and I just passed BUD/S. It’s a night for
celebration.”

“Where is he?”

Thane’s eyes remained on her, eating every inch up as he watched
her. “
Zodiak’s
on his way. He had some family stuff
to take care of.”

Her lips quirked.
“Zodiak?
That’s a strange name.”

“It’s his team name. Patrick Cobbs is his real name.”

“And do you have a team name?”

“Not yet. And thank God for that, since it usually comes
from something stupid we’ve done during training.” He laughed. “So are you here
with anyone? Pat’s single, but since I saw you first, he’s just
gonna
have to deal with it.”

She swallowed her excitement when his finger brushed small
circles on her bare shoulder. “I came with some of the modeling crew from my
shoot. They’re off having fun. Do you want to wait for your friend?”

“You’re a model?” He nodded. “Not surprised.” Thane’s sexy
timbre lowered even further. “Why don’t we get out of here? Wouldn’t want you
tempted away from me.”

She doubted that could ever happen. Thane’s confidence and
hotness left her in a puddle of lust. Acting like a cheap tramp crossed her
mind but not even the A-list guys from her school had Thane’s magnetism. Marg
couldn’t control her impatient hand. It had to touch him and she slid it down
his powerful arm, coiling her fingers in his. “Sounds like heaven.”

A perfect white smile broke from his full lips and the
dimple in his chin deepened. “I promise you heaven, sweetheart. You can count
on it.” With the sweep of his powerful arm, he drew her close and pushed
through the undulating bodies in the bar. Instinct told her this man was one of
a kind. Life had just become very interesting.

About the Author

I grew up on the beautiful West Coast of British Columbia with the Pacific
Ocean on my western doorstep and thousands of acres of forest on the other.
After finishing school, my life took a drastic twist, and a lifelong working relationship
with the marine industry began.

After a twenty-year hiatus from my creative writing, the stories swirling in
my mind began to swim hard to surface, and I threw them a life ring. I juggle
my creativity during my days off, and then get back down to business serving in
the Coast Guard. My life is a mix of creativity vs. black and white procedures.
With a lifetime of working in the marine community,
there’s
plenty of stories to tell. It’s a different world, different language, unsung
heroes and
heroines
aplenty, heated moments, and
blissful silence when all is well. Reading and writing is the way I turn down
the loud hum that my work causes, and after thirty years of humming, it’s time
to vent.

http://nataszawaters.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Natasza-Waters/311286078885026

Other books with Secret Cravings
Publishing

A Warrior’s Challenge Series

Code Name: Ghost

Code Name: Kayla’s Fire

Code Name: Nina’s Choice

Code Name: Luminous

Message from Natasza

Thank you for spending time with Alpha Squad. If you’ve been
following along with the series you probably realize that each story focuses on
subject matter specific to the life of a warrior and those who love them.

Code Name: Ghost and Kayla’s Fire were about PTSD and the
challenges our warriors face to live half their lives in conflict and half at
home. Code Name: Nina’s Choice highlighted the struggle involved with a serious
injury during combat and separation from family. Code Name: Luminous touched on
two very delicate subjects: faith and loss.

This book in particular was difficult for me to write for
personal reasons. Although not mentioned at the beginning of the book, I
dedicate this story to Thomas Shelby, a young man I knew a long time ago, who
died during his service to his country. His little girl grew up without having
her wonderful father beside her through the milestones of her life. If I could
turn back the hands of time and change fate, I would. But we can’t change what
is, so we move forward and remember with gratitude and sorrow. Above all else,
we must remind ourselves that life is for the living, although we’ll never
forget those who sacrificed their lives to save others.

Standby for Code Name: Forever & Ever. We’ll travel back
over twenty years in time when Thane Austen and Patrick Cobbs join the Navy
SEALs. The war against terrorism hasn’t openly struck the world changing it
forever.
When Marg looks into Patrick Cobbs’ eyes for the
first time, two thoughts strike her.
She’s made a monumental mistake by
sleeping with his best friend, and secondly, she’s pretty sure she’s fallen in
love with the tall, dark, silent warrior that makes her tremble with just a
look. Introducing Patrick to her parents will mean immediate exile from her
family, but she doesn’t care. She has more to lose than her family. She could
lose Patrick, if he learns of her stupid mistake.

Please continue to leave reviews on
Goodreads
,
Amazon or wherever you have purchased the book. Join me on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Natasza-Waters/311286078885026
Visit my blog
http://nataszawaters.com/
or drop me a line at
[email protected]
.

Please continue to help Paws and Stripes. A
nonprofit organization providing service dogs for wounded
military veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain
Injury.
http://www.pawsandstripes.org/
 
and Operation Gratitude who annually
sends 100,000+ care packages filled with snacks, entertainment items and personal
letters of appreciation addressed to individually named U.S. Service Members
deployed in hostile regions, to their children left behind and to veterans,
first responders, wounded warriors and their care givers.
http://www.operationgratitude.com/

88’s

Natasza