Page 29 of Code Name: Admiral

I felt her shift and angled my head so I could see her face. The connection I already felt between us got stronger when our gazes met. Her eyes darted back and forth between mine, but I didn’t sense unease.

“Talk to me, Alice,” I whispered.

“Hold me while I sleep?”

The air left my lungs, knowing how hard it had been for her to ask, but I steeled my reaction. “Of course.”

I stood, lifting her slight frame in my arms, and carried her into the bedroom that was down the hall from the camp’s main room. It also had a fireplace that someone had lit.

Resting her on the edge of the bed that faced a view of the lake, I pulled the sheets back, then covered her with them when she lay down.

She reached for me. “Don’t leave.”

“I won’t. I promise.” I walked around the end, pulled the same covers back, and crawled in beside her. When I opened my arms, she turned her body, facing me and resting her head above my heart.

“Why do they call you Admiral? Wait, never mind. Pershing, duh. Except, he was a general in the Army. Now, I’m confused.”

“Code names and call signs don’t always make sense, especially since they’re usually given under the influence of alcohol.”

“Were you in the Army?”

“Navy.”

“I guess that makes sense at least.”

I cupped her cheek and shifted so I could see her face. While she wasn’t smiling, her expression was soft. Unable to stop myself, I brought my lips close to hers, accepting her kiss when she leaned forward. Her tongue pressed against my mouth, and I opened to her.

The kiss deepened, filling me with a warmth that spread from my core throughout my body. Alice’s lips were soft yet demanding against mine as her fingers curled into my shirt. My every nerve ending felt alive, hyper-aware of her closeness, her scent, and the way her body fit perfectly against mine. But when her breathing hitched and I felt wetness on my cheeks, I gentled the kiss, then pulled back far enough to look into her eyes. “Talk to me.”

She shook her head, burying her face against my chest again. Several minutes passed before she spoke, her voice muffled. “Sarah used to tease me about being too serious. She said I needed to learn to let my guard down sometimes.” A soft, broken laugh escaped her. “I always told her she was too trusting. Guess we were both wrong about each other.”

My arms tightened around her. “She wanted to tell you. About the FBI work.”

“How do you know?”

I shrugged. “The same intuition that tells me her handlers wouldn’t allow it. That they thought it was too dangerous.”

Alice’s body stiffened. “They were right. Look what happened to her.” She pulled away and met my gaze. “Can you tell me about Bobby?”

Hard as it would be to talk about him, I owed Alice the truth. All of it. “We grew up together. He was like a brother to me.” My voice caught on the words. “He was injured playing college football, and it changed him. The pain meds, that is. Or maybe it was who he was all along. It just made it easier for him to become the person he kept hidden.”

“Did you try to help him?”

“Everyone did. His parents, mine, the whole family. But you can’t help someone who doesn’t want it.” I stared into the fire, remembering. “The last time I saw him before today was at our grandmother’s funeral. He was already deep in with the Castellanos by then, but none of us realized how far.”

Alice’s hand found mine, and our fingers weaved. The gesture surprised me—here she was, offering comfort when she was the one who’d lost everything.

“Sarah left me a message,” she said quietly. “In our childhood code. Numbers for letters.”

My pulse quickened. “What did it say?”

“B K MUR. Bobby murdered her.” Her voice cracked. “She knew he was going to kill her. Why didn’t she run? Call for help?”

“Because running would’ve blown her cover and the entire investigation with it. The Castellanos would’ve known they had a leak.” I brushed a strand of hair from her face. “She was trying to protect you until the end.”

A sob caught in her throat. “I should’ve known something was off. All the times she canceled our plans at the last minute, the way she’d zone out during conversations…I just thought she was dating someone new. Someone she wasn’t ready to tell me about.”

“She was protecting an investigation that could bring down one of the most dangerous crime families in New York. You couldn’t have known.”

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