Code Name: Admiral (Special Forces: Operation Alpha) (K19 Sentinel Cyber #1)

23. Admiral

23

ADMIRAL

T he plane landed, then taxied close enough to the dock that we could walk from there to the camp. Once inside, Bryar and Merrigan were waiting with hot drinks, more blankets, and dry clothes. The place where they’d taken us to was a modernized version of one of the old Adirondack great camps, its massive stone fireplace already blazing.

After Alice and I had changed, she settled under a blanket while Doc asked me to do a perimeter check with him. It seemed more out of habit than necessity, given the additional K19 operatives he’d brought in had the property locked down tight.

“You know,” he said as we walked. “Grit contacted us a few days ago with an interesting proposal.”

I raised a brow.

“K19 Sentinel Cyber,” he continued. “A new division that would combine cutting-edge technical capabilities with tactical expertise.” He smiled. “He seemed to think you and Alice would be perfect to lead it.”

The idea floored me—not because it was unexpected, but because it felt so right. It was a chance to build something meaningful, to continue Sarah’s mission of exposing corruption while working alongside the woman I loved.

“Of course, that’s assuming you still plan to leave the bureau,” he added.

“My mind was made up what feels like weeks ago, but I guess it’s only been days.”

“Understood. But still, take some time. Talk it over with Alice. The offer will remain on the table until you’re ready.”

Back inside, I found Alice curled up near the fire, wrapped in what appeared to be several more blankets. I knew she’d changed into dry clothes, but her hair was still damp, the pink streaks darker than usual.

“Hey,” she said softly when I sat beside her.

“Hey, yourself.” I pulled her into my arms, needing to feel her warmth, to reassure myself that we’d really made it.

The door opened a few minutes later, and Grit walked in. His left arm was bandaged, but otherwise, he appeared unharmed. Our eyes met across the room, and a myriad of things unsaid passed between us.

“I’m sorry,” I said simply.

He shook his head. “You did what you had to do. We all did.”

“Thank you. For having our backs. For saving our lives.”

“Always will.” He smiled. “That’s what partners do.”

Alice shifted in my arms. “Partners?”

“Assuming you’re both interested in heading up K19’s new cyber division.” Grit’s eyes crinkled. “I may have done some planning while you two were figuring out whether I was the mole or not.”

After I’d explained it the way Doc had to me, I felt Alice relax against me. “What do you think?” I asked.

She turned to face me, her green eyes bright in the firelight. “I think we make a pretty good team.”

“That, we do.” I kissed her softly, not caring that we had an audience. After everything we’d been through, I wasn’t holding back anymore.

Later that night, lying in bed, with Alice finally sleeping peacefully beside me, I made plans. The kind that involved a ring, a dock at sunset, and a future I’d never imagined possible before she came into my life.

Sarah’s mission was complete. The corruption she’d died exposing would be rooted out. But her legacy would live on through the work we’d do with K19 Sentinel Cyber and through the love she’d inadvertently helped create between her sister and me.

Tomorrow would bring debriefings and paperwork, arrests and indictments. Alessandro’s testimony, combined with Alice’s digital evidence, would send Sweeney, Huxley, and their corrupt network to prison for a very long time. Vincent Castellano’s empire would crumble, brought down by the brother he’d underestimated.

But tonight, holding the woman I loved, I simply gave thanks for second chances and unexpected allies. For the way tragedy could lead to triumph. For the profound truth that sometimes the greatest love stories begin in the darkest moments. And for the certainty that whatever challenges tomorrow brought, like we kept saying, we’d face together.

Three days later, Diesel reported that order had been restored at Kane Mountain Great Camp and that Alice and I could return whenever we were ready.

I was still skittish, worried about her safety more than my own, fearing those loyal to Vincent Castellano would retaliate. Doc, Merrigan, and Grit assured me that Diesel would continue to oversee a protective detail unit on my property for as long as I wanted it. I knew it was a lot to ask, not to mention, costly. When I brought it up, Merrigan, who served as K19’s managing partner, made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that Alice and I were family now, and every entity under their umbrella—Security Solutions, Shadow Operations, Allied Intelligence, and now Sentinel Cyber—took care of their own.

“Ready to go home?” I asked Alice when everything of ours that had been brought to the Caroga Lake camp was loaded into the SUV.

“I can’t wait,” she said, tucking her arm in mine and resting her head on my shoulder.

“You do know I’m referring to Canada Lake, not Manhattan, right?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, Pershing, that’s home to me now too.”

“Pershing? Still haven’t come up with something else to call me?” He winked.

She smiled. “I decided it fits.”

Nothing looked any different when we pulled in front of it than it had the day I first brought Alice here. It was hard to imagine that only seventy-two hours ago, we’d been under siege.

“Diesel assured me that the team he has in place knows to give us privacy.”

Alice wriggled her eyebrows. “I’m looking forward to… privacy .”

While we’d slept in each other’s arms, we hadn’t made love, something we both agreed was worth waiting for until we were here. Home, as she’d said.

I convinced her to let me bring our bags in, and when I did, I found her in the morning room—or her office, as I now thought of it. I watched as she picked up a crystal, then walked over to the window that faced north.

“I love it here,” she said when I came to stand behind her.

“I do too. I’d forgotten how much.”

“What’s it like in the summer?”

“There are people here.”

She laughed and motioned to the handful of camps that were lit up. “It looks like some are here now.”

“There will be more. A lot more.”

“Nothing like Manhattan, though.”

I shuddered. “No, never like the city.”

“If we do go back, I want to tell Lark that I’ve been to Gloversville.”

My eyes scrunched. “Have you been?”

She rolled her eyes again, something I didn’t remember her ever doing before. “I have not, which means you need to take me.”

“It will be my pleasure, although there isn’t much there.”

“Maybe if she visits, she can come here too.”

I wrapped my arms around her waist. “You should invite her.”

She leaned against me. “Pershing?”

“Yes, my love.” It was the first time I’d said the word to her, not that it was in the way I wanted to say it, especially since she hadn’t bristled or tensed.

“I want to be with you tonight. You know, in the way we haven’t let ourselves.”

“I want that too,” I said, moving her hair to trail kisses down her neck.

“Can we, um, start now?”

Rather than answer, I took her hand and led her into the bedroom. Her eyes opened wide when she saw another zafu cushion next to hers on the floor and a second yoga mat leaning against the wall beside the other.

She turned to the bed and clapped her hands. “Are those crystals?”

“They sure are.”

She walked over and picked up the first of the eight I’d asked Bryar to place on the blanket in front of our pillows. She moved through them, holding each in her hand for a few seconds before picking up the next.

“Amethyst, rose quartz, selenite, black tourmaline, lepidolite, celestite, howlite, and moonstone. They’re perfect.” When she turned to me, her eyes filled with tears. “I love you, Pershing, more than I knew even existed. Thank you for this. Thank you for taking care of me, protecting me, and loving me back.”

“I do, you know. I love you so much,” I said, gathering her in my arms.

“I’ve known all along.”

“Alice.”

The way she looked at me, the desire that flared in her eyes, and the heat that crept up her neck was the sexiest thing I’d seen in my life. She put her hands on the waist of her sweater, but I stopped her.

“Let me.”

She dropped her arms to her sides and only raised them when I gently pulled the sweater over her head. Her bra was pink, the same color as the streaks in her fiery-red hair. I leaned forward, running my tongue along its lacy edge. A soft cry escaped her lips when I took her nipple in my mouth through the thin fabric. When I moved it out of my way, laving her with my tongue and lips, she moaned.

I reached between her legs, feeling her wet heat through her jeans. God, how I’d longed to be inside her. Moving to her zipper, I pulled it down, then slid my hand inside her panties, cupping her mound.

Stroking her with my fingers, I wrapped my arm around her waist, anchoring her to me before thrusting my tongue in her mouth, setting a rhythm that matched that of my hand. I slid one inside while my thumb circled her clit. Alice’s undulations intensified.

“Please,” she begged.

“Come for me, my love,” I breathed as much as said, nipping at her bottom lip while her fingers dug into the flesh of my shoulders.

Her movements grew more frantic, but she still hadn’t allowed herself release. I closed my lips around her nipple, sucking it deep into my mouth, and finally, she shattered.

I held her body flush with mine, grounding her, and easing her as her breathing returned to normal. Then I knelt in front of her, pulling her jeans and panties from her body. “I need to see all of you, Alice.”

“Let me see you too,” she mewled.

It wasn’t the first time we’d been naked together. There’d been the baths, but each time, I’d stopped myself from going beyond simple caresses and touching her breasts. Now, I wanted to know every inch of her body.

“Lie back for me, my love.”

When she did, I stood at the foot of the bed and removed my clothes. My hardness jutted out in front of me, and as much as I wanted to feel her wetness engulf me, there was more I needed first.

Wrapping my hands around her ankles, I spread her legs.

“God, Pershing,” she whined, writhing when I lay between her knees, kissing my way up the inside of her thigh. I cupped her, pressing the heel of my hand against her wetness before sliding two fingers inside the place where my mouth would soon be.

“Pershing.” With her agonized pleading, I removed my fingers and teased her clit with my tongue. “Oh God.” Her fingers weaved in my hair, holding my mouth where it was as another orgasm crashed through her. I removed my mouth and kissed up the center of her body, stopping to lavish both breasts, then covering her lips with mine. At the same time our tongues danced, I positioned myself at her opening after sheathing my cock in a condom, then eased only the tip into her tightness.

“More,” she begged, wrapping her arms around my waist and putting pressure on me to go deeper. “Please, Pershing, I need to feel you. All of you.”

I stilled, trailing my lips from her mouth down her neck. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“But I need you to.”

Our eyes met, and we both smiled. I eased in a bit more, stopping to let her body grow accustomed to my girth. Then I moved again, pushing inch by inch, biting my lower lip in a reminder not to thrust, not to hurt her.

With the next push, Alice cried out, wrapping her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist. This time, when her pussy drenched my shaft, I thrust, going as deep as her tight channel would allow me.

As I felt her body responding, I rotated my hips, then pulled almost all the way out before thrusting in again. I still when Alice cried out a second time, but when her breath became raspy, I pressed hard, then stilled again.

“You’re torturing me,” she whined.

“I’m making it last.”

“Don’t. Just…don’t. I’m not even sure what I’m begging you for, but, Pershing, please, give it to me.”

I set a rhythm, picking up the pace slowly, deepening my strokes.

“I’m close, Alice, and when I come, I want you to go with me.”

She clutched tighter, and her body arched, taking me deeper still. We cried out together, toppling over a precipice of ecstasy like none I’d ever known.

“I love you,” I said when I was finally able to speak, glad that we’d said it earlier so I could freely say it again and again.

Each time our bodies found one another’s again was better than the time before. When we came together in the bath, it was with Alice straddling me, taking her pleasure. I stilled her with my hands on her waist. “Wait,” I said, attempting to control my breathing.

“What?”

“Condom.” We’d gone through several through the night, but I hadn’t thought to bring any into the bathroom.

She remained still but didn’t lift herself off me. “Pershing, I need to ask you something.”

I clenched my eyes closed, willing back the orgasm I felt right on the edge of. “Okay,” I groaned.

“Do you want to marry me?”

I stared up at her, loving her all the more for her ability to just say what was on her mind. “More than anything.”

“Good.”

“What about kids?” she asked.

“Alice, your pussy is squeezing my penis like a vice, and you want to talk about whether or not I want kids?”

Alice nodded.

“Okay. Yes. A houseful. What about you?”

“I think we should start with one, but I definitely want more.”

I clenched my teeth like I had my eyes. “Good, now that we’ve settled—wait, what are you doing?” I said when she lowered herself on me again.

“Starting our family. I think we should keep starting it as often as possible.”

I nodded, unable to speak, knowing that at any moment, I would spill inside her like I’d never done with any other woman.

“I guess I should ask if you’re okay with that.”

I put both hands on her hips and thrust my body hard into her. She clung to me as I pistoned deeper and deeper until our eyes met, and we both cried out together like we had each time we made love.

Later, when we lay in bed, holding each other and drifting in and out of sleep, Alice raised her head and put her hand on my cheek. “I’m so glad I waited for you, Pershing. I guess I could be wrong, but it feels like our bodies were made to fit together. You know, like puzzle pieces.”

“You aren’t wrong, Alice. You’re perfect. We’re perfect.”

She lowered her head to my chest, then raised it again. “So, there are some yoga poses I think we should try out.”

“Now?” I asked, unsure I could move my muscles enough to actually get out of bed.

She shook her head. “Maybe at sunrise.”

“Yes. Sunrise.”

“I love you, G-man.”

“And I love you, Cheshire. Sage. Whatever your name is.”

I grabbed her wrist when she reached up and tweaked my nipple, and we both laughed.

No way, no how, could life ever be better than this.