Page 44 of Code Name: Admiral

I also needed the rest of my stuff and to get out of the clothes I’d been wearing for hours straight.

“Good night,” I said, raising a hand when Tank followed Diesel and Bryar out.

Pershing gathered me in his arms. “You are deep in thought. Anything you want to talk about?”

“Where I’m sleeping,” I blurted.

He smiled. “That’s up to you.”

“It is?”

He tightened his hold on me, bringing my body flush with his. “I want you, Alice. I have since the first time I met you, even with the gun you had trained on me.”

I smiled too.

“But I’m not going to rush things between us. You know how I feel, so what happens next is your decision.”

“I’m not sure I’m ready for, uh, sex, if that’s what you mean.”

He leaned forward and kissed me. “There are a lot of steps between there and where we are now. We can take them at whatever pace you want to. And, for the record, I’m not insinuating you’ll want to have sex with me.”

“You aren’t?” I gasped.

“Areyou?” He lowered his hand to my bottom and pressed himself against me.

“Hell, yeah. Just maybe not tonight.”

“So the next question is, are you ready to share sheets again tonight?”

I was so far out of my element that I wasn’t sure what to say. All I knew was I had no interest in some flirty back and forth between us. He said he wanted me, and I wanted him. While the timing might not be ideal, I didn’t want to prevaricate. “I am. I want to sleep with you, Pershing. I mean that literally not, uh, metaphorically.”

I hated that I was stammering, but the truth was, I had no experience with this kind of thing. None whatsoever. I wasn’t lying when I said I wanted to have sex with him; I just hadn’t ever. Even the way we’d kissed was purely instinctual on my part. There was no denying the attraction I felt, especially with his hardness when he pressed himself between my legs.

“I can see the wheels spinning in that beautiful head of yours.”

“Beautiful?”

“You heard me, and you are. Come on. Let’s go to bed. We’ll talk more there.”

“I, um, need a shower. Are my things here?”

“They are. I’ll bring them upstairs. Just give me a minute.”

“I can help.”

Pershing raised a brow but winked. “Trying to be chivalrous here, Alice.”

I snuggled closer to him. “Your photo is in the dictionary next to the word Pershing.”

“Have you thought of something else to call me?”

I shook my head. “I want it to be something no one else does.”

“It’s how my mom refers to me. Actually, she uses Persh.”

“Then, maybe I’ll call you Shing.”

He shook his head.“No.”