The Admiral's Bride. Suzanne Brockmann

he agreed, breathing hard. “Very believable.”

      “Good to know we can make that seem…so believable.”

      He pulled free from her embrace and turned away. “Yeah. That’s good to know.”

      She had to lean against the counter.

      “Look,” he said, his back to her, “it’s really late and I have some things I need to do before morning, so…”

      He wanted her to leave. Zoe moved carefully toward the door. “I hope sleep is on that list.” She tried to sound lighthearted, tried to sound as if her entire world hadn’t just tilted on its axis.

      He laughed quietly. “Yeah, well, sleep’s pretty low priority these days. If I don’t get to it tonight, there’s always tomorrow.”

      She paused with her hand on the doorknob. “Jake, that kiss—it wasn’t real. We just made it look real.”

      He turned and gazed at her then, the expression in his eyes completely unreadable.

      “Yeah,” he said quietly. “I know that.”

Chapter 4

      “Let’s do it!” Harvard said, but stopped short as he caught sight of Jake. “Admiral. You’re joining us for a run this morning, sir?”

      “Do you have a problem with that, Senior Chief?”

      “Well…no, of course not, sir.” Harvard didn’t say the word but. He didn’t have to. It was implied.

      Jake held on to the side of the team’s beat-up station wagon for balance as he stretched the muscles in first one thigh and then the other. He kept his expression pleasant, his voice easygoing. “Say what you’re thinking, H. If we’re going to be a team, we can’t keep secrets from each other.”

      “I guess I was thinking, sir, that if I were an Admiral, you wouldn’t find me volunteering for PT at oh-seven-hundred on a morning after I’d been out on a sneak and peek until oh-three-hundred.”

      Jake looked at the faces of his men. And woman. Zoe was there, dressed in running gear that might as well have been painted on to her. He looked away from her, refusing to let himself think about last night. Refusing to think about that incredible kiss.

      “Cowboy here was out as late as I was,” he pointed out. “Lucky and Wes, too. In fact, who here closed their eyes last night before oh-three-thirty?”

      No one.

      Jake smiled. “So like you said, Senior, let’s do it. I’m as ready as you are.”

      Harvard looked at Cowboy, and Cowboy nodded, very slightly.

      The message couldn’t have been more clear if he’d signaled with flags.

      Don’t let the old man hurt himself.

      Jeez.

      Harvard set the pace, taking the road that led in a two-mile loop around the campground at an unchallenging jog.

      And no one complained. In fact, they hung way back, letting Jake be way out ahead, up with Harvard.

      Not a single one of ’em thought Jake could keep up with them. Not even Billy or Mitch.

      It would have been funny if it weren’t so damned sobering. If his team didn’t think he could keep up with them on a morning run, there wouldn’t be much they’d trust him to do.

      But then Zoe broke free from where she’d been blocked in, in the back, kicking her pace until she’d moved up alongside Jake. She didn’t say a word. She just made a face, clearly scornful of the slow and steady pace. And then she lifted one eyebrow, her message again quite clear. Shall we?

      Stop thinking of that kiss. God, he had to stop thinking about that kiss. Shall we run? she’d meant. As in run faster.

      Jake nodded. Yeah. He turned and gave the senior chief his best-buddy smile. “Hey, H, how many times around this loop do you figure you’ll go?”

      Harvard smiled back. He clearly liked Jake. But this wasn’t about being liked. “Oh, I figure twice’ll do it, sir.”