Page 69 of S.O.S. Perk

Nope. He didn’t shake her hand; he pulled her into a warm hug.

Geeze.She guessed she’d been accepted alright, and her heart did a happy little flip at the unaccustomed welcome.

“There’s another half to this already massive structure?” she squeaked when he finally let her go.

“Uh, huh. Solina will be bringing our big babies inside soon. I’ll take you back to meet them once we’ve rendered you senseless here,” he bantered.

“You think,” Sloane threw back. She was used to this kind of trash-talk. Her office employed it too. It was just that she’d never really joined in with her fellow agents because everyone there thought she had a stick up her ass. Which she mostly did. But the SOS team was clearly having none of that.

“Put your coat over there,” Wiley pointed to a rack that held everyone’s outerwear, “and start warming up. We’ve already pulled straws. Del and Brent are going to go first.”

Sloane went to hang up her coat, but asked over her shoulder as she was walking. “What are the match-ups after them?”

“Daire versus Perk, Prez versus Sarge, Billboard—just back from his honeymoon—against you, then I’ll take on Mizzay.”

Sloane glanced around, not worried at all that she’d be battling Billboard. He might be big, but she was fast. “I don’t see Mizzay.”

“She said she had something to do, but she should be here any minute.”

Sloane nodded. The mysterious Mizzay. She’d looked into the conundrum of a woman, but found exactly…nothing on record about her. Anywhere. So much for figuring out what made the powerful woman tick.

Sloane pulled her mind back to the matches. “I take it the winners of the first rounds will face off?”

“After a new drawing of straws, yeah. With the odd man out moving automatically to the final match of the night,” Wiley confirmed.

“Cool. I’ll be warming up.” Sloane walked across the expanse and found a spot where she could do her stretches while still keeping an eye on the ring. She dropped to the mat and commenced by taking some deep breaths. She was glad she’d have a chance to watch most of the team spar. It would give her a better idea of how to approach them when she faced off against them, later.

For the current match-up, her figurative money was on Brent. He was former FBI, ran a training camp for all forms of protective services, and kicked ass. Sloane had never seen Del spar, but…she assumed he wasalsono pushover. This should be fun.

The pairwerewell matched, and even though Del managed to get Brent down a few times, it became clear after the first seven minutes that Brent would prevail. The entire team began jeering, calling Del an old man, which had the guy rousing for a few additional seconds, but in the end, he succumbed to Brent.

“That’ll teach you to have babies and not get any sleep,” Wiley taunted.

He could laugh now, but…

Sloane had heard from various of the SOS team that Wiley and Solina were on the fence about having children, but she had inside intel. Sloane had talked to Solina at the wedding, and on the sly Solina had let slip that in the spring they’d beputting an addition on their cottage because they were thinking of expanding their family. Then she’d slapped a hand over her mouth and had sworn Sloane to secrecy.

Children.

Sloane glanced Perk’s way and sighed. He’d make a great father. Was it possible…?

Nope.She wasn’t going to go there.Mind in the game, Sloane.

Perk and Daire were up next.

Perk had some inches on Daire, and if her appraisal was correct, a longer reach, as well. That would help Perk in some regards, even though this wasn’t boxing.

Her attention was all on the pair as they circled each other, and even though Sloane was distracted by the glorious play of muscles across Perk’s broad back, she kept a sharp eye on the moves he made.

Daire was the first to go down, but Perk failed to shift away fast enough, and found himself toppling as Daire got a hand on his ankle and yanked. Perk, however, instead of rolling away to regroup, used the opportunity to move closer to Daire as the man began to rise, and using his superior reach to encompass Daire’s midsection, tossed him back to the mat before climbing on top of him.

Daire found himself with his shoulders pinned, but he bucked his hips sharply and dislodged Perk. The move had them both on their feet within seconds where they once again circled each other warily. If points were being scored, they’d be tied right about now.

“Come on, Daire,” his brother Brent encouraged. “Take him down.”

The SOS team whistled and egged Perk on. The noise levels were rising as Mizzay walked in, heading straight for Sloane.

“Whatz happened so fah?” she asked as she went down beside Sloane and began her own stretches.

---