Page 13 of The SEALs' Single Mom Baby Surprise

As much as I don’t want to perpetuate the lie, is she safer not knowing our real purpose in being here?

Cole shakes his head at me.

Right. It’s not my call. Not that I wouldn’t gain forgiveness after the fact if I spilled the secret to her, but I stuff that desire down and wait.

Shepard appears in the entrance to the office, waving Cole back to where he came from. “Hey. I found something.”

7

SLOANE

Not waiting to be invited, I charge toward the office when Shepard calls to the others that he found something. I refuse to be left out of this and make it back to where he’s stationed at my desk.

The anger bristles through me as he sits back inmychair, the drawings from my daughter posted behind his wide shoulders. One of the few pictures I have of me with Reese smiling from beside my computer cranks up the need to kick Shepard out of my space.

“You know, there are three other open stations you could sit at instead of mine.”

He levels me with a look that promises to enjoy pushing another one of my buttons. “Yeah, I know, but they don’t show me whatyou’vebeen working on, do they?”

I cross my arms to hold in my biting retort as Cole and Hastings materialize at my back.

“And surprise, surprise. You didn’t tell me everything. Again.”

My mom-look does nothing to his stony smugness.

The other two flank me on either side, like they’re closing ranks on me. Like I’m going to run from this confrontation. I have no stakes with these guys, so I don’t need to hold back.

I wave my hand for him to show me what I didn’t tell him. Because unless he’s digging around in my personal life—something I do not keep on my work computer—there’s nothing else to tell him. Not unless he found some mistake I made.

And if he did, I want to know so I can keep it from happening again.

I take responsibility for my actions. No matter what anyone else says.

“Someone breached the security while you were cross-referencing. By the time stamp, it was when you were showing Boone what you found.” Shepard’s stony blue eyes dissect me, pressing his power even though he is seated.

I bet that big frame of his had to do a lot of his talking for him, given how he excelled at being a nuisance. My hand itches with the want to smack him.

“And how was I supposed to know someone breached security?” Because really, talk about outside my job description. I work with spreadsheets and forms, not security and tech.

Fury burns hotter as he continues to examine my face and posture for dishonesty. Hypocritical since an auditor wouldn’t be checking my computer for hackers. It only confirms what I suspected about the presence of these three men.

“Did you see the screen flicker?”

Blinking hard, I frown at him. It did flicker. But the computer’s old. Welcome to working for the government. I mean, really, how do they not know this already? “Yes.”

Shepard raises his brow at me, like I’ve been caught.

I drop my arms to plant my hands on my hips. “And how am I supposed to make the cognitive jump from a flickering screen to getting hacked?”

“Not hacked. Breached.”

“Since I don’t know the difference, you can see how your accusation is falsely placed.”

Oh, my God, is he smirking at me?

My hands curl into fists as he shakes his head.

“They weren’t looking for you, specifically, but they found you.”

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